Darrius Spearman, 21 had been in a confrontation with the deceased the previous day, and had threatened to kill him when he saw him in the club.

Police were dispatched in the early morning hours of November 28, 2007, to Tiffany's, a popular nightclub located at 10th and Houston in Port Arthur. There they discovered Allen on the sidewalk in front of the club, the apparent victim of a single gunshot wound to the back. Fire and EMS personnel reported that Allen was dead at the scene.Darrius Spearman, 21 (dob 4/21/88), last known address 4416 Alamosa, Port Arthur, Texas, was sentenced today (47/30/09) to a term of fifty (50) years in the state penitentiary in connection with the 2007 murder of Marcus "Fish" Allen, a then 19 year old resident of Port Arthur.A subsequent investigation determined that a he had actually been shot inside the club and removed to the outside. The owner and bouncer testified that they were removing all apparent participants from a fight that erupted on the dance floor, which included Allen, but that Allen collapsed near the door after having asked that someone call his mother. It was when another club patron tried to administer CPR to Allen that the bouncer saw what appeared to be a wound in his back.
That patron, trained as a certified nursing assistant, testified that she had seen the fight erupt on the dance floor when the song "I'm A Gangsta'", by the rap artist Z-Ro, began to play. Several of the people on the dance floor began to flash gang signs and wave colored bandannas in the air. Spearman, an admitted member of the 4-3 Piru street gang, took out a gun, covered it with a red bandanna, and approached Allen. The witness then testified that she saw a flash coming from Spearman's hand, and Allen collapsed to the floor, where he had been dancing with a young woman when the fatal shot was fired.Spearman had been in a confrontation with the deceased the previous day, and had threatened to kill him when he saw him in the club. According to a statement given by another member of the 4-3 Pirus, he not only witnessed the confrontation the previous day, he also saw Spearman pull out a gun on the dance floor and left because he knew what was going to happen.Pathologist Dr. Tommy Brown testified that Allen had been shot in the back, and that the bullet went from right to left and back to front while traveling upward from his back and through his abdomen into his chest cavity. After piercing the diaphragm and bruising his left lung, the .22 caliber bullet pierced Allen's heart through and through, causing his death.Prosecutor Ramon Rodriguez said, "This was a senseless, vicious and stupid act. One young man is dead, and will never realize the promise and potential that his parents saw in him. He had a good, steady job that he had worked at for six month, was proud to have bought his first car with his own hard-earned money, and was following the advice that his father had given him about life. Spearman took all that away in a single moment, and the fifty year sentence that he got was well-deserved. I applaud the jury for that strong message to the community".
Spearman must serve twenty-five (25) years of today's sentence before he can be considered for parole, and still has two counts of aggravated robbery pending against him from an unrelated incident.

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Mike Carona's "America's Sheriff" convicted felon.

Mike Carona's "America's Sheriff" convicted felon. Federal judge gave Orange County's former top law enforcement officer a half-hour lecture about honesty before sentencing him to 5 1/2 years in prison for attempting to obstruct a grand jury investigation.
"I need a sheriff I can trust," U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford told Carona. "Lying will not be tolerated in this courtroom, especially by the county's highest-ranking law enforcement officer."Carona prosecutors The Michael Carona corruption case.The sentence marks the final major act in a case that shadowed the state's second-largest sheriff's office for years and changed the reputation of an ambitious lawman who moved into the national spotlight in 2002 with the search for the killer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion.Back then, Carona was seen as a rising political star. But instead, a long-running federal investigation into allegations of misconduct led to his indictment on multiple counts of corruption. After a two-month trial, Carona was acquitted in January of five charges, but convicted of witness tampering.
The judge noted that a theme of Carona's campaigns for sheriff was that he would not coddle criminals.
"What goes around, comes around," Guilford said. "There will not be any coddling here."The judge also expressed disappointment about Carona's post-verdict celebration outside the Santa Ana courthouse after the jury verdict.At the time, the former sheriff had described the verdict as "an absolute miracle" that reflected the forgiveness of God. Carona, his family, attorneys and other supporters held a party about a week later that cost $3,700 at an Orange County restaurant. The Jones Day law firm, which represented him free of charge, picked up the tab.
"I cannot understand the unrestrained celebration and proclamations of innocence and complete vindication," Guilford said of the courthouse celebration.As the judge handed down the sentence, Carona, 53, was stoic with chin up and lips pursed. His hands remained clasped on his lap. During his opportunity to speak to the court, he did not address the charges and simply thanked Guilford for his courtesy and for allowing him into the courtroom to contest the case.

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Six alleged members of Westside Street Mobb have been charged with running a prostitution ring involving at least 13 girls and young women

Six alleged members of a West Seattle-based street gang have been charged with running a prostitution ring involving at least 13 girls and young women. In court documents, Seattle police assert that members of the Bloods-affiliated Westside Street Mobb used violence and coercion to force the women to prostitute themselves. Nearly all of the prostitutes' earnings went to gang members.Among those charged is DeShawn Cashmoney Clark, an 18-year-old Seattle man who pleaded guilty last month to similar charges in a separate case. Clark now faces the most serious charges made in the recent filing: second-degree human trafficking and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.According to court documents, Seattle Vice Unit Detective Todd Novisedlak launched in investigation into the prostitution ring in November after conducting a sting on a 19-year-old woman selling herself on Craigslist.org.
Following her arrest at a Hilton hotel in SeaTac, the woman told police that she'd been working for Clark and Thomas Foster, according to police statements. She told police Clark had assaulted her in the past, and that she was afraid her pimp would hunt her down."She feared that she would lose her life if she cooperated with the police," Novisedlak said in court documents. "She said she desperately wanted out of the prostitution 'lifestyle.'"The woman told police Clark and his brother, Shawn Clark, had taken her and two other prostitutes to Portland, where they stayed for six days. She went on to identify 13 other girls and women who were working for the organization.At the same time, King County Sheriff's Office Detective Todd Smith was conducting a separate investigation into the Westside Street Mobb. Smith, according to court documents, had identified three women working for Shawn Clark and Gerald Nathaniel Jackson who were living together in a basement apartment in unincorporated King County near Des Moines. In collaboration with detectives in both agencies, Novisdlak and Smith found that two other men, Mycah Maurice Johnson and Desmond Trevian Manago, were also involved in the prostitution ring, according to police statements. All the men are believed by law enforcement to be affiliated with the Westside Street Mobb. According to court documents, the gang is thought to have been formed in mid-2006 in Seattle's Delridge neighborhood. Sheriff's Office detectives believe the group has 20 to 30 members, and is in part funded through prostitution and drug sales. The gang was initially affiliated with both the Bloods and the Chicago-based Folk Nation alliance of street gangs. Police assert that the Westside Street Mobb has since broken with Folk Nation after entering into a turf fight with another South Seattle gang. Prosecutors have filed a total of 15 charges against the six men, who, aside from DeShawn Clark, face two to three years in prison if convicted as charged. Clark faces a significantly longer sentence.

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Sentenced Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman to 15 years and 12 years, respectively, for their role in the 2005 murders of four Alberta Mounties

Sentenced Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman to 15 years and 12 years, respectively, for their role in the 2005 murders of four Alberta Mounties. Hennessey, 29, and his brother-in-law Cheeseman, 25, had been charged with first-degree murder but, last week, pleaded guilty to lesser charges of manslaughter. On Friday, Justice Eric Macklin delivered the sentences but said both men will have their actual jail time reduced by about five years because of time served and because they pleaded guilty before a trial. In an agreed statement of facts, the men said they provided a rifle and ammunition to James Roszko, then drove him to his Mayerthorpe, Alta. property. Roszko, using a different rifle, then murdered Constables Brock Myrol, Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston and Peter Schiemann, on March 3, 2005 before turning the gun on himself. The Mounties were staking out Roszko's property, guarding evidence that was part of an investigation into stolen auto parts and a marijuana grow-op. The tragedy was one of the darkest days in the history of the RCMP, marking the worst single-day loss of life in more than a century.

The Crown had sought a sentence of 10 to 15 years while the defence was seeking four years less time served. Cheeseman and Hennessey spent close to 10 months in pre-trial custody following a preliminary hearing last year. They were eventually released on bail under strict conditions. Prior to the sentencing, Hennessey's father, Barry Hennessey, said he was worried the judge's sentencing decision may be influenced by a recording of a confession made by Cheeseman.Undercover RCMP officers posing as criminals taped Cheeseman admitting to them that he knew Roszko was planning to kill the Mounties. "Well, obviously we knew that he was going back to kill RCMP officers," Cheeseman admits on the tape."He said he was pretty much going to take care of business." The tape, which was recording during an RCMP sting, was unsealed after the pleas were entered last week. "You think the judge won't hear this?" Barry Hennessey asked from his home near Barrhead in an interview with The Canadian Press. "It is not fair. It is not right that they released all of this." He said Cheeseman was scared because he thought the undercover officers were real criminals."He was scared for his life," he said. "He thought they were Hells Angels."

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New Law in the UK May Make it Illegal to Photograph the Police After February 16th

“According to the British Journal of Photography, the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, which is set to become law on February 16, “allows for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone who takes pictures of officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.” The punishment for this offense is imprisonment for up to ten years and a fine.However, even before the passage of the legislation, police in Britain have already been harassing and arresting fully accredited press photographers merely for taking pictures of them at rallies and protests.”In the UK, the section of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 that deals with this is in section 76, where it states that it will now be a crime to “elicit, publish or communicate” information about members of armed forces etc.

From the legislation:

“(1) A person commits an offence who—

(a) elicits or attempts to elicit information about an individual who is or has been—

(i) a member of Her Majesty’s forces,

(ii) a member of any of the intelligence services, or

(iii) a constable,”

While I’m still not exactly 100% sure what “ellicting and publishing information” about members of the police might entail, I could certainly see the issue being raised where an officer was identifiable, perhaps even with their name on their uniform. In any event, it certainly would seem to give the police more ammunition, so to speak, to be able to use when asking photographers not to photograph them.
This legislation would appear to be yet another chilling move by the UK in encouraging harassment of photographers. Last year you might remember that the London Metropolitan Police launched a very public advertising campaign asking people to turn in “odd” looking photographers.Retaining our rights to photograph the police is important. Whether the Rodney King case or the more recent case of BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle’s killing of Oscar Grant in Oakland, it is important that as citizens we be allowed to record the day to day activities of our police officers. Police officers wield an incredible amount of power over the general citizenry in our day to day lives. Being able to record their activities (as certainly they record ours) is an important right and power in ensuring that they handle their own power with the responsibility with which they should.This law in the UK is unfortunate. It further muddies the water for what photographers can and can’t photograph with regards to the police and further paves the way for police officers to harass photographers. While the law seems to be targeted towards people who would photograph the police with the intention of using it for terrorism, I could easily see how it could be used by any police officer to try and stop photographers from photographing them. I would much rather have seen wording in this legislation that specifically said that regular citizens have every and all rights to photograph the police at any time.

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Hong Kong serial killer

Thai prostitute was murdered in a one-woman brothel last night, the third sex worker to be killed in just three weeks - raising the spectre that a serial killer is targeting the women.This is inspite of the police arresting a “strongly-built” man of Pakistani-origin suspected in the murder of three of their four colleagues in the last one week. The sex workers held a protest Tuesday seeking protection from their clients.The copycat murders of the sex workers, all of who ran individual ‘one-woman brothels’ that are legal here, over three days caused panic among them. And the police Tuesday visited each of the over 2,000 such one-woman brothels to check if any other sex worker had been killed.The police also sought information about their clients so that the murders could be worked out.The fear among the prostitutes is not because this man has been arrested for the suspected murder of three of them but because the police say he is not a suspect in the killing of the fourth sex worker in a commercial district Sunday.

“We are happy to know that the man has been arrested. But he is only a suspect in the first three cases. That means that a killer is still out there. Sex workers are still terrified,” said Elaine Lam Yee-ling, spokeswoman for Zi Teng, a support group for prostitutes.

The fourth woman murdered Sunday, Tam Sui-fong, 27, was killed in her apartment in North Point. The police believe the same man was not involved.The earlier three murders were committed Saturday and Sunday in Tai Po and Yuen Long areas of the New Territories district. All victims were between 27 and 35. All of them were strangled.“More arrests are likely,” said police senior superintendent Steve Li Wing-hong.The Pakistani-origin suspect, who is unemployed and lives with his wife here, was caught from Macau city where he escaped Sunday after allegedly committing the crime. The police traced him after he was caught on CCTV cameras leaving the buildings where the sex workers were killed. The man was nabbed after he called up his brother and fixed up a place to receive money to escape from Hong Kong. The police lured him into a trap after they traced his brother here.

