TRAFFICKING

Canadian Admits to Drug Smuggling Charge in NJ

2012-01-27T15:31:00.001Z

Canadian man captured at Newark Liberty International Airport last year has admitted smuggling more than 800 grams of cocaine into the United States from Costa Rica. Twenty-four-year-old Azariah Wilson faces up to 40 years in federal prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to a complaint charging him with knowingly and intentionally importing 500 grams or more of cocaine. He’ll be sentenced May 2. Prosecutors say Wilson ingested 56 pellets of cocaine — nearly 883 grams overall — before boarding a flight from Costa Rica to Newark in June. He had planned to fly from Newark to Ottawa, but never made that flight.

An unflinching look at drugs

2012-01-17T08:43:00.001Z

From the farm fields and jungle labs where drugs such as crack cocaine, ecstasy and hashish get their start to the front-door steps where recreational users and addicts alike have their drugs delivered, National Geographic Channel (channel 260) explores the world of Drugs Inc. The series premieres on the channel at 9pm today and includes eight unflinching new episodes that examine the business of illegal narcotics production. Drugs Inc goes inside the world of producers, traffickers, dealers, users, doctors and cops with first-person perspectives on what keeps this business in motion. It also investigates relative newcomers such as ketamine and oxycontin – designer drugs for the 21st century – and the covert industry of grand theft auto, which provides cartels with stolen vehicles customised for smuggling. Worth an estimated R1.28 trillion, the business of Drugs Inc fuels crime and violence like no other substance on the planet, turning cartel leaders into billionaires. The illegal drug industry also provides vital income to hundreds of thousands of poor workers across the globe. While some users sacrifice their lives to an addiction they can’t escape, others find drugs to be their only saving grace from physical or emotional pain almost impossible to overcome. Where should the lines be drawn in this hugely lucrative industry? The series looks at hallucinogens, once hailed as a panacea. Psychedelic drugs are at the centre of an underground movement experimenting with mind-altering substances as they explore a possible new medical frontier. Deep in the Amazon, Rob, a Wall Street broker-turned-healer, has created a free clinic of sorts, administering a highly potent narcotic known as ayahuasca to patients desperate to escape powerful trauma. Taking on others’ stress releases Rob’s own demons and a shaman must step in as Rob’s trip spirals dangerously out of control. Dimitri, a former heroin addict, helps drug users to overcome addiction by using a controversial hallucinogen called ibogaine, and encounters dangerous side effects in the process. Turning to the power of mushrooms, one family man suffering from cluster headaches contemplated suicide before finding relief in this psychedelic trip, and a Swiss physician uses LSD to help ease terminal patients’ fear of death. The deadly and addictive drug crack cocaine is the subject of another episode in which users will do anything to get their hands on it. Addicts Jeff and Alexis are desperate for its intense high – turning to burglary, drug dealing and even prostitution. Smuggling hashish from the remote Moroccan Riff Mountains to the streets of Europe is a dirty, dangerous and deadly business. A former British gangster serves as guide into this illicit underworld, visiting a secret hash-making location nestled in the mountains. The smugglers use everything from hidden car compartments to donkeys, skis and drug mules. Their aim is to be as inconspicuous as possible – and to make it out alive. Facing off at the front line of Europe’s war on drugs, customs agents near Gibraltar seize 100kg of hashish, but the huge haul barely scratches the surface. From Spain, smugglers like “Billy” strap blocks of hash to their bodies and board flights to London and European cities. While smugglers take great risks, for some users, getting the drugs is as easy as walking into a coffee shop. But despite this easy access, users still pay a heavy price – as seen at a local youth psychiatric clinic in Holland. Ecstasy marks another trail. Dubbed as Christmas morning in a pill and penicillin for the soul, ecstasy’s euphoric high is said to come with major lows. Ravers have died from it and organised crime gangs will kill for it. One of the biggest ecstasy traffickers shares how he dominated the ecstasy smuggling world, and a high-level ecstasy distributor in California outlines smuggling strategies for the 21st century. Drugs Inc joins all the dots in this fascinating and disturbing network.

Judge Jesus Chavez ruled that Sandra Avila Beltran would face the same charges in Florida on which she was acquitted in Mexico

2012-01-14T00:35:00.001Z

Chavez said the core of a 2004 indictment against Avila in the Southern District of Florida is the seizure of more than nine tons of U.S.-bound cocaine on Mexico’s west coast. A Mexican judge acquitted Avila in December 2010 of charges stemming from the same confiscation of drugs off a vessel nine years earlier in the port of Manzanillo. An appeals court upheld that verdict last August. “It is impossible to say the actions related to the more than nine tons of cocaine discovered in the vessel would not be subject of the foreign trial for which U.S. officials seek the defendant,” Chavez said, according to a news statement. In the U.S., Avila was indicted on two conspiracy charges to import and distribute cocaine and has been wanted since November 2007, two months after her arrest in Mexico. The judge said Mexico’s constitution prohibits double jeopardy and thus prevents extraditing a citizen for trial in another country on charges they already faced at home. Officials from the Foreign Relations Department and Mexican Attorney General’s office declined to comment, saying they were studying the decision. Both can contest it, but the next outcome by an appeals court would be final. A Mexican appeals panel rejected a first U.S. extradition request on the same grounds. Avila remains in a western Mexico prison in the state of Nayarit, pending trial for a separate money-laundering charge. Mexican officials did not reveal her lawyer’s identity. Avila has claimed she is innocent and says she made her money selling clothes and renting houses. When she was arrested in 2007 sipping coffee in a Mexico City diner, prosecutors alleged that Avila spent more than a decade working her way to the top of Mexico’s drug trade, seducing several notorious kingpins and uniting Colombian and Mexican gangs. Avila’s romance with Colombian Juan Diego Espinoza Ramirez brought together Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel with Colombia’s Norte del Valle, prosecutors said. Espinoza was extradited to Florida in December 2008, two years before he was found not guilty on charges in Mexico related to the cocaine shipment. Avila is the niece of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, “the godfather” of Mexican drug smuggling who is serving a 40-year sentence in Mexico for trafficking and the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico’s western Jalisco state. ___

Thornton Heath man in South American jail after being caught with £20k of coke

2012-01-12T00:16:00.001Z

A young man has been jailed in South America for attempting to traffic drugs just three weeks after sneaking out of his Thornton Heath home without telling his mother. Former Stanley Technical School pupil, Nishit Patel, 21, left his home in Attlee Close, in secret on Christmas Day before flying 4,500 miles to Guyana. The next time his mum, part-time Tesco worker Amita, heard from him was on January 3 phoning from a Guyanese jail after being caught boarding a plane with 29 pellets of cocaine worth more than £20,000 inside him. On Monday, January 9, he was sentenced to four years in jail after he admitted drug trafficking. He was also fined $30,000 Guyanese dollars, about £95. Mrs Patel, 46, said she last saw her son, who changed his name to Nikesh after being teased at school, after lunch on Christmas Day. She said: “I came home and he had bags packed. I asked if he was leaving and he said no. I never know where he is going, he tells me nothing. “I didn’t even know where Guyana was. I asked why did you do it, and he said for the money.” On December 31 Guyana’s Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) at Cheddi Jagan International Airport saw Patel acting suspiciously and arrested him. Dennis Mahase a senior supervisor with CANU said Patel, who has spent his whole life in Croydon, missed his earlier flight home and was picked up by officials while he waited. He said: “When the officials began questioning him he complained about feeling unwell. After further question he admitted swallowing the pellets.” Taken to Woodlands Hospital in Georgetown, the country’s capital, Patel, was x-rayed and the pellets, containing 352 grams of the drug with a street value of around £20,000, were found. Mr Mahase added: “He admitted to us he had done this before in November and got away with it.” Mrs Patel said Nishit went off the rails after his grandparents and father died in quick succession four years ago. She said: “He was such a good boy. Very caring. It changed him. A son listens to his father but to his mother, not so much. It was very hard.” The family will now fight to have him extradited to the UK. She said: “I want to be able to see him. I know he has done wrong but he is my son. I have no idea what a jail out there is like.” A foreign office spokesman said: “We can confirm the arrest of a British national on December 31 in Guyana. “We are providing consular assistance.”

Once powerful Mexican drug lord Benjamin Arellano Felix pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court on Wednesday to drug trafficking, racketeering and money laundering charges

2012-01-11T07:02:00.001Z

. Arellano Felix, 58, was the head of the feared Tijuana cartel run by his brothers and operated on the Mexico-U.S. border near San Diego until his capture in Mexico in early 2002. He was extradited to the United States last April, and prosecutors said his guilty plea marked the demise of the violent cartel that dominated smuggling on the California-Mexico border in the 1980s and 1990s. "Arellano Felix led the most violent criminal organization in this part of the world for two decades. Today's guilty plea marks the end of his reign of murder, mayhem and corruption," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said. "His historic admission of guilt sends a clear message to the Mexican cartel leaders operating today: The United States will spare no effort to investigate, extradite and prosecute you for your criminal activities," she added. As part of a 17-page plea agreement, Arellano Felix admitted smuggling tons of cocaine and marijuana into California and conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars. He also agreed to forfeit $100 million in profits under the plea deal, which is expected to land him 25 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on April 2. "It was a favorable deal to my client who faced a minimum of 40 years and a maximum of 140 years under the extradition agreement," defense attorney Anthony Colombo Jr. said. CARTEL A SHADOW OF FORMER SELF President Barack Obama's administration has worked closely with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in his army-led battle to crush warring drug gangs in a conflict that has claimed more than 46,000 lives since late 2006. At the height of his power in the 1990s, Arellano Felix smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars in narcotics through a 100-mile wide corridor stretching from Tijuana, south of San Diego, to Mexicali, south of Calexico. But after the death and capture of many of its leaders over the past decade, including three of Benjamin Arellano Felix's brothers, the Tijuana cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix Organization, is a shadow of its former self. Arellano Felix's brother Ramon, the cartel's flamboyant enforcer, died in a shoot-out in 2002. Francisco Javier is serving a life sentence in U.S. federal prison after being captured on a fishing boat in 2006, and Eduardo is in jail in Mexico awaiting extradition. With the downfall of the Arellano Felix brothers, the rival Sinaloa cartel run by Mexico's most-wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, has largely taken over the cartel's valuable turf in Tijuana. Appearing before U.S. District Judge Larry Burns at the hearing, Arellano Felix was neatly groomed and dressed in an orange jumpsuit. He said he took medication for migraine headaches, but when asked by the judge if it affected his decision to plead, he replied, "no." Among the former kingpins serving time in U.S. jails is former Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas, who was extradited to the United States by Mexico in 2007 and is serving a 25-year sentence in Texas without chance of parole.

Drug smuggling bid foiled

2012-01-11T06:59:00.001Z

Customs at the airport foiled an attempt by one Egyptian expatriate arriving from Cairo to smuggle 1,000 narcotic pills into the country. The concerned officers said the suspect had kept the contraband hidden in his shoes when they discovered it. He has since been handed over to Drug Prosecution. In a statement following discovery of the illicit drug, the Director General of Customs Ibrahim Al-Ghanim commended efforts exerted by customs men to uncover complicated smuggling cases.

Drug smuggling compartment specialist sentenced to 24 years

2012-01-11T06:55:00.001Z

A California man who specialized in building secret compartments in vehicles used to smuggle drugs received a 24-year sentence in what prosecutors said was one of the first cases against a specialist who worked for drug dealers but didn’t directly handle the drugs. Alfred Anaya, 40, a native of San Fernando, CA, was sentenced to 292 months in federal prison and forfeiture of $3.2 million. Anaya, said a Jan. 6 statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas, operated in the state. “Evidence showed the defendant installed sophisticated hidden compartments in dozens of vehicles,” said U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom. “He knew he was working for drug traffickers.” Anaya was convicted on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, as well as methamphetamine and marijuana, and two counts of attempting to intimidate a witness, said the statement. Convicted in the case along with Anaya were James Clark, 29, of Overland Park, KS, who was given a sentence identical to Anaya’s on the same charges. Curtis Crow, 30, of Leawood, KS, was sentenced to 147 months on conspiracy and drug distribution charges. Anaya and Clark were convicted in Feb. 2011 and Crow pleaded guilty, said the statement. Prosecutors showed the men were members of a California-based drug trafficking organization that operated a drug distribution center in Kansas between 2008 and 2009 that distributed cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana in Kansas and Missouri. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Anaya installed secret compartments including a 20-kilogram compartment in a Ford F-150, a 10-kilogram compartment in a Honda Ridgeline, a 3-kilogram compartment in a Toyota Camry and a 10-kilogram compartment in a Toyota Sequoia.

Mexico: Reporter Gunned Down In Los Zetas Stronghold

2012-01-10T23:30:00.001Z

Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino, a reporter for the weekly La Última Palabra in Cadereyta, in the northeastern state of Nuevo León, became the first Mexican journalist to be killed in 2012 when he was gunned down after a car chase on 6 January. Garza was also a Cadereyta municipal employee. “We hope the number of Mexican journalists killed in the space of a decade does not reach the grim total of 100 in 2012, an election year,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Mexico could prevent this from happening by taking measures to combat impunity for those responsible for violent crime against journalists. “That was the message that we and the Centre for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET) tried to transmit when we gave the families of slain and disappeared journalists a platform in the capital on 10 December. “The current show of good intentions by the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) and its head, Gustavo Salas Chávez, must be rapidly translated into reinforcement of its personnel and clarification of its jurisdiction. If the senate approves the bill that the lower house adopted on 11 November making attacks on freedom of information a federal crime, the FEADLE must have enough resources to handle all these cases.” Garza was driving his car near his home when he found himself being pursued by gunmen in another car. He was gunned down when he tried to seek refuge in a garage owned by relatives. Sixteen impacts from 16 mm bullets were found at the scene. Investigators have so far not suggested any motive for the murder. Located 37 km from Monterrey, the state capital, Cadereyta is home to one of northern Mexico’s biggest oil refineries and is rife with contraband in stolen petroleum products as well as drug trafficking. It is a stronghold of Los Zetas, a paramilitary group that worked for the Gulf Cartel before becoming an independent criminal organization. A total of 38 employees of the state oil company PEMEX have been reported missing in the region in recent months. It was in this area that radio journalist Marco Aurelio Martínez Tirejina was kidnapped and killed in July 2010 in a still unsolved murder. According to the Reporters Without Borders tally, 80 journalists have been killed in the past decade and 14 others have disappeared. Most of these killings have gone unpunished.

Alex "Reds" Rivera, a suspected drug kingpin who once kept a petting zoo of farm animals in his Kensington neighborhood, has been convicted of heading a narcotics network

2011-11-30T15:19:00.001Z

Alex "Reds" Rivera, a suspected drug kingpin who once kept a petting zoo of farm animals in his Kensington neighborhood, has been convicted of heading a narcotics network that for years distributed heroin and cocaine along North Lawrence Street and West Indiana Avenue. A federal jury handed up its verdict Monday night, capping a two-week trial that included testimony from several of Rivera's top associates, dozens of secretly recorded conversations, and surveillance and law enforcement reports of controlled drug buys from Rivera and others. In his closing argument to the jury, Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Axelrod, one of the prosecutors in the case, described the businesslike nature of the Rivera operation, which he said was selling about $18,000 worth of crack cocaine a week for a four-year period beginning in 2006. Rivera, 29, whom Axelrod described as the "boss" of the operation, faces a mandatory life sentence. He was convicted on charges of drug dealing and conspiracy tied to a narcotics network that prosecutors alleged "owned" several blocks of an open-air drug market in North Philadelphia. His wife, Ileana Vidal, 25, was convicted of related drug offenses and faces 10 years in prison. U.S. District Court Judge Juan R. Sanchez has scheduled Rivera's sentencing for Feb. 29. Vidal is scheduled to be sentenced March 2. The jury deliberated for about five hours before announcing its verdict, which came less than two weeks after the trial began Nov. 18. Testimony included accounts of how Rivera would order associates to beat and assault anyone who tried to sell drugs within his Kensington territory. Daniel Cortez, a top Rivera lieutenant who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities, testified about how, on Rivera's orders, he had kidnapped and tortured a man who owed money to the drug organization. Cortez was one of 15 codefendants in the case who pleaded guilty before trial. The case was developed through a joint investigation by the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Department through the Violent Gangs Safe Street Task Force. Rivera, short and stocky with tattooed arms and bushy red hair and a beard, was well-known in the neighborhood and in law enforcement circles as a major player in the drug underworld. He was featured in a 2008 BBC documentary called Law and Disorder in Philadelphia. In the documentary, he denied he was involved in drugs, but told a BBC reporter, "Sometimes you do what you got to do to survive."

Danilo "Triste" Velasquez and two fellow MS-13 gang members blocked the way of a car carrying four people near the Daly City BART station before opening fire with semi-automatic handguns

2011-11-30T15:14:00.001Z

The leader of a street gang was convicted by a federal jury Tuesday in connection with the shooting death of a college student, who the killers mistakenly believed was a rival, officials said. Danilo "Triste" Velasquez and two fellow MS-13 gang members blocked the way of a car carrying four people near the Daly City BART station before opening fire with semi-automatic handguns, officials said. When the shooting ended on Feb. 19, 2009, Moises Frias, 21, was dead and two others were wounded. Velasquez was convicted of three counts of conspiracy and a gun charge in San Francisco federal court, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. When he is sentenced Feb. 14, Velasquez faces a mandatory term of 10 years behind bars. Velasquez and his associates targeted the car because one of Frias' companions wore a red sweater and another a red-and-white San Francisco 49ers hat. Red is the color claimed by the shooters' rivals, officials said. None of the victims had any ties to street gangs. "In a hail of gunfire, Mr. Velasquez and his co-conspirators killed and wounded four unarmed individuals -- all in the name of MS-13," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. Co-defendant and fellow MS-13 member, Luis "Killer" Herrera already has pleaded guilty to related charges. He faces a 35-year mandatory term Advertisement when sentenced Jan. 24. Jaime Balam, the other shooting suspect, remains at-large. Federal prosecutors say the killing was part of a string of shootings carried out by or at the order of Velasquez. He assumed leadership after a number of gang leaders were indicted in 2008. The victims in the other shootings survived their wounds. Prosecutors say the only reason more people didn't die in the attack that left Frias dead was because Velasquez's gun repeatedly jammed. Witnesses testified at the four-week trial that Frias begged for his life before he was shot nine times by Balam, including a wound to the head.

The top five members of a violent criminal street gang centered around West 137th Street in Central Harlem, are heading to prison.

