Estonian gangsters netted a quarter of a million pounds worth of designer watches from a jewellers in Newcastle city centre.

Members of an Eastern European gang who flew around the continent for armed robbery day trips were today jailed for a £250,000 raid on a UK jewellers.

In a daring smash and grab attack lasting just 31 seconds, three Estonian gangsters netted a quarter of a million pounds worth of designer watches from a jewellers in Newcastle city centre.

Convicted murderer Marek Viidemann and his accomplice Sander Sarik smashed display cabinets with hammers, while Raido Ragga held staff at gunpoint to stop them raising the alarm.

Daring: The Estonian budget-airline bandits pictured on security camera during their raid on Berry's jewellers in Newcastle city centre

The trio were part of a wider gang targeting jewellers around Europe, whose members were bought flights by crime bosses in Estonia and ordered to carry out the robberies.

Gangsters who owed money to organised crime were recruited to carry out the robberies on day trips to their destinations around the UK and elsewhere.

They would fly back to eastern Europe the next day while the stolen goods would be shipped separately.

 

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Jailing Viidemann for 10 years, Judge Brian Forster, at Newcastle Crown Court, told him: 'You were part of an international crime gang.

'You were willing to cause terror and fear and your purpose was to get as much as you could as quickly as you could and then leave the country.

'This was a daring and terrifying robbery and was carried out without regard to those who work in the shop.

'The courts will protect the citizens of Newcastle from anyone who thinks they can come and prey upon them.'

Fast: In just over 30 seconds, the gang swiped a quarter of a million pound worth of watches from the jewellers, as terrified staff were held at gunpoint

Viidemann, Sarik and Ragga struck at Berry’s jewellers, on Grey Street, Newcastle, at around 10am on August 20, 2008.

Convicted killer: Marek Viidemann, 35, was jailed for 10 years at Newcastle Crown Court for his part in the raid

Ragga went in brandishing a handgun while Viidemann and Sarik used hammers to get to the valuables.

Mark Simpson, prosecuting, said: 'The gunman pointed the handgun at staff and told them to get down.

'The others smashed the display cabinets and took 31 watches and the best makes were targeted.'

After just 31 seconds in the store they were gone, removing clothing and gloves as they left the scene.

Police recovered the clothes that had been left behind and found Viidemann’s DNA on them. Some of the stolen watches were later found on a coach in Dover.

Viidemann, 35, fled the country and ended up back in Estonia. He was finally detained on a European arrest warrant in his home city of Tallinn, the Estonian capital, last October.

Ragga, 26, and Sarik, 22, went on to carry out robberies at other Berry’s stores in Chester and Windsor. They were both jailed for 11 years at earlier hearings elsewhere.

Too late: Police outside the high-class jewellers after the robbery

The court heard Viidemann had a conviction in his homeland for aggravated murder for gain and robbery, for which he was jailed for 10 years in 1998.

In that offence he and four others beat a man to death to steal from him.

Judge Forster asked how he had got into this country, but prosecutors did not know. The Border Agency will be informed of his latest conviction.

Andrew Rutter, defending Viidemann, said: 'His involvement in this robbery came about because he had fallen on hard times in Estonia.

'It was not his scheme but he accepts he lent himself to it.'

Members of the organised crime gang have struck across Europe and five other robbers have previously been jailed for a total of more than 55 years.

The ring was linked to at least 150 armed robberies across the UK and Europe.

Jewellers were targeted in places including Leeds, Manchester, the West Midlands, London, Cheshire and Newcastle, while they also carried out raids in Germany, Sweden, Italy and Finland.

Detectives from Monaco even flew to Britain to quiz a member of the gang over a $75,000 raid on a Monte Carlo jewellers.

Police believed the gang stole watches worth more than £1million in total, few of which were ever recovered.

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Indonesia moves foreigners out of riot-hit prison

 

Indonesia started moving foreign inmates, women and children out of an overcrowded prison on Bali island Thursday after two days of rioting, officials said, as troops backed by water canons and armored vehicles surrounded the tense facility. Schapelle Corby and several other Australians serving time for drug trafficking balked at the transfer because of the difficulty adjusting to a new place, said Bambang Krisbanu, a security official at the justice ministry. He said evacuations would be voluntary, but other officials later said the evacuations would apply to all those selected — about 60 foreigners, 120 women and 13 children. The violence that erupted late Tuesday at the Kerobokan jail — which houses more than 1,000 drug traffickers, sex offenders and other violent criminals — was triggered by the stabbing of an inmate during a brawl a week ago. The prisoners blamed lax security for allowing a knife into the prison. By Wednesday night, the inmates had chased away all 13 guards and seized full control of the compound, said Beny Arjanto, the local police chief. Some climbed to the top of the watch tower and started throwing rocks and a Molotov cocktail at more than 500 soldiers and police stationed outside. Others tried to break down the front gates. Troops responded by firing tear gas and shots in the air. Others stormed the facility, but they were forced back out 10 minutes later, said Arjanto. A few inmates have been injured, he said, but none of them seriously. The decision to relocate foreigners, women and children to another prison was made as it became clear Thursday that tensions were not going to ease anytime soon. "We want to evacuate them immediately for their own safety," said Col. Wing Handoko, a military spokesman. "We need to make sure they aren't used by other prisoners to get international attention or as bargaining chips for their demands. "We don't want them to be taken hostage." Though he would not say exactly where they would go, another police officer told The Associated Press they were heading for Klungkung, a jail about 40 miles (70 kilometers) away. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media. The Kerobokan prison about 20 minutes from Bali's international airport was built for around 300 prisoners but houses more than three times that. Of the 60 or so foreigners, 12 are Australians and one is American, said Anang Khuzairi, a prison official. The most famous is Corby, a former beauty school student serving a 20-year sentence for smuggling 9 pounds (4.2 kilograms) of marijuana into Bali. Her case garnered intense interest in Australia, where many people believe she was innocent. Krisbanu said she and the other Australian inmates insisted they did not want to be moved. However, minister justice Amir Syamsuddin who is in Bali overseeing the operation, has requested evacuation of all foreigners, women and children, Handoko said. He added that so far 31 inmates, 14 of them foreigners have been moved by Thursday evening. "Most of the foreigners rejected, but we forced them due to the minister's request," Handoko said. No further information was available on the 13 inmates who are younger than 18.

