1,000 Britons were arrested for drug-related offences abroad last year, figures show.
The 944 arrests accounted for a seventh of all arrests of British nationals abroad in the period of April 2009 to March 2010, the Foreign Office said.
Drugs contributed to more than a third of total arrests of Britons in France and more than a quarter in Ireland, Italy and Thailand.
Hassan Nemazee Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 12 Years in Prison for Orchestrating $292 Million Fraud Scheme.
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and GEORGE VENIZELOS, the Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), announced today that former political fundraiser HASSAN NEMAZEE was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 144 months in prison for defrauding Bank of America, N.A. ("BofA"), Citibank, N.A. ("Citibank"), and HSBC Bank USA, N.A. ("HSBC"), out of $292 million in loan proceeds. In addition to the prison term, United States District Judge SIDNEY H. STEIN, who imposed the sentence, ordered NEMAZEE to pay restitution of more than $292 million to the defrauded banks and to serve three years of supervised release.
According to the superseding Information to which NEMAZEE pled guilty, documents filed in court, and statements made during the guilty plea and sentencing proceedings:
From 1998 to 2009, NEMAZEE obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from BofA, Citibank, and HSBC. To obtain the loans, NEMAZEE misrepresented to the banks that he owned hundreds of millions of dollars in collateral, in the form of securities and other assets, which he did not own. In fact, NEMAZEE used fake documents, including bogus account statements, to show his supposed ownership of the collateral. The documents also contained forged signatures of persons associated with Westminster Securities Corporation ("Westminster"), the brokerage firm at which NEMAZEE claimed to hold these assets, as well as Westminster's clearing firm, Pershing LLC ("Pershing").
The fake account statements and other documents that NEMAZEE provided also contained telephone numbers, supposedly for Westminster and Pershing, which were in fact assigned to "virtual offices" that NEMAZEE himself had established or to a cellphone that NEMAZEE himself had obtained. NEMAZEE created at least two "virtual offices" in Manhattan that held themselves out, at his direction, as being associated with Westminster and Pershing.
One of the loans from BofA, a $100 million line of credit, was guaranteed by NEMAZEE's longtime friend and business associate, who pledged a multimillion-dollar home in Colorado as collateral on the loan, not knowing that the collateral that NEMAZEE was pledging did not exist. As of August 2009, NEMAZEE owed approximately $142 million to BofA and $74.9 million to Citibank.
In August 2009—when Citibank began to ask questions in order to verify the existence of the purported collateral that NEMAZEE had pledged for the Citibank loan, and after special agents of the FBI had interviewed NEMAZEE about the Citibank loan—NEMAZEE drew down on a line of credit that he had fraudulently obtained from HSBC earlier in 2009 and used those funds to pay Citibank the $74.9 million that he owed.
NEMAZEE was able to continue the fraud for longer than a decade by, among other things, making partial repayments on his borrowings from BofA with proceeds of his fraud on Citibank and making partial repayments on his borrowings from Citibank with proceeds of his fraud on BofA.
NEMAZEE used the proceeds of his fraudulent schemes to, among other things: purchase an apartment and land in Italy; make monthly maintenance payments on a Park Avenue apartment; pay for the upkeep of a 12-acre property in Katonah, New York; purchase partial interests in a private plane and a luxury yacht; make personal donations to the election campaigns of federal, state, and local candidates, political action committees, and charities; and make various other investments.
NEMAZEE also used his political donations to enhance his reputation and standing in political circles. In 2009, NEMAZEE unsuccessfully attempted to capitalize on that standing by seeking nomination to a Cabinet-level position, all the while engaged in the fraud for which he was sentenced. NEMAZEE had previously been nominated as United States Ambassador to Argentina in 1999, but his nomination was withdrawn.
As part of the sentence, Judge STEIN also ordered NEMAZEE to forfeit various real properties, corporate entities, hedge funds, securities accounts, and bank accounts, including his interests in: an apartment in Rome, Italy; property in Puglia, Italy; the luxury yacht and private plane; various Manhattan apartments, including the one located on Park Avenue; the Katonah, New York estate; and various privately- and publicly-held companies.