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Zsa Zsa Gabor is said to have lost at least $7m

Veteran actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is said to have lost at least $7m as a result of investments with the accused US businessman Bernard Madoff. Ms Gabor, who is 92 next month, is said not to be taking the damage to her nest egg well. Bernard Madoff is accused of running a worldwide fraud that the authorities say may have cost investors $50bn. The once-respected money manager is under arrest at his Manhattan penthouse while an investigation continues. A lawyer for Zsa Zsa Gabor said the actress had discovered her losses in the last few weeks, adding that she may have lost as much as $10m. The Hungarian-born actress starred in films such as Moulin Rouge, Lili and Touch of Evil. If convicted, Mr Madoff faces up to 20 years in prison Famed for her rich husbands, she suffered a stroke four years ago. Ms Gabor is not the only Hollywood figure apparently to have suffered losses because of an investment connected to Mr Madoff. A foundation run by the Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg, and the actor Kevin Bacon and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, are also reported to have fallen victim. Mr Madoff, 70, a former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market, was arrested and charged on 11 December in what would be Wall Street's biggest Ponzi scheme, one in which early investors are paid-off with the money of new clients.

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A goat is being held in custody because it was a suspected human robber that transformed itself into it to escape arrest

Police in Kwara State of Southern Nigeria paraded a goat suspected of taking part in a robbery incident on Wednesday. The Police Public Relations Officer, Tunde Mohammed, said the goat is being held in custody because it was a suspected human robber that transformed itself into it to escape arrest.Mohammed said the mysterious goat is an armed robber who unsuccessfully made attempts to steal a Mazda car and later transformed himself into a goat in his bid to escape arrest.
He said the armed robber was arrested by members of a vigilante group in Anifowose Ipata/Oloje while they were chasing two other armed robbers. “While one of them escaped, the other was about to be apprehended by the team when he turned his back on the wall and turned to this goat. They quickly grabbed the goat and here it is,” the Nigerian Vanguard Newspaper quoted Mohammed.Mohammed assured that the suspected “goat robber” will not be released until they conclude their investigations

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Facebook Killer: It is always wise to be careful what you publish online.

It is always wise to be careful what you publish online. That at least could be one of the messgaes that comes from the death of Sarah Richardson, 26. Sarah changed her Facebook status to single within a month of separation. When she didn't respond to the text messages from her husband, Edward, 41, Edward went to her place and, enraged, stabbed her to death. He then tried to commit suicide.Edward has now been sentenced to 18 years jail, according to Fairfax.Sarah's death is another reminder that if there has been violence in a marriage, that violence can often be worse ina period of 1-18 months after separating.

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Mother of infamous Branch Davidian sect leader David Koresh was found stabbed to death on Friday

Mother of infamous Branch Davidian sect leader David Koresh was found stabbed to death on Friday, and Koresh's aunt was in custody on a murder charge yesterday.
Bonnie Clark Haldeman, 64, was found at the home of her sister, Beverly Clark, in a rural area near Chandler, Texas, according to Henderson County Sheriff Ray Nutt. He said that a knife believed to be the murder weapon was found.Clark, 54, was being held without bail pending a court appearance. Jail officials said she did not yet have an attorney to speak for her.Haldeman wrote a 2007 autobiography, Memories of the Branch Davidians: The Autobiography of David Koresh's Mother, that described how her son, Vernon Howell, became David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidian cult. A 51-day standoff with federal agents ended when the cult's complex burned in April 1993, killing Koresh and nearly 80 of his followers.

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Dr Dre learned that his 20-year-old son, Andre, died of an overdose of heroin and morphine.

Andre Young, also known as "Dr Dre", became an icon in the rap music industry as the founder of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner of Death Row Records, producing songs for such famous rap stars as Snoop Dogg and Eve. Dr Dre also helped young talent in the rap music field move to stardom in working with performers such as 50 Cent and Eminem, which boost their rapper careers.But fame and fortune couldn't keep a father from crying after Dr Dre learned that his 20-year-old son, Andre, died of an overdose of heroin and morphine. "Words can't describe the hurtDr Dre and his family have been going through," an associate close to the rap star's family said.It was Andre's mother who discovered their son's lifeless body in their Woodland Hills, Calif. home in August 2008.After toxicology and other tests, the coroner ruled his death was accidental and said the case was closed.

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29 year old Leighton Ricardson, originally from Mold, Flintshire, will appear in court in Spain after his ex girlfriend was found beaten to death

29 year old Leighton Ricardson, originally from Mold, Flintshire, will appear in court in Spain today after his ex girlfriend was found beaten to death on Christmas Eve.The tragedy happened at Lisa Mc Conway’s home in Playa de Las Americas on Tenerife, and the alleged aggressor who is said to have used a baseball bat, is the father of the victim’s three year old son Shea. He was reported to now be living in another apartment in the same Pala Blanco block.

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Byron Jones was booked with second-degree murder for allegedly shooting Santinac, who was in his early 20s

Byron Jones was booked with second-degree murder for allegedly shooting Santinac, who was in his early 20s, about 11:15 a.m. in the 1600 block of Music Street.
Santinac's body was found riddled with bullets inside a four-door silver Isuzu Rodeo near the intersection of Music and North Derbigny streets. Before dawn Saturday, members of the New Orleans Police Department's Tactical unit and the Homicide Division executed a search warrant at 7616 Ligustrum Drive and arrested Jones without incident, authorities said. Jones also was booked with possession of marijuana and possession of a gun while in possession of illegal drugs. The Sept. 6 homicide had been the first since Aug. 30, a day before New Orleans officials ordered residents to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Gustav, an Orleans Parish coroner's investigator said. Santinac, a cook who lived on Music Street, had been shot multiple times and died at the scene. The Isuzu he was found dead in was pressed against the front steps of a peach-colored shotgun double on Music Street. The tire on the driver's side was flat and the bumper was damaged, and the car had apparently knocked down a handrail on the home's front steps.

The Isuzu Rodeo's passenger-side door had three bullet holes in it, and its half-lowered passenger window appeared to have been cracked by a gunshot.

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Neelam Kauser and rap group members Dem Boyz lived in a 'fantasy' world, desperate to be seen as dangerous gangsters

Neelam Kauser and rap group members Dem Boyz lived in a 'fantasy' world, desperate to be seen as dangerous gangsters, say police.Det Sgt Steve Whittaker believes it was this twisted desire that led to them agreeing to carry out the ruthless and brutal attack on Nawajid Ali Khan, organised by his estranged wife Faria. Another driving force for all of them was money and greed,for the paltry sum of £200 in return for a man's life. DS Whittaker said cash was a factor behind the attack for Khan. She had transferred their house into her brother's name two weeks before Khan was killed, to ensure she would get all of the money. DS Whittaker said: "It wasn't just a straightforward collision, something untoward had gone on and it was clear it wasn't a normal incident. "It was quite obvious from an early stage there was more to it than met the eye." Items left in the white Vauxhall Frontera 4x4 helped to snare Khan, Kauser and Dem Boyz. One of the most significant was a mobile phone belonging to Kauser and Yorachi, which held the text message asking for £200. But even then DS Whittaker said it was hard for officers to comprehend what led the rap band members to go so far. "Some of them had been in trouble with the police before, but others hadn't. Then there was the age of some of them. But most of all it was unbelievable that they would kill a man for such a paltry amount of money.C
"It all made it even more difficult to get our heads around."
Despite the small sum involved, DS Whittaker said he believed money was a factor in the attack. But he believed it was combined with a kind of sympathy for Khan, who had been claiming she was suffering domestic abuse at the hands of her husband.
DS Whittaker said: "I think they wanted to believe Faria. It would bring their fantasy into reality and justify what they had done. "Those five did live in a fantasy world of gangsters, in particular Neelam Kauser, who fancied herself as a moll. "If the end result wasn't so sad, the whole thing would be laughable. They have taken it upon themselves, taken the law into their own hands, to kill a man for £200. I cannot comprehend it." Another key part of the case was the huge number of eye witnesses in the area at the time of the attack, on a Sunday afternoon at the end of January this year. More than 40 people came forward with information, assisting police and giving evidence at the trial. DS Whittaker said he and the rest of the team were extremely grateful to them for taking their civic duty so seriously and coming forward to relive what must have been a horrifying incident.
Despite such a brutal attack and a wealth of evidence against them, Khan, Kauser and Dem Boyz continued to deny their part in the death of Mr Khan.That led to an eight week trial, one of the longest in recent history in Sheffield. And DS Whittaker added: "They have shown not one shred of remorse towards Nawajid Ali Khan. "It's been a lengthy investigation and it's been a very unusual case."The evidence against certain members has been overwhelming, but they still didn't have the common decency to admit their guilt, and their responsibility for the death of an innocent man on his way to work one Sunday afternoon."

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Billion Dollar Mexican Drug Gang Busted In Arizona

After a year-long investigation dubbed "Operation Tumbleweed" law enforcement in Arizona has busted the Garibaldi-Lopez Drug Trafficking Organization linked to the Sinaloa drug cartel resulting in the arrests of 39 individuals and the seizure of "more than 25,000 pounds of marijuana, one kilogram of cocaine, 11 pounds of methamphetamine and more than $750,000 in cash, in addition to dozens of cars, firearms and stolen vehicles." The group smuggled 400,000 pounds of marijuana each year from Mexico into the United States, and over the last five years generated a profit of one billion dollars:The smugglers are accused of taking stolen vehicles from the United States, loading them with drugs in Mexico and sneaking them across the border north to Phoenix. The operation included putting spotters in desert areas to look out for authorities and erecting radio towers so smugglers could communicate with each other. "Whenever they spotted any kind of law enforcement movement, the loads would shut down," said Lt. Vince Piano of the Phoenix Police Department, one of several agencies investigating the case. "They had equipment in trucks that would camouflage - or 'brush up,' as they term it - and sit for a day or whatever it took for that law enforcement movement or operation to end and then they would continue to move the loads." The smuggling vehicles were each loaded with about 2,000 pounds of marijuana in Sonoyta, Mexico. Trucks outfitted with retractable vehicle ramps were used to move the smuggling vehicles over the border fence within two to five minutes. Once north of the border, the smugglers moved through the Tohono O'Odham Nation's reservation, using night-vision equipment to travel when it was dark and sometimes driving through dry stream beds or dirt roads in remote areas. Heading north to Phoenix, they would stop south of the metro area in rural Pinal County, where the stolen vehicles would be abandoned in the desert and the drugs would be put into less conspicuous vehicles that weren't stolen and brought to stash houses in Phoenix. Among the 39 arrested is the alleged leader Marco Antonio Sonoqui, and police are searching for another twenty individuals.

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Mark Standen, arrested over a $120 million drug conspiracy, is being driven to the edge of mental illness by his life in prison

Mark Standen, arrested over a $120 million drug conspiracy, is being driven to the edge of mental illness by his life in prison, a court heard yesterday.Spending almost every day of his remand isolated in a maximum security cell, the one-time NSW Crime Commission assistant director has been verbally abused by other inmates.
As he asked for bail at Central Local Court yesterday, Standen's defence barrister Greg Farmer said Standen was subjected to "an onerous type of custody brought about merely by the fact that he is who he is. There is a risk that if it continues he will suffer a psychiatric illness."Court documents reveal how the former crime fighter has been spending his time at Long Bay Jail since he was arrested in June, charged with conspiring to import enough pseudoephedrine to make $120 million worth of the drug ice.He spends most days alone in his cell. When he uses a larger yard or the gym, he is locked in alone."His activities in the yard are limited to throwing a basketball and chasing it, hitting a tennis ball against a wall and jogging around," according to an affidavit sworn by his solicitor Gordon Elliot.Standen, 47, is due to sit his final law exams in March, but has no access to computers, educational activities or the library.But magistrate Allan Moore refused his bail application, saying it was "a substantial case" and Standen's knowledge of police methodology made him a flight risk. He will face court again in February.

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Ukraine, three young men who went on a month-long killing spree have been charged with murdering 21 people.

Ukraine, three young men who went on a month-long killing spree have been charged with murdering 21 people. The violent attacks plunged the eastern city of Dnepropetrovsk into a vortex of fear in the summer of 2007. The three, who are now 20 years old, were teenagers at the time they allegedly battered their victims with hammers and pipes.Rumours of a maniac killing both young and old paralysed Dnepropetrovsk, one of the largest cities in Ukraine. Police, however, linked the reign of terror to a group of teenagers.They’re not revealing how they caught them but, with mobile phone footage of some of the murders, officers have little doubt of the identity of the criminals

.“We think they were doing it as a hobby, to have a collection of memories when they get old,” said Detective Bogdan Vlasenko.

