Whistle-blower links Serbian drug lords, SA gangs

<p> </p><p>The head of a Balkan cocaine and crime syndicate is hiding out in South Africa under the protection of local gang bosses, underworld sources reveal. Fugitive Darko Savic – one of the world’s most wanted drug smugglers – is living under a different alias here, right under the noses of the authorities. And local crime bosses are helping him avoid detection by using their network of corrupt cop contacts. The revelation comes after the Daily Voice last week revealed how Serbian hitman Dobrosav Gavric lived in the Mother City for three years under the protection of slain crime boss Cyril Beeka. Beeka’s murder lifted the lid on the shadowy links between international crime syndicates and local mobsters. Today in an exclusive interview with the Daily Voice, a veteran former gangster turned whistle-blower confirms long-suspected links between SA crime gangs and Serbian drug lords. And he provides a chilling insight into a series of high-profile murders – including Beeka’s killing in March last year. In an interview with the Daily Voice, the terrified ex-dik ding reveals how: n He is now on the run and fears for his life after his mob bosses turned against him; n Someone “very near” to Cyril Beeka would have murdered him if the other attempt on his life failed; n Hitmen use their cop contacts to confirm the identities of targets before having them whacked; n International fugitive Darko Savic is hiding out in Gauteng with the help of local crime bosses. Savic has been linked to Czech criminal Radovan Krejcir, 42, a convicted fraudster who is also being investigated for Beeka’s murder. Krejcir was friends with both Beeka and Gavric, but it is understood he fell out with Beeka over a business deal. When the Hawks raided Krejcir’s Gauteng home after Beeka’s assassination in March last year, they found a “hit list” with Beeka’s name on it. At one stage Gavric – who was seriously injured in the shooting – was rumoured to also be a suspect in the hit. But in a sworn affidavit obtained by the Daily Voice, Gavric insists he was close friends with Beeka and that he is prepared to act as a future witness for the State. The hitman is wanted in Serbia where he was convicted for the murders of notorious warlord Zeljko “Arkan” Raznatovic and two others. Gavric will on Monday find out if his bail application is successful when he appears before Cape Town Magistrates’ Court. In an interview with the Daily Voice from his hideaway in George, Eastern Cape, the whistle-blower who identifies himself only as “Uncle Sam”, says Gavric is not the only wanted Serbian using this country to escape justice. “Serbian drug lord Darko Savic is hiding in Gauteng and protected by [local] underworld bosses,” he says. Uncle Sam, 65, also gave a detailed insider’s account of Beeka’s execution: “If the assassination had failed to eliminate Beeka, then someone else very near to him would have carried out the murder on that very same day.” He was also able to provide exact details about the cold-blooded murder of Yuri “The Russian” Ulianitski who was gunned down outside a restaurant in May 2007. “A half-hour before Yuri left the restaurant, a prominent businessman linked to the mob called the hitmen and told them that Yuri will be approaching the intersection of Otto du Plessis Drive and Loxton Road just before 10.30pm,” Uncle Sam says. Ulianitski was indirectly linked with Jerome Booysen, the alleged leader of the Sexy Boys who was last week named in court as a suspect in Beeka’s murder. “The Russian” had dealings with Beeka, but they too later had a fall-out – both were killed in similar shootings. Uncle Sam is himself currently on the run after he fell foul of his mob bosses who were indirectly linked to the Beeka killing and the Serbian fugitives hiding out here. He also counts convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti as a contact. During our interview, he gave our reporter a phone number which he said was that of Agliotti. When we rang the number, a male voice confirmed he was Agliotti before asking to be handed back to Uncle Sam. The whistle-blower admits he ran a car fraud scheme that turned sour when the syndicate chiefs failed to pay his R790 000 fee for buying 30 luxury cars in his name. But he has kept a detailed diary of his criminal activities and those of his former mob colleagues. And he has threatened to use the 116-page hand-written diary to put them behind bars if they come after him. “I’ve got nothing to lose,” he says. “I need to warn the public that the mafia is running the country with the help of cops and top politicians and that they have ruthless killers who will take out anyone who threatens them.”</p>

Whistle-blower links Serbian drug lords, SA gangs

  The head of a Balkan cocaine and crime syndicate is hiding out in South Africa under the protection of local gang bosses, underworld sourc...

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Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino told he will 'pay for this' by coast guard

<p> </p><p>As the Costa Concordia cruise liner lay stricken on its side, and with people still scrambling to evacuate, an Italian Coast Guard chief raged at the ship’s captain to get back on board and direct the rescue efforts. But the captain, Francesco Schettino, who was in a lifeboat, refused to return to the ship. A partial transcript of the dramatic conversation between Schettino and Gregorio De Falco, the Coast Guard official, as released by newspaper Corriere della Sera. National Post CLICK FOR LARGER GRAPHIC Coast Guard: Listen, Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now, you go with your lifeboat. Under the bow of the ship, on the right side, there is a ladder. You climb on that ladder and go on board the ship. Go on board the ship and get back to me and tell me how many people are there. Is that clear? I am recording this conversation, Captain Schettino. Captain: At this moment the ship is listing. Coast Guard: There are people who are coming down the ladder on the bow. Go back in the opposite direction, get back on the ship, and tell me how many people there are and what they have on board. Tell me if there are children, women and what type of help they need. And you tell me the number of each of these categories. Is that clear? Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea, but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Dammit, go back on board! Captain: Please … Coast Guard: There is no ‘please’ about it. Get back on board. Assure me you are going back on board! Captain: I’m in a lifeboat, I am under here. I am not going anywhere. I am here. Coast Guard: What are you doing, captain? Captain: I am here to co-ordinate the rescue … Coast Guard (interrupting): “What are you co-ordinating there! Get on board! Co-ordinate the rescue from on board! Are you refusing? Captain: No, I am not refusing. Coast Guard: Are you refusing to go aboard, captain? Tell me the reason why you are not going back on board. Captain: “(inaudible)… there is another lifeboat … Coast Guard (interrupting, yelling): You get back on board! That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. You have sounded the ‘Abandon Ship’. Now I am giving the orders. Get back on board. Is that clear? Don’t you hear me? Captain: I am going aboard. Coast Guard: Go! Call me immediately when you are on board. My rescue people are in front of the bow. Captain: Where is your rescue craft? Coast Guard: My rescue craft is at the bow. Go! There are already bodies, Schettino. Go! Captain: How many bodies are there? Coast Guard: “I don’t know! … Christ, you should be the one telling me that! Captain: Do you realize that it is dark and we can’t see anything? Coast Guard: So, what do you want to do, to go home, Schettino?! It’s dark and you want to go home? Go to the bow of the ship where the ladder is and tell me what needs to be done, how many people there are, and what they need! Now! Captain: My second in command is here with me. Coast Guard: Then both of you go! Both of you! What is the name of your second in command? Captain: His name is Dmitri (static). Coast Guard: What is the rest of his name? (static) You and your second in command get on board now! Is that clear? Captain: Look, chief, I want to go aboard but the other lifeboat here has stopped and is drifting. I have called … Coast Guard (interrupting): You have been telling me this for an hour! Now, go aboard! Get on board, and tell me immediately how many people there are! Captain: OK, chief. Coast Guard: Go! Immediately!</p>

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino told he will 'pay for this' by coast guard

  As the Costa Concordia cruise liner lay stricken on its side, and with people still scrambling to evacuate, an Italian Coast Guard chief r...