2011-11-30T15:06:00.001Z

Leader Jaquan Layne, 21, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison; his brother, Jahlyl Layne, 18, who oversaw sales of crack cocaine, was sentenced to 7½ to 23½ years in prison; Jonathan Hernandez, 19, convicted of a gang-related shooting, was sentenced to 15 years and 2 months to 17 years and 4 months in prison; Habiyb Mohammed, 31, who packaged the crack cocaine, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison; and Jeffrey Brown, 20, who sold the crack cocaine, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. “The defendants derailed their lives and the lives of the teens they recruited to join their criminal operation, but the damage they inflicted upon these young people and their surrounding community does not have to be permanent,” said District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.. “The sentences imposed were fair and thoughtful. For some of the 14 defendants in this case, the sentences are not merely punitive – they also make use of alternatives to incarceration and set achievable benchmarks for particular defendants, such as graduating from high school and staying off drugs and out of trouble. On October 20, 2011, a jury in State Supreme Court convicted the defendants – members of crews known as “2 Mafia Family” (2MF or 2DEEP) and “Goons on Deck” (G.O.D) – on charges related to the running of a profitable crack cocaine operation between June 2008 and February 2011. In addition to the possession and sale of crack cocaine, the defendants conspired to possess semiautomatic handguns, revolvers and ammunition in order to maintain their dominance of the geographic area centered on West 137th Street between Lenox and Seventh Avenues, and to discourage incursions by rival street gangs. With this verdict, all 14 defendants who were indicted on related charges have been convicted.

Mexico army seizes Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman drug lord's $15 million

2011-11-23T23:49:00.001Z

Mexico's army seized nearly $15.4 million from the organization of the country's most powerful drug lord, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, officials said Tuesday, marking a rare financial blow to cartels. The seizure was revealed the same day U.S. border police revealed the third discovery in a week of drug-smuggling tunnel under the border with Mexico. In Mexico, the military said it found the cash was found in a vehicle on Nov. 18 in the northern border city of Tijuana and that it was linked to Guzman's operations. The haul marked the second-largest cash seizure by the military since President Felipe Calderon sent the country's armed forces out to battle drug cartels in 2006, the statement said. Some $26 million was captured in September 2008 in Culiacan, the capital of Guzman's home state of Sinaloa. Only on msnbc.com 'Grateful to be alive': Teen rescues woman from fire Mexicans cross US border to sell their plasma Chinese consumers say: Fix this fridge or sledgehammers coming Black Friday 'flash mobs,' sit-ins urged Look out kids, here comes the 'Wolf Daddy' Move to ban alleged insider trading faces pitfalls Will Gingrich's comments haunt him? About 45,000 people have died in the conflict in the last five years and the government has captured or killed dozens of top level drug smugglers.

Latin Kings charged in Texas slaying

2011-11-22T22:48:00.001Z

Fifteen members of the Almighty Latin Kings have been indicted for alleged roles in 19 murders, including slayings of juveniles and a pregnant woman. One of the murders was in Big Spring, Texas, according to the indictment, made public Friday. The murders were done to control gang territory and further their illegal activities, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The indictment also alleges that two Chicago police officers robbed people for the gang, sometimes while in uniform, the Sun-Times reported. Several Latin King members already had been convicted in connection with a 2008 drive-by shooting in Big Spring where six people were shot with an AK-47. The victims included a woman who was 26 weeks pregnant at the time. She and another victim died of their wounds, the department reported.

Devastating report into the failures of police and care agencies to protect teenage girls who have been groomed, raped and sold by male gangs, most of whom are Asian.

2011-11-22T14:00:00.001Z

The mother of one teenager from Leeds, who attempted suicide after a gang rape, said her daughter was the victim of a 'broken system.'

'Everyone failed her,' she told The Times. 'There was no sharing of information.

'They (police) had the names and knew where they (abusers) worked yet the men who did this have never once been arrested or spoken to by the police.'

West Yorkshire Police vowed to look again at the case to see if 'there is evidence that can help bring evil men to book'.

Growing worry: CCTV footage shows now jailed gang members Mohammed Romaan Liaqat and Abid Mohammed Saddique meeting girls as they cruise the streets of Derby in a BMW

Jailed: Saddique, left, and Liaqat, right, were leaders of the paedophile ring in Derby and committed a catalogue of offences against vulnerable young girls

Children's charity Barnardos has been calling on the Government to take action on child exploitation since January with its Cut Them Free campaign.

Other caregivers have also suggested that political sensitivities are to blame for a near paralysis of the systems designed to keep children safe.

JOSIE'S STORY

Like most little girls, Josie lived for horses. She had an exemplary school record with 100 per cent attendance rate.

But at 13, the teen from Keighley, West Yorkshire, was given a laptop and quickly became addicted to Facebook.

Her father was then warned his daughter was spending a lot of time with older Asian men.

One even told the father he would 'slit his throat' when he answered the phone to him.

From there it got worse. Josie started disappearing overnight and began drinking.

Yet, when her father locked his daughter in her room to protect her, it was he who got into trouble with the police for false imprisonment.

He told The Times he has since collected every scrap of evidence to prove his daughter is being sexually exploited by gangs.

'The police kept saying that they're waiting until Josie realises it's wrong,' he said.

'Is that really the best they can do?

CHARLOTTE'S STORY

When the father of 14-year-old Charlotte looked at his daughter's Facebook profile, he discovered 'loads of male, Asian friends.'

Concerned, he started to restrict his daughter's activities. The teen from Keighley, West Yorkshire, then went to live with her mother.

He tracked down all the names and addresses of her friends he believed were involved and passed them on to police.

Meanwhile her school was reporting Charlotte had begun arriving looking 'dirty and extremely thin'.

She was going missing for days at a time, according to agency notes.

By October last year she 'admitted she has slept with different Asian males.'

The police told Charlotte's father they hoped to take action against the men.

That was 17 months ago and he is still waiting.

'There's no will to deal with this issue in Keighley' he said.

'What chance have these kids got if that's the attitude of the police?'

There is a culture 'which assumes that once a girl gets to 14 she's beyond hope of intervention - it's too late,' a source told The Times.

Police and care agencies often say that they cannot take action against suspects without the victim's co-operation.

However, a 2008 protocol established by the force and West Yorkshire's five local authorities states: 'Adults involved in child sexual exploitation... should be treated as child sex abusers and subjected to the full rigour of the criminal law.'

NICOLA'S STORY

Nicola is the only case in six who was groomed by a gang of white men.

The abuse began when she was 12 after a visit to Leeds from her family home in Bradford.

Nicola had thought they were 'really nice people' but by 13 she was doing drugs - 'everything but heroin'.

She was raped twice. The first time she was 'drugged up to the eyeballs' and remembers being dragged into a bedroom and gang raped.

Afterwards her mother took Nicola to the police station, only to be told that 'we don't deal with that here'.

In desperation Nicola's mother took her daughter to New Zealand and away from the gang.

She let her return four months later.

Nicola did return to her old haunts but discovered it wasn't really what she wanted.

'I used to think it was so exciting,' she told The Times. 'But after New Zealand, it was like seeing them with another pair of eyes.'

She hasn't been back since.

Children's minister, Tim Loughton, suggested two weeks ago that the plan will call on councils to act with a 'much greater urgency' to identify victims of sexual exploitation while taking 'robust action against those who commit these appalling crimes.'

As well as the gang rape case of the girl in Leeds, five new cases have been highlighted by The Times' investigation.

No one has been prosecuted for sex exploitation in any of them. Only one of the girls in the six cases had been in care.

One was groomed by white students, but in all the other cases, the perpetrators were Asian, mostly of Pakistani origin.

This pattern of abuse at the hands of male Asian gangs in the West Yorkshire area has been highlighted before, but never formally acknowledged.

In January the Asian ringleaders of a gang in Derby, who brought a ‘reign of terror’ to a city’s streets, targeting and grooming young girls for horrific sexual abuse, were jailed.

Abid Saddique and Mohammed Liaqat were told they would serve a minimum of 11 years and eight years respectively before they could be considered for release.

A DfE spokesman refused to reveal the contents of the National Action Plan but said: 'We are publishing an action plan this week and that will draw on work around the country to prevent sexual exploitation, identify those at risk and support victims.

'It will address the challenge of securing prosecutions and the need for robust action against perpetrators.

Four police officers were stabbed as they dealt with a disturbance today in Kingsbury, north London.

2011-11-19T14:34:00.001Z

The incident is believed to have happened at the Kingsbury Halal Butchers just 100 yards from Kingsbury Tube station and in a busy shopping street.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘Police were called at approximately 8.40am to a disturbance in Kingsbury Road, Kingsbury.

Crime scene: The multiple stabbing is believed to have taken place at Kingsbury Halal Butchers

Cordoned off: Metropolitan Police officers at the scene of the attack, with a paramedic's kit visible in the foreground

‘Officers attended and attempted to speak with a man, who subsequently attacked them.

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Child rapist used 'human rights' to fight deportation - then struck again

‘Four officers were injured during the incident and have been taken to hospital.

‘A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remains in custody at a north London police station.’

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed to MailOnline that all four officers are in a stable condition.

One sustained a stab wound to the stomach, another sustained head injuries and a stab wound to the arm, a third was wounded in the leg while a fourth suffered a broken hand.

Further down from Kingsbury Halal Butchers on the other side of the roundabout Ketan Vyas, the manager of the VB and Sons cash-and-carry store, described how a man aged 30 to 40 had burst into his shop chased by police.

Shock: The attack happened in broad daylight on a busy shopping street

Stabbing: The area has been sealed off by police, with one man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder

He went on: 'He picked up some cans of beans and threw them at the police and then carried on running out of the store and down the road.

'There were a lot of police after him. He was only in here for a few seconds. Fortunately no staff were harmed.'

Shopkeeper Girish Modha said: 'A man was shouting at police in a small alleyway next to a hairdresser's shop which neighbours mine.

'He grabbed a piece of fluorescent tubing and brandished it at police. He then ran down Kingsbury Road, going into a cash-and-carry shop. At one point I think he threw a brick and smashed a police car window.

'He then ran round the roundabout and carried on towards the Tube station. He went into a butcher's, got a knife and that's when the stabbing took place.'

A worker at a Carphone Warehouse store opposite the butcher's said: 'After the incident I saw about eight police officers on top of a man. Ambulances arrived to take away the injured policemen and the man was also taken away.'

Sky's Martin Brunt tweeted that one of the officers was stabbed in the stomach and that the attacker went 'berserk'.

Eyewitnesses told Bottr that police were called after a man began to attack people 'randomly' .

Brunt added that the suspect had been shouting in the street in 'quite a disturbed way', which led to 999 calls being made.

The Kingsbury Roundabout in north London where the incident happened

Injured: Four police officers have been taken to hospital to be treated for knife wounds, according to Scotland Yard, after being attacked at Kingsbury roundabout

Olympia Logofagul, 24, who works at the Kings Coffee shop on Kingsbury Road, said: 'I was working and I saw some police officers standing outside.

'There were a lot of officers, more than five but no more than 10.'

A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said they took five patients to hospital, all conscious and breathing.

She said: 'We were called at 8.50 this morning to an incident in Kingsbury Road.

'We sent two single responders in cars, four ambulance crews and a duty officer.

'We treated five patients, they were all conscious and breathing, and they were taken to hospital.'

Kingsbury Road - a busy thoroughfare in north-west London and normally jammed with shoppers on a Saturday morning - was deserted either side of the roundabout, with police having blocked off the road in both directions.

The hairdressers, Mr Modha's sweet shop and a chemist were cordoned off.

There are 30 police cars and 15 ambulances attended

Rio de Janeiro’s most wanted drugs baron who controlled the drug trade in South America’s biggest favela with fear and intimidation for 30 years has been arrested

2011-11-13T23:03:00.001Z

Rio de Janeiro’s most wanted drugs baron who controlled the drug trade in South America’s biggest favela with fear and intimidation for 30 years has been arrested after a high risk undercover police operation. Photo: AP

Antonio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, known as Nem, was captured after being discovered hiding in the boot of a car stopped at a roadblock, as police surrounded the sprawling Rocinha shanty-town in an attempt finally to wrest back control of the area.

Pictures showed Lopes, 35, looking anguished in handcuffs as he was led to an armoured vehicle by heavily-armed police following his arrest at around midnight on Wednesday.

Brazilian police said the man driving the car had claimed to be a Congolese diplomat in an attempt to avoid the vehicle being searched before the occupants offered a bribe of one million Brazilian reais (£357,000) for police to let them go.

Residents of Rocinha and wealthy neighbouring districts alike were gripped by fear amid concerns that the operation could lead to open street battles between police and criminal gangs armed with machine guns, assault rifles and grenades.

Twelve families were reportedly forced from their houses in the night by gang members who wanted to use them as hideouts, while children who attend schools in the area were being excused from lessons.

UK border checks are 'a bad joke', whistleblower claims

2011-11-13T22:39:00.001Z

Under-pressure staff are said to be relying on false data and "massaging" official figures to mask the full extent of the immigration chaos at Britain's borders. The whistleblower, a middle manager who does not want to be identified, said UKBA staff lack the resources to track down asylum seekers. As a result, it is claimed, complicated immigration cases are being abandoned to save time, while detention centres employ a "one in, one out" policy that sees low-risk detainees released to allow more dangerous foreigners to be locked up. The whistleblower said British border checks had become "haphazard" and "a bad joke". "The whole place is a basket case," he told The Sunday Times (£). "Asylum seekers run rings around us and we are virtually powerless to do anything about it. It is depressing."

Drug Smuggling Accused Border Guard Baljinder Kandola At Loss For Words At Trial

2011-11-13T12:34:00.001Z

While one former Indo-Canadian border guard got five years for his part in a drug smuggling ring – another is currently on trial for his part in a different operation that brought millions of illicit drugs into Canada. Baljinder Kandola, a former Canadian border guard who was charged with being part of a cocaine-smuggling ring, was at a loss for words during much of his testimony on Tuesday to explain why he risked so much to help a millionaire auto-parts importer for nothing in return. Under cross-examination by Crown counsel James Torrance, Kandola said he agreed to wave his co-accused Shminder Singh Johal and associates in his three automotive companies through the border, helping them avoid inspection, reported the Province newspaper. Kandola — who worked at the Pacific Highway crossing from July 2001 until his arrest on Oct. 25, 2007 — admitted he made unauthorized use of Canadian Border Services Agency databases to come to the conclusion Johal had been subjected to inspections over the years unfairly. “He asked if I was able to wave him through,” Kandola told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly, who is hearing the case without a jury. “It would save him time and money, and he wouldn’t be harassed.” Torrance reminded Kandola of his testimony a day earlier, when he said he was risking his job, his pension and his standing in the Sikh community by breaking his oath to protect Canada’s borders. “What was [Johal] offering you in return?” asked the prosecutor. “He didn’t offer me anything,” replied Kandola. “In my mind he was bringing auto parts into Canada.” Torrance asked, “This [waving Johal through] was definitely something you shouldn’t do?” “Yes,” agreed the witness. “Then why would you want to help a successful millionaire businessman?” Kandola replied: “I don’t know, I’ve asked myself the same question.” Torrance turned to Kandola’s illegal use of the databases to come to the conclusion Johal was unfairly harassed. A “lookout” had been placed on Johal’s border crossings after a tip from the RCMP. “Did you not consider [Johal] was previously suspected of smuggling cocaine?” asked Torrance. “No,” said Kandola. “That was all cleared up by your queries [into the databases]?” “I guess so,” replied the defendant. Torrance then meticulously went through Kandola’s phone, text and CBSA database records to show that he called Johal to let him know when he was in position to wave him through the border and when the “lookout” was on or off during the wee hours of Feb. 10, 2007. Asked if he was paid by Johal when they met at a 7-Eleven store the next day, Kandola denied it. Kandola was arrested on Oct. 25, 2007, shortly after he waved through a car driven by Herman Riar that contained 208 kilograms of cocaine. Riar pleaded guilty to drug smuggling and was sentenced last year to 12 years in prison. Kandola and Johal have pleaded not guilty to charges of drug smuggling, illegal firearms, conspiracy and bribing an official. The trial in New Westminster is scheduled to last three more weeks.

Britain's FBI 'abandoned chasing crime Mr Bigs because it's too difficult'

2011-11-12T23:41:00.001Z

The elite unit set up by Labour to fight major criminals has failed to catch crime bosses because it is ‘too difficult’ and may even have been infiltrated by the underworld, says a whistleblower. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is supposed to be Britain’s answer to the FBI. When it was launched, Tony Blair pledged the organisation would ‘make life hell’ for the country’s ‘Mr Bigs’. It recruited from the cream of the police, immigration, customs and MI5 and had more than 4,000 staff in offices all over the world. But Tim Lee, a former intelligence officer with SOCA, claims the agency has been blighted by corruption and bureaucracy. Mr Lee, 58, who joined SOCA in Nottingham when it was formed in 2006, paints a damning picture of his five years in the organisation. He claims: An investigation into a crime boss was mysteriously dropped when a SOCA officer with alleged links to the suspect took over the running of the case. Allegations of serious sexual misconduct made by a female SOCA worker against a male colleague were covered up. Hostility arose between police, customs and immigration officers when operational units were first formed in 2006.

B.C. skipper linked to cocaine shipment posed beside pile of cash

2011-11-12T23:12:00.001Z

Just weeks before notorious B.C. skipper John Philip Stirling was caught near Colombia on a boat full of cocaine, he sent his neighbour in Chase — a community in B.C.'s Shuswap region — photos of himself lying on the floor beside a giant pile of money.

In the accompanying email, Stirling told Shawn Martin that he wouldn't repay cash he owed him despite being flush after a recent trip to the South American cocaine centre.

Bizarre details of Stirling's feud with his neighbours, Martin and his mother Myrna Beckman, over loans totalling $30,000 are laid out in a suit and counter-suit filed in August and September in Kamloops Supreme Court and obtained the Vancouver Sun.

Stirling was arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard on Oct. 18 just north of Colombia with 400 kilograms of cocaine secreted aboard his sailboat. He is currently detained in a Miami Detention Centre where he told officials "there was nothing wrong with cocaine trafficking and that the United States should mind its own business."

"He further remarked that if Canada didn't have such high taxes, (he and his co-accused) could get legitimate jobs."

If allegations in the B.C. court documents are accurate, some in the town of 2,500 were aware of Stirling's plan to import cocaine.

Martin and Beckman, who live down the road from Stirling and his wife Marlene, say in their court claim they heard at a barbecue last March "that the plaintiff John Stirling was in Colombia setting up a massive cocaine deal."

Martin and Beckman said their efforts to get repayment on several loans to the Stirlings were met with threats and harassment.

They also said accusations by the Stirlings that the neighbours were the aggressors in the dispute are ridiculous — Martin has dwarfism and gets around with crutches and a wheelchair; his mother, 63, is his caregiver.

Both Martin and Beckman declined to comment to the Sun because their case is before the courts. Marlene Stirling did not return calls.