The former classmates have been behind bars for almost a year now and it’s believed they've pleaded guilty to all the murders.They are thought to have used iron pipes and hammers on their victims. Mobile phone footage also suggests they practised on cats first.They all come from prosperous families and have allegedly admitted they committed the crimes just for fun.Detectives say they the killers weren’t targeting anyone in particular. They just picked up people who looked like they wouldn’t fight back.“You see, no one would fear for their life when these boys were offering them a ride,” said Ivan Stypak, Chief Police Officer of the Dnepropetrovsk region.However, the parents of the suspects refuse to believe their children could be killers. They insist their children were forced to confess their guilt.

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Two alleged armed robbers defecated in court and attempted to eat the faeces.

Two alleged armed robbers did the unthinkable in court yesterday. They defecated in court and attempted to eat the faeces. The two, whose names were not given, had gone to the Fast Track High Court located in the Supreme Court build¬ing under police escort, for their case to be heard. While waiting, they suddenly removed their clothes and started shouting. According to a court official who witnessed the scene, the police court orderlies quickly moved in to get them out of the court room, but realised they had defecated in their seats. They smeared the faeces on their bodies and attempted to eat some but were prevented by the police. The floor of the court room was also smeared. The two appeared not to be bothered as they were brought outside under a tree. Their condition attracted a large crowd some of whom took photographs of them in their nakedness. Relatives of the two men watched the scene in apparent surprise until they were put into a 'police vehicle and driven away. .
The questions the obviously suspicious public asked were: How can two people be mad at the same time in the same hour, and at the same place?

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Thomas B. Simcoe of North Tonawanda was sentenced to 55 years to life in prison Friday for his conviction on charges of trying to kill his wife

Thomas B. Simcoe of North Tonawanda was sentenced to 55 years to life in prison Friday for his conviction on charges of trying to kill his wife, Stacey, and a police officer last year. Simcoe was convicted of trying to strangle his wife and of attempting to stab North Tonawanda Officer Jeffrey Smith in the chest three times when he arrived in response to a 911 call from the couple’s son. Smith’s body armor and a cell phone and a notebook in his breast pockets saved him, according to trial testimony. Simcoe, 43, blamed everything on his wife. Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza, who in a nonjury trial convicted Simcoe on 11 counts, including two attempted murder charges, called his version of events “preposterous.”
“This wasn’t a close case,” the judge said. “This was one of the most vicious cases I’ve encountered in 30 years. The testimony of Mr. Simcoe was incredible, not credible.” In an interview, defense attorney Phillip Dabney reiterated his assertion from two months ago that one of the police officers lied on the witness stand. But asked if he still believes in his client’s innocence, Dabney said, “I believe he believes in his innocence.” “She was out to murder me and claim self-defense. It was a conspiracy between her and her lover or lovers,” said Thomas Simcoe. He had testified he kept a short rope, which prosecutors said was knotted at each end for a better grip, so he could use it on a man named Ken, last name never determined, with whom Simcoe said he believed his wife was having an affair. Stacey Simcoe, who was choked into unconsciousness with the rope in their Courtside Drive home in the early hours of Sept. 29, 2007, was tearful as she described the impact of that night on her life and those of the couple’s four children. “Tom, you’re the father. You’re supposed to protect your family. The children went through counseling and still can’t deal with what you have done,” Stacey said. She talked about how she and the children have nightmares and how their son Tommy, who called 911 to summon police during the attack, sleeps with the lights and the TV set on. “The image of me laying in blood is something he’ll live with for the rest of his life,” Stacey said. “I take medications twice a day for skull separation caused by you slamming my head on the floor.”
Assistant District Attorney Lisa M. Baehre choked up as she said, “They will suffer for the rest of their lives because of this defendant’s actions.” “You sat on that [witness] stand and said you strangled me until I stopped breathing, and said your intentions were not to harm me. How could you do that?” Stacey demanded of Thomas. “You need to pay for what you have done.”

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ROBBERS BREAK INTO PARIS HILTON'S HOME ... STEAL $2 MILLION IN JEWELRY

According to cops, a man in a hooded sweatshirt forced entry into her front door and ransacked her bedroom. Preliminary reports indicate $2 mil in jewelry and other belongings were taken.

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Convicted Ruben Hernandez, 25, and Max Aguilar, 18, of murder for their roles in the death of Jorge Caro, 21

Convicted Ruben Hernandez, 25, and Max Aguilar, 18, of murder for their roles in the death of Jorge Caro, 21, also of Aurora.When Caro showed up at a Latin Kings party on Sept. 3, 2005, gang members were aggravated because he had cooperated with police on a murder investigation and because he had disparaged the gang leader. But, according to testimony, what sent gang members over the edge was that Caro used the Latin Kings handshake, even though he wasn't officially a member. The gang's leader ordered Caro beaten for the affront.Prosecutors said Hernandez was one of several gang members who punched and kicked Caro as he lay on the ground. Caro was knocked unconscious during the beating, so the gang leader ordered it stopped.Someone suggested taking Caro to a hospital. Instead, prosecutors said, Quinton Moore hit Caro on the head with a bat. Charges are pending against Moore and another man. The gang leader, Roman Lucio, 26, of Aurora, has already pleaded guilty. No one testified that Hernandez or Aguilar struck the fatal blows. In fact, Aguilar was never accused of touching Caro -- just of being the lookout. But under the law, he could be held accountable because he participated in a felony -- the fight -- which led to a murder.Hernandez and Aguilar face 20 to 60 years in prison.

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Police said today they will arraign a 31-year-old man from Qormi in connection with the murder early yesterday of Neville Baldacchino, 28

Police said today they will arraign a 31-year-old man from Qormi in connection with the murder early yesterday of Neville Baldacchino, 28. The arraignment is due this afternoon.Mr Baldacchino was fatally shot four times on the roof of a private residence at Triq id-Drama, Qormi.

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Arber "Benny" Krasniqi had a history of brandishing a knife at the first sign of trouble.

Arber "Benny" Krasniqi had a history of brandishing a knife at the first sign of trouble.But even as he displayed his violent streak time and time again, police and Crown attorneys appeared to treat him with leniency and indifference, court records show.In the six years before he stabbed 24-year-old Jordan Ormonde to death in a Greek restaurant on the Danforth, police arrested Krasniqi for a spate of violent incidents involving a knife but only once was there an attempt made to prosecute him.Today a jury found Krasniqi, 34, guilty of second-degree murder. Crown attorney Ann Morgan called the April 22, 2007 slaying an "unprovoked assault." Krasniqi testified at his trial that when he stabbed Ormonde in the neck he was acting in self defence.During six weeks of evidence, jurors heard Krasniqi had one brush with the law where he was convicted of assault.Court documents, including a transcript of his bail hearing on the murder charge - bail was denied in January 2008 - detail a plethora of allegations never tested or proven in court although they did result in Krasniqi being released on peace bonds with various conditions and several orders to attend and complete anger management counselling.
The examples included:
Sept. 1, 2001, Krasniqi was arrested for punching his now ex-wife in the face with a closed fist. She declined to testify and he was released on a peace bond for 12 months.Oct. 14, 2002, he allegedly pulled out a six-inch silver utility knife and threatened to cut two doormen at the Rumours Nite Club on Eglinton Ave. E. He was later released on another peace bond.April 21, 2003, Krasniqi was arrested at Caddy's Bar on Eglinton on two charges of failing to comply and one of carrying a concealed weapon. He was ordered not to be within 100 metres of the address or drinking alcohol. Police said he had a folding knife. The charges were withdrawn on Jan. 14, 2005 and 50 hours community service imposed.Jan. 17, 2004, while on bail for the 2002 charges, he was charged with assault for allegedly punching a man in an unprovoked attack. The charge was withdrawn the following year and he entered into a recognizance to keep the peace.March 16, 2007, Krasniqi was arrested for assault after a parking control officer was punched. A charge of possessing a prohibited weapon - a knife - was dropped because there was nothing to forensically connect him to it. He was convicted and sentenced to seven days in jail and one year probation. The defence is appealing."Mr. Krasniqi's behaviour demonstrates a flagrant disregard for court orders and a history of using knives in acts of violence," the prosecutor said at his January 2008 bail hearing for Ormonde's murder. At that time, lawyer James Silver told the judge Krasniqi had no criminal record and there had never been a finding of wrongdoing.Silver argued the various court-ordered sanctions were reflective only of allegations and nothing more. A peace bond is not an acknowledgement that an accused broke the law but rather an undertaking to keep the peace and be of good behaviour."Mr. Krasniqi is entitled to the presumption of innocence regarding those criminal charges," Justice Susan Himel wrote in her decision denying Krasniqi bail.However, Himel noted Krasniqi was awaiting trial and was on a recognizance that he would keep the peace for a period of 12 months at the time Ormonde was killed. "In these matters, he has demonstrated a problem with controlling his anger and a propensity for violence."One of the most serious allegations took place on Aug. 13, 2005 at the Black Eagle Bar in Mississauga.
According to a police report, Krasniqi, who came to Canada from Kosovo in 1999, got involved in a verbal dispute with a customer at the bar. A man who tried to intervene was stabbed in the left shoulder with a four-inch knife. He needed three stitches to close the wound.Outside the bar, a woman was slashed on her left arm from her wrist to her elbow and through to the bone. She received 20 staples in her arm, police reports say. Another person was struck with a beer bottle in the back of his head.A warrant naming Krasniqi for multiple offences connected to the incident was issued two days later. But Peel police didn't arrest him until he turned himself in to 12 Division on Oct. 19, 2005. He was charged with three counts of assault with a weapon and three counts of mischief, in addition to breaching his recognizance.
On Nov. 3, 2005, he was released on his own recognizance and put under house arrest, although that was varied to allow him out "for various purposes," Silver told court.After being put over several times, the matter was finally set for a five-day trial in February 2007 with between 15 and 20 civilian witnesses and the same number of police scheduled to testify. But according to a transcript, Crown attorney Scott Pratt said he had only been assigned the file at 5 o'clock the previous night "so I'm still making some headway through it."And he signalled there was trouble with the Crown's case. "In all of the circumstances there were identification issues and as it turned out, disclosure issues that needed to be addressed." Pratt, now a Crown attorney in Windsor, said he couldn't recall details of the case. Pratt told the judge he wasn't "prepared to proceed, I don't have a provable case to present," and asked that Krasniqi enter into a common-law recognizance to keep the peace for a period of 12 months with certain conditions and not possess any weapon.The Attorney General's office had no comment on the case nor on Krasniqi's background because he is still before the courts.Just this week, the Ontario government announced Crown attorneys and police officers need to do more to share more information and work together more closely to keep a better watch on repeat violent offenders.Attorney General Chris Bentley and Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci said they will set up a task force and working group so Crown attorneys and police officers can give the courts the information they need to keep violent repeat offenders behind bars.While the agencies already share some information, all sides can do better, Bentley and Bartolucci said."The police are going to identify the definition of those they believe should be targeted," Bartolucci said.

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Australia hosts the world's sixth-largest underground economy, based on the number of servers identified as hosting stolen information and fraud tools

Australia hosts the world's sixth-largest underground economy, based on the number of servers identified as hosting stolen information and fraud tools, according to startling research by security software maker Symantec.The results suggest there is a thriving local black market in which credit card and bank account details, malicious software such as phishing kits, and "cashier" services are regularly traded online by criminals and specialist suppliers. Symantec Pacific vice-president Craig Scroggie said the Underground Economy report showed that crime gangs had used the internet to establish a criminal business model that was mature and self-sustaining. Symantec monitored servers identified as supporting the underground economy globally for 12 months between July 2007 and June 2008. It found that the advertised information and fraud-related services were worth more than $276 million to the online traders. The value of funds available collectively on the stolen credit cards was estimated to be $US5.3 billion ($8.5 billion). "In Australia we hosted the sixth highest percentage of underground economy servers, accounting for 4 per cent of the total identified globally," Mr Scroggie said. "Some of the largest underground activity in the IRC networks was observed on servers in Australia, while the 14th longest active underground server had a local address." On software piracy, Symantec found that Australia was ranked 10th in the number of illegal downloads of computer games and specialist multimedia and business applications by country (excluding music and video file piracy). The nation also ranked 10th in the number of users making software files available for illegal copying. Symantec's figures are far higher than the latest Australian Institute of Criminology Underground Markets in Stolen Digital Information Review, in May 2007, in which Australia was not in the top 10.

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Red Army Faction leader Christian Klar, aged 56, is serving five life terms but will have served the minimum required 26 years by January.