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Pasquale Mazzarella and Clemente Amodio arrested in Marbella

<p> </p><p>TWO Italians belonging to the Mazzarella mafia family were arrested in Malaga for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking activities, according to Press reports. Pasquale Mazzarella, who had been on the run from the authorities for the past three years, and Clemente Amodio, wanted since last Spring, had European arrest warrants against them and were handed over to the National Court to be extradited to Italy. They were living in a villa in Marbella, and had moved their headquarters to Spain, allegedly bringing drugs from Morocco to sell in Europe.</p>

Pasquale Mazzarella and Clemente Amodio arrested in Marbella

  TWO Italians belonging to the Mazzarella mafia family were arrested in Malaga for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking activities...

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Spain's most famous judge, the charismatic and controversial investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón, sat in the dock at the country's supreme court

<p> </p><p>Spain's most famous judge, the charismatic and controversial investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón, sat in the dock at the country's supreme court on Tuesday morning to face charges that may bring his career to an abrupt and dramatic end. Garzón, who ordered the arrest in London of Chile's General Pinochet, entered the court wearing his judge's gown for what may be one of the last times, as he faces being struck off as a magistrate for up to 17 years. He told the Guardian he was in good spirits, though he has privately said he believes his fellow judges are determined to find him guilty in this case or one of the two others he must face in the coming weeks and months. "I'm fine," he said before entering a courtroom decorated with a massive glass chandelier and large crucifix. A panel of seven judges was set to hear evidence over two or three days. In the first of three separate cases against him at Madrid's supreme court, Garzón is accused of breaking rules by approving police taps on conversations between defence lawyers and their clients in a corruption investigation focusing on the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy's People's party (PP). Crowds of protesters gathered outside the court to support the judge, whose supporters claim is the subject of a campaign of persecution triggered by his decision to investigate human rights crimes committed under Franco. A second, even more controversial, trial is to start next week. It will see Garzón accused of twisting the law in order to open a formal investigation into the death or disappearance of 110,000 people allegedly killed under Franco's regime. Garzón has pledged to fight, but privately believes he will be found guilty because he has made too many enemies. He was suspended because of the Franco case in May 2010, but denies all the allegations. Court sources said the hearing that starts on Tuesday will last two or three days. Rajoy was a ferocious critic of Garzón as he helped uncover a network of corruption involving PP regional governments in Valencia and Madrid. "Just because a judge is investigating a crime doesn't mean that he can do whatever he wants," said Ignacio Peláez, one of the lawyers whose prison conversations with clients were recorded. "Even criminals have certain rights." His defence is expected to argue that, since another judge backed Garzón's move to tape the defence lawyers' conversations, he cannot be accused of deliberately dictating measures generally known to be against the law. Both Garzón's supporters and the rightwing Clean Hands trade union, which brought the case against him for investigating Franco's crimes, believe the supreme court has programmed the corruption case first in order to draw attention away from the Franco case. "It is the only thing we agree on," said Miguel Bernad of Clean Hands. "He wants the Franco trial first so he can make out he is the victim of pro-Francoists. We want it first because we lodged our writ long before the others." Relatives of those killed by Franco's regime will be among the protesters. Argentinian Manoli Labrador, whose father, two brothers and sister-in-law were killed by the military juntas in Argentina, will join them. "He has always listened to the victims," she said. "That is why we must support him." Garzón made use of international human rights laws to bring groundbreaking cases against Argentinian junta thugs in Madrid, forcing Argentinian courts to eventually open their own investigations. The arrest of Pinochet brought two sentences from the law lords in the UK allowing for his extradition to Spain. That sparked a similar round of cases in Chile. A third case, involving allegations that Garzón should have ruled himself out of investigating a complaint against the Santander bank, has not yet been scheduled. Prosecutors claim Garzón had received money from Santander while on a year's sabbatical at New York University – something the university denies.</p>

Spain's most famous judge, the charismatic and controversial investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón, sat in the dock at the country's supreme court

  Spain's most famous judge, the charismatic and controversial investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón, sat in the dock at the country...

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Captain ordered back onto boat by port officials

<p> </p><p> Mr Schettino 'attempted to take a taxi away from the scene' • Crew 'began evacuation before captain's orders' • Number of missing passengers and crew rises to 29 • Navy blasting holes in hull to improve access to divers • Captain due to appear in court this morning • Minister warns of ecological disaster According to reports in Italian media, Captain Francesco Schettino was attempting to catch a taxi away from the scene. “What do you want to do, go home?” one official asked him, according to transcripts of the increasingly frantic exchanges between port authorities and the captain, who allegedly refused a direct order to return to the ship and take charge. The transcripts reveal the mounting anger and frustration of port and Coast Guard officials as they began to realise the full extent of the disaster, despite the commander’s repeated insistence that the situation on board was “all OK”. When officials told the captain that there were reports of bodies in the water, the commander allegedly asked: “How many?”.</p>

Captain ordered back onto boat by port officials

   Mr Schettino 'attempted to take a taxi away from the scene' • Crew 'began evacuation before captain's orders' • Numbe...

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Thousands of children are being "needlessly dumped in prison" because of Britain's failing youth justice system

<p> </p><p>Thousands of children are being "needlessly dumped in prison" because of Britain's failing youth justice system, a think-tank has warned. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said courts and prisons were being used to "parent children" and were expected to sweep up problem youngsters inadequately dealt with by other departments, such as social services. In a new report, the group called for a radical overhaul in the way the Government deals with young offenders. It said there needed to be a drastic cut in the 5,000 children a year currently given custodial sentences, arguing the imprisonment of youths between the age of 10 and 17 should be limited to the "critical few" guilty of the most serious or violent crimes. The CSJ said too many children are being taken before the youth courts for trivial reasons. The report cited one example where a child who had thrown a bowl of Sugar Puffs at his care worker, jumped out of the window, then climbed back in, was held in a police cell over a weekend on suspicion of assault and attempted burglary. The independent think-tank, set up in 2004 by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, urged a return to a "common-sense" approach to minor incidents with parents and teachers using their judgment to deal with them at a home or school level. It also criticised the widespread use of short sentences for young offenders, arguing they undermine justice and disrupt attempts to educate and rehabilitate them. Gavin Poole, executive director of the CSJ, said: "Many young people fall into the system unnecessarily and do not receive the help they need to free themselves from it. Custody is sometimes neither a protective nor a productive place for children, and community orders can be equally ineffective. Moreover, despite years of good intentions, many young people leaving custody are still not being provided with the basic support they need for rehabilitation." Among a series of recommendations, the CSJ said there should be no sentences shorter than six months and an emphasis should be placed on non-custodial punishments where underlying behavioural problems can be tackled more effectively. The group also said measures to prevent lawbreaking by young people should be the primary responsibility of child welfare services rather than the youth justice system. It added local services needed to work together to ensure that young people and their families receive the help they need early.</p>

Thousands of children are being "needlessly dumped in prison" because of Britain's failing youth justice system

  Thousands of children are being "needlessly dumped in prison" because of Britain's failing youth justice system, a think-tan...