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Labour MP Eric Joyce suspended after 'head-butting' Tory Stuart Andrew in House of Commons bar

 

The 51-year-old remains MP for Falkirk but cannot take the Labour whip in the Commons until the conclusion of the police investigation. 'This is an extremely serious incident,' a Labour party spokesperson said. 'We have suspended Eric Joyce pending the results of the police investigation.' Mr Joyce is said to have been arrested after the incident involving Tory MP Stuart Andrew at the Strangers bar, which is reserved for MPs and their guests, in the House of Commons before 11pm yesterday. 'We were called at approximately 10.50pm last night to reports of a disturbance at a bar within the House of Commons,' a statement from the Metropolitan police said. 'A man aged in his 50s was arrested by officers on suspicion of assault. He remains in custody in a central London police station. Inquiries are continuing.' Reports said Mr Andrew, the 40-year-old Tory MP for Pudsey, intended to press charges against Mr Joyce over the incident. An eyewitness who did not wish to be named told the website PoliticsHome that Mr Joyce 'just started lashing out at people' after complaining the bar was 'full of Tories'. Speaking in the Commons after news of Mr Joyce's arrest, Speaker John Bercow said: 'Members will be aware of reports of a serious incident in the House last night. I have been informed by the Serjeant at Arms that the honourable member for Falkirk has been detained in police custody. 'The matter is being investigated. I take this matter very seriously, as do the House authorities. I would ask that no further reference should be made to these reports in the chamber today.' Mr Joyce, MP for Falkirk since December 2000, served in the Army Education Corps before pursuing a career in politics. In 2009 he quit as parliamentary private secretary to defence secretary Bob Ainsworth due to concerns of the war in Afghanistan. A year later he resigned as shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland for pleading guilty to failing to provide a breath test. Labour MP Paul Farrelly was involved in a brawl in an unrelated incident at another Commons bar in 2010. The MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme 'wrested' a man to the floor in 'self-defence after an altercation at a karaoke party in parliament's Sports and Social Club.

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Foreign and female inmates to be evacuated from Bali's Kerobokan prison

 

FOREIGN inmates including the 12 Australians held at Bali's notorious Kerobokan jail are set to be moved later today amid fears they could be targeted in ongoing unrest at the prison. Prison guards and police have again been forced to retreat to the streets outside the jail following a second night of unrest in the wake of a rampage by inmates on Tuesday night during which sections of the jail were destroyed by fire. About 400 armed police and soldiers remain stationed outside the jail amid a tense stand-off with prisoners. Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin has also been dispatched from Jakarta and is expected to visit the jail later today. The ongoing tension has prompted authorities to prepare for a mass evacuation of the jail, which has been without electricity since the riot broke out at about 11pm local time (2am AEDT) on Tuesday.  Riots continue in Kerobokan prison Buses have been moved to Kerobokan to prepare for the evacuation, which could take place at about 1pm. It's understood that the 60 foreign prisoners will be taken to a detention facility at Klungkung, a drive of about two hours from Kerobokan. Kerobokan governor Bowo Nariwono has confirmed the plan but said details were still being worked out. ''There's a plan to make them safe,'' Mr Nariwono said. The overcrowded jail houses more than 1000 male and female inmates, including the Gold Coast's Schapelle Corby and members of the so-called Bali Nine drug trafficking group. One of the Australian prisoners, Graeme Michael Pollock, was due to be sentenced today in relation to drugs charges. His hearing has now been postponed. The evacuation plan emerged as authorities voiced concerns for the safety of the foreigners inside the jail after a second night of unrest. Provincial military command spokesman Wing Handoko told AFP that authorities were still working out the details of the evacuation. ''We don't want to take chances, just in case the foreigners become a target of the prisoners' anger,'' he said. Authorities were forced out of the prison again last night after having initially wrested control of the jail back from prisoners earlier in the day. ''The prisoners took over the prison again, which forced security personnel to fire warning shots into the air,'' Mr Handoko said. Prisoners responded to the warning shots by throwing flaming missiles onto the street outside the jail. It is understood that they have demanded that the three prisoners shot in the leg with rubber bullets and removed from the jail yesterday be returned. The prison has been sealed off with about 400 armed police and soldiers, equipped with water cannons, stationed outside. Prisoners began rioting on Tuesday night after days of simmering tensions following the stabbing on Sunday of one prisoner by three inmates from a rival drug gang. Police were called in at about 4pm on Sunday to quell a mob of prisoners that had attacked those believed to be responsible for the stabbing.