Red Army Faction leader Christian Klar, aged 56, is serving five life terms but will have served the minimum required 26 years by January. German court has approved the release from jail of a leader of a radical leftist group involved in high-profile killings in the 1970s and 1980s. The court in Stuttgart said there were no grounds to keep him in custody. The group, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, targeted bankers, businessmen, judges and US servicemen. More than 30 people were killed by the gang, before it disbanded 10 years ago.
"A major consideration was the question of whether it could be feared that Christian Klar would commit significant criminal acts again," but the judges decided there was no evidence he would, the court said in a statement. Uli Edel's film was released in Britain earlier this month It said that Klar would remain on probation for five year after his release. Klar was arrested in 1982 and later convicted of nine murders and 11 attempted murders. It is the brutality of the Red Army Faction's crimes which shocked the public, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Berlin says. Along with the principal targets of their terror, bodyguards and drivers were gunned down. In one case, the head of a bank was assassinated at his home, after being presented with a bunch of flowers by the killers.

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Prince of Marbella Syrian, Monzer Al Kassar, has been found guilty by a Federal Court in the United States of arms trafficking

63 year old Syrian, Monzer Al Kassar, has been found guilty by a Federal Court in the United States of arms trafficking. The man known as ‘The Prince of Marbella’, the Syrian, Monzer Al Kassar, has been found guilty by a Federal Court in the United States of arms trafficking and of conspiring to sell arms to the FARC guerrillas in Colombia.He was arrested in June 2007 at Barajas Airport in Madrid and extradited to the United States in June this year.62 year old Al Kassar lived many years in Spain and became known as ‘The Prince of Marbella’ for his ostentatious lifestyle on the Costa del Sol.He was described in court as one of the most prolific arms traffickers in the world, and was accused with Felipe Moreno Godoy, a 59 year old Chilean.The DNA investigators trapped Al Kassar by travelling to Marbella to meet with him, pretending to be representatives of the Nicaraguan Government, who they claimed had been sent by the FARC to buy anti-helicopter missiles.The defence lawyers for the two men said in court that their clients were legitimate arms dealers, and said they would appeal the sentence when it is made public on February 18.

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Jailed slamball player Ivan Latimore swiped and stuffed down his pants the Sony Cyber-shot camera and memory card that allegedly contained sex videos

Officials say jailed slamball player Ivan Latimore swiped and stuffed down his pants the Sony Cyber-shot camera and memory card that allegedly contained sadomasochistic role-playing sexual activity sex videos and images of him and Channel 7 sports reporter Julie Donaldson from the courtroom during his battery case.Latimore was sentenced in September to two years in jail - with one to serve - after he struck a last-minute deal and copped to assaulting Donaldson and three other women after a night of heavy partying in June.The camera was part of the case’s evidence and was on the defense table at Boston Municipal Court.“At some point during the proceedings, the defendant secreted the camera in his pants,” said Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office. “The camera was later recovered from his person during a search at the Barnstable House of Correction.”The camera is back at the court clerk’s office and Latimore could get more time behind bars for the alleged brazen theft. “It was a sleazy move, entirely in character,” Wark said.A source said Latimore had the camera “squirreled away in his underwear” when he arrived at the Barnstable jail and it was discovered during a “pat search.”Latimore was barred from having the camera under the conditions of his plea but Wark said authorities couldn’t charge him with larceny because the camera was “legally his own property.”“However, by allegedly taking it, he does open himself up to surrender proceedings on his probation which could lengthen his jailtime,” Wark said.A hearing on the alleged theft is set for Jan. 8.Before Latimore pleaded guilty in September, defense attorney Timothy Bradl filed a motion to dismiss the case because Donaldson allegedly destroyed sex videos and text messages from Latimore’s camera and cell phone before they were taken from her apartment for evidence.Bradl said in the motion that those images and texts would have shown the duo in “sadomasochistic role-playing sexual activity . . . wherein both parties called each other racial and gender slurs, hit, bit and otherwise consensually touched each other in an assaultive manner in the course of sexual relations.

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Fury at secret murder trial of journalist Anna Politkovskaya

A judge has ordered the murder trial of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya to be held in secret after ruling that hearings should take place in public. Supporters of the journalist accused the Government of a cover-up after Judge Yevgeny Zubov reversed his decision to hold the trial in open court. He said that jurors had refused to enter the courtroom with reporters present, citing fears for their safety. Ms Politkovskaya, 48, was a relentless critic of the Kremlin. Prosecutors had demanded a closed trial because one of four defendants is a former officer with the Federal Security Service

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The ringleader of the Canadian marijuana, operation allegedly was Cornwall, Ontario, who goes by the nicknames "Big Boss Man" and Big Buddy

Mark Smoke, 37, and Aonwentsiio "Doggie" Sunday, 30, of Hogansburg, James Moran, 44, Massena, and Winthrop residents Mitchell Printup, 31, and David Hartley, 46, were indicted Tuesday on charges of conspiracies to distribute and possess more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.Federal authorities charged 34 people, including five north country residents, over their alleged roles in an international marijuana smuggling operation that moved about 22,000 pounds of pot through the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.A three-year investigation exposed a pipeline bringing millions of dollars' worth of marijuana into the U.S. and distributing it to several cities, including Boston and Atlanta, the U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday. The ringleader of the operation allegedly was Cornwall, Ontario, resident Mickey Woods, who goes by the nicknames "Big Boss Man" and "Big Buddy.""This investigation shines a spotlight on the enormous profits reaped by drug dealers from the cultivation, smuggling and sale of marijuana," said John P. Gilbride, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge. "From Northern New York to as far south as Atlanta, Georgia, this trafficking organization distributed Canadian marijuana, generating approximately $45 million of narco-dollars along the way."
Twenty-three Canadians and people living in Boston, Miami, Montgomery, Ala., and Onondaga face similar charges. If convicted, each person could face a 10- to 40-year prison term and up to $4 million in fines.Mr. Woods, 38, and Gaetan "Gates" Dinelle, 35, Cornwall, also were charged with leading a continuing criminal enterprise. If convicted, they each face a mandatory term of life in prison.The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of $45 million from illegal drug proceeds. Nine people have been picked up, with Mr. Woods and Mr. Dinelle still at large.Authorities seized about 400 kilograms of marijuana and more than $2 million in cash during the investigation. More arrests are expected.Several agencies participated in the investigation, including DEA, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, state police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police and district attorneys' offices in Franklin and St. Lawrence counties.An international marijuana-trafficking ring that reportedly smuggled 22,000 pounds of pot through the North Country was dismantled Tuesday with the indictment of 34 people.Officials said more than $45 million worth of pot was passed through northern New York in the past three years by smugglers using speed boats, personal watercraft and fishing boats in good weather and snowmobiles with sleds in winter to cross the St. Lawrence River at the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
Several layers of drug runners and go-betweens were allegedly recruited and reported to managers to assign their shipments. The managers reported to the "Big Boss Man," who authorities say used cell phones and push-to-talk communicators to relay messages.At one point, a ledger showing $700,000 in transactions was reported in a nine-day period in May 2006.On Tuesday, 34 people were indicted on federal charges, including two from Akwesasne and three from St. Lawrence County: Mark Smoke, 37, of Akwesasne; Aonwentsiio "Doogie" Sunday, 30, of Akwesasne; James Moran, 44, of Massena; Mitchell Printup, 31, of Winthrop; and David Hartley, 46, of Winthrop.The nine-count indictment charges each with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana and the importation of more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.If convicted, they could face a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 40 years in federal prison and a $4 million fine.They are accused of being part of the Mickey Woods smuggling network, based in Cornwall, Ontario.Woods, 38, of Cornwall, also known as "Big Boss Man" and "Big Buddy," was the alleged ringleader, along with Gaetan Dinelle, 35, of Cornwall, who is also known as "Gates."Along with the same conspiracy counts, Woods and Dinelle will face charges of leading a continuing criminal enterprise. If convicted on that additional charge, they could face life in prison."This investigation is a prime example of why we need what we are asking for: designation as a high-intensity drug-trafficking area," District Attorney Derek Champagne said.He traveled to Syracuse Tuesday for the news conference called by Andrew Baxter, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton (both D-NY) and U.S. Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) have petitioned to have Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties included in an existing 17-county network for New York and New Jersey to better coordinate investigations and share information through links with federal and state law-enforcement agencies.Champage said the New York/New Jersey network leadership backs inclusion so much that it has agreed to hire two intelligence-gathering people to work in northern New York.One will be based in Clinton County and the other in Franklin County, the DA said.
He said the Drug Enforcement Agency and cooperating entities did an excellent job of tracking the complicated Woods organization.The others indicted Tuesday were: Debbie Francis, 46; Steven Primeau, 29; David T. Dugan, 34; Rodney Dingwall, 20, also known as Rodney Lalonde; Michelle Daniluck, 31; Amanda Pond, 31; Joanna Hyderman, 22; Martin Foley, 32; Chantal Allaire, 27; Marc Allaire, 29; Kayla Snyder, 21; Cassie Obyrne, 29; Kendra Theoret, 23; Jeffrey Goulet, 42; and Amanda Stevens, 24, all of Cornwall; Jeana MacDonald, 25, of Alexandria, Ontario; Jonathan Poitras, 31, of St. Zotique, Quebec; Michael Harris, 31, of Boston; William Scott Morgan of Miami; Joey Gray Collins, 23, of Montgomery, Ala.; Noel Piette, 20, of Glen Walter, Ontario; Bryce Cumming, 21, of Williamstown, Ontario; Derrick Martin, 20, of Glen Walter, Ontario; Ashley Johnson, 23, of Onondaga; April Lazore, 23, of Onondaga; Barrett Wagar, 19, of Ottawa; and Portia Simac, 30, of Miami Beach.Nine were arrested Tuesday in New York and elsewhere, and Canadian investigators will begin making arrests there unless the people turn themselves in.Authorities said that between 2005 and 2008, the organization smuggled tons of pot through the reservation.More than 800 pounds of marijuana and more than $2 million in cash were seized during arrests made on lower-level players in the network during those three years.Officials said Woods would reportedly buy or have a large shipment of pot fronted to him from Poitras and other alleged dealers in Canada.Then Dinelle and the other operations managers would allegedly bring it into the United States through the reservation.They used boats and snowmobiles to haul the drugs to where they were allegedly kept by Smoke, who along with some of the others, loaded 100 to 120 pounds of pot into the trunk of large American-made vehicles that Woods has allegedly rented or purchased.The loads were allegedly driven to distribution points all along the Eastern Seaboard, including Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Burlington and New Jersey.
In April 2007, Harris and Morgan were arrested in Boston after allegedly accepting a load of pot. Authorities seized $602,000 in cash, $400,000 of which was to pay for that load and a fronted amount from an alleged previous run.The pot kept arriving even after their arrests, and Morgan allegedly mailed $50,000 to Simac.The go-betweens and drug runners were not told much about the operation, how it was run and who ran it and only knew the top people by nicknames, authorities said."This investigation shines a spotlight on the enormous profits reaped by drug dealers from the cultivation, smuggling and sale of marijuana," John Gilbride, DEA special-agent-in-charge, said in a news release."Law enforcement has caught up to these traffickers, seized their drugs and illegal

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Neapolitan Mafia has begun illegally copying and selling the film 'Gomorrah'

Neapolitan Mafia has begun illegally copying and selling the film 'Gomorrah' by Matteo Garrone ahead of its scheduled release next month on DVD. The film is inspired by Roberto Saviano's international best-seller 'Gomorra', which exposed the activities of Naples' ruthless Camorra crime syndicate. Pirated DVDs of film are allegedly being sold for six euros each on newsstands in the southern Italian city of Naples. The pirated DVD box reportedly contains a falsified logo of Italy's Society of Editors and Authors (SIAE) and is sealed in cellophane."The movies are sent to me from Forcella," said a newsstand owner, quoted by Italian daily Corriere della Sera, referring to the run-down neighbourhood of Forcella in Naples, considered a Camorra stronghold and a paradise for pirated goods.Allegedly, the image and sound quality of the video are of low quality, and the Italian subtitles in the movie have been removed, which means the film is directed at a Neapolitan dialect-speaking audience.The movie, which won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival, was named Italy's entry for next year's Oscars, reportedly further incensing the Camorra.Italian author and investigative journalist Roberto Saviano carried out his own research for the documentary-style book, which denounces the activities of the Camorra and reveals how and where it operates.Saviano, 29, has been living in hiding under 24-hour police protection for the past two years. Apart from the Neapolitan Camorra, Italy's three other criminal organisations are the Sicilian Mafia, the Sacra Corona Unita in the southern Puglia region and the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta.

