Holloway lawyer smuggled drugs into Pentonville Prison in oversized shoes

 

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

Read more...

Aussie Poker Pro David Saab Gaoled For Drug Smuggling

 

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

Read more...

Briton arrested for drug smuggling

 

Customs and Excise officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have foiled an attempt to smuggle 6.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (shabu-shabu) worth Rp 13 billion and arrested a British national. The head of the Customs Office, Oza Olivia, said the suspect was identified as Gareth G.D, 32, who flew from Istanbul, Turkey and arrived at the airport with Turkish Airlines on Tuesday evening. “Members of our tactical unit conducted profile analyses of passengers at Terminal II-D and began to suspect him of carrying illegal items,” she told reporters on Wednesday. Oza said officers were suspicious and decided to search the suspect’s luggage. They found the drugs hidden inside the luggage. The suspect, a construction worker in his home country, later confessed that he received an order from a Turkish man, whom he identified as A, to transport the drug to Jakarta and was promised US$1,000 when the delivery was made. Oza claimed that by intercepting the drug delivery, her agency managed to prevent thousands of youths becoming drug addicts. She also said that in collaboration with the National Narcotics Agency, the Customs Office is still investigating the case. Drug smuggling attempts through the country’s main international gate continues to rise despite the threat of the death penalty. Drug smugglers can be charged under Article 113 of the 2009 Law on Narcotics, which carries a possible death sentence.

Read more...

Stars’ drug cartel links

 

POP queen Lady Gaga and Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx have been linked to the alleged bosses of an American drug cartel. Warren Braithwaite, 38, and Kevin Mucthison, 47, could be jailed for 50 years after they were charged with drug trafficking. They were arrested along with 20 others accused of smuggling marijuana worth £5million and distributing it in the US. Both have pleaded not guilty. Braithwaite’s interior design firm has carried out work at 43-year-old Foxx’s LA mansion. And Mucthison was a partner with Gaga, 25, for the 2009 launch of her Heartbeats by Lady Gaga headphones

Read more...

Russian pilot gets 20 years in US jail

 

Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian citizen, has been found guilty of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the US earlier this year and has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Yaroshenko, a pilot, was arrested in Liberia in 2010 and transported to America on charges of drug smuggling. The case itself sets a major precedent as it is the first time that a Russian citizen has been sentenced to a prison term in the US for intent to participate in a crime in a case that was built by special agents posing as drug dealers. Yaroshenko was arrested in a third country. The reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry followed shortly afterwards. “The verdict of a US judge, who sentenced the Russian pilot to 20 years in prison on the accusation of conspiring to smuggle drugs into the US, raises some very serious questions,” says the ministry’s official representative Aleksandr Lukashevich. The ministry will continue providing assistance to the Russian pilot and will be working towards his repatriation, Lukashevich added. The Russian pilot’s defense team has 30 days to file an appeal but US officials might take as long as two years to consider any appeal. Yaroshenko repeatedly pleaded not guilty in this case, and the defendant and his family, who arrived in the US and was present in the court room to support him burst into tears as the sentence was announced. Konstantin Yaroshenko is a family man with no criminal background whatsoever and he has never previously stood trial. Moreover, he has never even set foot on American soil until last year when he was snatched by US special agents to stand trial. Neither Yaroshenko’s family nor the Russian authorities were informed of his arrest and no information was given to the Russian side as to his whereabouts, so he was considered missing. Russian officials say it is a breach of diplomatic conduct and a breach of international law and place the blame for all of this on the US State Department.

Read more...

Kicking in shop windows. Setting a police car on fire. Clashes with police. Tottenham? Hackney? Brixton? No. Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava.