In sentencing NEMAZEE, Judge STEIN described his fraud as "breathtaking in its brazenness and its scope."
NEMAZEE, 60, of Manhattan, was ordered to surrender on August 27, 2010.
NEMAZEE's brother-in-law, SHAHIN KASHANCHI, 47, of Telluride, Colorado, is separately charged in an Indictment with aiding and abetting NEMAZEE's bank fraud by manufacturing the fake account statements and other documents that NEMAZEE used to defraud BofA, Citibank, and HSBC. KASHANCHI’s case is pending in Manhattan federal court. The charge and allegations contained in the Indictment charging KASHANCHI are merely accusations, and KASHANCHI is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the FBI. Mr. BHARARA also thanked BofA, Citibank, HSBC, and Pershing for their assistance in the investigation.
U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: "For over a decade, HASSAN NEMAZEE authored a fantastic fiction, stealing $292 million by acting the part of wealthy and influential power broker. In the end, Justice is blind to political affiliations and powerful connections, and today, like any other defendant, NEMAZEE faces the stark consequences of his decision to violate the law."
GEORGE VENIZELOS, the Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the FBI, stated: "NEMAZEE lived like a prince, with palatial properties on two continents. But he financed this lavish lifestyle with hundreds of millions in fraudulently obtained loans, so his empire was really a house of cards. The FBI remains determined to stop those who steal from banks through deceit and trickery."
This case was brought in coordination with President BARACK OBAMA's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, on which Mr. BHARARA serves as a Co-Chair of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group. President OBAMA established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.
The case is being handled by the Office's Complex Frauds and Asset Forfeiture Units. Assistant United States Attorneys DANIEL W. LEVY and MICHAEL D. LOCKARD are in charge of the prosecution.
AFP: L'Oreal billionaire fraud trial to begin: "celebrity photographer goes on trial Thursday accused of cheating the ageing heiress of the L'Oreal cosmetics empire Liliane Bettencourt out of a billion euros.
The bitter battle over the family's fortune has been complicated by a separate tax evasion scandal that hit Bettencourt this month, implicating Labour Minister Eric Woerth and embarrassing Nicolas Sarkozy's government.
The trial was due to start at 9:30 am (0730 GMT) at a court in Nanterre, west of Paris, and run to July 6, but was likely to be immediately postponed after lawyers agreed to seek an adjournment to study evidence in the tax case.
Thursday's trial pits the photographer and socialite Francois-Marie Banier, against Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, the daughter of 87-year-old Liliane, France's richest woman.
Banier, dubbed 'photographer to the stars' after shooting the likes of US actor Johnny Depp and Princess Caroline of Monaco, became close friends with Bettencourt after meeting her at a dinner party in 1969."
AFP: US grand jury indicts van der Sloot on wire fraud, extortion: "US grand jury in the southern state of Alabama on Wednesday indicted Dutch murder suspect Joran van der Sloot on charges of wire fraud and extortion, the Department of Justice said.
Van der Sloot, 22, is being held in Peru on charges of murder in the death last month of a Peruvian woman, but he is also the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of 18-year-old American Natalee Holloway, who was from Alabama.
The grand jury indictment, filed in US District Court, charges van der Sloot with soliciting 250,000 from Holloway's mother on the promise that he would reveal to her the location of her daughter's missing remains on the Caribbean island, as well as the circumstances of her death.
According to the Justice Department, the indictment said van der Sloot caused Beth Holloway to wire 15,000 dollars from her bank to his account in the Netherlands, and another 10,000 to a lawyer in New York who would personally take the money to Van der Sloot in Aruba.
'Once identification of the remains was confirmed, Beth Holloway was to pay the remaining 225,000 dollars to van der Sloot,' the Justice Department said in a statement."
BBC News - South Korea professor charged over 'holy water' fraud: "Prof Kim, claimed he could digitally capture the elements of holy water from Lourdes, France, that believers say has healing powers.