The documents show that Stirling, a 60-year-old convicted cocaine trafficker, struck first against his neighbours, filing a suit on Aug. 29 asking for $10 million in damages.

Stirling said in a brief synopsis that over the last two years, his disabled neighbour and mom have threatened the Stirlings "with bodily harm and death."

"The defendants have written the plaintiffs blackmail letters for money," Stirling wrote. "The defendants have caused anxiety, depression, stress, loss of sleep requiring medical care to the petitioners.

"The defendants have caused travel to become necessary from Colombia for John Stirling at great expense and loss from work to protect his family . . . The defendants have or have attempted to hire Hells Angels to cause murder or physical harm to the plaintiffs and have made statements by phone and email of that intent," the Stirling claim said.

The neighbours fired back in a detailed defence filed Sept. 14, denying all the allegations and making a counter-claim.

They said that, unlike Stirling, they have no criminal record and no connection to the notorious biker gang.

"The defendants do not know any Hells Angels or Hells Angels associates and have never had dealings with them or hired them to do anything," Martin and Beckman said, adding the only information they have about the Angels came from the Stirlings themselves.

"The plaintiff Marlene Stirling also told the defendants that two Hells Angels members sat at her kitchen table and had coffee on multiple different times," the documents said.

They said they learned in an Internet search of Stirling's 2001 bust on his fishing boat, the Western Wind, with 2.5 tonnes of cocaine owned by the Hells Angels. He was never charged.

Tensions escalated between the former friends in August, when Stirling "was back from Colombia and was bragging that he had two suitcases full of money containing in excess of $200,000," the mother-son team said.

Martin fired off an email, "asking John to pay the rest of the money the plaintiffs owed the defendants for loans from June 1, 2007, to Feb. 23, 2011."

On Aug. 23, Stirling sent his neighbours "an email with a picture of him laying on the floor of his Adams' Lake residence with a pile of money in front of him, holding a piece of paper with Aug. 19, 2011, written on it," the claim said.

The email said: "I told you if you waited you would have got paid, but since you didn't, you will never receive a dime and everyone else has been paid back for their investment but you."

They said Stirling warned them that he would go to court and ruin them if they didn't back off.

"The defendants have videotape evidence of the plaintiff John Stirling threatening to kill more than one person at gunpoint," the documents said.

"On Sept. 10, 2011, the defendants were informed that the plaintiff John Stirling has been seeking to hire people to burn down the defendants' house and cause physical harm to them."

Martin and Beckman said "a man calling himself Ryan showed up at the defendants' residence wearing a black leather jacket with a Hells Angel patch and was looking for the plaintiff John Stirling because John apparently owed this guy Ryan money."

Martin said in the court statement that he called Stirlings' house and warned Marlene that someone was looking for John "and that he sounded really p—ed off."

Brodie Clark, the £135,000-a-year head of the UK Border Force, approached the Home Secretary’s office for permission to weaken passport checks

2011-11-07T10:59:00.001Z

Whistleblowers last night blamed the latest border checks scandal on an official obsession with cutting queuing times at the nation’s air and sea ports.

Staff spoke out following the explosive revelations that a senior UK Border Agency official had secretly abandoned checks on passports and even anti-terror watch lists for non-EU citizens.

Theresa May will today give an emergency statement on the fiasco to MPs, which has led to the establishment of three inquiries.

Suspended: Brodie Clarke is now facing the sack after claims that he relaxed passport checks

Investigators are examining allegations that Brodie Clark, the £135,000-a-year head of the UK Border Force, approached the Home Secretary’s office for permission to weaken passport checks during the busy summer months. Senior figures say he was explicitly told ‘No’ in writing – but then went ‘rogue’ and implemented the proposal anyway.

Body found in search for Dublin drug addict killed over $4,000 gang debt

2011-11-07T05:43:00.001Z

Irish police have recovered the body of a drug addict murdered over a debt of just a few thousand dollars. Ciaran Noonan, a 29-year-old father of one, was abducted near his East Wall home in Dublin on October 20th. His body was discovered in a ditch on farmland five miles from the Meath town of Trim on Friday night. Noonan’s family visited the site and laid flowers after the body was removed and taken to Tallaght hospital for a post mortem. Police believe Noonan was beaten to death after he was snatched in broad daylight on Russell Avenue in the East Wall. A priest in County Meath received a phone call last week with information about the location of the addict’s body. Speaking to the media, officers outlined their belief that Noonan was killed over a small drug debt to a Dublin gang, believed to be no more than $4,000. The gang had forced Noonan to collect money from other addicts in the north inner city but it is believed he used the money to feed his own habit and ran foul of the gang’s notorious leader. Noonan was heard shouting "I’m dead" as he was hit with an iron bar and dragged into the back of a car. Officers believe the gang intended to beat Noonan severely to force him or his family to pay his drug debt but the punishment beating went horribly wrong. Two women, arrested on suspicion of withholding evidence relating to the kidnapping, have been released without charge. Noonan’s mother Geraldine told reporters: “We had hoped that Ciaran would be found alive. At least now we can give him a funeral.”

Belizean Bloods have been charged with drug trafficking and passport fraud

2011-11-04T00:38:00.001Z

Two dozen members of a Chicago street gang have been charged with drug trafficking and passport fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. The charges against the members of the Belizean Bloods street gang, said to operate in Chicago and Evanston, Ill., were contained in an indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, a release said. The charges arise from two coordinated investigations that included agents from multiple federal law enforcement agencies as well as the Chicago and Evanston Police Departments, the department said. In 2009, the Chicago Field Office of the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service began investigating alleged passport fraud by Belizean nationals, while at the same time the FBI and Evanston and Chicago police were investigating alleged narcotics trafficking by suspected members of the Belizean Bloods

Arrests of Mexican drug cartel leaders in Texas raise concerns

2011-11-04T00:26:00.001Z

The recent arrests of three alleged drug gang leaders from Mexico and the shooting of a sheriff's deputy in South Texas are raising fears among some Lone Star State officials that the brutal drug wars plaguing Mexico are taking hold north of the Rio Grande. On Sunday, Deputy Hugo Rodriguez of Hidalgo County in the southern tip of Texas was shot several times when he pulled over a vehicle containing a person kidnapped by members of Mexico's Gulf Cartel, County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said. Rodriguez's bulletproof vest saved his life, Trevino said. "I have always said we have never reported spillover violence, but I have to say that this particular incident is our first example," Trevino said. Trevino said cartel leaders told members to enter the United States to search for marijuana stolen from the cartel. The Mexican gang used members of a Texas-based street gang, mostly illegal immigrants, to seek out the drugs, Trevino said. And three alleged high-ranking leaders of the Gulf Cartel have been arrested in Texas in the past two weeks after seeking refuge in the United States in the aftermath of internal gang warfare, according to federal court documents released this week. "Amazingly, these individuals are using Texas as a safe haven to protect themselves from the very violence that they have created," U.S. Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, told reporters this week. The internal warfare was sparked by the September murder in Mexico of Samuel Flores Borrego, a top Gulf Cartel leader, according to the court documents. His death has led to a power struggle between two factions of the Gulf Cartel. DRUG ARREST Rafael Cardenas Vela, 38, the nephew of a co-founder of the Gulf Cartel, was arrested October 21 in Port Isabel, Texas, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He is charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute drugs and using a fraudulent passport. Two other Gulf Cartel members, Eudoxio Ramos Garcia and Jose Luis Zuniga Hernandez, have been arrested in Texas in the past week, according to ICE. All three arrests are related to the split in the Gulf Cartel, said Scott Stewart, vice president of tactical intelligence for the Austin-based private intelligence firm STRATFOR. "The friction between two parts of the Gulf Cartel has been brewing for the past couple of months, and now it appears it is breaking out into all out war," Stewart told Reuters on Thursday. "It is quite possible that the information that led to Cardenas' arrest was actually leaked to U.S. authorities by his rivals in the cartel." Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Wednesday wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama that the three arrests and the shooting of the deputy show that the administration is failing to secure the border. "I implore you to aggressively confront this escalating threat," Abbott wrote. A call to the White House press office was not immediately returned on Thursday. Monica Weisberg-Stewart, a McAllen business owner and the chairwoman of the security committee of the Texas Border Coalition, said incidents like the ones from the past two weeks aren't new in South Texas. "There is still less crime down here on the border than there is in most parts of the country," said Weisberg-Stewart, whose coalition includes elected officials and business owners. "What we need is to work on establishing a true sense of security, and not take reactive steps, which will give us a false sense of security."

Maurice Boland launches iTalk FM radio

2011-11-03T16:57:00.001Z

THIS month radio presenter, Maurice Boland, will launch iTalk FM, a new radio station on the Costa del Sol. The radio station will be based at the Five Star Kempinski Hotel in Estepona, according to Boland. Presenters include: Mat Court, Jack Jackson, Stephen Ritson, Sheila Sanderson , David Jelley, Richie Allan, and Maurice Boland, according to a statement from the presenter.

A man who fled to Spain after being charged in connection with a terrifying robbery has been jailed for 10 years

2011-11-03T14:32:00.001Z

A man who fled to Spain after being charged in connection with a terrifying robbery has been jailed for 10 years. Stephen Devalda provided a motorbike used by two robbers to get to and from the scene of a cash-in-transit raid. The robbers, who were carrying an imitation firearm and a machete, attacked a security guard collecting money from an Asda supermarket. Devalda, of Stanton Avenue, Salford, was arrested and charged in 2007 but he went on to skip bail and fled to Spain. A joint operation between the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and Spanish police was launched – and they tracked him down in Malaga in March. CCTV of the robbery Devalda, 28, who pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to rob and a bail offence, has now been handed a sentence of 10 years and three months behind bars. Detective Inspector Simon Cheyte said: “This was a pre-planned and violent attack which has left the security guard so traumatised and distressed that he has not been able to return to his normal work duties. “This investigation was carried out by a small team over a protracted period of time. They showed dedication and determination to bring this offender to justice and their resolve to succeed has lead to the conviction of a member of an organised and dangerous criminal gang from the Salford area of Manchester. “Thankfully these types of offences are extremely rare but we take them very seriously and are committed to carrying out full and thorough investigations to identify those responsible. “This should demonstrate the lengths Lancashire Constabulary will go to in order to arrest people and bring them justice. I am pleased with the sentence and hope it sends a clear message that this type of offence will not be tolerated.” The court heard how the armed robbery was carried out at Asda, in Colne, in May 2005. Two men in crash helmets arrived on a motorbike. The security guard was attacked with a machete after being knocked to the ground. The victim had a handgun pushed into his neck and a demand was made for money. He was then hit over the helmet with such force that he fell to the floor. One of the robbers shouted 'kill him' to his accomplice. He was ordered to tell a colleague to pass money out. The terrified guard curled up in a ball as the machete was used to rain blows to his head and upper arms. The court heard how the ordeal left him with both physical and psychological injuries. He had three lacerations to the upper arms and £25,000 in cash was stolen. The robbers made off on the motorbike and later switched to a getaway vehicle. Devalda pleaded guilty on the basis that he had been recruited by someone else. His role had been limited to providing the motorbike. A second man, Andrew Moran, 25, from Salford, was also charged with conspiracy to rob in connection with the raid. He appeared at Burnley Crown Court in March 2009 after a six week trial and was remanded into custody by the judge pending the result of the jury’s deliberations. Moran then assaulted a Group 4 security member, vaulted over the dock and ran from the court building. The jury later returned a guilty verdict and he was convicted in his absence of conspiracy to rob, for which he is to be yet sentenced. Moran is still missing and this week was named one of Britain’s most wanted criminals as part of a national Crimestoppers appeal. Det Insp Cheyte said: “We are determined to get Moran back before the courts to serve the time for his crime and I would urge anyone with any information as to his whereabouts to come forward and contact the police.” Moran is described as being around 5ft 8in, of stocky build with cropped fair hair. He has a Manchester accent

COLOMBIAN lingerie model dubbed "Narco Queen" was handed six years in jail

2011-11-03T14:21:00.001Z

COLOMBIAN lingerie model dubbed "Narco Queen" was handed six years in jail yesterday after trying to ship cocaine to Europe in her suitcases. Stunning Angie Sanclemente Valencia, 31, had denied helping her boyfriend recruit other beautiful young women to work for her international drug smuggling ring. The former beauty queen tried to take drugs from Argentina to Europe in late 2009 via Mexico. She was arrested in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in May 2010 after months on the run from police. Her attorney German Delgado said he would appeal the conviction. He insisted there was no proof, declaring that Sanclemente should be acquitted as she had no criminal record. Nicolas Gualco, her boyfriend, was also sentenced to six years and eight months for his role in the same plot. Sanclemente claimed during the trial in Argentina that she travelled to the country to marry Gualco and was not involved in the drug trade. She told the court: "I did not come here to commit crimes, I am not a narco-trafficker." She said all she had done for her boyfriend was "make a few calls", adding: "God knows I did it for love." Another man, Venezuelan Gustavo Paez Arneses, was sentenced to six years and two months for his role in the smuggling attempt.

Addicts may have glitch in frontal brain

2011-11-03T08:19:00.001Z

“The better we understand our decision-making brain circuitry, the better we can target treatment, whether it’s pharmaceutical, behavioral, or deep brain stimulation,” says Jonathan Wallis, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at University of California, Berkeley. Wallis says he was inspired to study the brain mechanism behind substance abuse after observing the lengths to which an addict will go to fulfill a craving, despite knowing the downside of a habit. He wanted to know what the drug did to the brain that made it so difficult to not make the right choice and what prevented the addict from making a healthier one. Straight from the Source Read the original study DOI: 10.1038/nn.2961 In the new study, published in Nature Neuroscience, Wallis targeted the orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex—two areas in the frontal brain—because previous research has shown that patients with damage to these areas of the brain are impaired in the choices they make. While these individuals may appear perfectly normal on the surface, they routinely make decisions that create chaos in their lives. A similar dynamic has been observed in chronic drug addicts, alcoholics, and people with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. “They get divorced, quit their jobs, lose their friends, and lose all their money,” Wallis says. “All the decisions they make are bad ones.” To test the hypothesis that these areas of the brain are the key players in impaired decision-making, researchers measured the neural activity of macaque monkeys as they played games in which they identified the pictures most likely to deliver juice through a spout into their mouths. The animals quickly learned which pictures would most frequently deliver the greatest amount of juice, allowing researchers to see what calculations they were making, and in which part of the brain. The brains of macaques function similarly to those of humans in basic decision making. The exercise was designed to see how the animals weigh costs, benefits, and risks. The results show that the orbitofrontal cortex regulates neural activity, depending on the value or “stakes” of a decision. This part of the brain enables you to switch easily between making important decisions, such as what school to attend or which job to take, and making trivial decisions such as coffee versus tea or burrito versus pizza. But in the case of addicts and people with damage to the orbitofrontal cortex, the neural activity does not change based on the gravity of the decision, presenting trouble when these individuals try to get their brains in gear to make sound choices, the findings suggest. As for the anterior cingulate cortex, the study found that when this part of the brain functions normally, we learn quickly whether a decision we made matched our expectations. If we eat food that makes us sick, we don’t eat it again. But in people with a malfunctioning anterior cingulate cortex, these signals are missing, and so they continue to make poor choices, Wallis says. “This is the first study to pin down the calculations made by these two specific parts of the brain that underlie healthy decision-making,” Wallis says, who believes that a clearer understanding of how people with addictions make decisions may help remove some of the stigma of the condition. However, Wallis warned that the findings should not be used as a rationale for addicts to maintain unhealthy habits. Chronic drug and alcohol use changes the brain circuitry, and that can lead to unhealthy choices, he says. If anything, the findings offer hope that, through understanding the mechanism of addiction, treatment can be targeted at these risk-weighing, decision-making centers of the brain. “We know beyond doubt that addiction is a complex brain disease with significant behavioral characteristics,” says Susan E. Foster, vice president and director of policy research and analysis at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. “This research is an important contribution to understanding how the disease works. The challenge going forward is to sharpen our understanding, translate this knowledge into effective medical treatments and new prevention strategies and ultimately find a cure for this disease.” Researchers from the University of London and the University of Oxford contributed to the study that was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Chief Superintendent Mark Mathias from South Wales Police said: "Each addict can cost society not far off £850,000

2011-11-03T08:12:00.001Z

Photo: PA

Top officers warned of the increasing cost of drug-ravaged society with hundreds of millions is being spent on the increasing number of addicts.

Chief Superintendent Mark Mathias from South Wales Police said: "Each addict can cost society not far off £850,000.

"You work through all the treatment, all the criminal justice issues that arise - then you see a significant costs involved."

Police in Swansea have launched a £500,00 clampdown in the city known as the "heroin capital of Wales" where officers have seized 1,000 "deals" in the last two weeks.

Superintendent Phil Davies said: "Some of these drug dealers have stated they are untouchable.

"My message to them is there is no hiding place, we will find you, we will catch you and we will put you behind bars."

Addict Amy Protheroe, 20, who has been an addict since she was 13 has just started her fifth treatment programme in Swansea.

She said: "When you're a heroin addict you wake up and you think straight away: "Where am I going to get money from, where am I going to score from?'"

"You get up, you go out, you get the money for the heroin, you buy the heroin, you do the heroin and then it starts all over again.

"To be honest, heroin has wrecked my life."