 

Kicking in shop windows. Setting a police car on fire. Clashes with police. Tottenham? Hackney? Brixton? No. Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava. Last month police fired rubber bullets – but not at rioting Spaniards but at drunk foreigners. After two nights of riots that dragged on until the early hours, there were 20 injured, including nine police officers, and 20 arrests. Significantly – in a city of 40,000 with 25 discos, 261 bars and approximately a million tourists a year – all those detained were foreigners. Now, it’s only a small minority of Spanish resorts that have this problem with drunk foreigners and for every Lloret del Mar, there are hundreds of other resorts where peace reigns. But we have to remember that it was the British, after all, who created many of the bars and discos on the Costa Brava, not the Spanish. The exchange rates were low and everything was cheap. Freddy Laker organised cheap flights and Wallace Arnold cheap coach tours. In the late 60s, many hotels, bars, restaurants and nightclub/ discos were British-owned. The intention was to create a Blackpool with sunshine (and chip shops and … pubs). For decades it worked well but then, as in Blackpool, the clients changed. Spain, too, after the death of Franco. The Guardia Civil and local police lost some of their powers. Somehow the Spanish now need to strike a balance between tourism and civic order but the current economic climate makes that increasingly difficult. Binge drinking is definitely frowned upon and discouraged in the UK. But there’s a whole raft of British teenagers who leave what little common sense they have back at the airport and, when they touch down at some Spanish party town, immediately get blind drunk, in the belief they can get away with even more immoral/ anti-social behaviour abroad because ‘out of sight’ means ‘out of mind’. It’s these same people who get drunk on a Saturday night in English city-centres who go to Spain for longer and cheaper drinking hours. Some attribute this anti-social behaviour to a lack of discipline at all stages of a teenager’s development. British parents can’t smack young children, teachers can’t punish those who behave anti-socially and the UK police are tied up with human rights law. So, drunk teenagers believe they can carry on getting away with it. All of which could, unfortunately, go on longer than those DFS sales …

Read more...

Brit was arrested in Sant Antoni, Ibiza

The recovered fake cash - Sant Antoni Police

Local police in Sant Antoni, Ibiza, say that a British man has been arrested in connection with counterfeit money.

Named with the initials J.G. he is charged with the crime of falsification of money and was arrested after he tried to use counterfeit notes to pay at a venue in the West End part of the town.

Local traders supplied the police with a description of the man who they finally tracked down. They recovered fake notes worth 1,100 pounds sterling and 1,310 €.

The Briton has been taken to the local police station in Sant Atoni and is expected to appear in court shortly.

Read more...

Two Britons arrested on Ibiza on charges of attempted murder

 

The two are accused of stabbing a fellow Briton five times in a drug related argument.Photo EFE Two British men, 30 year old S.D., and 22 year old D.R.S., were arrested by the Guardia Civil in Sant Antoni, Ibiza, on Tuesday afternoon on charges of attempted murder. They are accused of stabbing a 19 year old Briton on Monday afternoon when arguing about a drug-related matter. Initial reports said that the victim was Irish, but he has now been named as Jack McCarthy from Liverpool. One of the five stab wounds punctured the victim’s lung, and a third saw a cut to his cheek. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that it was aware of a British citizen in hospital in Ibiza, and said that they were providing consular assistance. On Tuesday morning the youngster wanted to discharge himself, but the doctors advised the duty Guardia and they have kept him under treatment. A search of the homes of the two arrested men found 30 grams of cocaine and other substances, and an amount of money in cash, allegedly from the sale of drugs.

Read more...

Southend men held in Spain moved to new prison wing

 