He had sold devices to more than 5,000 people, making almost 1.7bn won ($1.3m, £870,000).
Eight people, including Prof Kim's wife and brother-in-law, will also be charged.
The famous shrine to the Virgin Mary at Lourdes offers water which some believe has healing powers.
Mr Kim had claimed his ceramic and paper filters, and plastic cards used in water purifiers, had captured those powers for onward transmission.
He and his associates allegedly told customers that different devices cured different illnesses, including diabetes and tumours."
Cyprus Arrests Man in Connection With U.S. Spy Case - BusinessWeek: "Cyprus police arrested a Canadian man on an international arrest warrant in connection with U.S. espionage and money-laundering charges involving a Russian spy ring.
A man identified by police as Robert Christopher Metsos was arrested at the Larnaca International Airport, a spokesman for the Larnaca police department, who declined to be identified, said today. Metsos surrendered his travel documents and was released on bail of 20,000 euros ($24,000).
U.S. authorities yesterday arrested 10 people for allegedly spying for the Russian Federation in the U.S., the Justice Department said in an e-mailed statement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation yesterday said Christopher R. Metsos, a purported Canadian citizen, was an agent of the Russian espionage agency and traveled to the U.S. to pay others in the alleged spy ring."
Were spy arrests the result of an FBI bungle? | Washington Examiner: "What explains the timing of the bust of the Russian spy ring just four days after Barack Obama’s “cheeseburger summit” with Dmitry Medvedev?
“Many Russian officials and analysts,” reports the Wall Street Journal, “said they presumed that hawkish elements within the U.S. government had engineered and timed the arrests to embarrass President Obama and undermine the ‘reset’” that the American president had set in motion.
Are the Russians right? American officials have thus far explained the timing by pointing to the possibility that one of the alleged spies, Anna Chapman, was planning to flee the country"
Accused Canadian in US-Russia Spy Case Goes Missing in Cyprus | USA | English: "One of 11 suspects accused by the United States of spying for Russia has gone missing in Cyprus after being released on bail.
Cypriot police say Canadian suspect Christopher Robert Metsos failed to show up Wednesday at a police station in the city of Larnaca, where he was expected to sign in.
Police said they were preparing to issue an arrest warrant.
Metsos was the 11th suspect named after U.S. authorities announced the arrests of 10 people accused of carrying out long-term, deep-cover assignments in the United States for the Russian foreign intelligence service, the SVR.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it does not expect the arrests to damage relations with Washington."
19 years sought for Iranian drug smugglers | The Jakarta Post: "Prosecutors demanded 19 years’ imprisonment for each of three Iranians who have been accused smuggling drugs from Malaysia into Indonesia in October.
Prosecutor Riyadi said the defendants Muhamad Reza Nezafat, 24, Mahnaz Sadar Kaheh, 34, and Shazdeh Moradiojagh, 30, were guilty of smuggling the drug into the country and therefore must stay for 19 years in prison.
The defendants were charged with violating Article 113 of the 2009 Law on Drugs. The Article carries a maximum penalty of death.
Nezafat and Kaheh are textile traders. The couple are engaged and planned to get married in the near future. Shazdeh is a housewife.
The defendants flew from Malaysia and arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Oct. 19 with on Malaysian Airlines flight MH-721. — JP"
DUDUS COKE: JAMAICA'S ESCOBAR - HANSON O'HAVER | VBS.TV Blog: "Jamaican police finally arrested Dudus Coke, ending a month-long riot by Dudus loyalists that sent the country into a state of emergency. VBS correspondent Hanson O’Haver gave us the background on this legendary, and once untouchable drug lord.
Sure they’re responsible for countless deaths, corruption, extortion, and, essentially, the ultimate failure of various Central and Latin American economies, but drug lords are pretty cool. It’s hard to deny the appeal of living in a mansion, driving ferraris, wearing white suits, and dating Michelle Pfeiffer circa 1983. Thanks to rap music, I can name several such kingpins: Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, Manuel Noriega, Pablo Escobar, and Tony Montana from Scarface. These, however, are historic times, and they call for a new figure who may just be the most badass drug lord of all, the Kingston, Jamaica-born Michael Christopher “Dudus” Coke.