Hackers Challenge Mexican Crime Syndicate

2011-11-01T07:35:00.001Z

The hackers’ message, delivered via YouTube by a man wearing a red tie and a Guy Fawkes mask, was as bold and risky as anything produced by the Zetas, Mexico’s most ruthless crime syndicate. But this time, the Zetas were the target. Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. They had kidnapped a geek with backup — a respected member of the hackers collective known as Anonymous. “You have made a great mistake by taking one of us,” said the video’s masked figure. “Release him.” Or else, the message said, the names of government officials, taxi drivers and journalists who worked with the Zetas would be published online. The goal, they said, was the arrest of these suspected collaborators, but was there a possibility they might be killed by a rival cartel? Yes, said self-identified members of Anonymous, acknowledging the danger. Beyond that, might the hackers also be targeted? Were they afraid? “Of course,” said a blog post on Monday. Still, some hackers said, it was time for Netizens to fight back in a country where the news media have been cowed into submission, and where the justice system is often complicit in heinous crimes that regularly go unpunished. “We believe it is high time to say enough to the terrible situation caused by the falsehood of the government and lack of scruples of people who do not care about the welfare of their fellow human beings,” they posted. Anonymous appears to already have the information on collaborators. A person with knowledge of its operations, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said that online group conversations on Monday showed that the hackers have “a list of 100 or so of the major contacts of the Zetas.” It was not clear how they obtained the tally, or how accurate it was. And that appeared to be a major concern. A Facebook message on Sunday from one of the so-called hacktivists said there were indications that the Mexican government had tainted the Anonymous operation, known as OpCartel, “putting in doubt the quality of the information.” Whether Anonymous will publish what it has is unclear. The original YouTube message, uploaded on Oct. 6, said that Nov. 5 would be “a day to remember,” and the group has already provided a first strike. Last week, Anonymous defaced the Web site of a former Tabasco State prosecutor, Gustavo Rosario Torres, replacing his usual message with the image of jack-o’-lanterns and an announcement that Mr. Rosario “es Zeta.” But on Monday, in the wake of a security firm’s report highlighting the potential loss of life from naming names, there were more mixed messages. A steady stream of posts on Twitter referring to OpCartel revealed an intense debate over the benefits and costs of moving forward. On Twitter and in private e-mails — members of Mexico’s underground online media said — there appeared to be a widening gap between supporters and opponents of Anonymous’s mission. This may have been by design. The blog post announcing that OpCartel would continue emphasized that “anyone who is not properly protected should immediately and publicly disassociate themselves from this operation.” Several Twitter accounts that had been active on the topic fell silent. Several other members of Mexico’s online crime-reporting community said that OpCartel was causing internal strife, and that they had been asked by friends to stay away from anything having to do with the operation, even basic Twitter posts. Fred Burton, a vice president at Stratfor, which published the report warning against the Anonymous plan, said that fears of reprisals were well founded. “Informants in that world are usually found dangling from a bridge or beheaded,” Mr. Burton said. Those identified by Anonymous would be vulnerable to rival gangs, he said, while the hackers and their supporters might also be targets. And because Mexico’s criminal groups have infiltrated Mexican law enforcement, which has access to sophisticated tracking software, anonymity online might not be enough protection. At least three people believed to have been online tipsters have been killed recently because of what their murderers described on public banners as snitching. Still, perhaps because of the danger — or perhaps because of the desperate need of many Mexicans for a sense of control as crime spirals — support for OpCartel continued to flow through the Web on Monday afternoon. Several Twitter users posted WikiLeaks cables with information about the Zetas. Others offered moral support. “You will never falter you will not fail, bring down the corruption,” wrote a user with the handle @fingers_digita. “PLZ be careful comrades, EXTREMELY dangerous,” wrote @AnonOWS, using the hash tag #justice for emphasis. Even those unsure about OpCartel said that it was significant as a citizen revolt. That was the core defense in the Anonymous blog post, which said a small task force was formed because “the voice of the people have clamored for help.” And according to some experts, regardless of whether OpCartel goes forward, the anger and outrage of Anonymous will be remembered, and channeled for another day. “This is not about a desire for information,” said Hector Amaya, a Mexican professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. “It’s about the need for a remedy.

Gangster suspect Freddie is bailed in Spain

2011-11-01T07:07:00.001Z

SUSPECTED gangland boss 'Fat' Freddie Thompson is enjoying the Spanish sunshine after being freed on bail following a brief court appearance. Mr Thompson (30) was allowed to leave a Costa del Sol court a free man yesterday after more than a fortnight in jail in Ireland and Spain. He was told he was suspected of offences including drugs trafficking, money laundering and unlawful assembly, at the private court hearing in Estepona near Marbella. But he was spared more prison time after agreeing to bail conditions including the surrender of his passport and a ban on leaving Spain. Accomplices He has also been ordered to sign on at the court twice a month -- a requirement likely to bring him into contact with alleged accomplices John Cunningham and Christy Kinahan's sons Daniel and Christopher. Suspected gang boss Christy is in jail in Belgium after being extradited there in August. Mr Thompson's bail address has not been made public. A court source confirmed yesterday: "Frederick Thompson has been released on bail. "He has been informed he is under investigation for crimes including money laundering, unlawful assembly and drugs trafficking. Court "The three conditions of his bail are that he cannot leave Spain, hands in his passport to the authorities and signs on at court twice a month on days fixed by the court." Mr Thompson consented to extradition after being arrested in Dublin on a European arrest warrant on October 14. He spent 13 days in Cloverhill Prison before being flown to Spain last Friday. He is thought to have spent the weekend in prisons in Madrid and Alhaurin de la Torre near Malaga. He is said to be facing nine years in prison in Spain if convicted. Under Spanish law, he has not been officially charged with any crimes.

Fat FreddieThomson has been wanted in Spain for the past 18 months

2011-11-01T06:44:00.001Z

30 year old Irishman, Freddie Thompson, known in the criminal world as ‘Fat Freddie', was arrested by the Garda in Dublin on October 21.

The arrest order dates from 18 months ago and was issued by the courts in Estepona, Málaga. The police consider that Thomson was a member of the Irish gang led by Christopher Kinahan, which was broken up by police in May 2010 in an operation codenamed ‘shovel’ which saw the arrest of more than 30 people in Spain, Ireland and the U.K. They were all linked to large scale drug and arms trafficking, as well as money laundering and other crimes committed on the Costa del Sol.

Thomson is now expected to declare before the court in Estepona this week. Police had thought that he could have been hiding in Holland.
He has been the most famous prisoner in the Clovenhill prison since his arrest.

Marbella police arrested a man considered to be a ‘frontman’ for the group, who was paid a monthly sum for the use of his name. Officially he owned luxury cars and businesses, when in fact he was almost pennyless.

Most of the money is thought to have been laundered in Brazil where real estate was purchased. 60 properties worth an estimated 150 million € have been impounded on the Costa del Sol in connection with the case.

Welcome to Oculto Café – Cordoba’s infamous Satanic saloon.

2011-10-31T23:51:00.001Z

GLASSES shoot across tabletops, busty vamps serve blood-red cocktails, and twisted locals raise a toast to an image of Aleister Crowley. Welcome to Oculto Café – Cordoba’s infamous Satanic saloon. The bar is situated in a maze of narrow, winding streets in the ancient ‘Old Town’ district. Stepping outside for a Marlboro, I scan my surroundings. It’s a chilly, moonlit night and the streets are deserted. Strain your ears, however, and you’ll hear muffled voices coming from dark balconies. It’s like a scene from Interview with the Vampire. As I re-enter, the room falls silent. A cross-eyed chap stares at me… well, I think it’s me… it’s hard to tell. Had my gothic guy-liner run, or had he caught a whiff of fresh meat? In this insular atmosphere, I feel as welcome as Gary Glitter at Tivoli World! Forget fruit machines and pool tables, it’s ouija boards and tarot cards that keep these punters amused. A little weakened, I seize a newspaper and hide in the corner. Alongside ads for ‘Black Angels’ and ‘Colombian Swallowers’, the classifieds are swarming with clairvoyants. I’m shocked! Isn’t Spain supposed to be a God-fearing country? But the truth is, up until the Inquisition (1478), Iberia was a hotbed of magic and sorcery. With the coming of Catholicism, however, mystics – including ‘witches’ and ‘healers’ were round-up and executed. For survival’s sake, Spaniards severed their ties with the ‘other side.’ Today, however, there is growing evidence that Spain is returning to its supernatural roots. Church-going is down (just 14.4%), and stories of Satanism are everywhere. In March 2011, an Almerian church was littered with satanic scrawls. Investigators claimed that the site had been used for a “black mass.” Tenerife’s Arona Cemetery has also been targeted by sinister cults. In 2008, graves were desecrated and animals sacrificed during “bizarre nocturnal rituals”. For sceptics, it’s easy to blame rebellious youth or drug-addicts for these atrocities. However, as someone who’s experienced dark forces – first hand – I try to keep an open mind. It all started in 2001 when I was filming a documentary at Devon’s Berry Pomeroy. In the castle grounds, I indivertibly captured an inhuman figure on camera. Whilst replaying the footage to BBC colleagues, the office computers went wild. In 2009, I moved my family to a 15th century cottage on the West Pennine Moors. Unbeknown to us, our ‘dream house’ was built on a Quaker burial site. During our six-month stay – we endured stamping noises, icy chills and orbs zipping round the lounge. At night, the constant thumping would deprive us of sleep, and we’d trudge into work like a couple of zombies. However, my most recent spooking occurred right here in Andalucia. One evening, I watched a can of Asturiana cider move sideways, hover and then drop off the table! Earlier that day, an old drinking buddy had been buried in Devon – was this his final ‘chin-chin’? Whatever it was, it scared the bejesus out of my missus and she hasn’t slept properly since. Two weeks on, and we’re sitting in Oculto, trying not to blush at orgy paintings. After some Dutch courage, I enquire about a séance at the bar. A black-toothed midget points towards a battered wooden door. Timidly, I wander down the corridor and knock on wood. It’s opened by a raven-haired gypsy. She’s both beautiful and grotesque: Penelope Cruz’s mum meets the Bride of Chucky. Without speaking – she beckons me in with a long, black talon. With low ceilings, purple walls and an absence of windows – the room is claustrophobic and unsettling. Under flickering candlelight, the Victorian death portraits seem to eyeball you from the walls. But it’s the cold air and fetid stench that’s really sending shivers down my spine. The woman glides over to a monolithic Ouija board and orders me to sit. She lays out a clutch of cards, including The Hanged Man, The Fool, The Stig, Jeremy Clarkson, Dog the Bounty Hunter, The Archbishop of Canterbury and Boy George. Okay… I lied about Boy George – but it’s all the scary ones! Suddenly, my stomach churns and I shout ‘Stop!’ I apologise for wasting her time – but I’ve got the heebie-jeebies. A floating cider is hardly The Ring – so why risk opening a fresh can of worms? I chat to Jose, a Pepe Reina lookalike in his late 20s. Around us, weirdoes chuck darts at an image of the Pope (only joking….it’s Desmond Tutu!) Jose is erudite and speaks fine English. Over Osbourne brandies, I pose the question: “So….Are you a Satanist?” “Of course”! Jose replies: Usually, I’d grab my coat, but by now, I’m immune to the madness. After dispelling myths of “priest-beating” and “baby-eating”, Jose insists that Satanists are “Perfectly normal.” Apparently, the only difference is they choose “indulgence over abstinence’, and prefer “vengeance” to forgiveness. Oh…..and they enjoy kinky sex and coke-snorting – but hey… so does the cast of Skins. By 1am I’m craving a Horlicks and a late night snack. I thank Jose and wish him a “hell-of-a-life.” We leave Occulto and hot-foot it to the Corredera for a greasy kebab. After filling our faces, we clamber into a taxi. We’re only 10-minutes from the hotel – but I’m bloated on beer and lamb offal. Back at the room, Jose’s words haunt me. Having spent the last five hours binge-drinking, ogling rude pictures and eating crap – could I be accused of “indulgence”? If Christianity equals modesty, chastity and turning the other cheek, what about all those times I’ve bought designer togs, belted a thug or lusted over lesbians? Perhaps I’m more Satanic than I thought? By bedtime, I’d seen no demons, virgin sacrifices or people snacking on goats’ head soup. This said, not everyone was as friendly as Jose, and the yokels at the bar seemed quite menacing. I’ve yet to decide whether Satanists are ordinary folk – daring to be different, or psychopaths to be avoided at all costs. I DO know, however, that pentangles are not for me. For one – I like animals too much to put their heads on sticks – and secondly, I root for the “goodies” when it kicks off on Buffy. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time at Occulto and found the experience enlightening. Whatever they are (or aren’t), there’s a pub full of them in Cordoba, and if you ever feel like taking a walk on the wild side, you know where to head.

Body found in boot of crashed car on Alicante motorway

2011-10-31T16:51:00.001Z

Firemen called out to an accident on the A-31 Alicante-Madrid motorway early on Monday found an unidentified body in the boot of a car which had crashed into the central reservation at Sax and then burst into flames. The body was partially burnt but appears to be that of a man. Reports indicate that the deceased had been tied up and gagged. No other occupants were found at the site and the Civil Guard are now trying to identify the victim and the cause of death.

Hells Angels have had a rough year in California.

2011-10-31T16:39:00.001Z

The Hells Angels have had a rough year in California. Three Northern California members have died violently in the last month amid a turf battle with a rival biker gang. And law enforcement officials on both ends of the motorcycle club's home state are pursuing and jailing members, with 26 Angels and their associates arrested recently in San Diego. The violence spilled into public view in the unlikeliest of places two weeks ago when thousands of Harley-Davidsons rolled up to a San Jose cemetery on a sunny Saturday afternoon to bury a Hells Angels leader who was gunned down weeks earlier in a Nevada casino. A Hells Angel allegedly shot and killed a fellow member at the cemetery and fled — the latest sign of the in-fighting and violence that has plagued the gang in recent months. And if the deadly gunfire were not enough, a member was plowed down by a van a week later near Oakland, the alleged the victim of road rage. While no one is predicting the demise of the notorious outlaw motorcycle club, law enforcement officials and gang experts said the Hells Angels' recent woes still stand out for an organization they describe as violent, sophisticated and disciplined with loyal-to-the-death members. "They are the heavyweight champions of the biker gang culture," said Jay Dobyns, an agent with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who infiltrated the Hells Angels in Arizona for two years beginning in 2001. "And every other biker gang wants the belt." The organization has a long history in California, dating to its founding in 1948 by returning World War II veterans in the dusty town of Fontana and including a notorious incident during a Rolling Stones show in Altamont in 1969 in which a spectator was stabbed by a Hells Angel working security. A jury later acquitted the killer, finding he acted in self defense. The U.S. Department of Justice says the Hells Angels now have as many as 2,500 members in 230 chapters in 26 countries, and are a major source of drug-trafficking. Federal, state and local police have pursued the club for decades, infiltrating it with undercover agents, prosecuting suspects with harsh charges once reserved for the Mafia and indicting members on charges ranging from drug trafficking to mortgage fraud. Yet the club flourished. They opened chapters worldwide, aggressively enforced their trademarks in court like a responsible Wall Street corporation and won high-profile acquittals and other legal battles with law enforcement. The ATF, which handles many federal biker cases, said it arrested more outlaw motorcycle gang members last year than any other since 2003. Police in Germany, Canada and elsewhere also report a surge in motorcycle gang violence, with much of it connected to the Hells Angels. The California Hells Angels' current problems are partly rooted in a battle with the Vagos, a California-based motorcycle club founded in the 1960s. The clubs have been bitter enemies dating at least back a decade to a violent 2001 confrontation at a Costa Mesa swap meet. "These groups are trying to expand their membership and dominance," said Kent Shaw, the California Attorney General's acting head of law enforcement. "There's going to be a number of clashes and it seems to have gotten worse over the last couple years. It seems to be coming to a flash point." After dozens of Vagos took over a bar in Lakeport, Calif., and rode their motorcycles up and down the main drag, officials went so far as to close the downtown to traffic on May 14. Lake County Sheriff Frank Rivero said the Vagos were making a statement about controlling the region after one of its members was allegedly beaten by Hells Angels earlier in the year. So Rivero put up a road block that day after the California Highway Patrol and FBI warned that Hells Angels were traveling toward town. The Angels turned back before reaching the road block. But now the district attorney is investigating whether the sheriff violated the club members' civil rights with his plans to stop them. The sheriff is unapologetic. "It's a basic response," Rivero said. "I'm not going to tolerate gang violence in Lake County." A month later, a Vagos member and a friend were severely beaten in a casino. Four Hells Angels have been charged with assault. Three were arrested and the sheriff said they were bailed out by fellow Angel Steve Tausan, who owned a bail bonds company. A fourth is being sought. In September, the two gangs fought again. San Jose Angels leader Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew was slain during a wild shootout with rival Vagos in a Reno-area casino on Sept. 23. It was at Pettigrew's burial where more violence occurred. Two shots were fired, and Tausan, Pettigrew's good friend and high-ranking Angel, lay bleeding with a mortal wound. Police suspect fellow Angel Steve Ruiz of firing on Tausan after they argued over the casino shooting and whether enough was done to protect Pettigrew, the president of the San Jose chapter. Police are now searching for Ruiz, who reportedly was hustled into a waiting car, leaving behind his motorcycle. Investigators initially feared Ruiz was killed and went so far as to dig up Pettigrew's grave in search of a body. But now police believe he is on the run with his girlfriend. San Jose police were out in force Saturday as Tausan was laid to rest at the same cemetery where he was killed during the Oct. 15 funeral. A police spokesman said there were no reports of any disturbances or violence. The Hells Angels didn't respond to numerous phone calls and email messages sent to their clubhouses in San Jose and Santa Cruz, where Tausan served as the chapter's sergeant at arms. The Angels have always maintained they are a club of motorcycle enthusiasts who are unfairly regarded as an organized crime syndicate because of the crimes of a few members acting independently. The club participates in charity events, such as "Toys for Tots" motorcycle runs and blood drives. "When we do right, nobody remembers," the club's Web site states. "When we do wrong, nobody forgets." Karen Snell, a lawyer who won a $1.8 million settlement in 2005 after the San Jose chapter filed a lawsuit claiming illegal police searches during a murder investigation, said Pettigrew, Tausan and the others involved with the case were serious businessmen with families. "They were really responsible clients," Snell said. "In my all my interactions with them, they were always gentlemen." Now Pettigrew and Tausan are dead. "We lost our brother, our father, our son and our friend," said Karen Tausan, Steve's sister. "He left a big hole in our family and we can only hope this will come to an end now."

10,000 border arrests due to screening system

2011-10-31T12:41:00.001Z

10,000 criminals including rapists and murderers have been held at the UK border thanks to a screening system begun in 2005, a minister has said. Air and sea carriers using UK ports and airports submit passenger and crew details electronically to the e-Borders screening system, prior to travel. It results in about 52 weekly arrests, Immigration Minister Damian Green says. He praised the UK Border Agency and police for the scheme, which covers up to 55% of journeys to and from the UK. "By checking passenger and crew information before travel, law enforcement agencies can apprehend those trying to evade justice," Mr Green said. "From 2013 the new dedicated Border Policing Command, part of the National Crime Agency, will further strengthen security at the border, providing leadership and coordination based on a single national threat assessment and strategy." E-Borders has not avoided controversy. The government faces the threat of a lawsuit from Raytheon, the firm which managed the £750m system until Mr Green terminated its contract in July 2010 over delays to its full implementation. Raytheon says the problems were down to UK Border Agency mismanagement of the scheme. But John Donlon, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said e-borders would continue to play a key role. Extending scheme "Police have been able to identify those wanted for offences before they leave or when they return to the UK, bringing offenders to justice and supporting counter-terrorist and serious crime investigations," he said. More than 125 million passengers' details were screened in the year to September, resulting in 2,700 arrests. Among those detained were 11 murderers, 22 rapists, 316 violent criminals and 126 drug offenders, government figures show. The government is extending the number of routes and carriers covered by the e-Borders system and will re-introduce exit checks by 2015. "Inevitably as more routes are covered the number of arrests will grow," Mr Donlon added. The border agency said recent successes included the arrest at Manchester Airport of a 44-year-old man who was later charged with sexually grooming a boy after an alert from Swiss authorities, and the detention of a man wanted for a rape 14 years ago. Other cases involved the jailing of a Spanish drugs courier trying to smuggle 1kg of cocaine from Brazil, the arrest of one man from Dubai who was wanted for a £5.7m theft and another who was suspected of a £50m fraud. Meanwhile, the agency said on Sunday it had blacklisted nearly 3,000 banks it believed could not be trusted to verify documents supporting student visa applications.

charity worker employed by one of David Cameron’s Big Society gurus has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling cocaine with a street value of £120,000

2011-10-31T09:26:00.001Z

charity worker employed by one of David Cameron’s Big Society gurus has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling cocaine with a street value of £120,000 into Britain.