TWO men who are being held in Spain on suspicion of attempted murder have been moved to a new prison wing with better conditions. Kyle Thain, 24, of Sandringham Road, Southend, and James Harris, 29, of Pelham Road, Southend, have been moved to a new wing of Fontcalent prison, Alicante. The pals, who have been held without charge since July 8, have been relocated to Modulo Respecto, a part of the jail which should make life a little easier for them as they fight for freedom. Jay Thain, 29, Kyle’s older brother, said: “The new wing is for people who are better behaved. It is a lot cleaner and the food is better. “They have a lot more facilities. There is a proper gym and a table tennis table, it is much better for them.” Mr Thain said his brother and James are doing as much as they can to help keep themselves occupied, stay positive and pass the time. He said: “They are trying to learn Spanish and Kyle is drawing.” Kyle and James were arrested as they went to board a plane home after a lads weekend away. The friends, both former pupils of the King John School, Thundersley, are accused of beating up and stabbing two men in a bar near where they were staying. However, the pair maintain they never even went to the bar and their families say there has been a terrible case of mistaken identity. Since the lads were arrested Jay has worked tirelessly, with the help of family and friends, to get both men back home. Sharon Harris, Kyle’s mum, has put her house in Brunswick Road, Southend, on the market to help towards legal fees, which have already topped £10,000. Meanwhile, family and friends have been busy organising a series of fundraising events. James and Kyle, along with another pal Joe Elliot, 24, landed in Cabo Roig on Friday, July 1. All three were quizzed on Tuesday, July 5, at Murcia Airport before Kyle and James were held on suspicion of attempted murder. A getaway car used by the two attackers is still being sought by Spanish police and once found is likely to help with the case. Jay said: “In August everything shuts, the court circuit closes and nothing gets done.”

Read more...

Taiwan busts massive drug smuggling ring

 

TAIWAN police say they've busted a drug smuggling ring responsible for transporting $66.06 million worth of narcotics to Australia, New Zealand and Japan. A total of nine suspects have been arrested, including the suspected leader of the ring, 40-year-old Fan Chu-lin, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said on Monday. "This is definitely one of the largest smuggling rings to be uncovered in many years," bureau official Yang Ming-chang said. Over a 10-year period, the group allegedly smuggled hundreds of kilograms of ecstasy and amphetamines from Hong Kong and China to Japan, New Zealand and Australia. It also smuggled large amounts of marijuana from Thailand and Holland into Taiwan. According to preliminary estimates, the drugs smuggled by the group over the 10-year period totalled at least $65.5 million, Yang said. If convicted, Fan could face a minimum 20 years in jail under Taiwanese law.

Read more...

Members of Customs in Damascus on Wednesday confiscated a large amount of Hashish, and tobacco.

Damascus Customs confiscated 25 Kg of Hashish loaded on a car which was chased from al-Kutaifeh district in Damascus countryside.

Customs also managed to stop a car loaded with 100 foreign tobacco boxes near Hafir crossroads, between Damascus and Homs, and arrested three people carrying guns.

Head of customs squad said the car was loaded with tobacco while another car was following it carrying three people, 2 guns, 2 mobile phones and 2 military car signs.

Read more...

£300m haul of cocaine found hidden in hold of pleasure cruiser which sailed from Venezuela to Southampton

A record £300 million haul of cocaine has been seized and six alleged members of an international drugs gang arrested, officials said today.

A total of 1.2 tonnes of cocaine, with a purity of 90 per cent, was found hidden inside a 65ft pleasure cruiser at Southampton docks in June.

The haul was so well hidden, drugs officers spent six days ripping the £1m boat to pieces before they found the stash. 

It is the biggest haul of Class A drugs ever found in the UK, officials from the UK Border Agency and the Serious Organised Crime Agency said.


Seized: The £1m Louise, a 65ft pleasure cruiser, was held at Southampton Docks where UKBA and Soca officers found cocaine worth an estimated £300m

French authorities were alerted to the suspicious £1 million craft Louise while it was in the Caribbean in May and it was then tracked to Southampton, on its way to Holland.

Officials spent six days searching the vessel and found the drugs packed in a specially-designed compartment beneath the boat's bathing platform.

It is understood the cocaine, which originated in South America, was packed inside the boat while it was in Venezuela.

The drug was 90 per cent pure, while the average purity of cocaine seized at the UK border is just 63 per cent, officials said.

The haul is estimated to be worth between £50 million wholesale and £300 million on the streets.

Since the drugs were found in June, the UKBA has helped Dutch police track members of the gang and six men were arrested during early-morning raids yesterday - two 44-year-olds in Amsterdam, a 60-year-old in Meppel, two, aged 32 and 34, in Heusden, and a 27-year-old in Waalwijk.