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Michael Brown: From £1.6m villa to prison yard, downfall of the Lib Dem fraudster

<p> </p><p>The knock at the door did not unduly disturb the man relaxing on the terrace of the £1.6 million villa overlooking the Caribbean. Even when his wife opened it to discover members of the Dominican Republic’s armed police outside, Darren Patrick Nally was unfazed. He was sure his secret was safe: he was not Nally, a man who said he was an Irish singer and had already been detained in prison on charges of failing to pay his debts. In fact he was Michael Brown, a 45-year-old British fraudster whose web of lies and deceit had made him millions – £2.4 million of which he had donated to the Liberal Democrats for their 2005 election campaign, becoming their biggest single donor. As he was arrested for unpaid rent at a former apartment, Brown was nonchalant. At the police station he told the local assistant prosecutor, Elizabeth Rijo, that he would pay the debt and be back home in time for dinner.</p>

Michael Brown: From £1.6m villa to prison yard, downfall of the Lib Dem fraudster

  The knock at the door did not unduly disturb the man relaxing on the terrace of the £1.6 million villa overlooking the Caribbean. Even whe...

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celebrity gangster-turned-author has been banned from the road after being caught more than one-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit

<div id="media-container" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="image-container" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="David Courtney" height="272" id="article-image" src="http://m.gmgrd.co.uk/res/915.$plit/C_71_article_1470653_image_list_image_list_item_0_image.jpg?13%2F01%2F2012%2013%3A25%3A49%3A689" style="border-image: initial; border: 0px initial initial;" width="460" /><span class="caption" style="color: #000000; display: block; font-size: 11px;">David Courtney</span></div></div><div class="article-text" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">A celebrity gangster-turned-author has been banned from the road after being caught more than one-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">David Courtney, 52, was pulled over on the M6 in the early hours.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He was driving a borrowed Vauxhall Vectra after his wife, the rapper JennyBean, had taken his car following an argument, a court heard.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">Debbie Byrne, prosecuting, told Macclesfield magistrates court that Courtney had been spotted travelling southbound on the M6 in excess of 70mph.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">Courtney, who was alone, was pulled over near Knutsford services and spoken to by officers.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">A roadside breath test proved positive so he was arrested and taken to a police station in Middlewich.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">There he gave two samples of breath, the lowest of which was 53 microgrammes of alcohol, in 100ml of breath, more than one and a half times the legal limit of 35.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">Stuart Page, defending, said Courtney had a domestic dispute and his wife had taken all his belongings, including his car.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He spoke to one of his friends who owns a car hire company, who agreed to lend him the Vectra. He said he then drove to Chorley in Lancashire to see some friends and whilst talking to them, he had a couple of drinks.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He said he thought he was below the limit and OK to drive at the time of the offence on December 22.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">Courtney, of Chestnut Rise, Plumstead, London, pleaded guilty to drink-driving.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He has a previous conviction for drink-driving in 2006, meaning he was subject to a minimum driving ban of three years.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He was also fined £100 and ordered to pay £40 costs as well as a £15 victim surcharge.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">Courtney, is an ex-London gangster well known for his friendships with other hard men, such as the Kray twins, which saw him dubbed ‘the yellow pages of the underworld’.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He previously worked as a debt collector and claims he has been shot, stabbed and had his nose bitten off.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He also boasts to have been the inspiration for Vinnie Jones’s character in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He has so far written four books about gangland violence and written, produced and starred in his own film called Hell to Pay.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.3; padding: 0px;">He refers to himself as David Courtney OBE, which stands for ‘one big ego’.</p></div>

celebrity gangster-turned-author has been banned from the road after being caught more than one-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit

David Courtney A celebrity gangster-turned-author has been banned from the road after being caught more than one-and-a-half times the drink-...

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US Marines identify 'urination' troops

<p> </p><p>At least two of four US Marines shown in a video appearing to urinate on Taliban corpses have been identified, a Marine Corps official has told the BBC. The video, which was posted online, purports to show four US Marines standing over the bodies of several Taliban fighters, at least one of whom is covered in blood. The Marines have begun a criminal investigation and an internal inquiry. US officials and Afghan officials have condemned the video as "deplorable". The origin of the video is not known, but it was originally posted to YouTube. The BBC's Steve Kingstone says the official would not confirm the Marines' whereabouts, but news reports suggested the unit involved was based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina - a major military base. A US Marines spokesman, Lt Col Joseph Plenzler, told the AFP news agency that "we cannot release the name of the unit at this time since the incident is being investigated."</p>

US Marines identify 'urination' troops

  At least two of four US Marines shown in a video appearing to urinate on Taliban corpses have been identified, a Marine Corps official has...

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U.S. Marines video

<p><span style="color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"><p class="introduction" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; font-weight: bold; padding: 0px;">At least two of four US Marines shown in a video appearing to urinate on Taliban corpses have been identified, a Marine Corps official has told the BBC.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; padding: 0px;">The video, which was posted online, purports to show four US Marines standing over the bodies of several Taliban fighters, at least one of whom is covered in blood.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; padding: 0px;">The Marines have begun a criminal investigation and an internal inquiry.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; padding: 0px;">US officials and Afghan officials have condemned the video as "deplorable".</p></span></p>

U.S. Marines video

At least two of four US Marines shown in a video appearing to urinate on Taliban corpses have been identified, a Marine Corps official has t...