Former US gang member Derrick ‘Anthony’ Mitchell was held at Heathrow this month after UK Border Agency officers allegedly discovered 3kg of drugs in his luggage.

Mitchell, 37, is a duty manager at the South London-based Kids Company founded by charity boss Camila Batmanghelidjh. She set it up in 1996 to care for abused, neglected or abandoned children in London’s inner-city communities.

She has been described as ‘Britain’s most colourful charity leader’ because of her style, dress sense and selfless approach to charity work.

The award-winning author and campaigner was invited to 10 Downing Street last year.

She also advises former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and is thought to be one of the inspirations behind Mr Cameron’s pledge to ‘hug a hoodie’.
Ms Batmanghelidjh spoke of her shock at the allegations surrounding Mr Mitchell, whom she described as a ‘street-level youth mentor’.

She said: ‘Obviously, because the judicial process needs to take place, we cannot legally comment. The only thing I can say is that the alleged incident took place while he was on holiday in his own time.

‘At this stage I do not know enough to know the full details. But as a worker, he gave exceptional commitment to the kids over a number of years and I can never take that away from him.

Pledge: David Cameron's Big Society aims to 'take power away from politicians and give it to people'

As an organisation, we employ a range of people and a lot of them have had challenging backgrounds as children and we have given them chances. The majority of them go on to do incredibly well.

‘In the situation of this individual, if what is alleged has occurred, he has made an abhorrent choice and I do not agree with it.’

Camila Batmanghelidjh said she was shocked at the allegations surrounding Mr Mitchell, claiming he gave 'exceptional commitment to the kids'

Mitchell, of Camberwell, south London, was arrested at Heathrow on October 6 and remanded in custody by Uxbridge magistrates the next day. He will reappear in court in the next month.

The university undergraduate has previously spoken of deciding to rebuild his life after leaving a violent street gang in Miami.

He claimed he had earlier sold drugs and lost a family member to violence at the age of 19 when his sister bled to death after being stabbed in a leg.

After coming to Britain in his 20s, he began working with the charity about five years ago, attempting to convince youths in gangs to turn their back on crime.

Kids Company operates from three centres in Southwark, Lambeth and Camden in London, as well as working in 37 inner-city schools.

It employs more than 600 people in full and part-time roles to reach out to 14,000 children from the capital’s most deprived and crime-ridden areas.

Many of the youngsters live with parents who are unable to care for them and have had severely troubled lives.

Qantas grounds all flights

2011-10-29T14:40:00.001+01:00

Australia’s Qantas Airways grounded its entire fleet on Saturday over a bitter labour dispute in an unprecedented move that prompted the government to warn it feared for the airline’s future and would seek action to end the dispute. EDITOR’S CHOICE Strikes cost A$15m-a week in lost sales - Oct-28 US airlines earnings hit by fuel costs - Oct-27 Lufthansa scales back passenger forecasts - Oct-27 Virgin eyes tie-up with Etihad on BMI - Oct-14 Qantas overhauls lossmaking international operations - Aug-16 Qantas said it would lock out all employees from Monday night in a dispute affecting 70,000 passengers and 600 flights on one of the country’s biggest travel weekends. The grounding does not affect Qantas’ budget airline Jetstar or code-share flights on other airlines. Passengers will get a full refund for flights cancelled due to the industrial action, Qantas said on its website. Customers can also rebook their flights for a later date. The announcement took passengers and the government by surprise, embarrassing Prime Minister Julia Gillard who was hosting a Commonwealth leaders summit in Perth. Some of those leaders are booked to fly home on Sunday with Qantas. Unions, from pilots to caterers, have taken strike action since September over pay and opposing Qantas plans to cut its soaring costs, as it looks at setting up two new airlines in Asia and cutting back financially draining long-haul flights. “They are trashing our strategy and our brand. They are deliberately destabilising the company. Customers are now fleeing from us,” Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said.

Gang ringleaders: Mehmet Sirin Baybasin (left) and Paul Taylor (Pic: PA)

2011-10-27T23:46:00.001+01:00

A GANG of drug dealers planned to flood Britain with £4 billion of cocaine - arranging the plot from a phone box.

The Liverpool and London-based gangsters were planning to smuggle 40 tonnes of cocaine from South America by sea, hidden inside tins of fish and wooden pallets.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the drug would be bought at a "wholesale price" and then sold to other dealers who would dilute it and sell it on.

If all the cocaine had made it to the streets of the UK and it was cut before being sold, the court heard it could have been worth around £4 billion.

The head of the Liverpool operation used a phone box in Old Hall Street, in Liverpool city centre, to arrange the deal with his London counterpart.

But the gang were being watched by undercover officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

The phone box on Old Hall Street used by one of the drug dealers

The group was led by Mehmet Sirin Baybasin, 48, of Fairfield Crescent, Edgware, north-west London, who was jailed for 30 years at a hearing last week after he was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine.

The court heard that Baybasin was one of a total of 24 defendants brought to justice as part of the Soca investigation and that he was "at the top of the pyramid".

Judge David Aubrey QC said the offences had "at their core the evil and pernicious trade of drug dealing" and were indicative of the gang's "desire for the good life".

He said he was satisfied that the amounts they were talking about were not "pie in the sky" and that the wholesale value of 1,102lb (500kg) of uncut cocaine alone was worth a potential £17 million

TOP Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson tried to stop his ex-wife from claiming they had sex after he remarried.

2011-10-27T00:10:00.001+01:00

Jeremy Clarkson took out the gagging order against his ex-wife last year. It's not known why he applied to lift it. Picture: Cameron Richardson Source: Supplied

Clarkson, who has made a name for himself as a man refuses to be silenced, denies the allegation but took out a gagging order against Alexandra Hall last year.

The claim can now be revealed because he asked for the order to be lifted.

It is unclear why he decided to withdraw the order, which banned any reporting of "sexual or other intimate acts or dealings" between Clarkson and Ms Hall.

Ms Hall married Clarkson in 1989 but their marriage lasted only a year.

She claims she had relationship with him after they split and Clarkson was married to his current wife, Frances.

Clarkson's marriage came under fire from the tabloids earlier this year over claims he had cheated on his wife with a member of the Top Gear production team while in Australia.

He denied the reports and said his 18-year marriage was strong.

The couple have three children.

Real IRA terrorist has been jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of buying weapons and explosives which he wanted to use to “kill Brits.

2011-10-26T23:44:00.001+01:00

Michael Campbell (Pic: PA)

A Real IRA terrorist has been jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of buying weapons and explosives which he wanted to use to “kill Brits.”

Irishman Michael Campbell - brother of Omagh bomber Liam - was snared in a six year MI5 sting across three countries with agents pretending to be arms dealers.

Yesterday he was finally jailed by a Lithuania court after spending three years awaiting trial and having been snared by an amazing MI5 undercover operation.

Campbell, 39, was secretly filmed in a field in Lithuania pointing a high-power Barret sniper rifle which he later bragged he would use to kill British people.

Michael Campbell testing weapons in the Lithuanian countryside (Pic: PA)

Using secret filming Campbell was caught on camera inspecting the weapons stash in a lock-up garage (Pic: PA)

Campbell's shopping list for weapons (Pic:PA)

He was also recorded on video in a garage buying weapons and explosives from an undercover Lithiuanian agent he nicknamed “Rambo.”

But the hero of the MI5 plot was a cigarette smuggler - turned MI5 agent who went deep undercover using the cover name Robert Jardine.

Using his connections Robert Jardine coolly penetrated deep into the Real IRA network knowing he could have been killed if his cover was blown.

At one stage in his dealings with dark-haired Campbell and other terror suspects - who cannot be named for legal reasons - he was bundled into a padded van containing a shovel.

Sources have told The Daily Mirror he feared he had been rumbled and was being driven to his death - but it was just a Real IRA tactic to unnerve him.

Judge Arunas Kisielus of the Vilnius Regional Court sentenced Michael Campbell to 12 years in prison for weapons offenses and supporting a terrorist group.

Covert footage showed Campbell paid £5,200 for explosives, grenade launchers, detonators, AK-47s and an assassin’s rifle to Lithuanian agents posing as arms dealers.

He says on tape: “You imagine, with a six-hour timer, we could be over to London and back,” Campbell says in an audio clip after mulling over a price list for explosives and detonators. “Just tick, tick, tick, tick ... gone.

In court Campbell had pleaded not guilty.

The Real IRA’s worst crime to date was the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 and for which Liam Campbell -Michael’s brother - was found liable in a civil trial.

MI5’s Operation Uncritical ruined a bid by the Real IRA to get guns and explosives to mount a deadly terror campaign on the British mainland.

Yesterday a senior security official said: “The conviction of Michael Campbell is the result of a successful joint operation between the Security Service and the Lithuanian authorities.

“Working closely together, along with a selfless and brave agent, they have put behind bars a senior member of the Real IRA whose intention was to kill innocent members of the public in Northern Ireland and in Britain.”

Courageously Jardine - who now lives in a secret location - for years risked his life to provide his MI5 handlers with intelligence about the Real IRA.

The agent, who was referred to in court as “Robert Jardine”, was a legitimate businessman based in southern England dealing in “imports and exports.”

But he also had an illicit sideline in smuggling cigarettes from Eastern Europe - and it was that which caught the eye of the security service and led him into a world of terrorist intrigue.

The Real IRA (RIRA) was using the contraband cigarettes to fund its terrorist activities and in late 2002 Jardine was recruited as an agent by MI5.

Two years later RIRA asked Jardine whether his contacts in Eastern Europe could help them get weapons. And - carefully directed by MI5 - he laid a trail of deception which drew in the terrorists.

The court heard that in January 2005 he handed over a price list to a contact.

The following July Jardine and the contact crossed the border into Lithuania where Jardine introduced her to “Tomas”.

In fact Tomas was working for the Lithuanian security service, the VSD - the first in a cast of “role-players” deployed to convince the RIRA that the offer of weapons was real.

The RIRA gave Jardine the first of two hand-written shopping lists of weapons they wanted to buy - including sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, hand grenades, detonators and Semtex plastic explosives.

Then, in late 2006, another RIRA man, moved to revive the arrangement. Jardine responded by saying he would provide the introductions but the republicans would have to cut their own deal. The “sting” was back on.

Then Michael Campbell entered the story.

On August 29 2007, Michael Campbell and another associate travelled to a lodge in the Lithuanian countryside belonging to the supposed arms dealer.

There they were given their first chance to test guns and explosives.

Next day they were introduced to a second dealer - whom the two Irishmen quickly nicknamed “Rambo” - who was to provide them with the actual weapons they wanted.

Like Tomas, however, Rambo was in reality working for the VSD.

Campbell and his colleague agreed to pay a deposit on explosives, detonators and timers.

Afterwards an excited Campbell was secretly recorded telling his associate: “Look at it this way, for one of them and one of them you have a bomb - for f****** a hundred quid.

“F*** me. You imagine us getting over to England if you’d ten of them and ten clocks in a holdall. You imagine, with a six-hour timer we could be over to London and back.

“Just tick, tick, tick - gone. Leave it anywhere.”

That October, Campbell met Rambo again in Marbella in southern Spain.

This time the RIRA man said he wanted a first instalment of weapons - including two rocket propelled grenades as well as the explosives - against the deposit.

On January 21 2008, Campbell went to Lithuania to inspect his purchase and finalise the arrangements.

That evening the couple dined with Rambo who the following day took Campbell to a lock-up garage where the weapons were stashed.

A hidden camera secretly filmed as Campbell examines one of the detonators and asks whether they would be “good for booby traps”.

“They would be good for under a car, wouldn’t they?” he says. “Anchored to the wheel and then the car goes round - bang.”

Campbell was also filmed paying a further deposit for a powerful Barrett sniper rifle - the type of weapon used to kill Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier to die at the hands of the IRA in 1997.

When Rambo demands what it would be used for - saying he was not prepared to sell it just “to shoot roe deer or wild boar” - Campbell tells him: “No, no, we will be shooting from across borders. The border. You know, from one side to the other.”

Asked who the target would be, Campbell replies simply “Brits”.

Rival gangsters pack Vancouver courts

2011-10-22T07:07:00.001+01:00

Members of the Gang Task Force were used to boost security at the Vancouver Law Courts Thursday as four separate gang cases went ahead with rivals appearing on different floors. Eight members of the uniformed GTF arrived for a bail revocation hearing for accused drug trafficker Sukhveer Dhak. One floor below, a cocaine conspiracy trial continued for Dhak rival Jarrod Bacon. Supt. Doug Kiloh, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said the GTF officers were on hand because "there is clearly unresolved conflict between gangs." "Do we have concern when we bring them together? Yes, and clearly that poses a public safety risk," Kiloh said. "Even at the Bacon trial, there is going to be conflict internally there." Kiloh said that when any case like that of Bacon and coaccused Wayne Scott has wiretaps being played, things can be tense because of what one party says about the other. Earlier this week, a tape was played in court of Scott saying Bacon's parents were aware of his criminal enterprise, and profited from it. "There are a number of security precautions we are taking," Kiloh said of the Bacon-Scott case. Not only were Dhak and Bacon in separate courtrooms Thursday, but the Greeks gang murder case continued in high-security Courtroom 20 a few floors below. And another case, involving men linked to the United Nations gang, was in pre-trial hearings next door to Dhak. Kiloh said CFSEU has several other big cases and that more charges are expected to be laid in coming weeks. "We know we have been pushing Crown hard. We know they have their hands full," he said. "We hope to have more charges in the coming weeks and months in high-profile cases involving gangs and organized crime." And Kiloh said law enforcement will continue to move forward with major gang prosecutions because "it reduces the threat of public safety issues." Just last month, GTF head officer Supt. Tom McCluskie issued an extraordinary public warning that anyone associating with Dhak or those in the affiliated Duhre group could be at risk because of escalating gang tensions. The Dhaks, Duhres and some members of the UN gang are aligned against an opposing group consisting of some Hells Angels, Red Scorpions and the Independent Soldiers. On Sept. 16, Dhak associate Jujhar Singh Khun-Khun was shot several times in a targeted Surrey shooting that police say may have been in retaliation for the Aug. 14 attack in Kelowna that left Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon dead and Hells Angel Larry Amero and Independent Soldier James Riach wounded. Dhak was originally charged in October 2008 with production of a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy to commit indictable offence. He is due to go to trial in that case next April. But he was arrested Sept. 18 for allegedly driving while prohibited related to an incident on July 30, 2011. He is also before the courts on another breach allegation related to a Kelowna incident in March 2011 and was charged in December 2010 with one count of counselling to commit the indictable offence of aggravated assault. Justice Brenda Brown reserved her decision on Dhak's bail until next Wednesday. Dhak, dressed in red prison garb, whispered through Plexiglas to his girlfriend at the morning break Thursday. Police sat in the front row, several seats away from Dhak's mother, sister and girlfriend. Details of submissions and arguments at the two-hour hearing are covered by a publication ban. Kiloh said top police officers from around the Lower Mainland met Thursday to discuss the level of gang tensions. He said the situation is very fluid, with unresolved conflicts between some, and others making new associations that police are trying to assess.

Canada’s top organized crime groups are recruiting workers at Pearson and other major airports to help them smuggle drugs and contraband into the country,

2011-10-22T07:02:00.001+01:00

Police and other agencies at Pearson are working to identify workers who are breaking the law.

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Canada’s top organized crime groups are recruiting workers at Pearson and other major airports to help them smuggle drugs and contraband into the country, says the former head of a national security committee.

Agents of notorious crime groups, including the Hells Angels and Vietnamese gangs, are flexing their muscles to get a bigger share of the lucrative drug-smuggling operation run by corrupt workers at Pearson, police and security officials said.

“Organized crime activity has gotten worst at Pearson,” said Sen. Colin Kenny, former head of a Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence. “They are actively recruiting people to work for them.”

The RCMP in a 2008 study identified 60 gangs that have infiltrated airports in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Police said agents of the gangs work at “corrupting existing employees or by placing criminal associates or even spouses or relatives into the airport work force.”

A RCMP witness “said categorically that gangs such as Hells Angels have infiltrated Pearson,” the committee said in a report on Canadian airports.

“If the Hells Angels can get their people in place at airports, what’s to stop Al Fatah?,” Kenny asked. “Any holes that criminals open in security perimeters make them more vulnerable to all who wish to circumvent them.”

The committee toured Pearson following the 9/11 terrorist attacks to study safety procedures and found gaping holes in security.

“The security gaps may be wide open at Pearson,” Kenny said. “There is a lot of money to be made and crime groups are getting their own people hired to work there.”

RCMP Const. Michelle Paradis said police and other agencies at Pearson are working to identify workers who are breaking the law.

“We have been working diligently to identify smuggling groups and target them,” Paradis said on Thursday. “These investigations take a lot of manpower and resources.”

The Mounties have smashed several drug rings involving ramp handlers, airline groomers and catering staff who were removing drugs from aircraft and smuggling the bags out of the facility in their vehicles unchecked.

Five ramp handlers and a Jamaican police officer were among nine people arrested in Dec. 2010 by the RCMP after they squashed a ring allegedly smuggling kilos of cocaine and marijuana into Canada.

Police accuse the Jamaica Constabulary Force officer of planting drugs on aircraft that were allegedly removed here by handlers and smuggled from the airport.

Kenny said one way to curb the flow of illegal drugs is to examine all staff and their vehicles arriving and leaving the airport.

“They can check all travellers why can’t they check employees entering and leaving,” he said. “Their vehicles also have to be checked as well.”

Kenny said drugs are still flowing freely through the use of inter-Canada air courier service that promise 24-hour delivery to customers as reported in the Toronto Sun on Monday.

“Very little if anything is being done to examine domestic courier packages,” he said. “They are all virtually unchecked.”

Kenny said a third party, such as the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, which is responsible for passenger and baggage security, should screen packages.

There are about 90,000 people working at Canadian airports and police estimate about 1,000 of them are intent on “infiltrating the airports to facilitate criminal activity.”