Record haul: The drugs, worth £300m, are pictured with the head of the Border Force for the UK Border Agency Brodie Clark


High and dry: The Louise in Southampton Docks where she was searched by officers

A total of 100,000 euros (£87,300), two Harley Davidson motorcycles, two firearms, a silencer and some ecstasy were also seized.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: 'This was a significant drugs seizure which was made possible by the co-operation of our international partners.

'UK Border Agency staff have shown vigilance, dedication and determination to uncover this shipment.

'Our efforts have helped bring an international crime gang to book and the message is clear: we will investigate and prosecute anyone who tries to smuggle banned substances through UK borders.

'By keeping the border secure we play a key role in stopping drugs entering the UK and in reducing the harm they do to our communities.

'We aim to protect society from the violence and corruption that always accompanied the trade in illegal goods.'

The Dutch police were acting on intelligence provided by Soca's international network and the French Customs Investigation Service.


Find: Some of the 1.2 tonnes of 93 per cent pure cocaine found hidden inside the boat which was 'destroyed' during the search

Brodie Clark, head of the UKBA's border force, said: 'This has been an enormous seizure of cocaine. This is the largest we have on record.

'It's a major seizure. It's about serious crime, it's about major criminal disruption.'

The international co-operation was a 'strong and powerful example of more to come', he said.

Asked about how the drugs were hidden, he added: 'It was ingenious, it was difficult to find. Skilful people spent a number of days looking for it.'

David Armond, deputy director of international operations for Soca, said the Louise had been 'of interest for some time'.

Operation Parsons showed the trust between international partners as the £1 million vessel was 'destroyed to find the load', he said.

He said the high purity of the cocaine meant it would make about eight tonnes of saleable drugs once cut.


Ripped apart: Officers made the search after tracking the boat from the Caribbean which was bound for Holland

This was the equivalent of seven million street deals - 'equal to about one third of the requirement for the UK market over the course of a year', he said.

'It's unusual for a load like that to get to the shores of the UK.

'It is undoubtedly the case that, had this vessel been allowed to get to its destination, a significant amount of this load would have been transported back to the UK.'

Jim Jarvie, deputy director for the UKBA's crime directorate, said the drugs were destined for Holland, from where they would have been distributed across Europe.

Commissioner Gert Ras, of the Dutch National Crime Squad, said all six arrested men were Dutch nationals.

They included the 60-year-old owner of the boat and his three sons, aged 27, 32 and 34.

A further arrest of a seventh Dutch national is also expected, he said.

 

Read more...

Eight illegal immigrants from Mexico were arrested on drug trafficking charges

Eight illegal immigrants from Mexico were arrested on drug trafficking charges after federal and Las Vegas law enforcement officials seized 212 pounds of drugs worth an estimated street value of $5.7 million in the largest methamphetamine bust in Nevada history, authorities announced Thursday.

Police also seized $280,000 in cash, six guns and nine vehicles used for drug trafficking after searching nine residential properties in Las Vegas and Henderson on Tuesday.


Drug Enforcement Agency assistant special agent Paul Rozario speaks during a news conference announcing Nevada's largest methamphetamine bust in history. Law enforcement agencies from around Las Vegas seized 200 pounds of the drug (AP Photo).
Law enforcement officials heralded the record bust as a significant blow to Las Vegas' illegal underground that would be felt by every player, including drug bosses, small-time dealers and users hoping to score on the street. The raid yielded four pounds of heroin and 208 pounds of methamphetamine in varying stages of processing

Read more...

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was locked behind bars in New York last night

The IMF chief was remanded in custody as a "flight risk", after prosecutors warned he would flee to Europe "just like Roman Polanski", the film director who spent 32 years as a fugitive from the US.
Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested trying to leave the country on a plane at JFK airport, the judge was told, while evidence suggested he had carried out similar assaults "on at least one other occasion".
The 62-year-old father of four now faces up to 74 years in prison if convicted of a series of sex crimes against the maid in his $3,000-a-night suite at the Manhattan Sofitel on Saturday afternoon. His lawyers earlier said he would plead not guilty to the charges.
"This battle has just begun," his attorney Benjamin Brafman said outside New York City's central criminal court after the hearing. "Mr Strauss-Kahn is innocent".
Judge Melissa Jackson was told by prosecutors how Mr Strauss-Kahn "sexually assaulted and attempted to forcibly rape" the 32-year-old maid, an African immigrant and mother, after locking her in his room.