First let’s address the distractingly obvious: “Dudus Coke” is, perhaps, the best name in drug trafficking history. Properly pronounced, his given name should sound like a Jamaican person saying “do this,” so his full name is a command to “do this coke.” As astoundingly badass as that name may be, it’s nothing compared to Dudus’ main claim to tough-guy fame. See, Dudus fought extradition from Jamaica to the United States. By which I mean literally fought extradition: Dudus and his supporters shot and firebombed police to prevent his capture. No name can beat nearly winning a street war against the police for badassness."
Goa police blame Swedish witness for drug dealer's bail: "Accused of sabotaging the high-profile probe into the police-politician-drug mafia nexus in Goa, police appear to have made key witness, Swedish model Lucky Farmhouse, the proverbial scapegoat by accusing her of not deposing before them.
'The police attempted to contact her. Efforts were made to trace her. Maybe, she did not have enough time. Maybe, she was involved in such an important activity that she was not able to come,' Superintendent of Police Atmaram Deshpande told IANS.
Deshpande's remarks came after a local narcotics drugs and psychotropic substance (NDPS) court granted conditional bail to dreaded Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim alias Atala Tuesday evening."
2010 looking like a violent year in Worcester: "This year is on track to match or surpass 2004 and 2005 as one of the most violent years in the city’s history.
With 15 shootings from Jan. 1 to June 14 already this year, the city is seeing a disturbing spate of violence that comes close to 2004, when in the same time frame there were 18 shootings.
Noticing an increase in shootings early this spring, the Police Department rolled out an additional patrol unit — much like the Summer Impact or Fall Impact Programs of the past.
“We’re on that trend (reaching 2004 shooting numbers) and that is why we activated the additional patrol program,” police spokesman Sgt. Kerry F. Hazelhurst said. “We know what works and we are trying to get a jump on it. We’re pretty confident we’re going to put a lid on this. Right now we have an uptick and we are getting close to the 2004 numbers.”
Police will begin the Summer Impact Program starting June 30. The program was a line item in the department’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
From Jan. 1 to June 14 last year, there were two shootings, one fatal. Of the 15 shootings this year, three were fatal.
The crime statistics released by the department show the alarming trend that guns are again becoming the weapon of choice. For a few years, gun violence decreased and knife attacks increased drastically."
Latin American Herald Tribune - Reputed International Crime Boss Arrested in Spain: "32 people, including reputed gangster Christopher “Christy” Kinahan, were arrested Tuesday at a number of places around Europe in an international operation targeting a European drug- and arms-trafficking ring operating out of London, Dublin and southern Spain’s Costa del Sol.
That was announced Tuesday by Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency, which told Efe that Kinahan, an Irish-born British citizen, was arrested at his mansion on the Costa del Sol.
Kinahan, 53, was arrested by the Spanish National Police together with several members of his family, a number of British and Irish citizens and four Spanish attorneys, SOCA said.
Twenty people were arrested in Spain and another 12 in Britain, in a joint operation that included the the participation of Europol and 750 police agents from different countries, who also carried out house searches in Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus and Brazil.
The target was a crime ring suspected of trafficking large amounts of drugs and weapons, and of laundering huge sums of money acquired through its criminal activities, SOCA said.
In a statement to Efe in Warsaw, where he was attending a conference on the occasion of The European Day for Border Guards, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said that Kinahan’s organization is connected to several murders and crimes from drug running to people trafficking."
Winnipeg suspect links recent shootings - Crime - Canoe.ca: "police learned of the man’s alleged role as a triggerman in both incidents. The man has gang ties, he said.
The first shooting occurred when two gunmen sprayed a Toronto Street home with bullets Tuesday afternoon, killing Kyle Earl, 16, and wounding Byron Cook, his 13-year-old friend, who were outside on a porch with at least one other person.
The 19-year-old, a friend of the victims, was armed with a gun and chased and shot at the suspects on Agnes Street in retaliation, police allege.