Gardai in Spain for 'Fat' Freddie handover deal

2011-10-20T11:02:00.001+01:00

DUBLIN detectives have travelled to Spain to negotiate the handover of gangster 'Fat' Freddie Thompson. Sources say that gardai are spending a number of days with their Spanish counterparts examining evidence against Thompson. "This is standard procedure in a case like this," a source said. Thompson is due to appear before the High Court today where he is expected to apply for bail after being remanded in custody on Friday when he was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant. laundering Spanish authorities want to extradite him to Spain and they allege that Thompson operated as a bodyguard and chauffeur for the Christy Kinahan drugs organisation, which was targeted in a massive international police operation in May, 2010, known as Operation Shovel. Spanish authorities say that the Kinahan organisation is heavily involved in gun crime, drug trafficking and money laundering through a complex network of companies. Sources have revealed that in the weeks before his arrest, Thompson had fallen out of favour with the Kinahan mob -- organisation who his gang has been sourcing drugs from for over a decade. A European Arrest Warrant has also been issued for Thompson's close pal Gary Hutch (30) but gardai have not been able to find him. The Herald has previously revealed that Thompson's arrest warrant contains explosive details about a phone call tapped by Spanish police in December, 2009, between 'Fat' Freddie and Hutch in which the two criminals discuss firearms. The warrant also alleged that 'Fat' Freddie and Hutch travelled together to Portugal in November, 2009 and Amsterdam in May, 2010, to organise drug shipments. The warrant also states that Hutch and Thompson lived together in Spain and were "right-hand men" of Daniel Kinahan -- the son of Ireland's richest drugs trafficker Christy Kinahan. Also mentioned on the warrant is Ross Browning (27) from north inner city Dublin who is alleged to have collected a major Irish criminal from Malaga Airport in May, 2010, in a car which was also regularly used by the notorious criminal Hutch. violence Browning was one of around 30 people arrested by police investigating Kinahan's drug organisation last year. He was released without charge after being questioned for a number of days by Spanish authorities. Since being sent to Cloverhill Prison on Friday, Thompson has been placed in the protection unit in the jail because of fears that he may become a victim of a feud related attack or that he may orchestrate violence within the prison. It is understood he has had no visitors in jail.

Mexico opposition may work with criminals

2011-10-17T09:56:00.001+01:00

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has said politicians in the main opposition party may consider deals with criminals, opening an inflammatory new front in the nation's presidential election campaign. Calderon's blunt remarks about the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which is favored to win the July 1, 2012 election, are unusual in a country where the president is expected to stay largely aloof from party politics. Centering on the policy that has dominated his presidency -- an aggressive army-led crackdown on drug cartels -- his comments risk polarizing opinion on how to restore stability to Mexico, where the drug war has killed 44,000 in five years. Leading members of Calderon's conservative National Action Party (PAN), other PRI opponents and political analysts have accused the once-dominant party of making secret deals with drug cartels in the past to keep the peace in Mexico. In a weekend New York Times interview published a day after he said a state governed by the PRI had been left in the hands of a drug gang, Calderon was asked whether the opposition party might pursue a corrupt relationship with organized crime. "There are many in the PRI who think the deals of the past would work now. I don't see what deal could be done, but that is the mentality many of them have," said Calderon, whom the law prevents from seeking a second six-year term. Calderon's office later issued a statement saying the newspaper had expressly noted when posing the question that the PRI had a reputation for making deals with organized crime. His office underlined that the president recognized many in the PRI did not favor this approach and supported his policy. Analysts say Calderon is bitterly opposed to the PRI, which dominated Mexico for seven decades until PAN won the presidency in 2000 under its candidate Vicente Fox. The tide of drug war killings has eroded support for the PAN, and the PRI's main hopeful, the telegenic former governor of the State of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, has around twice the support of his nearest rival. NAMING NAMES The PRI has attacked Calderon for the spiraling death toll, and analysts said the president's remarks were tailored for the election, putting in jeopardy any hope of passing many pending reforms that have been stalled in Congress. "This is really serious," Javier Oliva, a political scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), said of Calderon's comments about the PRI. "The president has an obligation to prove this now. To name names." "The president is regressing into a negative stance of being president of the PAN, and not president of Mexico." The Times noted that Calderon "looked disgusted at the mere mention of the PRI" during the interview. The statement issued by his office said Calderon mentioned the ex-PRI governor of Nuevo Leon state, Socrates Rizzo, as someone who had pointed to the existence of such pacts. Rizzo's comments, which were reported early this year, were rejected by leading PRI figures at the time. The PRI's national chairman, Humberto Moreira, told El Universal's Sunday newspaper his party did not want to make deals with organized crime and that Calderon was trying to exploit the issue of public security for political ends.

Mexico’s military says soldiers freed 61 men being held captive by the Zetas drug cartel for use as forced labor

2011-10-17T09:49:00.001+01:00

Mexico’s military says soldiers freed 61 men being held captive by the Zetas drug cartel for use as forced labor. The army says the men were found guarded by three Zetas kidnappers in a safe house in the border city of Piedras Negras on Saturday. Soldiers made the discovery during a security sweep in the area that also turned up an abandoned truck filled with 6 tons of marijuana. Loading... Comments Weigh InCorrections? In a press conference Sunday, Gen. Luis Crescencio Sandoval Gonzalez said one of the captives was from Honduras and others were from various parts of Mexico. He said the three kidnappers were arrested. Piedras Negras sits across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, which has been the scene of ongoing battles between drug gangs.

Four former members of the Colombian army's special forces are training members of Los Zetas

2011-10-17T09:42:00.001+01:00

Four former members of the Colombian army's special forces are training members of Los Zetas, considered Mexico's most violent drug cartel, the Bogota daily El Tiempo reported Sunday. The retired soldiers - two captains and two sergeants - served time in Colombia for human rights violations. "The identities of the soldiers have not been released because charges have not been filed against them," El Tiempo said, adding that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Mexican police and Colombian police were tracking their movements.

You shoot a police officer, you’re going to get shot back at

2011-10-17T09:38:00.001+01:00

A little before dawn on a sticky summer night in June, one of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s Ranger Reconnaissance Teams was running a clandestine operation along the Rio Grande when its surveillance squad came across a Dodge Durango pickup truck loaded with bales of Mexican marijuana. Bad idea, messing with Texas. 37 Comments Weigh InCorrections? inShare Gallery The Texas governor is seeking the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Gallery Mexico's ongoing drug war continues to claim lives and disrupt order in the country. More On This Story Read more on PostPolitics.com Rick Perry a hawk on Texas border security Perry and Romney dominate GOP fundraising Cain defends ‘9-9-9’ tax overhaul plan View all Items in this Story The lawmen chased the truck along the river, with a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter swooping overhead and Texas game wardens roaring down the Rio Grande in boats, state authorities said. In minutes, the traffickers had ditched the truck in the muddy water and were rafting the dope back to Mexico. Then the shooting started. Alone among his Republican rivals running for president, the Texas governor has a small army at his disposal. Over the past three years, he has deployed it along his southern flank in a secretive, military-style campaign that his supporters deem absolutely necessary and successful and that his critics call an overzealous, expensive and mostly ineffective political stunt. A hawk when it comes to Mexican cartels, Perry said in New Hampshire this month that as president he would consider sending U.S. troops into Mexico to combat drug violence there and stop it from spilling into the United States. The June incident along the Rio Grande was typical of Perry’s border security campaign: a lot of swagger, with mixed results. The initial news release said the Texas Rangers team came “under heavy fire” by members of the Gulf cartel, though officials later said it was “four to six shots.” The Texas Rangers and their multi-agency task force, which included U.S. Border Patrol agents, returned fire — big time — lighting up the Mexican riverbank with 300 rounds. “You shoot a police officer, you’re going to get shot back at,” said Steven McCraw, Perry’s homeland security chief and director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Frightening 'Drug Threat Assessment' for the USA and Mexico

2011-10-17T09:32:00.001+01:00

The National Drug Intelligence Center, a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, recently released a document entitled the "National Drug Threat Assessment 2011." You can read the document online here. The document paints a gloomy picture for both the U.S. and Mexico. The Assessment's Executive Summary begins: "The illicit trafficking and abuse of drugs present a challenging, dynamic threat to the United States. Overall demand is rising, largely supplied by illicit drugs smuggled to U.S. markets by major transnational criminal organizations (TCOs). Changing conditions continue to alter patterns in drug production, trafficking, and abuse. Traffickers are responding to government counterdrug efforts by modifying their interrelationships, altering drug production levels, and adjusting their trafficking routes and methods. Major Mexican-based TCOs continue to solidify their dominance over the wholesale illicit drug trade as they control the movement of most of the foreign-produced drug supply across the U.S. Southwest Border. "The estimated economic cost of illicit drug use to society for 2007 was more than $193 billion...." One of the contributing factors is the high demand for drugs in the United States. This high demand finances the drug cartels, allowing them to spend more and expand their operations. According to the 2011 Assessment, that demand is growing. The document reports that "The abuse of several major illicit drugs, including heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine, appears to be increasing, especially among the young." Elsewhere it says that "Overall drug availability is increasing." One exception to this tendency is cocaine - its availability and use are down. The document states that "The Southwest Border remains the primary gateway for moving illicit drugs into the United States. Most illicit drugs available in the United States are smuggled overland across the Southwest Border...." The Southwest Border is comprised of the southern borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas with Mexico. Then there is the tunneling: "Despite enhanced detection efforts and better countermeasures, Mexican drug traffickers will continue to build tunnels under the Southwest Border." In the U.S., Mexican cartels have cornered the market. The 2011 Assessment states that "Mexican-based TCOs [transnational crime organizations] dominate the supply, trafficking, and wholesale distribution of most illicit drugs in the United States." Elsewhere, it predicts that "Major Mexican-based TCOs and their associates are solidifying their dominance of the U.S. wholesale drug trade and will maintain their reign for the foreseeable future." The Mexican cartels are active in many urban areas. The Assessment calculates that "Mexican-based TCOs were operating in more than a thousand U.S. cities during 2009 and 2010...." And, "Mexican-based trafficking organizations control access to the U.S.-Mexico border, the primary gateway for moving the bulk of illicit drugs into the United States. The organizations control, simultaneously use, or are competing for control of various smuggling corridors that they use to regulate drug flow across the border. The value they attach to controlling border access is demonstrated by the ferocity with which several rival TCOs are fighting over control of key corridors, or ‘plazas.'" The document says that seven major Mexican drug cartels are supplying the United States, but that "... the Sinaloa Cartel is preeminent - its members traffic all major illicit drugs of abuse, and its extensive distribution network supplies drugs to all regions of the United States." U.S.-based gangs are involved in the distribution north of the border: "The threat posed by gang involvement in drug trafficking is increasing, particularly in the Southwest Region. With gangs already the dominant retail drug suppliers in major and midsized cities, some gang members are solidifying their ties to Mexican TCOs to bolster their involvement in wholesale smuggling, internal distribution, and control of the retail trade." The Assessment reports that "Criminal gangs - that is street, prison, and outlaw motorcycle gangs - remain in control of most of the retail distribution of drugs throughout much of the United States, particularly in major and midsize cities." The document predicts that "Collaboration between U.S. gangs and Mexican-based TCOs will continue to increase, facilitating wholesale drug trafficking into and within the United States. Most collaboration occurs in cities along the U.S.-Mexico border, although some occurs in other regions of the country. Some U.S.-based gangs in the Southwest Border region also operate in Mexico, facilitating the smuggling of illicit drugs across the border." The 2011 Assessment paints a gloomy picture of the drug trafficking situation, drug cartels, and the safety and security of both the U.S. and Mexico.

NJ Town First to Consider Medical Marijuana

2011-10-11T06:59:00.001+01:00

Medical marijuana could get a little closer to sprouting in the Garden State, as one licensed dispensary heads to the zoning board in the town of Maple Shade, NJ. Authorities in March licensed six non-profit alternative treatment centers across the state, but they’ve largely been in a holding pattern ever since. On Wednesday, Compassionate Sciences Inc. will be the first center to seek local approval. The firm wants to convert an old furniture store into a 5,000 square foot center, with consulting rooms for patients to discuss the controlled substance, a lab to conduct research and, as spokesman Andrei Bogolubov describes it, a very secure vault for the marijuana. “There's a lot of controls, a lot of safeguards, and the state's going to do a site visit to make sure those systems are in place before they issue the permit and let us open the doors,” he said. Even if it gets a local go-ahead, Compassionate Sciences and the other approved dispensaries are still waiting for New Jersey to issue final regulations. Each center will grow and harvest its own crop of marijuana and Bogolubov estimates it will take about nine weeks to generate enough to supply customers. About 30,000 of them are expected state-wide. Governor Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor, has said he would not have signed the bill into law. He wants to make sure the drug only gets to people who need it for pain relief from illnesses such as cancer and multiple-sclerosis. He said he is determined to avoid “abuses” that he said have plagued medical marijuana programs in Colorado and California.

The Netherlands is embarking on a crusade against its multi-billion-euro marijuana industry

2011-10-11T06:56:00.001+01:00

The Netherlands is embarking on a crusade against its multi-billion-euro marijuana industry, with significant implications both for its economy and its famously liberal approach to life. Along with tighter control of legalized prostitution and a swing to the right in attitudes toward immigration and Islam in recent years, the clampdown is seen as further evidence of an erosion of tolerance in a country known for its liberal social policies. The push to clamp down on soft drugs has come mainly from the Christian Democrats, the junior partner in the minority government and one of the larger parties in a fragmented political landscape. "There's clearly a shift in the moral debate. It's all about the culture of control," said Dirk Korf, professor of criminology at the University of Amsterdam. Instantly recognizable from the sickly sweet, burned-leaf smell that wafts out onto the street, the Netherlands' world-renowned "coffee shops" are almost as common as supermarkets in big cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam and in certain border towns. Like trained sommeliers, the staff or "bud tenders" are experts on the flavors and after-effects of whatever is on the menu -- white widow, vanilla kush, or hazers like amnesia "known for its extreme, almost paranoid psychedelic high, with an unforgettable strong fruity taste and smell." Counter staff do a brisk trade in plastic sachets of loose grass, ready-rolled joints and chunks of hashish for those who want take-away. The Netherlands tolerates the sale of up to 5 grams per person per day of marijuana and hashish in the controlled environment of the coffee shops. It also tolerates the home cultivation of marijuana plants, within a limit of five plants per person, but any cultivation larger than that is illegal. Strong demand has spawned secret cannabis plantations that provide a so-called back-door supply to the coffee shops and are a headache for Dutch authorities who have to find and raid them. DRUGS TOURISTS On a typical Saturday evening, the coffee shops in central Amsterdam are packed with smokers. The clientele is middle class, the voices mostly foreign -- Italian, Spanish, French, German, English. Concerned about this influx of soft-drugs tourists, not to mention what it sees as the associated crime, nuisance and health risks, the Christian Democrat Party wants to see the country's 700 or so coffee shops shut down, but for the moment is settling for introducing restrictions on their activities. A measure expected to be passed in parliament by the end of this year will have coffee shops operate as members-only clubs, meaning that only local residents will be eligible to register for "weed passes," effectively barring foreigners from buying soft drugs. Already, some cities have introduced tighter restrictions, limiting the coffee shops' proximity to schools or relocating them to the outskirts. On October 1, coffee shops in the southeastern city of Maastricht banned all foreigners except for neighboring Germans and Belgians, as a first step toward introduction of weed passes. Crime expert Korf says there is little justification for the clampdown, with scant evidence that the Dutch public supports the change. "No serious polls have been conducted, we don't know if opinions about coffee shops have even changed," said Korf. "Before coffee shops we had street dealing, they were selling marijuana in the street and ripping off tourists. The whole drug problem is nothing compared to (what we had in) the 1980s, 1990s -- we don't have a heroin problem." The Trimbos Institute, which studies addiction and mental health, said 5 percent of Netherlands citizens smoked weed or hashish in the past year, against an EU average of 7 percent. GLOBAL CONFUSION Policymakers around the world are seeking fresh ideas on how to combat drug abuse, opening up a debate on policies on soft drugs. In June, a high-profile group of global leaders declared the "war on drugs" a failure and urged governments to consider decriminalizing drugs in order to cut consumption and weaken the power of organized crime. The Global Commission on Drug Policy -- which includes former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and British billionaire Richard Branson -- said a decades-long strategy of outlawing drugs and jailing users while battling drug cartels had not worked. It recommended that governments experiment with the legal regulation of drugs, especially cannabis, citing the successes in countries such as the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland, where drug consumption had been reduced. Portugal, for instance, has gone much further than the Netherlands by decriminalizing all drugs, replacing jail time with counseling and treatment. The Christian Democrats disagree and say the Dutch policy has had a negative effect on public health and crime. "In other countries there is no tolerance. The Dutch coffee shops attract a lot of foreign drug tourists, especially in the border region, causing much nuisance," according to a statement published on the Christian Democrat Party website. The centrist party has cast doubt on the rationale for allowing coffee shops, which was to separate the soft and hard drugs markets, and said that people who smoke cannabis often turned to other drugs. It also argues the active substance in cannabis is much stronger than twenty years ago, putting it on a par with harder drugs -- a reflection of years of cultivation of new varieties by growers. A Dutch commission earlier this year found that hashish and marijuana on sale in the Netherlands contain about 18 percent of THC, the main psychoactive substance, and said a level above 15 percent put the drugs on a par with heroin or cocaine. Maxime Verhagen, a Christian Democrat who is deputy prime minister, said on October 7 the government would ban the sale of cannabis whose concentration of THC exceeds 15 percent. The Christian Democrats also want tougher regulations on the so-called cannabis plantations. In addition to illegally supplying the coffee shops, "much of the illegally cultivated cannabis in the Netherlands is exported abroad. There is an extensive network illegally created in the grip of organized crime," the party said in its statement. Dutch authorities already devote considerable resources to tracking down these large-scale plantations. The police work with the local electricity company to detect unusual consumption patterns, for example round-the-clock usage in sheds and attics, and have used tiny sniffer-helicopters which can detect the smell of pot plants wafting from ventilation shafts and chimneys, according to media reports. Rotterdam city council recently distributed "scratch and sniff cards" to households, hoping that concerned citizens would tip off the police if they recognized the smell of illegal cannabis plantations in the neighborhood. PUSHBACK AT HOME There is plenty of opposition to the crackdown. Dutch smokers do not welcome the idea of having to register for weed passes. "Many of my customers are locals, artists, writers, doctors, lawyers, professionals. They don't want their name on a register -- they don't know who could see it or use it. So they may go to other sources on the street," said Paula Baten, manager of the Siberie coffee shop in central Amsterdam. "This government is more Christian, more right-wing. They don't want drugs but they forget about the effects of alcohol." Already, there's talk of how foreigners can circumvent the new rules, for example by asking Dutch citizens to buy soft drugs on their behalf to take away, and concern that dealing in soft drugs will go onto the street. Some politicians oppose the proposals. Eberhard van der Laan, the mayor of Amsterdam, says restricting the activities of coffee shops would lead to greater health risks, nuisance and drug dealing on the streets. As mayor, he could simply choose not to enforce the weed pass regulations. "At the moment the mayor is in conference with the minister to convince him that the measures regarding coffee shops will be counterproductive for Amsterdam," the mayor's office said in a statement to Reuters. Others cite the likely economic impact. The Netherlands, like other European countries, has had to introduce austerity measures and cut spending in the wake of the credit crisis, when it pumped 40 billion euros into rescuing financial institutions. Tax revenue from the coffee shops is estimated at about 400 million euros a year. Studies by the finance ministry and academics estimated that if the Netherlands legalized the "back-door" supply, bringing it "above board," it could collect as much as an additional 400-850 million euros a year, including savings on the cost of law enforcement. Then there's the tourist revenue. In Maastricht, which gets a lot of day tourists because it is so close to the German and Belgian borders, a study commissioned by an association of coffee shop owners calculated that visitors to the city's coffee shops spent about 119 million euros a year, mostly on shopping and eating out. A study by Professor Korf of the University of Amsterdam found that tourists who visited coffee shops in central Amsterdam had similar spending habits to other tourists, and were just as likely to spend 200 euros or more on a hotel room, or splash out at smart restaurants or nightclubs. The Bulldog and Barney's -- the big names in the industry -- run coffee shop chains, and many coffee shop owners also make money from lodgings and related businesses. Hundreds of tourists attend the annual cannabis cup award for the best new strains, and the local edition of Time Out runs monthly weed reviews. Jackie Woerlee, who runs customized cannabis tours, said that among her recent tour guests were members of one of the Middle East royal families who rented a luxury apartment for several weeks and spent several thousand euros shopping at luxury stores. "Customers might easily spend 100 euros in a coffee shop, but it's not just that, it's the hotels, the eating out, renting apartments," Woerlee said. "These people spend."