 

Read more...

Bradford fugitive, who fled before he was convicted of money laundering, has been ordered to hand over £21,000 found in a car he was driving following an illegal transaction of money.

Mohammed Khalid, 32, of Harrogate Terrace, Undercliffe, went on the run during his trial in February last year.

He was found guilty of two offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act and jailed for three years in his absence last month. One offence involved him being found in possession of £100,000 of criminal cash.

The second offence, which took place in January 2007, involved him being handed nearly £22,000 by a co-defendant, at a supermarket car park in Rooley Lane, Bradford. The transaction was monitored by covert police officers and the cash was found when Khalid’s vehicle was stopped a short time later.

The court was told Khalid, who had no previous convictions, had been working as a money launderer in the role of a collector for a foreign crime boss.

An international manhunt is under way for him.

This week, magistrates granted a civil application for the forfeiture of £21,400 to the courts, under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The JPs agreed that, on the balance of probability, the money was intended to be used for unlawful conduct. A warrant has been issued for Khalid’s arrest.

Acting Detective Inspector Paul Greenwood, of West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit, said the Proceeds of Crime Act was making it harder for organised criminals to benefit from crime and harm communities.

He said: “Khalid couldn’t explain why he was involved in a transaction of such a large sum of cash, and provided differing accounts.

“This was a complex investigation, and we liaised with agencies in the UK and Pakistan to uncover the truth.”

Read more...

US soldier accused of being a part of a rogue squad that killed unarmed Afghan men has pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and other crimes.

US soldier accused of being a part of a rogue squad that killed unarmed Afghan men has pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and other crimes.

Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 22, faces up to 24 years in prison but could be released after eight.

Under a plea deal he is expected to testify against four comrades also to be tried in the killings last year in Kandahar province.

"The plan was to kill people," Morlock told a military judge on Wednesday.

The judge had asked whether the accused were shooting to kill or meant only to scare the Afghan civilians.

Morlock, 22, is part of the 5th Stryker Brigade based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in the US state of Washington, which deployed to Afghanistan last year and saw heavy fighting around Kandahar.

Read more...

Dutch citizens sentenced to death abroad

Death sentences since 1994
Johannes van Damme, Singapore. Executed 23 September 1994. Convicted of smuggling heroin, had 4.32 kilograms in his suitcase. All efforts made to commute sentence, including a letter from Queen Beatrix to Singapore’s then President Ong Teng Cheong, were to no avail.

Pedro Ruyzing was sentenced to death in Thailand in 1995 for smuggling heroin. Sentence was commuted to life, and he has in the meantime returned to The Netherlands.

Ang Kiem Soei was sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2003 for involvement in production of XTC. He is on death row on Nusa Kambangan.

Edy Tang and Li Yang, Chinese-born, Dutch citizens, were sentenced to death in Thailand in 2003. Sentence was commuted to life.

Roel Goosen, sentenced to death in 2004 in Zambia for murder. Sentence was commuted to life in prison.

Dick Nicolaas was sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2006 for setting up an XTC factory on Java. Held on death row in a prison on the island of Nusa Kambangan.

Mesfin Aman is not a Dutch citizen, but he was studying in Haarlem. Sentenced to death in Ethiopia in 2009. He fled his native country in 2006, having been served jail time for opposition activities.

Zahrah Bahrami, an Iranian-born Dutchwoman, was arrested on a visit to Iran and sentenced to death in 2011 on charges of possession of drugs.