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Five men have been arrested on suspicion of fraudulent transactions from accounts held at Bristol-based stockbroker Rowan Dartington

<div id="topBar" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; width: 1080px; height: 25px; color: #999999; line-height: 23px; position: relative; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div id="stayConnected" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"></div></div><div class="columnOne" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; float: left; width: 440px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 12px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div class="article" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; line-height: 18px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="Five arrested over Rowan Dartington fraud allegations" class="mainImage" src="http://vicdn.citywirecontent.co.uk/images/2011/05/04/490021-System__Resources__Image-533721.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; float: right; display: block; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" /><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The arrests have been confirmed by Avon and Somerset Constabulary, which said that the men aged 45, 36, 49, 57 and 23 have all been bailed pending further enquiries but not charged.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The arrests are in connection with high value fraudulent transactions that saw money leave accounts held at Rowan Dartington. The events are understood to have taken place prior to the management buyout headed by current chief Graham Coxell (pictured), who is not one of the five arrested, in February of last year.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">A spokeswoman for Avon and Somerset police said the investigation expanded beyond the Bristol area, with the Cumbria police force also involved. She was unable to confirm if any of the five suspects were former Rowan Dartington employees.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">She stressed that Rowan Dartington was the victim in the investigation rather than a suspect and ‘substantial’ amounts of money were involved.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The FSA declined to comment and said it was unable to confirm or deny whether Rowan Dartington was the subject of an investigation by the regulator.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">In a separate incident, Rowan Dartington was previously fined <a href="http://www.citywire.co.uk/wealth-manager/rowan-dartington-writes-off-1m-from-black-hole-after-fsa-fine/a404687" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: initial; outline-style: none; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: #0e6f99; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" title="Rowan Dartington writes off £1m from black hole after FSA fine">£511,000 by the FSA</a> in June 2010 for failing to protect and properly segregate client accounts over a two-year period, following a settlement system failure dating back to 2007. This caused the firm’s back office to be saddled with more than 150,000 unreconciled trades and eventually led to a <a href="http://www.citywire.co.uk/wealth-manager/astaire-finds-black-hole-putting-hoodless-takeover-in-doubt/a393628" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: initial; outline-style: none; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: #0e6f99; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" title="Astaire finds black hole, putting Hoodless takeover in doubt">£1.4 million black hole</a> in the stockbroker’s accounts.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Since Coxell took over the business in February last year, he has sought to position the business to benefit from the retail distribution review and announced plans to launch a platform. He has also sought to rebuild the investment management team with the hires of Ashcourt Rowan’s head of collective research Tim Cockerill and Oliver Cowell from Redmayne-Bentley.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Rowan Dartington declined to comment.</p></div></div>

Five men have been arrested on suspicion of fraudulent transactions from accounts held at Bristol-based stockbroker Rowan Dartington

  The arrests have been confirmed by Avon and Somerset Constabulary, which said that the men aged 45, 36, 49, 57 and 23 have all been bailed...

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Cargo ship runs aground off Sweden, crew suspected drunk

<p> </p><p>The captain and helmsman are both suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and we have launched an inquiry," coast guard spokeswoman Lotta Brandstroem told AFP. It was not immediately known why the Anke Angela, an 82-metre (270-foot) ship loaded with timber, ran aground around 0100 GMT in the Kalmarsund strait between the Swedish mainland and the island of Oeland. "The captain is a German national and the helmsman is Russian, and the other four crew members are from Ukraine and Cape Verde," Brandstroem said, adding that the vessel was en route from Moensteraas to Ireland with a cargo of wood. The ship was listing slightly on Wednesday and the coast guard was assessing the damage.</p>

Cargo ship runs aground off Sweden, crew suspected drunk

  The captain and helmsman are both suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and we have launched an inquiry," coast guard spo...

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Outspoken Moroccan rapper awaits assault verdict

<p> </p><p>A Moroccan rapper who has become one of the monarchy's boldest critics on Wednesday awaited a verdict after a trial on assault charges which his lawyers and right activists said were a ploy to muzzle the popular singer. Mouad Belrhouat, better known as El-Haqed, or "The Sullen One", has become the singing voice of a protest movement inspired by Arab uprisings, demanding a constitutional monarchy, an independent judiciary and a crackdown on corruption. The judge adjourned the case on Wednesday after an all-night hearing to consider his verdict, expected on Thursday. The 24-year-old rapper has been in jail since his arrest in September after a brawl with a monarchist. Bail requests by his defence team have been rejected and the trial has been adjourned six times. "The charges are a farce. El Haqed is being persecuted for his critical songs. The state is keeping him in jail and repeatedly adjourning his trial to silence him," said Khadija Ryadi, who chairs Morocco's main human rights group, AMDH. The rapper's cutting lyrics telling Moroccans to "wise up" have angered many monarchists. In one song he raps that the king spends so much time giving orders that he has little time to count his money in Switzerland. However, he has struck a chord with young Moroccans who are disenchanted with poor or non-existent jobs and one song "Bite just as much as you can chew" has received more than 600,000 hits on Youtube. ALL-NIGHT SESSION Belrhouat's trial is a test for the Justice and Development Party PJD.L, which like its Tunisian peers is a moderate Islamist party leading a government for the first time after it won elections in November. In a Casablanca court packed with Belrhouat supporters, the judge begun to hear the case in an unusually late session on Tuesday which continued through the night. Mohamed Bouawine, one of the 24 lawyers who have volunteered to defend the rapper, said his client faces up to three years in jail if found guilty. AMDH's Ryadi says Belrhouat has become yet another case among "dozens of prisoners of conscience" in Morocco. Local and international right groups say hundreds of Islamists have been jailed in what they said were politically-motivated trials rushed through after suicide attacks in Casablanca in 2003, that killed 45 people. Morocco's judiciary is meant to be given more independence under reforms crafted last year by the Arab world's longest-serving monarchy as it sought to preempt a popular revolt. The man whom Belrhouat is alleged to have assaulted said the injury left him incapacitated for 45 days but defence lawyers produced evidence suggesting he recovered far more quickly and was being used as a political pawn. Belrhouat's father Mohamed told Reuters he would not be supporting his son in court had the rapper done anything wrong. "My son was set up. The police and the ambulance turned up five minutes after the incident: This never happens here."</p>

Outspoken Moroccan rapper awaits assault verdict

  A Moroccan rapper who has become one of the monarchy's boldest critics on Wednesday awaited a verdict after a trial on assault charges...

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Officer finds own parents Avtar and Carole Kolar killed in ‘revenge attack’

<p> </p><p>The unnamed son went round to see Avtar Kolar, 62, and his wife Carole, 58, after they failed to answer his morning phone call. ‘It was obvious from the scene the couple had been assaulted and had more than likely died of their injuries,’ said Dep Supt Richard Baker, who is leading the inquiry. When asked if it might be a revenge attack linked to their son’s police work, Mr Baker replied: ‘We are definitely looking at that as a possibility but we have no information to suggest it is the case at this stage.’ Mr Baker added: ‘At 7.15 on Tuesday night, a family member spoke to Carole and there were no issues. At 8am yesterday, their son went round to find the couple dead at the scene.’ Detectives were keeping an open mind about what kind of weapon was used. ‘We have a full team of experts and forensic scientists now at the  address,’ said Mr Baker. The couple, who had four sons and eight grandchildren and had been married for 40 years, had lived in  Birmingham for most of their lives. ‘The local community – and the  family – have been extremely  supportive in what they are telling us and how they are co-operating with us,’ Mr Baker added. ‘We will catch the people responsible but we would like to make an appeal for information at this very early stage.’ More than 60 detectives, as well as uniformed offiers, from the West Midlands force are working on the case. Post-mortem examinations will be carried out on Thursday or Friday.</p>

Officer finds own parents Avtar and Carole Kolar killed in ‘revenge attack’

  The unnamed son went round to see Avtar Kolar, 62, and his wife Carole, 58, after they failed to answer his morning phone call. ‘It was o...