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Tomoaki Iishiba, 34, a nine-year veteran of the Army who is currently stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., admitted to shipping firearms parts

Tomoaki Iishiba, 34, a nine-year veteran of the Army who is currently stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., admitted to shipping firearms parts, including holographic night vision firearms sights to contacts in Japan, with false information on customs declaration forms. Earlier in his army career, Iishiba was stationed in Japan as a military intelligence officer. He was a liaison to the Japanese military and assisted in the training of Japanese soldiers.In his plea agreement, Iishiba admitted that beginning in 2006 and continuing until early 2008, he shipped EoTech 553 holographic night vision compatible firearm sights; EoTech 550 firearm sights; upper receivers modified for Airsoft; and various scopes to individuals he had met while serving with the U.S. Army in Japan. Two of the shipments, which occurred in October and December 2006, contained holographic sights. Iishiba purposely mislabeled the customs forms for these shipments because he knew he needed a license to ship these firearms parts to Japan."The illegal export of U.S. weapons and technology could jeopardize our nation's security," said Leigh Winchell, ICE special agent in charge of the office of investigations in Seattle. "ICE takes this type of violation of federal law seriously and we will continue to aggressively investigate these cases."U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman said at the sentencing hearing that Iishiba was "a soldier who had abused his trust, using his military address to order parts and then shipping them to foreign nationals. The problem with putting something in the stream of commerce is you don't know where it will end up."In addition to the prison sentence and probation, prosecutors expect Iishiba's military career is over, writing in court documents that, "the loss of his military career will be a difficult blow to the defendant. It is clear that he has committed his life to service in the U.S. Army. Losing his military career, under these difficult circumstances, will serve as a more severe punishment than anything this Court could impose."ICE was joined in the investigation of this case by Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.

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Andrew Cresswell body found

body of Andrew Cresswell, from Pluckley, was found at his business premises at Pivington Mill, Pluckley, at about 0700 GMT on Tuesday. Det Ch Insp Maria Shepherd said preliminary investigations had shown that a weapon had been used. She said the last known sighting of Mr Cresswell had been at 1545 GMT on Monday in Ashford.
Police are keen to speak to anyone who may have seen a suspicious vehicle or persons in the vicinity of Pivington Mill recently, and who may have information about Mr Cresswell's movements on Monday afternoon and evening. Investigations at the scene have been continuing.

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federal grand jury indictment of Raoul Weil, the chairman and CEO of the global wealth management and business banking division at Swiss Bank UBS

Justice Department announced on Wednesday a federal grand jury indictment of Raoul Weil, the chairman and CEO of the global wealth management and business banking division at Swiss banking giant UBS, on charges that the 58-year-old executive helped U.S. taxpayers avoid income taxes on assets in overseas accounts.
Weil, who is not a lawyer, headed UBS's international wealth management unit between 2002 and 2007 and was appointed to the bank's group executive board in July 2005. According to a bio posted on UBS's Web site, Weil held various positions in the bank's private banking division, working in Basel, Zurich, Monaco, and New York.
According to a copy of the 13-page indictment, Weil and other UBS bankers used encrypted laptops and other counter-surveillance techniques to assist U.S. clients in concealing their identities and nearly $200 billion in offshore assets from the IRS. The indictment claims that Swiss bankers who reported to Weil routinely traveled to the U.S. to discuss Swiss bank accounts with current and prospective clients. Between 2002 and 2007, these activities allegedly generated nearly $200 million in cross-border business for UBS.
The Am Law Daily has learned that Weil is being represented by Aaron Marcu, the head of the white-collar defense and investigations practice at Covington & Burling in New York.
"Today's indictment is totally unjustified and without any factual basis," said Marcu in a statement to The Am Law Daily. "[Weil] denies any suggestion that he was aware of, engaged in, or tolerated any illegal conduct in the operation of UBS's U.S. cross-border business. That business represented only a tiny percentage of the global wealth management business for which [Weil] is responsible."
The charges against Weil have their origin in a 12-page indictment that the Justice Department unveiled in May against former UBS private banker Bradley Birkenfeld and the cofounder of a Liechtenstein-based bank. Prosecutors accused the two of aiding American real estate developer Igor Olenicoff in evading income taxes on $200 million in assets that he allegedly stashed in offshore accounts. (A Russian émigré, Olenicoff sued UBS in September, accusing the bank and several high-ranking executives of deceiving him on the legality of his offshore accounts; Portfolio wrote about Birkenfeld's plight in an October 2008 feature story.)
Birkenfeld pled guilty in June to charges that while at UBS he helped wealthy Americans hide assets in overseas accounts to avoid paying income taxes. Prosecutors have asked that Birkenfeld's sentencing be delayed so as to ensure his continued cooperation with investigators. According to court documents, Birkenfeld is scheduled to be sentenced on January 8.
As a result of Birkenfeld's guilty plea, the Justice Department stated that it would broaden its investigation into UBS, later asking that the Zurich-based bank turn over the names of some 20,000 U.S. clients. In the Weil indictment, prosecutors consider those individuals unindicted coconspirators.
UBS said in a statement that Weil will relinquish his current duties at the company in order to defend himself. As previously announced in July, UBS entities based outside the U.S. will discontinue offering cross-border private banking services to U.S. clients. The bank, Switzerland's largest, said that it will continue cooperating in a "responsible manner" with law enforcement authorities in the U.S. with the hope of resolving the tax evasion investigation.
"Every American who pays his or her taxes should be offended that a select few use anonymous offshore accounts to avoid paying their fair share," said a statement by R. Alexander Acosta, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida where the charges against Birkenfeld and Weil were filed. "We owe it to every American taxpayer to use all lawful means to identify and prosecute both those who evade their taxes, and those who assist them in evading their tax obligations."
Senior trial attorney Kevin Downing, who famously helped prosecute 18 individuals involved in the KPMG tax shelter criminal case in federal court in Manhattan, is leading the team prosecuting Weil. Trial attorney Michael Ben'Ary of the Justice Department's tax division and assistant U.S. attorney Jeffrey Neiman in Fort Lauderdale are also involved in the ongoing investigation.
Weil's lawyers are already promising a vigorous defense.
"Mr. Weil is a highly respected banking executive in Switzerland with an unblemished record for integrity," added Marcu in his statement. "We fully intend to fight this indictment and look forward to vindicating [his] good name."
Nonetheless, the timing of the indictment is an unfortunate one for Weil. He turns 49 on Thursday.

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John Carlin, the gunman in a notorious Alaska killing, has been found dead at the state prison in Seward.

Spokesman for the Alaska Department of Corrections says John Carlin, the gunman in a notorious Alaska killing, has been found dead at the state prison in Seward.Corrections spokesman Richard Schmitz says Carlin was found dead under suspicious circumstances Monday night.Carlin was convicted of conspiring with Mechele Linehan, a former Anchorage stripper turned soccer mom, in the 1996 shooting death of Linehan's fiance, Kent Leppink. Leppink's body was found off a trail south of Anchorage.Prosecutors say Linehan and Carlin orchestrated the killing in the mistaken belief that Linehan would receive insurance money. Carlin was sentenced in January to 99 years in prison for firing the shots that killed Leppink.Prosecutors claimed Linehan tried to follow the plot of "The Last Seduction," a1994 movie in which a woman gets her lover to kill her husband.Leppink, a commercial fisherman, was shot to death with a handgun at close range on a trail outside the tiny mining community of Hope, Alaska.Linehan was arrested 10 years later in Washington, where she lived a quiet life married to an Olympia doctor.

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Rex Cobol and John Labayen have been charged with fraud and violating provisions of Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers

National Bureau of Investigation is looking for three suspected members of an international drug syndicate following the arrest of two other members who allegedly recruited a teacher for a job overseas.The teacher, however, claimed that the two men tried to make him a drug courier.
Agents of the NBI Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division operatives are now looking for Desiree Quinto – said to be the head of the West African drug syndicate that has moved its operations from Vietnam to Malaysia – and her suspected cohorts identified as Grace Caltino and Marlon Oribello.On Oct. 19, the NBI arrested two suspected members of the gang – Rex Cobol and John Labayen– at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 where they were supposed to board a plane bound for China.Cobol was reportedly responsible for processing fake documents for the syndicate’s “mules” or couriers.The syndicate’s drug couriers, it was learned, transport drugs either by swallowing capsules containing the illegal substances or by inserting the capsules in different orifices of the body.Earlier, Paul John Villavicencio, the suspects’ victim, went to the Department of Foreign Affairs to ask for help.He said he was recruited by the suspects to work as a teacher in China but was taken instead to Thailand.In Bangkok, Quinto asked him to be one of the group’s “mules” or drug couriers.
He said he turned down the offer.Villavicencio said he later managed to escape from the suspects.
He went to the Philippine Embassy in Thailand, which sent him back to the country on Oct. 2.After he went to the NBI, agents conducted an entrapment operation, resulting in the suspects’ arrest.Cobol and Labayen have been charged with fraud and violating provisions of Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995

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Raul Palma, 19, and Ali Loera, 21, both of Odessa were identified as the shooters

Raul Palma, 19, and Ali Loera, 21, both of Odessa were identified as the shooters and were arrested on two third-degree felony counts of deadly conduct and/or discharging of a firearm and a class B misdemeanor of possession of marijuana.Another passenger in the vehicle, 20-year-old Brandon Fierro also of Odessa, was arrested on local warrants.Around 6:43 p.m. Monday, Odessa police officers responded to a “shots fired” call in the 600 block of North Lauderdale Avenue.Witnesses told authorities that a vehicle occupied by several Hispanic males had discharged a shotgun several times toward a residence.Other witnesses near the intersection of 5th Street and Overton Avenue reported the same vehicle had discharged a shotgun also several times in the neighborhood.While OPD officers were attempting to locate the vehicle, a third call came into dispatch from the area of Floyd Gwin Park regarding a vehicle and description of the same suspects firing a shotgun.Authorities found the vehicle in the 700 block of Bernice Avenue and conducted a felony stop.One subject fled from the police on foot but was subsequently detained.All three men are being held at the Ector County Detention Center. No bond had been set at press time.

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riot has broken out at a prison in Mexico, leaving at least 21 inmates dead, officials have said.

riot has broken out at a prison in Mexico, leaving at least 21 inmates dead, officials have said. Rival jail gangs attacked each other with knives and guns while setting fire to a part of the prison in Tamaulipas state close to the US border. Heavily armed police were brought in and the fire was put out at the Reynosa jail, which holds about 2,000 inmates. Mexico has seen a number of prison riots in recent months, including one at Tijuana that left more than 20 dead. Correspondents say increasing numbers of drug gang members are being put in Mexican prisons but they are continuing their rivalries once they are on the inside. The Reynosa riot started in the early hours of Monday.

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AIB branch two men armed with handguns knocked straight through a wall from an adjoining derelict building as staff were closing for the day

AIB branch two men armed with handguns knocked straight through a wall from an adjoining derelict building as staff were closing for the day.No customers were in the bank at the time and gardai confirmed that no one was harmed and that no shots were fired. A number of other men are understood to have been lying in wait outside.
The gang made off with what is being described as "a significant sum of money". Speculation in Edenderry was that up to €300,000 could have been taken. However, gardai would not disclose how much was involved. Detectives were last night examining the scene which has been sealed off. They are also on the look-out for a blue Volvo car which was seen in the vicinity immediately after the raid.
Investigators were checking CCTV footage from the bank and the general area to see if the raiders were captured on film. As roadblocks were set up, gardai began house to house inquiries. Terrified staff said they were too traumatised to say anything when asked for comment last night.PD councillor Fergus McDonnell expressed concern for the town, saying it was "unfortunate in being targeted again, particularly so soon".He also sympathised with the staff of the bank, noting that "it has to be extremely traumatic to be subject to such an ordeal".
"Hopefully they can come through it," he added.
Less than two weeks ago, on September 8, armed raiders terrified staff and customers at the same AIB branch.On that occasion, two young men, travelling on the same motorbike, pulled up outside the bank on the town's main street at 11.40am.
As they entered the bank, they shouted at customers to "get back" before making their way to the counter and demanding cash from the teller.They were armed with a silver revolver and threatened an elderly customer. One man was described as being about six foot and was wearing a black top, black trousers, white runners and a charcoal helmet. The second raider, who was about the same height, was wearing a black top with white stripes, black trousers and a dark helmet.
The pair escaped on the motorbike in the direction of Dublin with an undisclosed sum of money. Commenting on last night's raid, local councillor Noel Cribbin said he has long been critical of the presence of a number of unoccupied and derelict buildings on the main street and has repeatedly called on the local council to see to it that the streetscape was improved.

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Addicts from as far away as Newcastle and York are said to be travelling to Middlesbrough to take advantage of the cut-price narcotics.