The shots missed the suspects and struck two uninvolved cars, including one occupied by three people.
The 19-year-old was arrested Thursday. The homicide suspects haven’t been caught, police said."
Regarded as one of the cleverest Irish criminals involved in the international drugs trade, he speaks several foreign languages, including Dutch and Spanish. During a prison term in the 1990s he studied for a degree course in French and refused temporary release so he could complete it.
In March 1987 he was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to possessing heroin valued at £117,000. He told the court he was a heroin addict and was trying to turn his life around by studying in prison. In March 1998 he was jailed for four years after he was found in possession of £16,000 in stolen travellers’ cheques.
Kinahan, a separated father of three, also has convictions for forgery and for possession of cannabis. He served at least one of his sentences in the State’s maximum security prison in Portlaoise. He was released from his last prison sentence in 2001 and is believed to have left for Spain within months.
He has a villa near Marbella worth €6 million, and also regularly uses a nearby apartment worth €800,000.
He is a high-stakes gambler and is also suspected of involvement in fixing horse races he bets on.
On moving to Spain eight years ago he immediately established international drug-dealing contacts there. He began sourcing massive drug shipments from Colombian, Spanish and north African cartels for sale to Irish criminals.
He has served jail sentences in the Netherlands. He was also recently convicted of money laundering in Belgium, and jailed for four years. However, he was granted bail pending an appeal, which was due to be heard next month. He was arrested in Belgium in May 2008 after authorities there traced cash and assets owned by him to the value of €2.5 million. Following his arrest in his apartment near Marbella yesterday he can be detained for up to two years without charge.
Internet drives 30 per cent rise in UK kidnappings - Crime, UK - The Independent: "Kidnapping for ransom or to settle vendettas is a 'growth area' for criminals following new developments in communications such as Twitter and social networking sites. The ease of foreign travel and the capacity for large amounts of money to change hands on-line has also helped fuel a 30 per cent rise in kidnappings since 1997.
More than 2,000 kidnappings took place in the UK in 2008/09, according to the British Crime Survey."
Somali gangs building crime empires in the UK - Oneindia News: "Violent Somali gangs are building crime empires in Britain through a brutal campaign of terror, the Daily Star reports.Buzz up!The self-styled soldiers are raking in thousands of pounds a day through house raids and armed robberies. They are also committing savage acts of violence to protect their money-spinning businesses.Drugs, guns and knives plague two Somali communities, in London and Liverpool."
Read more...The Gun Court; Jamaican Overeaction (Part One): "Gun Court, where such cases would be tried, was created in 1974. It occupied a building situated in the middle of South Camp Adult Correctional Centre, or as it is called, Gun"
Read more...Teodoro Garcia Simental, blamed for a years-long campaign of massacres, beheadings and kidnappings that chased away tourists and caused social upheaval in northern Baja California, was arrested by Mexican federal police without the suspect firing a shot, and immediately flown to Mexico City.The heavyset Garcia, believed to be in his mid-30s, with close-trimmed hair and a goatee, scowled and dabbed at his mouth as he was paraded before television cameras at a police base wearing a zippered warm-up jacket.
Better known for savage killing rampages than narco-business acumen, the man nicknamed "El Teo" bedeviled Mexican authorities for years and narrowly escaped capture several times. Last January, authorities arrested the man they said admitted being Garcia's body disposal expert. Known as El Pozolero, or "the stew maker," he claimed, authorities said, to have dissolved 300 bodies in barrels of caustic chemicals.Mexican federal authorities, acting on intelligence provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said they tracked Garcia down after a five-month surveillance operation. He was captured in an upscale area in the southern part of the city."Today another Mexican cartel leader was taken off the street and is no longer able to carry out his bloody turf war," said Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the DEA. "This was not an isolated event: It exemplifies the growing effectiveness of our information sharing with [Mexican President Felipe Calderon's] administration, and our continued commitment to defeat the drug traffickers who have plagued both our nations."Though Garcia was not considered to be in the top echelon of Mexican drug lords, few reputed crime bosses have had such a ruinous effect on a region. Mexican authorities say he was responsible for hundreds of killings during a nearly two-year power struggle with rivals in the Arellano Felix drug cartel, in which he had once been a top-ranking lieutenant.Garcia is said to have branched out from traditional drug trafficking and focused his criminal empire on extortion and kidnapping, targeting all levels of society. During his reign, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Tijuana residents moved out of the border city to avoid being kidnapped, and more than 42 police officers were killed.