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Breast implant scandal: taxpayers face £100 million bill

<p> </p><p>Harley Medical Group (HMG), responsible for one in three operations using the French-made implants, said it would go out of business if made to meet the full cost of removal. HMG's position makes it more likely the other two main players, Transform Cosmetic Surgery and The Hospital Group, will also ignore pleas for private clinics to pay for surgery. Should they follow HMG's lead, the bill to taxpayers could feasibly top £100 million as the NHS will be forced to perform the corrective surgery.The big three firms are likely to have performed around two thirds of enlargement operations using faulty implants in Britain. There are around 40,000 women in the UK who have been fitted with the controversial implants and operations to remove them cost around £3,000. Mel Braham, chairman of HMG, claimed the Government had the "moral responsibility" to pay for removal operations, as the regulator meant to ensure the safety of medical devices had failed in its duty.</p>

Breast implant scandal: taxpayers face £100 million bill

  Harley Medical Group (HMG), responsible for one in three operations using the French-made implants, said it would go out of business if ma...

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Iran car explosion kills nuclear scientist in Tehran

<p> </p><p>BBC's Mohsen Asgari: "It seems a motor cyclist pasted a bomb to his car which he was in with two other passengers Continue reading the main story Iran nuclear crisis Undeclared pursuit? Q&A: Nuclear issue Key nuclear sites Sanctions' impact Watch A university lecturer and nuclear scientist has been killed in a car explosion in north Tehran. Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, an academic who also worked at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, and the driver of the car were killed in the attack. The blast happened after a motorcyclist stuck an apparent bomb to the car. Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years, with Iran blaming Israel and the US. Both countries deny the accusations. Continue reading the main story Analysis Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent The assassination on Wednesday of another Iranian nuclear scientist may now prompt Iran to try to respond in kind. The murder in Tehran of Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan comes on top of a sophisticated cyber sabotage programme and two mysterious explosions at Iranian military bases, one of which in November killed the general known as 'the godfather' of Iran's ballistic missile programme. No-one is claiming responsibility for these attacks but Iran blames its longstanding enemy, Israel, and occasionally the US. Whoever is behind them, Iran is clearly being subjected to an undeclared campaign to slow down its nuclear programme. Frank Gardner's analysis in full Iran's Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi told state television that the attack against Mr Ahmadi-Roshan would not stop "progress" in the country's nuclear programme. He called the killing "evidence of [foreign] government-sponsored terrorism". Local sources said Wednesday's blast took place at a faculty of Iran's Allameh Tabatai university. Two others were reportedly also injured in the blast, which took place near Gol Nabi Street, in the north of the capital</p>

Iran car explosion kills nuclear scientist in Tehran

  BBC's Mohsen Asgari: "It seems a motor cyclist pasted a bomb to his car which he was in with two other passengers Continue readin...

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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

<p> </p><blockquote>. 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.</blockquote>

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

  . 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...

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Drug smuggling bid foiled

<p> </p><p>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.</p>

Drug smuggling bid foiled

  Customs at the airport foiled an attempt by one Egyptian expatriate arriving from Cairo to smuggle 1,000 narcotic pills into the country. ...

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Drug smuggling compartment specialist sentenced to 24 years

<p>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.</p>

Drug smuggling compartment specialist sentenced to 24 years

A California man who specialized in building secret compartments in vehicles used to smuggle drugs received a 24-year sentence in what prose...

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Mexico: Reporter Gunned Down In Los Zetas Stronghold

<p> </p><p>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.</p>

Mexico: Reporter Gunned Down In Los Zetas Stronghold

  Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino, a reporter for the weekly La Última Palabra in Cadereyta, in the northeastern state of Nuevo León, became the f...

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Undercover agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, working with their Mexican counterparts, helped transfer millions of dollars in drug cash and even escorted a shipment of cocaine via Dallas to Spain

<p> </p><p>The covert activities were undertaken as part of an operation to infiltrate and prosecute a major Colombian-Mexican narco-trafficking organization moving cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and the United States. The undercover operation, detailed in Mexican government documents obtained by the New York Times, first came to light via a Monday dispatch by Times reporter Ginger Thompson. The documents "describe American counternarcotics agents, Mexican law enforcement officials and a Colombian informant working undercover together over several months in 2007," Thompson reported. "Together, they conducted numerous wire transfers of tens of thousands of dollars at a time, smuggled millions of dollars in bulk cash—and escorted at least one large shipment of cocaine from Ecuador to Dallas to Madrid." The documents "show that in 2007 the authorities infiltrated" the operations of an accused major Colombian cocaine trafficker, named Harold Mauricio Poveda-Ortega, Thompson wrote. Poveda-Ortega, also known as the Rabbit, "was considered the principal cocaine supplier to the Mexican drug cartel leader Arturo Beltran Leyva." Leyva was killed in 2008 in a shootout with Mexican naval forces. Poveda-Ortega was arrested in Mexico City in November 2010. The Mexican government documents include testimony from a DEA special agent "who oversaw a covert money laundering investigation" into Poveda-Ortega, Thompson reported. The documents form part of the file supporting a Mexican Foreign Ministry extradition order for Poveda-Ortega from last May 2011. The United States, however, has declined to indicate whether Poveda-Ortega was extradited to the United States, Thompson writes. A Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney similarly told Yahoo News Monday that the department is "not in a position to comment on the specific matter." The Drug Enforcement Administration defended the undercover operation in a written statement given to Thompson. "Transnational organized groups can be defeated only by transnational law enforcement cooperation," the agency wrote. "Such cooperation requires that law enforcement agencies — often from multiple countries — coordinate their activities, while at the same time always acting within their respective laws and authorities." Former DEA agent Robert Mazur, who posed as a money launderer in a similar undercover DEA investigation targeting the banks supporting the Medellin drug cartel, said such undercover operations are necessary and legitimate. Covert drug stings are critical, he says, in lining up evidence to successfully prosecute the top command and control figures of organized crime cartels. "This is a law enforcement technique that has been used for decades," Mazur told Yahoo News in a telephone interview Monday. "If we were to embrace the concept that these undercover money laundering operations shouldn't be conducted because in a small way, they for a brief period of time create a short term benefit for the criminal, we would be doing criminal organizations around the world the greatest favor they could get. We would be closing door to one of the most effective methods available to attack what law enforcement calls the command and control of these global organizations." The organizations targeted in these intricate DEA stings "are not people selling dime bags of crack on the street, but people trying to create terrorists states around the world," continued Mazur (Mazur, who retired from the DEA in 1998, has recounted his experience infiltrating the BCCI bank accused of money laundering for the Colombian drug cartel, in a book, The Infiltrator.) Mazur also disputed any comparison between the undercover DEA case exposed by the Times Monday and the recent controversy over "Fast and Furious," the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) program that allegedly put guns in the hands of Mexican drug gangs. "I would never agree in any circumstances it's worthwhile to put 2,000 weapons in the hands of criminals," he said. "Each of these operations needs to be professionally managed and individually scrutinized. This one, from what I read, is very common place, and I don't see anything in there that disturbs me in the least." Recent DEA undercover operations have led to the apprehension and successful prosecution of two major global arms traffickers, including the Russian-born, so-called "merchant of death" Viktor Bout, who was convicted in November on four counts of plotting to sell anti-aircraft guns and other weapons to Colombia's FARC rebels; and the Syrian-born "Prince of Marbella," Monzer al-Kassar, who was sentenced by a New York court in 2009 to 30 years in prison.</p>