Addicts from as far away as Newcastle and York are said to be travelling to Middlesbrough to take advantage of the cut-price narcotics.An investigation by the charity DrugScope revealed that Teesside dealers were selling heroin bags for as little as £5 . . . the cheapest in the country.According to a leading drugs campaigner, there is a drought of cannabis resin, which is imported by the same dealers controlling the crack cocaine and heroin market.With prices so low, and with so little resin reportedly available, it is believed some cannabis users are being tempted to use the harder drug.Tina Williams, of Parents and Addicts Against Narcotics in the Community, said the situation had chilling echoes of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when heroin use spiralled in Teesside, North Tyneside and South Northumberland.Tina, based in Stockton, Teesside, said: "Maybe the drug barons are creating an open market for new drugs coming in. Maybe they want to increase the crack cocaine and heroin market . . . only they would know."But the drug users around Stockton are chasing around for cannabis resin. They can still get herbal skunk cannabis, but because it is a lot more expensive, they get a lot less for a £10 deal than they would for resin."The last thing we need right now, when we are dealing with an increase in crack cocaine and speedballing, is yet another drug coming on the market."According to Tina, the crack cocaine problem is increasing rapidly across Teesside. Yardie drug gangs were targeting the area.At the time, Cleveland Police denied there was a problem, despite confirmation from the Metropolitan Police specialist unit on Yardies.Now, with highlyaddictive crack cocaine firmly established in the region, drug users are increasingly mixing it with heroin to get a better high.The mixture is known as a speedball, and taking it is known as snowballing.DrugScope polled 80 police forces, drug action teams and other specialists from 20 cities across the UK.They found that in Middlesbrough, dealers were increasingly offering cut-price drugs, with heroin costing only £5 a bag, and that in Newcastle and York, the use of speedballs had increased.According to research, those taking speedballs were three times as likely to have convictions as those who only took heroin
The study, by Dr Russell Newcombe, of Manchester University, also found that the average speedballer spent £500 a week on drugs - or £26,000 a year - compared with £110 for heroin addicts.Addicts say the combined effects of the drugs, one being a stimulant and the other a depressant, complement each other.However, it can be lethal. High- profile deaths from speedballing include American actors John Belushi, 33, who died from an overdose in 1983, and River Phoenix, 23, who died outside a Hollywood nightclub.The horrors of heroin were vividly demonstrated by the death of John Courtney, 21, of Walker, Newcastle, in April 2005.His family allowed a picture of John's body, found on the floor of his uncle's flat, to be published as a deterrent to potential users.Harry Shapiro, spokesman for Drugscope, said: "If cannabis is in short supply, the likelihood of a drug dealer turning away money is not that big and they would be pleased if their customers were willing to try other products that they sell, such as heroin or crack."Although the majority of cannabis smokers would not go anywhere near either of those two drugs, there will always be some who will be willing to try it.
"One of our concerns about speedballing is that if you are injecting crack into yourself you have to do it a lot more frequently than with heroin alone. This has major health implications for users."Detective Inspector Chris Sharman, Northumbria Police's drug co-ordinator, said: "We proactively tackle the suppliers to enforce the law.
"Crack cocaine is not a significant problem when we consider that our force contains major cities and urban areas."But we are not complacent and are aware that crack is available in certain areas and we are actively working to remove it from our communities.
"We are aware that users will experiment with different drugs. Speedballing is not a new type of drug as it has been here for some time.
"But again, our intelligence does not provide evidence that this is a significant problem for our area."

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Craig Johnson was the seventh member of a criminal gang to be jailed in connection with a £68 million VAT fraud

Craig Johnson was the seventh member of a criminal gang to be jailed in connection with a £68 million VAT fraud, following an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). In June 2006, six men were sentenced to a total of 51 years for defrauding HMRC by means of a complicated fraud involving the non-payment of VAT on mobile telephones. Some sentences are running concurrently meaning a combined total of 39 years in jail for the six men. Known as 'missing trader' or carousel fraud, the scam exploits the EU VAT system in which VAT is not charged on the sale of goods between VAT registered companies in different EU member states. The subsequent sale of goods in the UK created a VAT liability due from companies that 'disappeared'. These companies are known as 'missing traders'. Craig Johnson's role was to launder the proceeds of the 'missing trader' fraud. He received in excess of £6 million of laundered funds in the form of racehorses, business assets, high value vehicles and property. The funds had come from accounts in Hong Kong, into which the proceeds of the missing traders' transactions - usually the stolen VAT - had been transferred. Chris Harrison, Deputy Director of Operations, Criminal Investigation, for HMRC said: "Tackling 'missing trader' fraud is one of HMRC's top priorities. It is theft of essential public revenue by organised criminal gangs, and is a Europe-wide problem. We are committed to pursuing those involved no matter how complex the crime and no matter where in the world the money trails take us. We will also actively pursue confiscation proceedings in order to strip the guilty of their assets, illegally derived from the proceeds of these frauds. The sentences being handed down demonstrate the gravity with which the courts view this crime." He added: "We would particularly like to acknowledge the excellent support we have received from Staffordshire Police and West Midlands Police in bringing this case successfully to conclusion." The fraud began with a company called Crownlink Networks Limited, which was registered for VAT by the company director Charles Hackney, who ran the company with his son in law Michael West. In the course of two months in 2001, £27 million pounds worth of mobile telephones were bought and sold by their company. Hackney and West were sentenced to five and four years in prison respectively. Another missing trader called Gyraland UK Limited was run by Phillip Hague of Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. In January and February 2002, his Bristol-based company sold £7 million worth of mobile telephones. Hague was sentenced to five years in prison. Clive Everton Saunders of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, had previously been involved in violent crime and ran a security company which provided doormen to pubs and clubs in the North Staffordshire area. At the time of the trial Saunders was serving five years in prison for violent affray in which a man was shot outside a busy restaurant in Stoke-on-Trent. Saunders used his security business to recruit willing 'front men' for missing traders including Hackney and West along with his right hand man, ex soldier Craig Jones, who effectively controlled the companies ensuring that the money passed through the bank accounts. For this he received high value vehicles and property abroad. After forensic evidence led to Jones being charged with being involved in the fraud, he approached the authorities and gave evidence in court against his co-accused. Taking this into account HHJ Orme sentenced Jones to five years in prison. Enquiries abroad established a web of accounts into which proceeds of the fraud were paid. Saunders' bookkeeper David Routledge funnelled hundreds of thousands of pounds through his bank accounts to Saunders' accounts in Hong Kong, Switzerland and Spain. Saunders used this money to fund the building of a million pound mansion in Staffordshire, purchases of many high value vehicles including Ferraris and Bentleys and a helicopter that he kept on a helipad in the grounds of his property. He also owned a Spanish villa, a boat moored on the Costa Blanca and several Rolex watches. David Routledge pleaded guilty to his involvement part way through the trial and was sentenced to seven years in prison for Cheating the Revenue and five years for money laundering to be served concurrently. Saunders was found guilty on two counts of cheating the public revenue and was sentenced to eleven and nine years imprisonment also to be served concurrently. Assets to the value of £6 million have been seized under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 - including 4.5 million in a related investigation (Operation Emersed). Confiscation Orders are being secured to reclaim this money for the public purse. These assets comprise of a helicopter, a yacht, two properties including Meaford Hall, Stoke, performance vehicles - a Ducati, Aston Martin, Ferrari and two Bentleys, Rolex watches and diamonds. Matthew Wagstaff, Head of the Commercial Division of Revenue & Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO) said: "Missing Trader prosecutions are the most challenging area of RCPO's casework. This case was particularly challenging to prosecute because of the large number of trading companies and defendants - their complex web of associations and activities were difficult to unravel and present to the jury. RCPO are pleased to have secured such a high number of convictions in the face of these difficulties and will build on these successes in future prosecutions."

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champ Adam Watt was one of two men arrested this morning for conspiring to import enough chemicals to make $52 million worth of the drug ice.

ChampAdam Watt was one of two men arrested this morning for conspiring to import enough chemicals to make $52 million worth of the drug ice.
The 40-year-old - who once trained with swim star Kieren Perkins - and 43-year-old Radoslov Spadina were seized at their homes in Manly by Australian Federal Police officers.A spokeswoman for the AFP said the men had been charged over a conspiracy to import 210kg of ephedrine into Australia from the Congo in Africa.The case has also exposed what police have called "a well organised drug ring based in Manly" following the arrest of the men in the beachside suburb.They had allegedly travelled internationally to meet with other members of a global drug syndicate.
"Police will allege in court that the two men conspired to import ephedrine, a precursor chemical used in the manufacture of crystal methamphetamine (ICE), with a well-organised international syndicate," the AFP said.
"The AFP investigation began in June 2006 and was carried out in conjunction with overseas law enforcement agencies."Investigations revealed that the syndicate initially intended to send a shipment of 210kg of ephedrine to Australia from the Congo."It will be alleged that the focus of the conspiracy then shifted to a route from South America. The importation was abandoned due to delays in sourcing the precursors."Police swooped on 15 alleged members of the crime syndicate in the Netherlands in May.The two men have been charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled precursor.They face a maximum term in jail of 25 years if convicted.Lawyers for Watt have already told Central Local Court they will apply for bail. The matter will be back in court this afternoon.

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one of the biggest drug busts in its history, Denmark has broken up a drug smuggling ring that imported as much as 17 tonnes of hashish

one of the biggest drug busts in its history, Denmark has broken up a drug smuggling ring that imported as much as 17 tonnes of hashish into the country from the Netherlands and Spain over the past 18 months. The Copenhagen police have been secretly investigating the criminal group since January, and have arrested nine people to date. The Politiken newspaper reports that a 46 year-old German woman who acted as the money courier, and a 41 year-old Danish man believed to be the leader of the drug smuggling gang have been in jail since May. Police charged the German woman with ferrying DKK 53 million (USD 10,494,527 EUR 7,103,496) into the gang’s foreign bank accounts.The hash was distributed to various locations around Denmark, including several locations in Copenhagen, as well as Holstebro, Esbjerg, Horsens and Arhus. Police have already sentenced several people for possession of up to 800kg of hash during raids throughout the country. Now that police have the ringleader and money launderer in jail, they believe the gang is nearly dismantled with the exception of one remaining figure, who is hiding out and believed to still be dealing with new partners.The haul of 17 tonnes of hash makes it the largest drug bust in Denmark’s history. The previous record haul involved the use of a ship called the Atlantic Privateer to smuggle 13 tonnes of cannabis into Denmark last year. Claus Malmqvist, the smuggler, was caught and given a 16-year prison sentence. It is believed he is connected to the gang currently being tracked.

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Police seized more than $1 million in U.S. currency after Bryson Villeneuve, and Robert Hough were arrested as they landed at Crystal Beach.

Police seized more than $1 million in U.S. currency after two of the men were arrested when they came ashore at Crystal Beach. The money — $1,077,000 — had been vacuum-sealed in clear plastic and stuffed into several duffel bags. “That’s a lot of money, the most I’ve ever seen,” Acting Insp. Brian Richardson of Niagara Regional Police said Thursday. Police also seized a twin-engine cigarette-style power boat worth an estimated $350,000. The 10-metre boat wasn’t involved in Wednesday’s pursuit. Richardson said the arrests followed an investigation launched by the NRP about three months ago. “They had information criminal activity was taking place in the middle of Lake Erie,” he said. NRP investigators notified U.S. officials that a boat suspected of being involved in criminal activity had entered American waters Wednesday morning. U.S. Border Patrol officers in a boat ordered the vessel to stop, but it turned around and headed for the Canadian shore, police said.
Two men carrying several duffel bags fled the boat at a public boat launch at Crystal Beach and were arrested by the provincial biker enforcement unit.
The boat’s driver headed back to the American side with the U.S. Border Patrol in pursuit.The man, who has not yet been identified, was arrested by U.S. officials and charged for failing to stop for authorities. Police seized the boat.
A subsequent search led American police to seize nearly half a kilogram of marijuana and $38,000 US cash. The two men arrested in Crystal Beach have been identified as Bryson Villeneuve, 26, and Robert Hough, 28, both of Cornwall. Each is charged with laundering the proceeds of crime and possession of the proceeds of crime over $5,000. Several law enforcement groups were involved in the bust, including NRP, central region detective services Unit, the provincial biker enforcement unit, the integrated proceeds of crime unit and the border enforcement safety task force, which includes members from the Canada Border Service Agency and U.S. Customs.
Wednesday’s arrests came the same day as the NRP held a news conference to reveal details of a major drug bust. The previous joint-forces investigation resulted in more than 75 charges against 20 people and netted 35 kilograms of marijuana, 120 marijuana plants, five kilograms of cocaine and $830,000 in cash. NRP Chief Wendy Southall was buoyed by the two cases.