£40million cocaine-smuggling gang are sent to jail

2011-10-05T09:21:00.001+01:00

GANG involved in a "high-level international drugs ring" that brought an estimated £40 million of cocaine into Scotland from Spain were jailed today. Keith Blenkinsop and Lindsay Harkins were the ring-leaders in the operation while Andrew Burns, Robert Dalrymple and James Elvin acted as couriers. All five men were convicted of being concerned in the supply of cocaine in Scotland, England and Spain between 2007 and 2009 following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow last month, the Crown Office said. Blenkinsop, 43, from Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, was sentenced to 12 years behind bars and Harkins, 44, of Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, was jailed for nine years and 341 days at the High Court in Edinburgh. Stuart Cassidy, interim district procurator fiscal for Dumfries, said: "This case involved a high-level international drugs ring which used couriers to traffic an estimated £40 million in cocaine from Spain to Scotland. "The drugs - cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis - were destined for the streets of Glasgow but some were also distributed in the Dumfries area. "Drug trafficking at this level is of the utmost seriousness and the damage it does to our young people and Scotland's communities cannot be underestimated. "The Crown will continue to vigorously prosecute drug dealers and will use every power available to disrupt their criminal enterprises and seize their assets." In 2004 Blenkinsop was also sentenced to four years in prison in Spain following a conviction for drug dealing. In sentencing comments released following the hearing, judge Lord Doherty told Blenkinsop: "You have been convicted of being concerned in the supplying of cocaine between January 29 2007 and June 19 2009. "It is clear on the evidence that you were one of the principals in a major cocaine distribution operation which involved cocaine being purchased in Spain, brought back to Scotland, adulterated here using mixing agents and industrial presses, and then being sold on. "Large quantities of money raised in the drug distribution operation was exchanged into euro for onward transfer to Spain. Others operated to your instructions. Cocaine was purchased regularly in Spain in quantities of 2kg at a time. "Those who play leading roles in drug distribution operations involving class A drugs must expect to be dealt with severely by the courts." Blenkinsop was also convicted of being involved in the supply of cannabis resin and amphetamines while Harkins was found guilty of supplying amphetamines. Dalrymple, who is 43 and from Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, was sentenced to six years and 357 days imprisonment after being convicted of being involved in the drugs operation as a courier in 2009. Elvin, 35, from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, was sentenced to five years and 351 days after also being convicted of being a courier. He brought back two kilograms of cocaine from Spain on April 30 2009 and was about to travel back the following day with more than 37,000 euros (£31,000) in cash hidden in his bag when he was caught. Burns, who is 56 and from Helensburgh, was handed a sentence of seven years and 349 days after he was convicted of being concerned in the supplying of cocaine between January 29 2007 and March 17 2009.

Global swoop nets huge haul of fake drugs: Interpol

2011-09-29T17:23:00.001+01:00

Police and customs officers from 81 countries have seized 2.4 million doses of counterfeit medicine sold over the Internet during a one-week operation, international police body Interpol said Thursday. Fifty-five people were arrested during the September 20-27 operation, codenamed Pangea 4, and more than 13,000 websites closed down, Interpol said. More than 100,000 illegal doses were seized in France, over half of which were for supposed to be for treating male erection problems, France's medical security agency that took part in the operation, AFSSAPS, said. The operation was carried out for the fourth successive year in an effort to inform the public about the risks of buying medicines online. "Interpol's member countries and partners have shown through the success of Operation Pangea IV the Internet is not an anonymous safe haven for criminals trafficking illicit medicines," said Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble. The agency said it had targeted Internet service providers, online payment companies and delivery companies during the operation, in order that the whole supply chain of fake drugs be broken down. "We cannot halt the illicit online supply of medicines without a consistent, constant and collective international effort involving all sectors," said Aline Plancon, head of Interpol's fake drugs department. "The operation itself was only made possible thanks to a combined effort involving the 165 different participating agencies sharing and exchanging live information via Interpol's headquarters in Lyon," she said. Interpol has also posted messages on Internet video sharing sites warning punters "Don't Be Your Own Killer" by buying unlicensed pharmaceuticals.

Ecstasy crime ring smashed,

2011-09-21T17:19:00.001+01:00

highly sophisticated drug ring has been smashed by federal authorities with the seizure of a record haul of a precursor drug capable of producing $70 million worth of ecstasy. Customs intercepted more than 2800 litres of safrole oil (an extract of the sassafras plant) in three shipments from China to Sydney's Port Botany between April and August. The oil was concealed in bottles labelled as shampoo and cleaning products. Advertisement: Story continues below In a joint statement, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said there was enough of the banned chemical to produce almost 235kg of MDMA or 2.3 million ecstasy tablets. Three Australian men were arrested during an operation involving more than 50 Australian Federal Police officers in Sydney on Wednesday morning. If found guilty, they face up to 25 years in jail and fines of up to $550,000. "We're not here to play. We're here to do as much damage to these people as we possibly can," AFP Assistant Commissioner Kevin Zuccato told reporters. "This is a significant blow, as far as I'm concerned, a lethal blow to this particular syndicate." Mr Zuccato said the haul was the largest in Australia and showed a highly organised crime ring was at work. "When you look at the sophistication of this syndicate ... there was no backyard lab," he said. "This was going to be a very sophisticated, super-lab as far as I'm concerned." Investigations into the syndicate were continuing and more arrests were possible, he added. Customs spokeswoman Michele Harper said the investigation demonstrated the effectiveness of Australian law enforcement in detecting even the most sophisticated drug concealment methods. "Customs and Border Protection continues to adapt its technology, and targeting and examination capabilities to counter the evolving methods used by drug importation syndicates," she said. A 27-year-old man from Lurnea and a 35-year-old man from North Parramatta were charged with importation of a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug. A 33-year-old man from Merrylands was charged with dealing in the proceeds of crime. All three are expected to appear in Sydney's Central Local Court on Thursday.

Three women held for drug smuggling bid

2011-09-21T00:11:00.001+01:00

Three women were arrested at Dubai International Airport attempting to smuggle narcotics into the country. Dubai Police's General Anti-Narcotics Department officers on duty at the airport were alerted by the suspicious behaviour of the three African women. Two of the suspects denied anything to do with narcotics despite checks to confirm the same but the third confessed she had swallowed capsules containing narcotics. A total of 2.044 kg of cocaine concealed in 184 capsules was recovered from the women.

Venezuela deports 6 suspected drug traffickers

2011-09-21T00:09:00.001+01:00

Venezuela deported six suspected drug traffickers wanted in Colombia and the United States on Monday, touting the action as proof the government is making strides in fighting smuggling. Those deported included two accused of belonging to Colombia's largest leftist rebel group. They also included a U.S. citizen, Lionel Scott Harris, who is suspected of smuggling drugs to the United States, Asia and Europe. Harris, 67, was captured in March on Margarita Island, a popular tourist destination. Venezuela is a major hub for gangs that smuggle Colombian cocaine, and U.S. officials have accused President Hugo Chavez's government of being lax in anti-drug efforts. Last week, President Barack Obama's administration classified Venezuela as a country that has "failed demonstrably" to effectively fight drug trafficking. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami dismissed that accusation, saying the U.S. has been spreading "pure lies" about Venezuela's counter-drug efforts. "We're winning this battle and we're going to keep winning," El Aissami told reporters at a later event Monday. El Aissami oversaw the deportations at Simon Bolivar International Airport as the handcuffed men were led to a waiting vehicle. He said that in recent years Venezuela has captured and handed over to other countries 69 drug trafficking suspects, including about 15 who have been sent to the United States. The U.S. Embassy welcomed the deportation of Harris, saying he has been wanted in the United States since 1991 for various felony charges. "We desire and hope to resume a full and cooperative relationship on counter-narcotics, which represents a threat to the U.S. as well as Venezuela," the U.S. Embassy said in an emailed statement. U.S.-Venezuelan counter-drug cooperation has been sharply scaled back since 2005, when Chavez suspended cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and accused it of being a front for espionage. Besides Harris, Venezuela deported five Colombians wanted on drug-related charges: Jose Reyes Galarza, Jorge Santaella Ayala, Rubernei Vergara, Yesid Rios Suarez and Didier Rios Galindo, said El Aissami. He said Rios Suarez and Rios Galindo are guerrillas who belong to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Another Colombian wanted on murder and extortion charges but not drug charges, Raul Pena Buitriago, was also deported, he said.

66 year-old Daniel Healy was found by police to have 100kg of cannabis resin, said to be worth £500,000, hidden in the water tank of the campervan he was driving

2011-09-19T09:27:00.001+01:00

66 year-old Daniel Healy – or ‘Mad Danny’ as he is known in Ardfern in Mid Argyll – was arrested last week, as he went to drive across the border between Morocco and Ceuta, a Spanish owned city enclave. Healy was travelling under the false name of John McLeish and was found by police to have 100kg of cannabis resin, said to be worth £500,000, hidden in the water tank of the campervan he was driving, protected in metal containers. Since his arrest he has been held in the Moroccan prison of Tetouan, said to be worse than Guantanamo.

Panama installs 19 radars to stem drug trafficking

2011-09-17T17:16:00.001+01:00

Panama is installing a radar system along its coastline to alert it and three other countries, including the United States, of drug trafficking activity. Panama's Public Safety Ministry says the Central American country has purchased 19 radars and began installing them this month. Article Controls U.S. officials will train Panamanian police to operate the system which will generate a database that will be shared with Mexico, Colombia and the U.S, the ministry said Wednesday in an email to The Associated Press. Vice Minister of Public Safety Alejandro Garuz said the radars will detect both aircraft and ships. Panama is on a cocaine smuggling corridor between South America and Mexico. The country purchased the radars and six helicopters from Italy for $250 million.

$30m DRUG BUST

2011-09-17T17:14:00.001+01:00

CUSTOMS and Excise Division officers late on Thursday discovered compressed marijuana valued at more than $30 million concealed in a refrigerated container at the Point Lisas port. Officers believe they have disrupted a major drug-smuggling operation at the port following the discovery, the biggest drug seizure in the country for the year. It's the third multi-million-dollar drug interdiction at the port for the year. In all of the cases, the containers with the narcotics passed through a port in Jamaica. On Thursday evening, it took officers several hours to carefully examine and tag each of the 38 crocus bags containing the illegal drug. A senior Custom source told the Express they were carrying out routine checks together with port security on 32 containers that arrived in the country when they made the discovery. The marijuana was found in the 31st container hidden among frozen chicken parts. The container had left the United States on board a cargo ship, but had stopped off in Jamaica. Customs sources believe the marijuana was stashed inside the container in Jamaica. Portions of the original cargo in the container were removed and replaced with the marijuana to ensure there was no change in the original weight of the cargo, sources said. The container, which had arrived two days before on the vessel Vega Saturn, belongs to a Central businessman, but Customs sources were unable to say if he had knowledge of the drug. "Based on intelligence, we search containers which we find suspicious but there are containers from different countries. We target mainly those from Jamaica and Guyana and then other countries," a Customs source said. Ian Atherly, chairman of port operator Plipdeco, who was at the scene of Thursday's bust, promised the port would do all in its power to stop the illegal flow of narcotics through its facility, admitting the fight is a very difficult one. "We can't stop anyone from sending drugs but once they arrive here the prerogative, onus, responsibility is on us to ensure it does not leave the port," Atherly said. Communications specialist at the Customs and Excise Division, Alicia Charles, in a press release yesterday, stated that Customs officers, in conjunction with Port security, discovered close to one tonne of compressed marijuana in an enclosed 40-foot container at the Port of Point Lisas. On opening the container, which was said to contain frozen chicken parts, Charles said officers found 38 crocus bags of compressed marijuana weighing over 921 kilogrammes. Charles said Customs officials have estimated the value of the drug at $7.4 million.

Accused meth smuggler, caught at LAX, is charged

2011-09-17T17:11:00.001+01:00

man bound for Japan has been charged with drug trafficking after Transportation Security Administration officials at LAX discovered nearly 5 pounds of methamphetamine concealed inside TGI Fridays Potato Skins snack bags in his backpack. Lemuel Giovani Espinosa, 21, of Compton appeared in federal court Thursday after agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him Wednesday. TSA officers discovered the drugs in his carry-on bag during the X-ray screening process as he prepared to board a flight to Narita International Airport, outside Tokyo. U.S. customs officers seized the contraband and determined that it was, in fact, a controlled substance. Espinosa planned to deliver the contraband to a person in Japan in return for a $6,000 payment, according to an affidavit in the case. Federal agents estimate the methamphetamine would have sold on the street in Japan for more than $200,000. "Drug traffickers are always trying novel ways to conceal their contraband,” said Marlon V. Miller, an ICE deputy special agent in Los Angeles. Espinosa was charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. He was ordered held without bond pending his arraignment, which is set for Oct. 3. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison

Bali's tourism boom creates haven for global drug gangs

2011-09-17T17:09:00.001+01:00

BALI has become a haven for international drug gangs lured by ever-growing throngs of tourists, island officials have warned. The holiday destination has had an increasing number of smuggling incidents, the most severe involving a 41-year-old Ugandan woman found dead in a Kuta hotel room in August with more than a kilo of plastic-wrapped crystal meth in her intestines. This month a South African woman was arrested at Ngurah Rai airport with a similar amount in her underwear.

Irishman caught with 72 cocaine capsules in Brazil

2011-09-17T17:07:00.001+01:00

These are the amazing scanner images of the abdomen of a young Irishman caught smuggling cocaine at an airport in Brazil. The man, identified only as P.B.B., was stopped as he tried to board a flight from Sao Paolo to Lisbon in Portugal and then connecting to Brussels in Belgium. He was carrying 72 bags containing almost a kilo of cocaine inside his intestines. The 20-year-old man, who was caught last Monday at Congonhas Airport, was taken to the Santa Misericordia Hospital where the capsules, containing 830g of cocaine, were removed from his body. Police said it was his nervous behaviour that tipped off the authorities. The drugs would be worth approximately €150,000, police sources said. He has now been charged with international drug trafficking which carries a sentence of up to 15 years. Last week a Colombian woman, who flew from Argentina, died in a New Zealand hospital after a bag of cocaine burst in her body. Sorlinda Vega (37) arrived from Buenos Aires carrying 26 packages weighing 1oz each. More than 70,000 people a day are estimated to pass through San Paolo international airport and approximately five a day are arrested for drug smuggling. The airport, which has connections to 53 countries, is known as the main exit point for drug mules bringing cocaine from South America to the rest of the world. Drug mules are paid anything from €1,000 to €6,000 per trip. The largest contingent of those arrested are from South Africa, where poverty makes the lure of easy money even more attractive, but San Paolo’s jails contain smugglers from all over the world. Brazil’s penal system is notoriously slow and it can take up to six months after arrest for the first court hearing or 12 months for a sentence to be passed. Prisoners are allowed parole after two-thirds of their sentences have been served, but have to stay in the country which can be particularly difficult for foreigners with no jobs or family support

Suspected head of drug-smuggling ring arrested in Arizona probe

2011-09-17T17:02:00.001+01:00

Jose Sarinana-Placencia, 28, and five suspected members of his organization are facing state and federal drug smuggling and weapons charges. The arrests were made after teams of law enforcement officers executed seven search warrants early Thursday at locations in three Arizona cities — Chandler, Mesa and Maricopa. In addition to the arrests, ICE agents and sheriff’s deputies seized 10 weapons, including a Mac-10 pistol and two ballistic vests. Sarinana’s smuggling organization is suspecting of moving multiple tons of marijuana every month. ICE and the sheriff's office opened an investigation into the organization in February. Before Thursday’s operation, the investigation had led to the seizure of approximately 3,000 pounds of marijuana, more than $300,000 in cash, nearly three pounds of cocaine and 22 weapons. “From every indication, this organization has been a major player in moving narcotics smuggled in from Mexico to the Phoenix area,” said ICE Special Agent in Charge Matt Allen. “By teaming up with PCSO on this complex investigation, we have been able to expose this network and shut it down.” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said the drug cartels of Mexico are trying “harder and harder everyday to move their illegal drugs throughout the United States. “This investigation is a prime example of the cooperative efforts needed by federal, state, county, city, and tribal law enforcement agencies to combat their operations,” he said. “The Pinal County Sheriff's Office will continue to work with our fellow law enforcement partners during this ongoing war.” Maricopa, Az., located about 40 miles south of Phoenix, has become a favorite drug corridor for Mexican marijuana and cocaine, and has brought with it a rise in crime in the city of 43,000. Undercover police officers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety were assaulted in the city in March 2010 when they attempted to stop a stolen truck. One man charged in the case later was found to have weapons purchased illegally as part of the federal government’s controversial “Fast and Furious” undercover gun investigation. The Arizona officers reported that their cars were rammed and they were threatened with a Beretta pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle. Angel Hernandez-Daz, 48, a Mexican national, was arrested in the case. Last December, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed south of Tucson and two firearms from the Fast and Furious program were discovered at that site

Manchester dad could be facing the death penalty after being arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling in Indonesia.