Undercover agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, working with their Mexican counterparts, helped transfer millions of dollars in drug cash and even escorted a shipment of cocaine via Dallas to Spain

  The covert activities were undertaken as part of an operation to infiltrate and prosecute a major Colombian-Mexican narco-trafficking orga...

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Four senior British police officers are under investigation over allegations of misconduct for partaking in a gangland killing case, news reports said.

<p><div id="divLead" style="font-size: 16px; padding-top: 20px; font-weight: bold; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial; background-color: #ffffff;"></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">Staffordshire Police launched an inquiry into the murder of amateur footballer Kevin Nunes, 20, who was gunned down in a country lane in 2002, British media reported. </span><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">Nunes, a drug dealer who had been on the books of Tottenham Hotspur, was shot dead in an execution style killing after a gang dispute. </span><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">His killers, Levi Walker, Antonio Christie, Adam Joof, Michael Osbourne and Owen Crooks were all jailed for life after being found guilty of murder by a jury at Leicester Crown Court. </span><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) will look into the handling of the investigation into case of the four officers, including the lead on police ethics. Five men were jailed in connection with the killing in 2008. </span><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">The IPCC confirmed that formal notice of investigation had been served on “a number of former and serving Staffordshire Police officers”. </span><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">Meanwhile, Northamptonshire Police Authority confirmed that its force's chief constable Adrian Lee and deputy chief constable Suzette Davenport were being investigated. </span><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">Lee is also the head of the Association of Chief Police Officers' ethics portfolio.</span></p>

Four senior British police officers are under investigation over allegations of misconduct for partaking in a gangland killing case, news reports said.

Staffordshire Police launched an inquiry into the murder of amateur footballer Kevin Nunes, 20, who was gunned down in a country lane in 200...

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teenager who murdered a 16-year-old schoolboy outside a pub in Stretford has denied his motive was revenge for another gangland killing.

<p> </p><p>A teenager who murdered a 16-year-old schoolboy outside a pub in Stretford has denied his motive was revenge for another gangland killing. Moses Mathias told Manchester Crown Court he intended to commit a robbery but instead fired at a vehicle carrying Giuseppe Gregory out of "fear for my life". He said he did not learn of the death in May 2009 until the next day. Àt the age of 15 he later went on the run. Mathias, now 18, remained at large until he was arrested in Amsterdam earlier this year on a European Arrest Warrant after a joint investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and GMP. He was flown back to the UK in June and four months later admitted the murder of the youngster who was gunned down in the early hours of May 11 in a car outside the Robin Hood pub in Stretford. In March 2010, Mathias's associates Njabulo Ndlovu and Hiruy Zerihun, then aged 19 and 18, were jailed for life and ordered to serve minimum terms of 21 years and 23 years respectively after they were convicted of Giuseppe's murder. Their trial heard the pair carried out the attack in revenge for the murder of Zerihun's boyhood friend Louis Brathwaite, also 16, who was shot dead in a betting shop in Withington, south Manchester, in January 2008. They were affiliated to Fallowfield Man Dem, a splinter group of the notorious Gooch Gang, who targeted Giuseppe and his friends because of their association to the rival gang the Longsight Crew. Mathias, of no fixed address, also admitted possessing - with Zerihun and Ndlovu - an imitation firearm, a self-loading pistol, a .32 pistol and six .32 bullet cartridges. But now he has argued the basis of his plea and claimed he did not know Louis Brathwaite, saying in evidence that the plan was to enter the pub and "rob the tills".</p>

teenager who murdered a 16-year-old schoolboy outside a pub in Stretford has denied his motive was revenge for another gangland killing.

  A teenager who murdered a 16-year-old schoolboy outside a pub in Stretford has denied his motive was revenge for another gangland killing....

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Brits who invested their savings in their adopted countries may not be able to withdraw cash and could even lose their homes if banks call in loans

<div class="article-image fl-left" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: #ffffff; background-image: url(http://images.mirror.co.uk/collections/m4_art2/imagegallery-bg.jpg); clear: both; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div class="image-caption" style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="Marbella, Andalusia, Spain (pic: Getty)" border="0" height="396" src="http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/dec2011/2/5/image-1-for-editorial-pics-19-12-2011-gallery-454534143.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; float: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" width="610" /><p class="caption" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: center; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Marbella, Andalusia, Spain (pic: Getty)</p></div></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">EMERGENCY evacuation plans for Brits living in Spain and Portugal are being drawn up amid fears of the euro collapsing.</p><div class="inline-ad span-16 last" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; float: right; width: 310px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div class="caption" style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 0.917em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #727272; line-height: 1.636em; text-align: center; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Advertisement >></div><div class="ad0 mpu InSkinHide" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div id="tmgdfc-rk2" style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><ins style="display: inline-table; height: 250px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: initial none initial;"><ins id="aswift_1_anchor" style="display: block; height: 250px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: initial none initial;"><iframe width="300" height="250" frameborder="0"></iframe></ins></ins><img alt="" height="1" src="http://ad.360yield.com/status?publisher_user_id=f76b9966-281a-42c6-a68e-a7c070233c30&publisher_dsp_id=2&publisher_call_type=redirect&publisher_redirecturl=http://ad.360yield.com/match" style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" width="1" /><img alt="" height="1" src="http://pixel.invitemedia.com/adnxs_sync?uid=394737483956258250" style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" width="1" /></div></div></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The drastic proposals emerged as a former Security Minister warned expats could be left stranded and destitute by the break-up of the single currency.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Brits who invested their savings in their adopted countries may not be able to withdraw cash and could even lose their homes if banks call in loans, worried ministers are warning.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The Foreign Office is preparing to bring them back from Spain and Portugal if the two countries are forced out of the euro, triggering a banking collapse.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">A million Brits live in Spain and 50,000 in neighbouring Portugal – plus a million in the other eurozone countries.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">And Baroness Neville-Jones, who only stepped down as a minister in May, called the situation “very, very worrying”.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The Tory peer – who once chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee for MI5, MI6 and other security agencies – said: “Spain is clearly a vulnerable area. If that happens, one of the things that will happen in a crash of that kind, is that the banks would close their doors. You would find that there are people there, including our own citizens, a lot of them, who couldn’t get money out to live on. So you would have a destitution problem.”</p><div class="art-o art-align-left otm-59 article-image" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: #ffffff; background-image: url(http://images.mirror.co.uk/collections/m4_art2/imagegallery-bg.jpg); clear: both; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="Brits living in Europe Map" border="0" height="380" src="http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/dec2011/2/5/image-1-for-editorial-pics-19-12-2011-gallery-705996849.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; float: none !important; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" title="Brits living in Europe Map" width="610" /></div><p class="crosshead" style="margin-top: -15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: center; line-height: 18px; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">British planes, ships and coaches could be sent to pluck our citizens from debt-ridden Spain and Portugal</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Commenting on the evacuation plans, she added: “I think they are right to be doing that. I think this is a real contingency that they need to plan against – very, very worrying.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Officials are braced for a nightmare scenario where thousands end up penniless and sleeping at airports with no means of getting home. Planes, ships and coaches could be sent, with some expats being brought out through Gibraltar.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The Foreign Office could offer small loans while piling pressure on the banks to give Brits access to their funds.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Spanish and Portuguese banks guarantee the first 100,000 euros deposited by savers but many put limits on withdrawals in a crisis.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">A powerful credit rating agency downgraded 10 Spanish banks last week, while another warned over the weekend the debt crisis was threatening to spiral out of control.</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><br /><br /><br /></span></p>