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GARDAÍ believe they have “significantly damaged” a drugs ring supplying the southside of Cork city

GARDAÍ believe they have “significantly damaged” a drugs ring supplying the southside of Cork city, following the arrest of three men and the seizure of cannabis worth in the region of €100,000.
Two men from the Carrigtwohill area, one 32, the other 31 and a 23-year-old from Bishopstown were being detained by gardaí yesterday following the seizure of the drugs in an operation in Little Island.
Members of the Cork City Garda Divisional Drugs Units, aided by members of the force from Cork North Garda Division stopped a car in Little Island at around 10.30pm on Wednesday.
They searched the vehicle under the Misuse of Drugs Act and discovered the drugs hidden inside.
Two of the men were taken to Cobh Garda Station for questioning, while the third was taken to Midleton Garda Station.
They were all being detained under Section 2 of the Drugs Trafficking Act 1998.
Under that legislation they can be held for up to seven days without charge.
All three are said to be known to gardaí.
“This operation was part of an ongoing investigation into the supply of drugs to the southside of Cork city. It was a very successful operation,” a senior Garda spokesman said.
He added that he believed those arrested were not small-time dealers.
The seizure is the third major discovery of drugs in the east Cork area this month.
On September 4 last, three men were arrested in Brooklodge, Glanmire following the seizure of €100,000 worth of heroin.
The arrests followed a lengthy surveillance operation.
That was the biggest heroin seizure in Cork this year.
The three men are currently before the courts.
Two days later a Polish man was arrested in the Carrigtwohill area after detectives from the Cork City Divisional Drugs Unit and members of the Cork North Garda Division raided a house and seized cannabis with an estimated street value of €100,000.
The Garda spokesman said there was no connection between these seizures and the one made in Little Island.

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Salvatore d'Avanzo was serving life for multiple murders when he went on the run earlier this year from home leave.

Salvatore d'Avanzo, 46, was serving life for multiple murders when he went on the run earlier this year from home leave.He was held after police received an anonymous tip-off as he was having a tattoo of a Samurai warrior done on his arm in an attempt to change his appearance.D'Avanzo was jailed in 1989, and while behind bars his hair had turned grey, he wore glasses, piled on the pounds and had a pasty complexion. However, when he was found at the beauty parlour – which is a 15-minute drive from Milan's Opera prison where he was being held – he had dyed his hair black, changed to contact lenses, got a tan and lost 33lb
Francesco Zio, the officer who arrested him, said: "The change was amazing. You would not have recognised him from the man who had gone on the run six months ago."When police burst in on him at the beauty parlour, he told them: "Thank God it's you, I thought you were hitmen."
D'Avanzo was the favoured hitman of the Vitale Mafia clan based in Palermo on Sicily and was convicted of murdering Diego Bonura, a member of a rival mob.
His body was not discovered until ten years later after a Mafia supergrass told police where to find the corpse, and d'Avanzo is suspected of other hits.
D'Avanzo earned day parole in 2001 for good behaviour. But in April he failed to return to the prison from his day job, faking his own death by abandoning his car near the prison with the lights on, the doors open and the keys in the ignition.
D'Avanzo, who had 1,400 in cash and fake identification papers in his pockets when he was caught, spent his time as a fugitive between Lombardy and Liguria, frequently visiting the San Remo casinos.His girlfriend is under investigation as an accomplice to d'Avanzo's prison break, but she claims she knew nothing of her lover's criminal past.Yesterday, when he appeared in court, d'Avanzo apologised to the judge, Elisabetta Meyer, for going on the run.
He said: "While I was out on leave I had a car crash and I was worried. I panicked and just ran away and didn't come back to prison."When caught, d'Avanzo had a fake ID card on him bearing the name Luciano Domizio, and his place of birth was wrongly given as Naples.Officer Zio added: "What he wanted to do was just go and live with his girlfriend."He made it look as if he had been kidnapped and killed by abandoning the car after the accident. He was in the process of completely changing his identity, but we had received good information which led to us catching up with him and arresting him."

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Police are hunting a man who masqueraded as a male nurse and robbed an elderly patient

Police are hunting a man who masqueraded as a male nurse and robbed an elderly patient of valuables and cash worth more than 50,000 baht at a hospital here on Sunday. Provincial police chief Pol Col Pudit Norasing said the wanted man robbed a patient at Maharaj hospital.He is described as about 1.65m tall and wearing a male nurse’s uniform when he approached the victim.The hunt follows a complaint by Prakhin Yajati, 56, of Phra Phom district, who said she was robbed by the suspect.
The woman said she developed a headache and chest pains and was taken to the hospital on Sunday. After admission she was taken for an X-ray in a building behind the out-patients section, where her grandchildren were waiting for her.
While she was waiting outside the X-ray room, a man wearing a white uniform similar to that worn by male nurses asked her to inhale from a cotton ball. The fumes made her drowsy.The man then told her to keep still while he removed her gold necklace weighing three baht, a gold-framed Buddhist amulet, two gold rings, each weighing 25 satang or one quarter of a one-baht weight, a gold bracelet weighing one baht and 4,300 baht in cash.She said she initially thought the man was a hospital worker, but became suspicious after he removed her valuables and then quickly departed.
When she was taken into the X-ray room by a female nurse, she told the nurse about the incident. The nurse immediately alerted police.Hospital staff said they had footage of the suspect taken from a security surveillance camera.

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Officers bugged John Roe’s car and secretly filmed him as he visited his stashes of drugs

John Roe two members of group admitted their role in the drugs plot yesterday, detectives revealed how they spent 10 months gathering evidence, secretly filming Roe as he visited some of his drug stashes in west Cumbria.Police eventually seized cocaine worth £200,000 during the investigation.The gang involved included one man who was previously sentenced to death in Thailand for drug running.Some were key players in the dangerous international drugs trade, with links to drug-related violence.The last two of nine conspirators yesterday admitted their part in the plan to peddle cannabis and cocaine.Most are now likely to face lengthy jail terms when they are sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court next month.Detective Inspector Jason Hudson, of Cumbria police’s serious and organised crime unit, said: “When our investigation commenced this group was recognised as the number one threat to the people of Cumbria.“It was on that basis that they were targeted by the serious and organised crime unit. The impact of these convictions can’t be underestimated as this group undoubtedly planned to bring crack cocaine in significant quantities into Cumbria.“If they had managed to start bringing cocaine into the county, it would have led to acquisitive crime and all the associated problems.“These prosecutions contribute significantly to making Cumbria a safer place.”The investigation – codenamed Operation Ash – was one of the largest of its kind ever conducted by Cumbria Police and involved more than 100 officers from five counties during the arrest phase. Police say some defendants were from the high echelons of the drug trafficking world, with national and international connections.Details emerged yesterday of how Cumbrian police targeted the nine-strong gang, which also had links with Bradford in West Yorkshire.Officers bugged Roe’s car and secretly filmed him as he visited his stashes of drugs in areas of west Cumbria.
Roe, of Inner Ling Road, Seaton, Workington, admitted three charges of conspiring to supply cannabis and one each of conspiring to supply cocaine and amphetamines.
It was while he was serving an earlier eight-and-a-half year jail sentence for conspiring to supply cocaine worth £500,000 from south America that he forged strong links with one accomplice. Links which he built upon once he was released.Much of the prosecution case was built around the surveillance of Roe, in some cases as he visited hidden stashes of cannabis and amphetamine in areas of west Cumbria.
He organised a major drugs pick-up in London when he and another gang member collected imported cocaine and cannabis worth £29,000.
Police secretly recorded his phone calls during the drives to and from London.
The surveillance gave detectives key evidence against the gang’s importer, Gino Obiekezie, a 34-year-old London man with a Nigerian passport, who has admitted two counts of conspiring to supply class A drugs and one of importing cocaine.
At Carlisle Crown Court yesterday, Whitehaven man Richard Arthur Daniels, 38, of Patterdale Avenue, admitted a single count of conspiring to supply cocaine on dates in May of last year.Crown prosecutor Tim Evans said he would not be seeking to pursue an allegation that Daniels, involved in drug distribution, conspired to supply Ecstasy.
He previously served a 12-year jail sentence for conspiring with Roe to import cocaine from south America.Paul Jones, 39, of Blennerhasset, admitted one charge of conspiring to supply cannabis with others between June and October last year.The lowest ranking in the gang’s pecking order, he was granted bail until he and other gang members are sentenced on October 20 after background reports are prepared. All the other defendants are remanded in custody.Other members of the gang entered guilty pleas at earlier court hearings to their part in the conspiracy.They were: Dean Martin, 30, and Anthony Davies, both from Bradford, and Jermaine Thompson, 21, of Wetheriggs Road, Salterbeck, who has admitted conspiring to supply Class A drugs; David Hodgson, 21, of Lowca Lane, Seaton, admitted two charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine, a class A drug, and one each of conspiracy to supply a class C drug, cannabis, and a class B drug, amphetamines; Brian Mounsey, 50, of Eaglescliffe in Stockton-on-Tees, admitted one charge of conspiracy to supply cocaine.Mounsey was the man who was sentenced to death in Thailand, with the sentence later reduced to 40 years in jail. Judge Peter Hughes QC said that charges against Gemma Grant, 27, of Inner Ling Road, Seaton, should lay on file.

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Mohammed Arif Shaikh one of the five arrested by the Mumbai Police, is reported to be an “expert” in setting up electric circuits

Mohammed Arif Shaikh (28), one of the five arrested by the Mumbai Police, is reported to be an “expert” in setting up electric circuits, responsible for setting up the timers in the bombs that caused the recent blasts across the country.
The police suspect he could be the person who assembled and set the digital timers in Surat too. While Arif, who was reportedly trained in a “hostile country”, is reported to be an expert at electric circuits, he is said to be honing his skills in “digital timers”. Among the recent blasts for which the Indian Mujahideen has claimed credit, it was only in Surat bombs and Bangalore where digital timers, in the form of Thailand-manufactured Motorola microchips, were used. All the nine bombs in Bangalore exploded. The Mumbai crime branch believes that the five alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, all natives of Azamgarh, had been assisting in assembling and executing major Terror blasts across the country since 2005. Officials said Arif’s interrogation could help them understand the kind of timers that were used in the train serial blasts in Mumbai on July 11, 2006, which claimed 187 lives.

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illegal firearms including heavy duty assault rifles have been easily smuggled into the country by the dozens from a neighbouring country since last

Although Federal police CID director Datuk Mohd Bakri Zinin who declined to mention details or the country in question, it is understood the scores of firearms were sneaked in from Thailand.
Datuk Mohd Bakri Zinin
illegal firearms including heavy duty assault rifles have been easily smuggled into the country by the dozens from a neighbouring country since last year due to the religious unrest there.He said police are constantly on the lookout for those in possession of these weapons and are grateful to the public for information which had led to the recovery of more than 200 firearms which mainly were used by criminals since last year.He said since early this year,106 firearms, most of it being automatic pistols were seized with the arrest of 112 people.Last year 176 were recovered and 67 suspected criminal were caught over it.He said Selangor and Johor were the states with the highest number of firearms seized.Mohd Bakri said police have achieve a commendable level of successes in solving cases and busting crime although he admitted there are cases which remain unsolved or had come to a deadlock.
"When a case is not solved it does not mean it is forgotten. It is still open and when there are new clues we will pursue it." he said.He urged the public to be vigilant at all times and to enhance the spirit of neighbourhood especially during the upcoming festive seasons where crime rates can rise.On a question if hired killing was on the rise with the recent murder cases where the victims were shot dead in cold blood, Mohd Bakri said police are trying to acertain this.
He also said that cases of those gunned down by unidentified killers did not necessarily be the work of hired killers

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Thailand has a dark record when it comes to the issue of disappearances

Thailand is a democracy, or so we claim, but we have yet to face the uglier side of our society - the forced disappearances that have been occurring throughout Thailand. The Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP) has compiled 90 cases of disappearances throughout Thailand, six of which took place last year. It is interesting to note that Kalasin, one of the poorest provinces in Thailand, has the highest number of reported cases of disappearances, violations of human rights and extrajudicial killings. The police force in the province systematically abuses its powers with impunity.
The latest and most blatant case of an enforced disappearance in Thailand occurred in February of this year in Khon Kaen, the gateway to the Indochina region. Kamol Laosophaphant, a well-to-do family man, disappeared from a police station in Khon Kaen as a result of his strong campaign against corruption within his community. Kamol knew it was dangerous to challenge the authorities and the alleged corruption in the province. Before his disappearance, he made repeated calls from the police station to confirm his location. The line was cut while he was making his final call to his family. His family hasn’t heard from him since. Kamol’s wife is afraid to leave her home out of concern for her safety.
Although Thailand ratified the UN Convention Against Torture last year, human-rights violations and torture during detention continue. Both security officials and the public need to be educated about the convention. The security apparatus has continued to use enforced disappearances as an instrument against suspected Malay-Muslim militants in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces. Four cases were reported in 2007 in Yala’s Bannang Sata district, according to WGJP. All of these cases involved military officers using force to drag people away from their homes in front of their wives and children.
Disappearances are also common in more remote parts of Thailand, such as certain areas in the North. Each year, hilltribes suffer at the hands of security forces. For instance, the Lahu hilltribes in Chiang Mai’s Fang district reported 15 disappearances. Most of the cases occurred between 2003 and 2004, and the main perpetrators were said to have been members of paramilitary forces. There has not been any progress in these cases.
It is sad that authorities here have not treated enforced disappearances as heinous crimes. Although the Constitution and the penal code carry punishments for those who carry out enforced disappearances through random or other means, they contain no provisions to punish the perpetrators when a disappearance is the result of dark political forces at work. At the moment, the Office of the Attorney General and judges have recommended that Thailand go ahead with ratifying the Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The government should propose changes of existing laws or enact new legislation to accommodate the convention.
At the UN level, Thailand has a dark record when it comes to the issue of disappearances. The country has been noted for having made no progress in investigating its cases of disappearances since 1992. Other UN signatories that had a similarly poor record have since made progress. The fate of Thanong Po-arn, a labour leader during the 1992 Bloody May uprising, is still unknown 26 years later, not to mention that of Somchai Neelaphaijit, a Muslim human-rights lawyer, who disappeared in March, 2004. Repeated investigations have produced nothing tangible. The culprits are still walking free and enjoying their official status at police headquarters.