Media reports say the gang distributed cocaine, heroin, hashish and narcotic pills from Asia and South America across Europe. The reports claim further that the gang used drug mules to bring the drugs into Spain.
The gang is said to be controlled by a couple based in Santander, and that most of those arrested are from Tanzania. Spanish police started investigations in May 2008 after an Argentinian man was arrested at Barcelona airport with over a kilo of cocaine in 72 pellets in his stomach.
A total of 43.5 kilogrammes of cocaine, 5.8kg of heroin and an unspecified amount of hashish were seized in the operation, and authorities said the arrested suspects will be slapped with charges ranging from conspiracy, drug trafficking, smuggling, forgery, and usurpation of civil status.
Reports from that country say the gang appears to be an organized network of mostly Tanzanian nationals, with horizontal structures and cells acting independently but in coordinated fashion, united by ties of kinship and fellow vendors who had settled in Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Turkey.
The gang is said to have taken advantage of ‘people from their own country’ and lured them with the promise of earning money, using them as mules to transport drugs hidden in their luggage or objects into Spain.
In August last year, the police arrested a member of the network as he was going to Valencia to carry out a transaction which involved half a kilo of heroin. Subsequently, the law enforcers arrested a Japanese man with 4.5 kilos of heroin in Barcelona.
And finally, in several homes in Barcelona the police arrested three people including the suspected head of the organization - a Tanzanian citizen - and a Spanish woman, both residents of Santander, from where they are believed to have led operations.
Contacted for comment late last week, the Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations in Tanzania, Peter Kivuyo said he was not aware of the reports but pledged to consult the international police (Interpol) for further details.
Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental are believed to be top lieutenants in a cartel blamed for a string of massacres, police killings, beheadings and kidnappings in Tijuana.Two reputed leaders of a drug cartel that waged a years-long campaign of terror in Tijuana were arrested Monday in the Baja California port city of La Paz, according to U.S. authorities.Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental are believed to be top lieutenants of a gang blamed for a string of massacres, police killings, beheadings and kidnappings that has caused many residents to flee the border city.The arrests by Mexican federal police, coming a month after the capture of alleged cartel leader Teodoro Garcia Simental, are the latest blows against the gang. Authorities feared Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental, Teodoro's younger brother, were planning to reignite a gang war for control of Tijuana's drug trafficking routes.Lopez Uriarte was known for his narrow escapes and flair for self-promotion: His nickname, "Muletas," or crutches, stands for the trail of disabled people he's left behind, and he outfitted his crew with uniforms featuring a patch designed with a skull and crutches crossed underneath.
At least 1,400 people have been slain in Tijuana drug violence since the beginning of 2008.
Smugglers caught in Sweden face 10 months in prison for smuggling 70 kilos of Khat while the same offense in Denmark only gives 30 days in the brig. Politicians are demanding harsher punishment.
Khat, also known as quaat, is a substance made from euphoria-inducing buds and is especially popular in Somalia. The substance is chewed to achieve a narcotic sense of bliss. Illegal in most countries khat is addictive and widely used within Somali communities in Denmark.
Matthew Feavyour was found guilty in September 2009 for his role in the importation of cannabis resin with an estimated street value of £270,000 hidden in air conditioning units. Andrew Rickard and Gary Moore pleaded guilty at the start of the trial. Birmingham crown court sentenced the three men on February 4 for their conspiracy to supply the Class B drug cannabis. Detectives busted the gang's drug smuggling scam in 2009 following a lengthy police operation codenamed Stagnate. Police officers intercepted the consignment smuggled into the UK from the Netherlands on April 2009. The recovered drugs were concealed in eight boxes containing air conditioning unit access doors, which were specially constructed for the job. Some 380 'soap bar' blocks weighing 94.8kg in total were recovered.