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

The Hague is Bahrami’s last hope | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

The Hague is Bahrami’s last hope | Radio Netherlands Worldwide: "“Too little, too late.” That is how one human rights activist describes the Dutch government’s offer to help Iranian-born Dutch citizen Zahra Bahrami. Ms Bahrami has been sentenced to death by a court in Iran on charges of the possession and sale of drugs. The only remaining hope for Bahrami is in the hands of the Dutch Foreign Ministry."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

Little time left for Paraguay's biggest prison - Fox News Latino

Little time left for Paraguay's biggest prison - Fox News Latino: "This capital's Tacumbu prison, Paraguay's biggest and one of the most overcrowded in Latin America, has little time left following an announcement that it will soon be closed and its population of more than 3,000 inmates moved to other penal facilities.

Tacumbu, frequently denounced for prisoner abuse and subhuman conditions, will become no more than a sinister part of the nation's history when the expansion of the Emboscada jail, 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Asuncion, is completed.

'We're stepping up our project of penitentiary reforms in 2011 with works that will put an end to the sadly notorious operations at Tacumbu,' Justice Minister Humberto Blasco said Monday.

Blasco spoke of the reforms upon leaving an meeting with President Fernando Lugo, where it was decided to close down the obsolete jail once and for all."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

DRUGS ARE THE PRINCIPAL ENEMY OF MALAYSIA

Various tactics are used in the drug syndicate to get away from the inspection authority.

Goods traded the most profit for the drug business in Malaysia, but eventually bring consequences, including the Mandatory death penalty. But many are not afraid to die because of want to get a lucrative profit.

Reported to be the latest tactic in the Kota Kinabalu International Airport - hiding drugs in the yards of cloth embroidered flowers brought by a person (not a citizen) 27 years-old who came from neighboring countries.

Incident occurred on Thursday (December 30, 2010) successfully dismantled by the Royal Customs Department, Malaysia (JKDM) in Sabah at 12.30 pm.

Director JKDM Sabah, Mohd. Kassim Ismail said, the suspects believed on the way to Kuala Lumpur held a team monitoring units JKDM Sabah and further assessment found of 2.7 grams drugs. Its believed 'ketamine'.

"All the drugs were found hidden in a flower pattern embroidered on the sheet 10-yard pieces of cloth are put together with another yard," he said in a press conference held at the office of JKDM Sabah yesterday.

According to him, the suspects are believed to transit from Singapore arrived in Kota Kinabalu before proceeding to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

He told, the check in suspects baggage managed to find 45 yards of fabric pieces, including 10 pieces used to conceal drugs.

"The case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which, if convicted may be sentenced to death. Drugs will be sent to the Chemistry Department for approval of drugs. Suspect remanded for seven days pending further investigation.

"Based on preliminary investigations JKDM believe the suspect is involved in international drug trafficking syndicates," he said.

Mohd. Kassim said, during the years of 2010 JKDM Sabah has successfully detected four cases of drug trafficking involving the examination at the airport in Kota Kinabalu.

"The three previous cases have been brought to court and the suspects involved were sentenced to death," he said.

"

"
toreksuloDISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

Russia defends justice of former oil tycoon's conviction

Russia defends justice of former oil tycoon's conviction: "Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday defended again the convictions of former oil tycoons Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev.

Lavrov said the judiciary system is completely independent from outside influences.

'They (the courts) are independent from Russian and other foreign governments,' Lavrov said, adding that 'opinions from abroad should not and can not impact the depictions adopted by judicial bodies.'

'If anyone is extremely concerned over the verdict, then I would like to remind them that anyone who is sentenced has the right to an appeal according to law, which, according to reports from the media, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev's lawyers have already made,' he said.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministry criticized the attempts of several Western countries to exert pressure on criminal cases concerning former tycoons, saying the attempts were 'unacceptable.'

Also Friday, local media reported that the lawyers of the two tycoons had sent a short appeal to the Khamovnichesky Court."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

Attorneys Want Somalis' Piracy Convictions Tossed : NPR

Attorneys Want Somalis' Piracy Convictions Tossed : NPR: "Attorneys for five Somali men convicted of attacking a U.S. Navy ship off Africa are asking a judge to reconsider the piracy conviction.

The attorneys in December asked a federal judge to look at defense claims that the men who attacked the USS Nicholas on April 1 did not commit piracy because they did not board or rob the frigate.