Brits who invested their savings in their adopted countries may not be able to withdraw cash and could even lose their homes if banks call in loans

Marbella, Andalusia, Spain (pic: Getty) EMERGENCY evacuation plans for Brits living in Spain and Portugal are being drawn up amid fears of t...

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Spanish king forced son-in-law to quit job in 2006

<p> </p><p> </p><p>King Juan Carlos told his son-in-law in 2006 to cut ties with a company now mired in corruption allegations, an official at Spain's royal palace said Sunday. Authorities are probing the activities of a non-profit company run by Inaki Urdangarin between 2004 and 2006. "(The king) ordered him to stand down from his activities and he sold his shares," said the official, who works at the royal palace's press office, confirming reports in the Spanish press. "He was told he shouldn't work for himself and it would be better if he worked overseas." Urdangarin, 43, also known as the Duke of Palma de Mallorca, now works for Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica in Washington, where he lives with with his wife, Infanta Cristina. The scandal, the first to hit Spain's royal family in years, centres on Urdangarin's time at the helm of the Instituto Noos, now suspected of siphoning off money from contracts paid by the regional government of the Balearic Islands, where the institute is based. The royal palace did not uncover any lies or fraud in 2006, the source said. However, a royal legal advisor found signs the Noos institute was possibly involved in commercial activities not consistent its non-profit mission. On December 12, the royal palace froze Urdangarin out of official activities over the scandal. The royal family traditionally maintains a discreet profile in Spain, where Juan Carlos is widely respected, credited with guiding the country to democracy after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. The scandal has nevertheless caused anger at a time when ordinary Spaniards are being squeezed by spending cuts and a lack of jobs, with an unemployment rate of 21.5 percent. </p>

Spanish king forced son-in-law to quit job in 2006

    King Juan Carlos told his son-in-law in 2006 to cut ties with a company now mired in corruption allegations, an official at Spain's ...

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Spain's longest-serving inmate received a government pardon yesterday that saw him and his family convinced that he would walk free immediately

<p><span class="storyTop " style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff;"><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">After 35 years in jail and eight successful breakout attempts, Spain's longest-serving inmate received a government pardon yesterday that saw him and his family convinced that he would walk free immediately – only for him to remain behind bars.</p></span></p><div class="body " style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; line-height: 1.4; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff;"><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px;">Since 1976, Spanish courts have found Miguel Angel Montes Neiro guilty of more than 30 robberies and armed burglaries, many committed while on the run. But even as a spokesman for the Spanish government, Jose Blanco, confirmed yesterday that Montes Neiro, 61, had received a pardon for two of his multiple crimes, another outstanding sentence – for robbery and illicit possession of firearms – will see him remain in jail.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Montes Neiro, from the province of Granada in southern Andalusia, was predictably delighted when news of the pardon broke yesterday lunchtime, telling his family by phone: "Don't come to the prison gates when I get out, I want to walk the first two or three kilometres so I can feel the fresh air like a free man."</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">However, it emerged that his pardon was only partial and that a court review of a 13-year sentence was still pending.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Montes Neiro spent his first night in the cells in 1966, aged 16, when he was arrested for stealing a packet of cigarettes. His first formal sentence came a decade later for desertion – but not before he had spent 10 days in army prison for stealing a sub-machine gun.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">During his numerous breakouts, the most recent in 2009 when he spent two hours on self-imposed parole to attend the wake for his mother, Montes Neiro found the time to marry twice and have two children – and to commit a string of hold-ups and kidnaps.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">Montes Neiro's record is as varied as it is long. He has been convicted of beating up hostages on three occasions, and he once formed part of a gang that broke into a Granada home and threatened to cut off a man's thumb unless his wife revealed the location of his safe.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">His escapes include one from a maximum security prison in the Spanish colony of Ceuta in 1979, but perhaps his most dramatic breakout came in 1981: after hanging himself in a staged suicide bid, breaking two ribs, he escaped from prison hospital in a taxi.</p><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">On the run for a total of three years, his repeated recapture was facilitated by his tendency to remain in or near his home town. His one spell abroad, in Morocco, ended when he returned to Granada because he missed his family.</p></div>

Spain's longest-serving inmate received a government pardon yesterday that saw him and his family convinced that he would walk free immediately

After 35 years in jail and eight successful breakout attempts, Spain's longest-serving inmate received a government pardon yesterday tha...

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Spanish, Italian police smash drug smuggling ring

<p> </p><p>Spanish and Italian police made five arrests while busting a drug-trafficking ring that for years smuggled cocaine from South America to Europe, investigators said on Friday. The group arranged for narcotics to be put on merchant ships headed to Europe. Just before the vessels arrived at their destination, the smugglers would dump cocaine packages overboard, Spanish police said in a statement. Members of the gang waiting in inflatable boats would then pick up the cocaine and take it to shore, from where it was distributed to customers in Spain and Italy, officials said.Two members of the group were detained in the Italian port city of Genoa in March in a joint operation by Spanish and Italian police. Police detained another three members of the group, including its leader, three months later in the northwestern Spanish coastal region of Galicia. "During the search of the home of the ringleader, police found a vault camouflaged behind the wall of the cellar, which housed security cameras that monitored the rest of the house as well as two large safes, cash, valuable watches, computer equipment and documents," police said in the statement. Police also seized 55 kilos (120 pounds) of cocaine, three cash-counting machines and five cars. Spain is the main gateway to Europe for cocaine from Latin America and for cannabis from north Africa</p>

Spanish, Italian police smash drug smuggling ring

  Spanish and Italian police made five arrests while busting a drug-trafficking ring that for years smuggled cocaine from South America to E...