Moore had ordered the manufacture of air conditioning units with hollow panels, where the cannabis could be hidden while transporting it from Holland.
Feavyour was sentenced to six years, Moore was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail and Rickard got four years for trafficking cannabis from Holland. Operation Oscilllate: Heroin smugglers jailed In a separate police operation (Operation Oscillate) two men have been jailed following an attempt to smuggle more than 1.5m worth of heroin into the UK by hiding it in the packaging of adiabatic air coolers. In July 2007, a consignment of class A drugs was intercepted by customs officers at Birmingham Airport. The heroin was concealed in the pallets carrying the coolers supplied by a Turkish firm and bound for a freight forwarding firm in the West Midlands. Thirty packages of heroin weighing almost 30kg were seized.
Each of the adiabatic air-coolers were valued at between £2,000-£5,000. The police recovered eight out of 19 units that came into the UK via the same route. Eleven units are still missing. Police say the units could have been dumped, sold for scrap or sold on. Two men were sentenced at Nottingham Crown court in December 2009 to 18 and 25 years for their part in the heroin smuggling. Police are still seeking a third man.
Delhi court has awarded 10 years' rigorous imprisonment to two Nigerian nationals for possessing 400gm of cocaine and heroin in their tented premises in Madangir in 2005. "Convicts are involved in the trafficking of cocaine and heroin. Illegal trade of such a high quantity would have adverse impact on the lives of uncountable persons," special judge Sanjiv Jain said. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on convicts Saika Marong and Mohamed Wissely holding them guilty under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. A third accused, Roy Alphonse Chinguwile, was declared a proclaimed offender during the trial after he jumped the bail granted to him on the ground that he was suffering from cancer.
Read more...Blair Dorner of Cameron ISD, 30 miles southeast of Temple, was pulled over Wednesday in Taylor, a town in Williamson County.Cameron Superintendent Rodney Fausett tells News Channel 25, Dorner has been placed on administrative leave until their internal investigation is completed.The teacher is out of jail on a $11,000 bond.
Read more...
Police in Vantaa have uncovered one of the largest cocaine distribution rings in Finland. A total of fifteen suspects have been questioned during the investigations, five of whom are now in detention. One of the prime suspects is said to have trained restaurant security personnel. In addition to Finnish suspects, the ring includes nationals from Nigeria, Gambia, France and Syria. The gang is thought to have smuggled around 1.5 kilograms of cocaine last year. This is equivalent to some 86,000 doses with a street value of around 150,000 euros. Cocaine was packed into egg-sized containers which the smugglers had swallowed and then brought into the country. House searches led to the confiscation of narcotics from several locations amounting to 350 grams. Police say this is one of the largest ever seizures in Finland and equivalent to some 20,000 doses. However, they believe it only represents about ten percent of the overall consignment of cocaine. Security Trainer Is A Prime Suspect Among the prime suspects is a Finn involved in the security sector, who is believed to have acted as a wholesaler in the illicit dealing.
Police confiscated a large sum of cash from him along with cocaine and a 9 mm. Glock handgun of the type also used by law enforcers. He was involved in the licensed training of restaurant security personnel. The cocaine was sold in restaurants in the city centre of Helsinki and at partiesProsecutions are anticipated later this month.
Benjimen G. Chaltry, 35; Jacob L. Martin, 26; and Robert J. Rogers, 31; were charged Monday with felony counts of possession of 10 to 50 grams of heroin with intent to deliver, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. All three remain in jail on cash bonds: $50,000 for Martin, $45,000 for Rogers and $30,000 for Chaltry.