An attorney cited a report by the Congressional Research Service suggesting the 1819 definition of piracy may limit the ability of the government to charge individuals as pirates as merchant vessels come under increasing attack globally.

The Nov. 24 piracy conviction was the first successful prosecution of piracy in a U.S. court in nearly 200 years.

The government said that in response that international law defines the men's actions as piracy."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

Mentally ill killers will be released from Irish prisons | Irish News | IrishCentral

Mentally ill killers will be released from Irish prisons | Irish News | IrishCentral: "New Irish laws signed by President Mary McAleese last will allow criminals with mental illnesses to be released back in to the community.

They will be released from the Criminal Mental Hospital under strict conditions.

The Irish insanity laws were amended on December 22 after complaints from the Mental Health (Criminal Law) Review Board. They believe that a small number of patients are suitable for release.

The amendment to the law may made in 2006 means that the board will now have power to enforce conditions on the patients such as taking their medication after their release. Those patients being reviewed are people who were found not guilty due to insanity."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

New report alleges systematic torture in Indonesian prisons « The Lift – Legal Issues in the Fight against Terrorism

New report alleges systematic torture in Indonesian prisons « The Lift – Legal Issues in the Fight against Terrorism: "Beatings, intimidation, burnings and rape are so commonplace that they are considered the norm, with few victims ever bothering to lodge complaints, said Restaria Hutabarat of the Jakarta-based Legal Aid Foundation.
The torture findings, published this week, were based on yearlong interviews with 1,154 suspects and prison inmates in the capital, Jakarta, and four other major cities in 2009 and 2010. Questionnaires also were given to 419 police, prosecutors, judges, wardens and rights activists who accompanied suspects during the legal process."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

the paddy fields view: Drugs charge British mother is victim of Malaysian husband, say family

the paddy fields view: Drugs charge British mother is victim of Malaysian husband, say family: "In Malaysia having 15 grams of heroin gets you the death sentence. This couple ran a guest house and are addicts. When they were raided they had a huge stash of various drugs and loads of cash.
While I am totally against the Death Penalty for any crime they did live there in the country and must have known what the consequences were if they were ever caught. I can support her family in hoping to get the death penalty dropped but I really think that they all got rose tinted specs at Xmas if they believe that she was not involved."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

Hundreds of Indonesians overseas jailed for drugs | The Jakarta Post

Hundreds of Indonesians overseas jailed for drugs | The Jakarta Post: "More than 400 Indonesians overseas were arrested for drug smuggling in 2010, with 305 arrested in Malaysia alone, a year-end report by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) said.
Indonesian drug smugglers were arrested in 21 countries, including China, where 33 Indonesians were arrested, Japan (13 arrests), Hong Kong (10 arrests) and Australia (five arrests).
Eight Indonesians were also arrested on drug charges in various countries in Central and South America. The BNN said 35 of the Indonesians arrested this year were sentenced to death.
At home, the BNN arrested 64 Indonesians and 24 foreigners on drug charges, while 58 drug offenders received the death sentence in 2010, 41 of them foreigners.
Most of the foreigners sentenced to death are Nigerian, Chinese, Dutch, Australian and Pakistani nationals.
The BNN added that it was still hunting for 23 suspects still at large.
The National Police said there were 24,417 narcotics cases between January and October 2010.
The police added that in the same period, 32,551 Indonesian suspects and 183 foreign suspects were arrested."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

British mother Shivaun Orton facing drug charge death panalty 'victim of Malaysian husband' | Mail Online

British mother Shivaun Orton facing drug charge death panalty 'victim of Malaysian husband' | Mail Online: "At first glance, it is hard to feel much sympathy for Shivaun Orton.

After all, when Malaysian police raided the backpacker hostel run by the British mother and her husband, they found bundles of cash and their largest drugs haul for three years.