Each year, there are numerous cases of disappearances. So far, only Somchai’s case was pursued at the court level. Other reports have not been considered. If Thailand wants to join the international community, which respects human rights and good governance, we need to ratify the new convention as soon as possible. If necessary, the country must enact new laws or amend existing ones to ensure compliance with international standards and norms.

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fight to save convicted drug trafficker Scott Rush who is facing the death penalty in a Bali jail.

fight to save convicted drug trafficker Scott Rush who is facing the death penalty in a Bali jail.Scott’s father Lee, said he and wife Christine, of Brisbane, were heartened by the news that the Josephite community at Sydney’s Mary MacKillop Place were now praying for a miracle for their son.The Rushes received the news in a letter which awaited them in Australia on their recent return from visiting their son who faces a death sentence in Kerobokan Prison’s “Death Row Tower”.
The letter, from a member of the Josephite’s congregational leadership team in Sydney Sr Annette Arnold, said she and the rest of the community were seeking Mary MacKillop’s intercession for Scott “and praying for a miracle that he will be released”.Mr and Mrs Rush also received a pair of rosary beads from Sr Arnold that Pope Benedict had blessed when he visited the tomb of the Josephites’ foundress during his visit to Australia for World Youth Day last month.Sr Arnold told The Catholic Leader that Scott’s name is in a book of petitions to Mary MacKillop that is placed on the altar of the congregation’s chapel every day.She said she was confident Mary MacKillop would intercede for the Rush family.
“She came from a very difficult family life, so I know she really has a soft spot for families under stress ... but she needs to hurry up!”Mr Rush said nothing had got any easier since Scott’s arrest with eight other Australians in Denpasar, Bali, while trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin to Australia on April 17, 2005.
He said the fight for Scott’s life was still in its most critical phase.
Earlier this year, the death sentences of three of those arrested in Bali were lifted after a decision by Indonesia’s Supreme Court.Scott’s lawyers had then to decide whether to appeal in an attempt to capitalise on this decision or to wait until “things settled down”.
Complicating matters was the fact that such an appeal would be Scott’s last chance.
If this failed, the only option would be for Australia’s Prime Minister to appeal for clemency.This situation remains unchanged.Mr Rush said that when he and Mrs Rush visited Scott over a period of weeks from July 3, their son had generally been in good spirits, his “faith was strong” and generally he was “in better spirits than we had seen for at least the past 13 months”.Meanwhile, Queensland Senator Claire Moore is due to present a petition calling for Australia to support the abolition of the death penalty to the Senate on September 2. The petition was organised by Brisbane archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commision.A prayer vigil for Scott Rush and for the success of the petition will be held at Christ the King Church, Graceville, on September 2 at 7.30pm.

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Michael Hodges, 25, formerly of Mercer, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft. Mercer police filed charges following the broken Aug. 5, 2006, drug deal

local judge did not go overboard in sentencing a man to 1 to 2 years in prison for ripping off an informant who was trying to buy cocaine as part of an undercover drug investigation, a three-judge panel of Superior Court said Wednesday.
Michael Hodges, 25, formerly of Mercer, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft. Mercer police filed charges following the broken Aug. 5, 2006, drug deal in which Hodges took $100 from the informant but did not deliver cocaine.
Hodges, who is lodged in Greensburg, claimed the sentence handed down Oct. 5 by Mercer County Judge Francis J. Fornelli was excessive and did not meet his rehabilitative needs, and Fornelli did not sufficiently justify exceeding sentencing guidelines.The panel quoted the sentencing hearing transcript discussion between Fornelli and Hodges in which the judge noted Hodges had 17 adult convictions — including charges of conspiracy, forgery, disorderly conduct and retail theft — was on probation at the time of the drug deal, and had been adjudicated as a juvenile for statutory rape.Fornelli also said Hodges did not appear for his first sentencing hearing, failed to obey an order while in Mercer County Jail and could not be found when probation and parole officers tried to locate him for a presentence investigation interview.Superior Court said Fornelli’s comments about Hodges’ past and recent conduct were sufficient to justify the sentence.Hodges’ criminal history “is not that of a neophyte to the criminal justice system,” the court said. “Rather, it shows an individual who needs structure and supervision to bring stability to his life before being allowed to intermingle with society at-large again.”

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Eric Devol Higgins,was charged Friday with possession of drugs with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a firearm

Eric Devol Higgins, 35, of 2507 S. Roxboro St., was charged Friday with possession of drugs with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a firearm by a felon.After an informant bought drugs from a man working at the Harlem Mini Mart, 610 Lakeland St., a search of the store turned up 14 baggies of heroin weighing a total of 1.3 grams, $80 in cash, a small amount of marijuana and a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun, according to an inventory included with the search warrant.Higgins was previously convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon but served only about six years of the sentence, according to state Department of Correction records.
Higgins was held Sunday in the Durham County jail with bail set at $40,000.

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Perry Wharrie (48), Martin Wanden (45), and Joe Daly (41) received jail terms totalling 85 years last month after they were found guilty

Perry Wharrie (48), Martin Wanden (45), and Joe Daly (41) received jail terms totalling 85 years last month after they were found guilty of attempting to land €440m worth of Colombian cocaine in West Cork in July 2007.
The operation to bring the 1.5 tonnes of cocaine ashore was bungled when diesel instead of petrol was accidentally poured into their boat's outboard motor.
The craft subsequently capsized in Force 5 seas off Dunlough Bay by the Mizen Peninsula -- throwing 62 bales of cocaine into the stormy waters.
Papers in support of the three men's appeals have been lodged with the Court of Criminal Appeal. The grounds for the appeals are not yet known and the appeals are expected to be heard early next year.
The trio were unanimously convicted last month by an 11-member Cork Circuit Criminal Court jury following a marathon 10-week trial.

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Glasgow Police Department has made the following arrest

Glasgow Police Department has made the following arrest, taking a gun out of the hands of a convicted felon...Captain Duff observed Dwayne T.Smith of Glasgow driving a vehicle even though his license is currently suspended. During the stop, Captain Duff asked Smith if there was anything illegal in the vehicle, to which he answered there was a handgun in the trunk under a spare tire. A Smith and Wesson .22 caliber with 8 rounds in the magazine and 1 in the chamber was recovered. Dwayne Smith was subsequently charged with Possession of a Handgun By a Convicted Felon and Operating a Motor Vehicle On a Suspended or Revoked License

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federal judge has sentenced a LaBarge man to serve life in prison

federal judge has sentenced a LaBarge man to serve life in prison on convictions of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and helping to distribute the drug.
Judge Alan B. Johnson on Friday sentenced Clarence Rex Burnell, 58, of LaBarge to life in prison.U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Kelly Rankin prosecuted the case. Rankin issued a statement saying he asked the judge to impose the life sentence because Burnell had two previous felony drug convictions.
Rankin says Burnell and his associates distributed the drug in quantities up to a pound at a time around Wyoming.

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Ming Chin Chen, Guo Wei Deng, Li Fan, Kin Kwok Leung, are accused of executing an plan to smuggle $135 million worth of drugs into the country

Six men are accused of executing an elaborate plan to smuggle $135 million worth of drugs into the country in plastic boxes secreted in tins of green paint.New Zealand's largest drugs bust foiled a plot to flood the country with enough methamphetamine to supply a hit for every person in Auckland.The men were arrested in May 2006 after a joint police and customs investigation which also seized tens ofthousands of dollars in cash and loaded guns including a military-style rifle, pistols and a pen gun banned in New Zealand.
The men - Ming Chin Chen, Guo Wei Deng, Li Fan, Kin Kwok Leung, Wei Feng Pan and Yong Lei Zhang - have pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges and are defending them at a trial expected to last a further month in the High Court at Auckland.
The crown case is that the drug shipments came into the country from China within days of each other.One contained 95kg of crystal methamphetamine and the other had 154kg of pseudoephedrine, a substance that can be used to make methamphetamine.
Sergeant Scott Steedman, who led the inquiry dubbed Operation Major, said the pseudoephedrine could have made 30-40kg of methamphetamine, also called P.It was hidden in plastic blocks secreted in the bottom of cans of green paint. Mr Steedman said the drugs were discovered after every tin was individually removed from the container.They were hidden so well when they were screened by sophisticated x-rays at Customs they were not noticed. It was only when investigators probed into the tin that theyrealised that the "bottom 100ml was solid".
The arrests came after the police left a car in St Lukes shopping centre carpark with 19 packages of a placebo meant to look like methamphetamine inside - and a 20th package containing 50 grams of real crystal methamphetamine that was laced with a marking powder and an electrical device that let off a signal when the bag was open.

A jury this week heard the first details of a police operation, the "controlled delivery phase" of methamphetamine on May 22, 2006.

Just after 3pm a police officer parked a grey Toyota Corolla in the St Lukes carpark.

The officer - a detective with the Auckland drug squad - got out and put the car key under the front-right-wheel arch and walked off. An Asian man approached soon after and drove away.

Police followed the car to a Kohimarama Rd address and executed a search warrant, kicking the front door down and allegedly finding the methamphetamine, cash and loaded guns.

Two of the accused men - Guo Wei Deng and Li Fan - were inside. Deng was allegedly found in the living room while Li was in an upstairs bedroom.

Mr Steedman told the court a rifle had been found, wrapped in a bedspread, in the garage but other guns were found inside, including a revolver and a small pen gun.
"All the firearms were in working order, capable of firing."
The rifle, a military-style semiautomatic, had also been modified to be able to fire on fully automatic.Mr Steedman said $50,000 was also found in a shopping bag in the corner of the room while a money counter was also discovered.
* 95kg of crystal methamphetamine worth $95m was found hidden in paint tins imported from the Chinese port of Shekou.
* 154kg of pseudoephedrine was found in a separate shipment that could have made a further 40kg of methamphetamine.
* The drugs were intercepted by police who, with customs officials, set up a "controlled delivery" of real and fake methamphetamine.
* Police tracked two of the accused to a Kohimarama Rd house where they allegedly found methamphetamine, cash and loaded guns.
* The drugs bust was the largest of its kind in New Zealand

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Monique Felicia Trepp dead and packed in dry ice in a hotel room

How Monique Felicia Trepp wound up dead and packed in dry ice in a hotel room is proving to be a mystery full of bizarre leads but no answers.Police said they found the woman’s body March 6 in a large plastic container packed with dry ice. They said she was fully clothed and appeared not to have been murdered.The room was in disarray, cluttered with drug paraphernalia and wrapped Christmas presents. The coroner has said he thought Trepp died of a drug overdose. Stephen David Royds, who had been living in the hotel for years, is being held on drug charges but is not a suspect in Trepp’s death.Authorities were led to Royds’ hotel room by an informant who told them he was dealing cocaine at the beach, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor. Police found a small amount of narcotics but not a lot of money —certainly nothing that could explain how Royds could afford to live at the hotel for several years.Authorities say Royds and Trepp were drug abusers who used the Fairmont as their crash pad. To the staff at nearby restaurants and bars they frequented, they seemed to be a loving couple.Trepp, 33, went from being a high school cheerleader to dancing at a strip club. Royds, 46, a New Zealand native, reportedly was a champion skier who moved to the United States about 20 years ago and eventually turned to dealing cocaine, authorities said.Interviewed in jail by The Orange County Register, Royds explained why he had kept his girlfriend on ice: “Everything that happened was for religious reasons.” He did not elaborate.Other than selling drugs, Royds had no visible means of support, said Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Arturo Flores, who managed a restaurant that Royds frequented, said that about a year ago, an employee of a nearby sports bar told him that Royds had said Trepp died.

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