“(Chaltry) was going to Chicago to purchase heroin that was then going to be sold in Marinette County,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Urmanski said while arguing for the high cash bonds. “It’s indicated this is not the first time there was a trip to Chicago to make a purchase.”According to Adams:Nelson was doing traffic enforcement on northbound Interstate 43 near the southern county line when he noticed a car with several equipment violations and two occupants not wearing seatbelts. He then discovered the driver, Chaltry, had a revoked license.After Martin lied about his name, Nelson searched the car and its occupants. The heroin was found in the car and in the passengers’ possessions, including 60 baggies that were stuffed in Rogers’ shoe.Adams said each of the baggies, called bindles, typically sells for $80 to $100.
All three men are also charged with misdemeanor cocaine possession, and Martin and Rogers are charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Martin also faces a count of obstructing an officer.Martin is wanted in Brown County, where a judge issued a warrant in June after he failed to appear on a charge of felony marijuana possession, online court records show.Rogers, who was strapped into his chair during a video court appearance from jail, is the only one of the three with a felony record, though all three have multiple misdemeanor convictions, according to court records. Rogers has been convicted of felony burglary and theft, as well as misdemeanors including damage to property, battery and possession of drug paraphernalia; Chaltry has three drunken driving convictions and one marijuana possession conviction; and Martin’s prior convictions include resisting an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Aaron Diaz, 31,and Steven Pedraza, 22, of Hartford, Conn., were both taken into custody Sunday, according to state police.The incident began after State Police Trooper Brendhan Shugrue had stopped a 2009 Jeep Cherokee on Interstate 91 north of Exit 16 for a traffic violation, but later learned neither Diaz nor Pedraza had the authority to be driving the vehicle, according to state police.Diaz, the driver of the vehicle, had allegedly struggled with police as they attempted to arrest him and fled the scene on foot, according to state police. While running, Diaz allegedly threw a bag containing 500 bags of heroin, according to state police, which troopers recovered.With the assistance of a state police helicopter and search dogs, state police were eventually able to locate Diaz on Westfield Road and Hillside Avenue, and place him under arrest. He is facing charges of using a motor vehicle without authority, trafficking in heroin, a subsequent offense of possession of heroin with the intent to distribute, conspiracy to violate narcotic laws, assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest, according to state police.
Some area residents took notice of the circling police helicopter and troopers in their neighborhood during the manhunt."Not sure what is going on, but police said they are searching for someone and to stay inside our house. This neighborhood is not an area of Holyoke that usually has criminal activity," states Roosevelt Avenue resident Sandy Dias in an e-mail to abc40 and Fox 6 Sunday during the search.
Pedraza, who had been a passenger in the vehicle, had also been arrested for using a motor vehicle without authority and conspiracy to violate narcotics laws, according to state police.Both men had been held overnight at the Northampton State Police Barracks while awaiting arraignment in Holyoke District Court Monday.
John Hill, Peter McLeod and Kevin O'Hagan were seized at Puerto Plata Airport airport as they tried to board two flights to London.Cops swooped on the trio following a tip-off from the Scottish Crime & Drug Enforcement Agency.Sources said the cocaine was destined for the Glasgow area.Colombian cocaine had a very high purity and it could have been bulked up into more than 100 kilos, netting up to £2.5million.Sources claim the trio were working for a serious organised crime group.Hill, 53, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, was booked to travel home on a Thomas Cook flight. McLeod, 25, and O'Hagan, 28, both from Glasgow, were due to return to the UK on a separate charter. Both flights were scheduled to arrive at London Gatwick Airport.Local cops had been told by the SCDEA to look out for the trio and they were snared after an x-ray machine detected 7.14 kilos of cocaine in a suitcase on February 1.The SCDEA's Allan Moffat said: "By the time this seizure hit Scotland's streets, it would have grown in volume."The purity would have decreased after dealers bulked it with adulterants - some of them dangerous substances in their own right."
Read more...44-year-old Richard Crayton of Mosinee charged with the distribution of heroin, which resulted in the death of an individual from use of the substance. If convicted, Crayton faces a mandatory minimum penalty of twenty years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.The charge against Crayton results from an investigation conducted by the Merrill Police Department. The prosecution of this case has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney David Reinhard.
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