And despite caring for sons Jacob, 16, and Isaac, 14, Shivaun and her Malaysian husband Abdul Harris Fadilah are self-confessed heroin users in a country where possession of just 15 grams carries the death sentence."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

Wikileaks' Julian Assange: The most dangerous man in the world? - Telegraph

Wikileaks' Julian Assange: The most dangerous man in the world? - Telegraph: "Julian Assange experienced something this week that he has not known since boyhood: a prolonged period without a computer. The editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks has spent the past four nights in Wandsworth Prison deprived of the laptop that constitutes one of his few possessions, waiting for the next stage in the extradition process that could result in his being put on trial in Sweden for the alleged sexual assault of two women.
Outside, the liberal establishment is rallying to his cause. John Pilger and A  L Kennedy were among those calling for his release yesterday, and there are allies of another kind: computer hackers from all corners of the world who have teamed up to attack websites that, under pressure from the American government, have withdrawn online donations and other facilities from WikiLeaks.
Mass releases of classified US material on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now an avalanche of State Department cables, many embarrassing, have catapulted Assange and WikiLeaks to global prominence. Supporters say the sexual assault allegations are part of a campaign orchestrated by the US, which has suffered enormously from leaks, to discredit the creator of what has been described as “the most dangerous website in the world”."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more...

Ingmar Guandique was convicted in the murder of Chandra Levy.

Ingmar Guandique was convicted in the murder of Chandra Levy.
Condit may be called as witness as Chandra Levy trial begins
Acusan a salvadoreño de asesinar a Chandra Levy
Arrest warrant issued in Chandra Levy cold case
Police close to arrest in Chandra Levy cold case
More than nine years after Chandra Levy disappeared, a jury found Ingmar Guandique guilty of her murder.

Levy's mother, Susan, let out an audible sigh of relief when the verdict was read after more than three days of jury deliberations, according to CNN.

"Thank you," she reportedly told the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case.

Prosecutors said that Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador and member of the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, attacked Levy while she was jogging through Washington's Rock Creek Park and killed her when she began to scream.

Her remains were found by a man walking his dog more than a year after her death.

By that time much of the DNA evidence was gone, making the prosecution's case extremely difficult.

Guandique, who does not speak English, had no immediate reaction when he heard the verdict translated through headphones, the Washington Post reported.

When he left the courtroom, he angrily threw the headphones on the defense table, the newspaper said.

Two jurors also reportedly wiped tears from their eyes when the verdict was read.

The disappearance of Levy, who at the time was a 24-year-old intern at the Bureau of Prisons, derailed the career of Rep. Gary Condit, with whom she reportedly had an affair.

For months he was considered the prime suspect and lost a reelection bid despite endorsements from high-profile friends such as Nancy Pelosi.

The former California congressman made headlines again this year when he testified at Guandique’s trial and refused to answer specific questions about his relationship with the 24-year-old.

"We've lost our feeling for common decency," he angrily told lawyers.

In 2002, detectives eventually switched their focus to Guandique, who was convicted that year of attacking two female joggers in the park around the time Levy disappeared.

Prosecutors, who had little scientific evidence to go on, argued that Levy's death was part of a well-established pattern for Guandique.

He also allegedly told cell mates that he had killed the California native. Guandique, who is still serving a prison sentence for the other attacks, faces a sentence of life without parole.

Read more...

He's known as the "Merchant of Death" and the "Lord of War,"

-- an alleged international arms dealer straight out of a cloak-and-dagger spy novel who eluded authorities for years and inspired Hollywood villains.
But in reality, according to those who have seen or met Viktor Bout, he is a somber man, sometimes nattily dressed, a wheeler-dealer who has insisted he is innocent of the allegations leveled against him.
Bout, a Russian citizen and former military officer, speaks six languages "and I could see him bargaining in all six at the same time," wrote CNN's Jill Dougherty in 2008, recalling her meeting with Bout in 2002 in Moscow, Russia.
Bout arrived in New York late Tuesday after being extradited from Thailand. He faces charges in the United States of conspiring to kill U.S. nationals, conspiring to kill U.S. officers or employees, conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile and conspiring to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. American law enforcement officers have spent years pursuing him, and the extradition process from Thailand was an arduous one for them.
. Before his 2008 arrest, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents led a sting operation by posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), officials said.

Read more...