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father of three was killed in bed near his sleeping wife and children when his house was sprayed with bullets in a drive-by shooting

<p> </p><p>Oakland police say a father of three was killed in bed near his sleeping wife and children when his house was sprayed with bullets in a drive-by shooting. Officer Kevin McDonald said one of many bullets passed through a wall and hit 46-year-old mechanic Thourn Nhep, who was pronounced dead at the scene when police arrived Saturday. Neighbors say a mid-size sedan sped away after the shooting. McDonald tells the Oakland Tribune (http://bit.ly/s7iXXn) the shooting was not random, but did not give further details of who was targeted and why. No one had been arrested. Nhep's 18-year-old daughter Sok told the Tribune it was the third time the house had been shot at recently. Sok said her father was a "good guy" who had nothing to do with violence.</p>

father of three was killed in bed near his sleeping wife and children when his house was sprayed with bullets in a drive-by shooting

  Oakland police say a father of three was killed in bed near his sleeping wife and children when his house was sprayed with bullets in a dr...

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The alleged members of the Dominican-based Trinitarios gang all face charges of racketeering, narcotics conspiracy and gun trafficking

<p><div class="art_img_lrg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; width: 485px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="Suspects allegedly sold guns and drugs." height="323" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.988090.1323283251!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_485/image.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" title="Suspects allegedly sold guns and drugs." width="485" /><div class="art_img_lrg_txt" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: #edeff1; color: #666666; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Suspects accused of selling guns and drugs.</p></span></div></div><div class="art_sidebar" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; width: 240px; float: right; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div class="code_module" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div class="module clear" style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 1px solid #d2dce4;"><div class="mod_content_related" style="font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 6px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><ul class="mod_related" style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><li style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 12px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: #e4e5e5; width: 201px; background-position: 0px 50%; margin: 0px;"></li></ul></div></div></div></div><div class="articleBodySection" style="font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Authorities collared 38 Bronx and upper Manhattan gangbangers Wednesday after a two-year probe into a notorious crew, officials said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The alleged members of the Dominican-based Trinitarios gang all face charges of racketeering, narcotics conspiracy and gun trafficking, authorities said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The undercover investigation — which involved officers from the NYPD, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Homeland Security — netted about $25,000 worth of drugs and 12 firearms in Wednesday’s raid, police said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">One weapon recovered, a Mac-11 machine gun, was painted the same shade of green the gang uses in its colors.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Federal prosecutors said the crew committed and planned violent acts, including murder, to protect its turf from rival gangs that include the Bloods, Crips, the Latin Kings and Dominicans Don’t Play.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“We believe we put a big dent in the Trinitarios gang,” said <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Lorenzo+Johnson" style="font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #015fb6; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" title="Lorenzo Johnson">Capt. Lorenzo Johnson</a>, the commanding officer of the NYPD’s Bronx gang squad.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Six people who were connected to the gang members were also arrested, police said. Authorities were still looking for about 12 other members of the gang.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Prosecutors said the Trinitarios sold firearms, including semiautomatic rifles, a shotgun and handguns, and transported them across state lines.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Numerous members of the Trinitarios who were arrested are also members of a smaller splinter gang, the Bad Boys, prosecutors said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Johnson said most of suspects were already “known to the department in some manner,” and had long terrorized several blocks in Washington Heights and parts of the Bronx, including Marble Hill.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #4e4e4e; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“Anytime we can help the community feel safer is a good day,” he said.</p></div><span style="font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" /><br /></span></p>

The alleged members of the Dominican-based Trinitarios gang all face charges of racketeering, narcotics conspiracy and gun trafficking

Suspects accused of selling guns and drugs. Authorities collared 38 Bronx and upper Manhattan gangbangers Wednesday after a two-year probe i...

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Glenn Mulcaire, the private eye at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, has been arrested

<p> </p><p>Glenn Mulcaire, the private eye at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, has been arrested by Scotland Yard detectives pursuing a fresh investigation into phone intercepts, according to a person familiar with the inquiry. Officers working on Operation Weeting – the Metropolitan Police’s second probe into phone hacking at News International, which owned the now-defunct Sunday tabloid – announced on Wednesday that they had arrested a 41-year-old man who was being held on suspicion of conspiracy to hack voicemail messages and perverting the course of justice.  Mr Mulcaire is the 16th person to be arrested under the new operation, and has already served a six-month prison sentence in 2007 after pleading guilty to intercepting phone messages. He was arrested at his home in Surrey in a dawn swoop and held in a south London police station. Detectives on Operation Weeting have used the private investigator’s notebooks – which contain the names of nearly 5,800 potential victims and run to around 11,000 pages – as the basis for their investigation, trawling through the documents to identify those who may have been hacked. The hacking scandal was reignited this summer when it was revealed that the News of the World had hacked into the voicemail messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler after she went missing in 2002, leading her parents to believe that she was still alive. Last month, Mr Mulcaire released a statement through his lawyer, denying that he had deleted voicemail messages on Ms Dowler’s phone. “[He] did not delete messages and had no reason to do so,” the statement read. The Financial Times could not reach Mr Mulcaire’s lawyer for comment on Wednesday. Chris Bryant, a Labour MP and suspected hacking victim, told the FT he was “quite encouraged” that Mr Mulcaire had been taken in for questioning. “I always thought this was a logical next step, but not one [the police] would take unless they had sufficient fresh evidence to put to [Mr Mulcaire], and it seems now they do,” he said. News of the arrest came as lawyers for Andy Coulson, the News of the World’s former editor, argued in the High Court on Wednesday that the tabloid’s parent company should continue to pay Mr Coulson’s legal bills arising from the criminal investigation into phone hacking. It emerged during the course of Mr Coulson’s evidence that News Group Newspapers – a subsidiary of News International – had continued to reimburse Mr Coulson for legal fees relating to his involvement in the judge-led phone hacking inquiry and parliamentary select committee hearings. The court heard that Mr Coulson had received a letter from Tom Mockridge, the chief executive of News International, in August informing him of an “immediate cessation” of payments in relation to criminal legal fees.</p>

Glenn Mulcaire, the private eye at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, has been arrested

  Glenn Mulcaire, the private eye at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, has been arrested by Scotland Yard detective...

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