2011-09-17T16:58:00.001+01:00

Jack Walker, 53, is being held in jail after being stopped at the airport in the capital Jakarta. It is understood the father of two – who is well known for taking meat around pubs near his home in Wythenshawe – was arrested as he was about to board a flight back to the UK. Officials allegedly found a substantial amount of methylamphetamine – commonly known as crystal meth or ‘ice’. It is believed the drug was found in a concealed compartment of a suitcase. Mr Walker, who is a diabetic, collapsed after he was stopped. It is understood his family are anxious he may not be receiving the correct medication to control his condition while in custody. A friend of the family said: “He is well known in the area – he drops off meat at the pubs and clubs. “The family fear he could be facing the death penalty or 20 years in jail. They are desperately trying to get help but say no one is listening. “He has a wife and two children. Apparently someone should have gone with him when he went abroad but pulled out. “He needs medication for his diabetes. Everyone around here is shocked by this. “He is not the kind of guy that you would expect would get involved in anything like this.” Another friend and neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “We’re really shocked - it’s unbelievable. “My husband and I are devastated - we’ve known Jack for 19 years. He's never been in any trouble. I feel so sorry for him. It’s such a shame I just wish they could bring him back here.” A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are aware of the arrest of a British national at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia. Consular assistance is being offered.” He confirmed that the death penalty was used against convicted drug smugglers in Indonesia. The country has some of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world with capital punishment for trafficking and 10-15 years for drug use. Mr Walker was arrested at the end of August.

Central control of Europe's borders proposed

2011-09-17T16:49:00.001+01:00

The European Union's executive branch proposed Friday that national borders in Europe's visa-free travel zone be controlled by officials in Brussels, the EU capital, rather than by individual governments -- a plan already opposed by Germany, France and Spain. The proposal by the European Commission follows a call for stronger economic governance within the area that uses the euro currency, and reflects a push toward more centralized decision-making to protect the European Union's two proudest achievements, the free movement of both people and capital. It is unclear at this point whether either of those achievements will survive, said Paul de Grauwe, an economics professor and EU expert at the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. "I would say we are at a road, and suddenly there is a bifurcation and we have to make choice," de Grauwe said. "One road is more integration to save the project, to save the Schengen zone and the monetary union. But there is a lot of opposition. It's also possible that we take the other road, no further integration, and then we risk the collapse of these two experiments." In June, EU leaders agreed to set up new rules underpinning the principle of free travel throughout much of the continent after Italy, Denmark and France all took action to roll back visa-free travel. Most of the details of the proposed centralized governance of the 25-country Schengen zone -- named for the town in Luxembourg where the visa-free treaty was negotiated in 1985 -- had already emerged. National governments would retain the right to re-institute border checks in unforeseen emergencies that threaten public order or internal security, but only for five days. Beyond that, approval of the European Commission and a committee of technical experts from the Schengen countries would be needed. And as a last resort, if a country failed persistently to adequately police the Schengen zone's external borders despite help from EU headquarters, the commission with the consent of the committee could impose checks along that country's borders with other Schengen countries. "It is a common European project," EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said of the visa-free zone. "We need to work jointly on joint projects to defend them." But there has long been a push and pull between officials who believe the European project can only work with greater integration and those opposed to the weakening of national sovereignty. Even before the Schengen proposal was unveiled Friday, it met with opposition from Germany, France and Spain, who said border control, public order and internal security were matters for national governments, not EU headquarters. Given that opposition, it is unclear whether the proposal in its current form will take effect. Meanwhile, plans to admit two more EU countries -- Romania and Bulgaria -- to the Schengen visa-free zone hit a snag Friday when Dutch Immigration Minister Gerd Leers said his country plans to block their entry. Approval of new Schengen countries must be unanimous. "The trust isn't there," said Leers' spokeswoman, Elaine de Boer. She said Leers "wants to see more work in the fight against corruption" in both countries. Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov insisted his country was being unfairly singled out despite meeting the criteria set out by the 17-member bloc for joining the visa-free zone. "I don't think it is right to use any other criteria in solving this matter," he said at a meeting with foreign ambassadors in the capital Sofia.

Brazil catches Irish man with gut full of cocaine

2011-09-17T09:22:00.001+01:00

Irish man has been arrested in Brazil with almost a kilo of cocaine hidden in his gut, police there say. The 20-year-old suspect was detained as he tried to board a flight from Sao Paulo to Brussels. Officers said they became suspicious because he looked nervous. When questioned, he admitted having swallowed sealed capsules of cocaine. He was rushed to hospital, where he expelled 72 capsules containing 830g (1.8lb) of the drug. The hospital released a scan showing the man's gut filled with the oval-shaped capsules. The suspect is being held on suspicion of international drug smuggling. If found guilty, he could face five to 15 years in prison. Risk Brazil is a major transit point for smugglers moving South American drugs into Europe's lucrative drugs market. Neighbouring Bolivia, Colombia and Peru produce almost all the world's cocaine. Every year hundreds of people - known as mules - are arrested trying to smuggle the drug on international flights. As well as the danger of being caught, smugglers who hide drugs inside their bodies risk having the capsules burst, with possibly fatal consequences.

Sahel drug gang battle - 4 dead

2011-09-16T22:06:00.001+01:00

Four people were killed when drug traffickers clashed in the desert zone between Mali and Algeria, over the spoils from a massive drug sale, officials said on Monday. A source from the governor's office in Timbuktu in northern Mali said the deceased were from Mali and Niger. "Four people were killed during a fight between drug traffickers which is under way in the Sahel. It is about the haul from a ton of Indian hemp [dagga] and cocaine," the source said on condition of anonymity. The information was confirmed by an advisor to the governor. "The battle is going on at the moment on the border between Mali and Algeria between an armed group of drug traffickers from Mali and Niger, and another group aligned with the Polisario Front," the independence movement in the Western Sahara, said the advisor. "They don't agree on how to share the sale of a ton of drugs."

Drug-Dealing Miami-Dade Gang Busted

2011-09-16T21:54:00.001+01:00

Authorities said Friday that 11 members of a dangerous drug-dealing gang believed to be responsible for several robberies and shootings in Miami-Dade have been arrested. The criminal street gang "YB" was busted up in "Operation Sugar Hill," a 13-month investigation by the Miami-Dade Police Department's Street Gang Section and agents from the Department of Homeland Security. The gang is believed to be behind several armed robberies, including a carjacking, a home invasion and two shootings, police said. Members also sold cocaine, heroin and marijuana in the northwest section of Miami-Dade and parts of the City of Miami, police said. The gang's leader, 32-year-old Marcine Hill, faces racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, sale of marijuana and continuing criminal enterprise charges, police said. Also arrested were 34-year-old Sinclair Anderson; 41-year-old Leshonne Brown; 43-year-old Brent Hughes; 32-year-old Emanuel Rhymes; 23-year-old Ikene Ragin; 26-year-old Christopher James; 25-year-old Brandon Owens; 20-year-old Calvin Hall; 23-year-old Theartis Hawkins; and 36-year-old Diron Wadley. Police said a shotgun, a rifle and a handgun were also recovered. Hill, Anderson, Brown, Ragin and Owens were being held without bond Friday. Hughes was being held on $7,500 bond, Rhymes on $30,000 bond, James on $25,000 bond, Hall on $47,500 bond, Hawkins on over $55,000 bond and Wadley on $52,500 bond. It was unknown whether any has an attorney.

Jesus "The King" Zambada, a leader of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel developed a love for exotic species shared with other Drug kingpins

2011-09-16T21:48:00.001+01:00

The three tiny squirrel monkeys led a life of luxury on a 16-acre ranch, surrounded by extravagant gardens and barns built for purebred horses. More than 200 animals, ranging from mules to peacocks and ostriches, lived on the ranch in central Mexico and hundreds more stayed on two related properties, many in opulent enclosures. Also kept on the grounds were less furry fare: AK-47 assault rifles, Berrettas, hundreds of other weapons and cocaine. The ranch's owner was Jesus "The King" Zambada, a leader of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. He had developed a love for exotic species shared with other kingpins. Just two days before Zambada's arrest, police confiscated two tigers and two lions from a drug gang hideout on the forested outskirts of Mexico City. As federal authorities capture a growing number of gang leaders, many of their pets are being driven from their gilded cages into more modest housing in the country's zoos. That's proved overwhelming for some institutions, which are struggling to cope with the influx. But it's also giving Mexican animal lovers a bounty of new creatures to admire. Like Zambada, who was apprehended in October 2008, the squirrel monkeys sit in state custody, chirping away at gawking children at the Zacango Zoo, about an hour outside Mexico City. Their previous home "was a very big enclosure made of good quality material," said Manlio Nucamendi, the zoo's coordinator. "But they didn't have the right diet and medical attention." Mexican forces have discovered drug cartel private zoos that housed tigers, panthers and lions among other animals of exotic breeds, though the federal Attorney General's Office, which supervises all seizures from drug gangs, couldn't provide an exact count of the number of animals seized. Whatever the number, officials have been challenged to house the armies of confiscated drug cartel animals. "Within the limited resources of the Mexican government, there are a lot of efforts to ensure the welfare of these animals," said Adrian Reuter Cortes of the conservation group the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico. "But even the zoos have limits, and can't welcome all the animals." The government usually calls zoos for help because they have the expertise, equipment and vehicles to transport large animals, said Frank Carlos Camacho, executive director of the wild animal park Africam Safari in the central Mexico city of Puebla and president of the national association of zoos. "There's some risk involved in handling animals like big cats, bears and large herbivores," Camacho said. He said he has heard of drug cartel zoos that included giraffes, buffalos and camels. As the cinematic gangster film "Scarface" portrayed in 1983, private zoos have long been considered status symbols for drug kingpins eager to show off their wealth. Descendants of Colombian drug boss Pablo Escobar's hippopotamuses still roam his private zoo in Colombia, which became state property after his killing and is now a tourist attraction. Three of the beasts escaped and lived in the wild for two years. Some kingpins also use the beasts for more nefarious purposes. Leaders of the ruthless Mexican Zetas cartel have been rumored to feed victims to lions and tigers kept in their properties, local media have reported. Animals are also used in the drug trade as smugglers. Over the past couple of years, traffickers have tried to ship drugs inside frozen, cocaine-stuffed sharks, snakes fed with bags of cocaine and bags filled with transparent liquid cocaine inside containers shipping tropical fish, Reuter Cortes said. As with drugs, Mexico is a main corridor for the illegal trafficking of animals to the United States. The country also has a healthy domestic demand for animals, with big cats found in some urban markets. In July, Mexican authorities seized more than 5,500 illegal animals and plants during a nationwide three-day operation. Not all exotic animals, however, are as lucky as Zambada's monkeys. Many animals found in drug cartel captivity or in private homes suffer from malnutrition or have been de-clawed or de-fanged, said Nucamendi. "It's a symbol of status and power," he said. "It's a bizarre psychology for the people that keep these animals." As he showed off the zoo's grounds on a recent afternoon, Nucamendi jumped over a barrier and knelt to greet Diego, a 2-year-old jaguar, who responded by pressing his face against the chain-link fence. Diego's former owners in Tijuana used to charge for pictures with him, Nucamendi said. Elsewhere in the zoo was a 3-decade-old elephant seized from a circus because his owners didn't have the proper permits. Workers joke that the elephant is an illegal immigrant because he was sneaked from the U.S. to Mexico. An 8-month-old male lion cub, also called Diego, arrived malnourished from private owners. Now fatter, Diego plays with two other lion cubs also on exhibit. As for the squirrel monkeys, they'll be moved to a bigger exhibit being planned in a remodeling of the zoo. Although some of the confiscated animals had finer housing before, their new homes offer genuine care from the people watching them. "It's more important for us to guarantee the welfare of these animals than the criminal investigations," Nucamendi said. "That's our duty. We offer our bodies and souls for the welfare of these animals."

Exeter crack cocaine and heroin gang jailed

2011-09-16T21:42:00.001+01:00

Exeter Crown Court was told the LYNC gang boasted of being able to supply drugs in Exeter "all day, every day". The gang used a park at Cowick Barton in the city as its centre of operations. Two men from Greater Manchester - Kevin Newton, 30, and Billy Downing, 22 - were jailed for nine and five-and-a-half years respectively. Three of the gang were from Dawlish in Devon. James Brooks, 32, and 27-year-old John Rowntree were both sentenced to five years, while 22-year-old John Bullock was jailed for 30 months. Cannabis jail supply Lloyd Simpson, 44, from Exeter, was sentenced to six years. James Prince, 22, from Huddersfield was sentenced to 30 months and 28-year-old Anthony McStein, from Liverpool, was jailed for four years. The gang were arrested after being monitored by police between October 2010 and March this year. The eight ringleaders were jailed for a total of nearly 40 years The force said information provided by local residents had been critical in bringing the "highly organised" gang to justice. The drug dealers brought the heroin and crack cocaine into Devon on a regular basis from Manchester. The court heard that not only did the gang boast about its ability to supply drugs, it also sent mobile phone text messages to addicts advertising when new supplies had arrived in the city. Police said the gang's "utter disregard" for local communities and the welfare of the addicts they supplied "beggared belief". Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote We don't want drugs in Exeter” Insp Jacqui Hawley Devon and Cornwall Police The force praised local residents who worked with officers to provide information on the crimes, in order to "reclaim" their local playing fields. "This is the core bedrock of local policing, working with the community, working with our partners in order to resolve an issue," Insp Jacqui Hawley said. "We don't want drugs in Exeter. We want it to be a safe place and in the main it is." A man and a woman were also sentenced at Exeter Crown Court for conspiring to supply cannabis to Brooks while he was on remand at HMP Exeter. His 30-year-old wife, Donna was jailed for six months, while Blair Murray, 29, from Tyne and Wear, was sentenced to 12 months.

West Malling drugs gang sentenced

2011-09-16T21:36:00.001+01:00

gang of four drug dealers have been jailed for conspiring to supply illegal drugs across Kent. Brothers Joseph and Samuel King, Craig Provan and Matthew Newin controlled dealing in towns across Kent from a travellers' site in West Malling. Joseph King, 48, was jailed for 18 years and Samuel King, 47, for seven-and-a-half years at Canterbury Crown Court. Provan, 41, was sentenced to six years, and Newin, 26, to eight years. Joseph King, of Lavender Road, West Malling, and Provan, of The Paddock, Highsted Valley, Rodmersham, were found guilty of conspiracy to supply drugs. King was also convicted of possessing firearms with intent and for possession of criminal property. His brother, of Elm Grove, Sittingbourne, and Newin, of Swanstree Avenue, Sittingbourne, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs. Undercover operation During the seven-week trial, the jury had to be given basic lessons in a 16th Century Romany dialect called Rokker, which was used by two of the gang. They were caught after the travellers' site next to Hoath Woods was infiltrated by undercover police officers. Thousands of pounds worth of heroin, cocaine and ecstasy were exchanged during more than a dozen transactions between June and September last year. The court heard the gang controlled street dealing in a number of towns across Kent and had a particular hold in the Canterbury and Sittingbourne areas.

Holloway lawyer smuggled drugs into Pentonville Prison in oversized shoes

2011-09-15T07:27:00.001+01:00

Five people are facing years behind bars after smuggling drugs and mobile phones into Pentonville Prison – including a lawyer who stuffed illicit goods into his oversized shoes. Ritesh Brahmbhatt, 31, took phones, high-strength cannabis and the stimulant mephedrone into the prison in Caledonian Road, Holloway, in a pair of size-12 slip-ons bought from menswear store High and Mighty. The revelations come within a month of a scathing report by the prison’s independent monitoring board, which revealed a drug problem is stoking gang trouble and violence in the jail. It also emerged that a drugs counsellor from Canonbury is to stand trial next year accused of smuggling cannabis into the prison in an unrelated case. Dismissed Brahmbhatt, who was dismissed from law firm Mordi and Co in Holloway Road, Holloway, when caught, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle drugs, mobile phones and other prohibited items into Pentonville in July – but details have just emerged after his four accomplices were convicted on Friday after denying the charge. David Sterling, 28, of Mallory Close, Bromley-by-Bow, Desmond Brown, 27, of Montague Road, Leytonstone, Brown’s girlfriend Danielle Porter, 24, of Saltern Court, Barking, and Calvin Chance, 26, of Birch Grove, Leytonstone, were convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court following a trial. Rufuz D’Cruz, prosecuting, said: “Ritesh Brahmbhatt entered into a crude criminal conspiracy to smuggle prohibited items into prison with his clients, Sterling and Brown, who at that time were serving prisoners, and Chance and Porter.” Mr D’Cruz said he abused his position of trust and “chose to routinely undermine the rule of law”. The gang was snared after a prison officer spotted his suspiciously high number of legal visits – 15 between February and September in 2009. He was caught with a mobile phone, earphones, a pair of electronic scales and a small quantity of mephedrone, or “meow meow”, in his right shoe and 25g of high-strength “skunk” cannabis in his left, while a further 80g of cannabis was stuffed down his trousers. The lawyer intended to pass the contraband to inmate Sterling, who was wearing a full-length Muslim robe. Two more mobile phones – which can fetch up to £1,000 each inside – were discovered in his jail locker and an envelope with £300 of cash. Police found text messages and financial information linking the five, while several phone calls and visits were known to have taken place. Nearly £20,000 passed through bank accounts belonging to Brahmbhatt, Porter and two others. The five defendants have been remanded in custody awaiting sentencing. A Prison Service spokesman said: “We are working hard to keep contraband out of prison, using a range of security measures to reduce drug supply, including working closely with police forces and carrying out random mandatory drug tests.”

Aussie Poker Pro David Saab Gaoled For Drug Smuggling

2011-09-15T07:25:00.001+01:00

Professional poker player David Saab from Victoria in Australia faces a lengthy period away from the game after being convicted of smuggling 14.6kg of cocaine into the country. The drugs, which had an estimated street value of AU$6.5 million (£4.22m) were hidden inside agricultural machinery imported from Canada. Saab was convicted alongside fellow players Darren Francis Hughes and Robert Alan Remeeus; he faces 14 years in prison while his accomplices both received 8-year sentences. The highlight of Saab’s poker career was his victory in the Manila leg of the Asian Poker Tour in 2008, a win which netted him $280,000. He has also appeared on tv screens in Britain, when he participated in a heat of the UK Open. He came 46th in the Main Event at the 2008 World Series of Poker. His total live tournament earnings amount to more than $550,000. Sentencing Saab, Judge Liz Gaynor said: “It is clear that you were the principal organiser in Australia of this importation and would derive the most benefit from it.”