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Confusion surrounds Australian prisoners held in Bali riot jail

 

Confusion surrounds Australian prisoners held in Bali riot jail Scott Rush, is escorted by two policemen after being moved out from Kerobokan prison in Denpasar.  BALI nine drug mule Scott Rush was evacuated from the fire-damaged Kerobokan prison late yesterday after a day of confusion and posturing. Prison authorities in Bali backed down from a threat to forcibly move 1015 prisoners from the jail in urban Denpasar, and by late last night had moved a small fraction of that. The fate of the other 11 Australians housed in the prison is unknown, as police were gearing up to move more people out. Last night, drug smugglers Schapelle Corby and the rest of the Bali nine were still inside.

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Fraud: Organised crime - Bogus claims gangs cast a wider net

 

According to the Insurance Fraud Bureau, the cost of organised fraud to the industry is approximately £200m per year. While this is only a small portion of the estimated £1.6bn total cost of fraud, it is of particular concern because it is typically carried out by organised gangs, often using the money to fund serious illegal activity, such as people trafficking, arms dealing and terrorism. Although there are isolated examples of fraud rings operating in arson and disability claims, the vast majority of organised fraud involves motor insurance. It is an unfortunate truth that the criminal gangs instigating this type of fraud are rarely identified by insurers or the police, as they operate ‘behind the scenes’ — persuading others to make personal injury claims on the back of accidents that are either staged or entirely fabricated. Historically, those targeted by gangs to take part in fraud have largely followed a well-defined profile, predominantly males in the 25 to 44 age bracket, living in more deprived postcodes. These individuals also tend to have a history of suspect claims or minor criminality. There is mounting evidence, however, that this is changing, as the gangs behind the scams cast their net wider in search of the ideal claimant. This is borne out by analysis of the thousands of fraud ring cases investigated by Keoghs. Case analysis Analysis of cases handled over the past 12 months shows the number of fraudsters within the 18 to 25 age bracket has increased by 10%, compared with the previous year. Meanwhile, the proportion of fraudsters in the 26 to 30 bracket has fallen by 0.5%. This trend is also starting to be recognised across the industry; in a survey of Keoghs' insurer clients compiled in September, 83% of those noticing a change in the average age of fraud claimants said they had seen a marked decrease in their age. Another trend, more difficult to quantify, but suggested by anecdotal evidence, is that organised fraud is becoming a more middle-class pursuit, with the two groups increasingly involved being students and young professionals. The link between youth unemployment and youth crime rates is well established. In 2004, economist Steven Levitt analysed a wide range of data into the relationship and found that, controlling for other factors, almost every study showed a relationship between non-violent crime and the rate of unemployment. Levitt’s estimate was that a 1% increase in unemployment would cause a 1% increase in crime. In 2005, a study by the government’s Social Exclusion Unit found that nearly two-thirds of young offenders were unemployed at the time of arrest compared to 46% of those aged over 25. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal that youth unemployment is at a 20-year high, with more than one in five — 22.3% of 16 to 24-year-olds — out of work. More than two fifths of those out of work have been unemployed for more than six months. As a result, many are anticipating a sharp increase in the level of crime committed by young people and this appears to be borne out in the increase seen in organised fraud. Strain on finances There is also a suggestion that issues such as a rise in tuition fees for higher education and lack of availability of affordable housing is putting such a strain on young people in jobs and full-time education that many are now willing to take the risk of committing fraud to survive. In many cases, this is a last resort unlikely to be taken under normal economic circumstances, but which is now being used as an opportunity by the criminal gangs who recruit fraudsters. To make significant amounts of money from fraud, the criminals need to recruit willing volunteers to file bogus claims in exchange for a share of the pay-out. The most common scenario — that used by Mohammed Patel, the fraudster jailed in 2009 for causing 93 crashes — is for a fraudster to use a contact’s car, with their permission, to stage a collision on the road, following which the owner of the car can make a large claim for personal injuries. However, as insurers’ risk and fraud managers have increasingly grown wise to this and subjected claims from the most commonly affected postcodes to increased scrutiny, the gangs have shifted their recruitment strategies. There have been a number of cases of active recruitment of fraudsters in universities – with those taking part often studying for high-earning professions such as law or medicine, and coming from stable, middle-class backgrounds. In one case currently under investigation, the ringleader at the centre of the scam was a student who had crashed the cars of a number of fellow students in order for them to benefit from the pay-outs. So, what can insurers do to stop these practices? Rapid shifts In the face of such rapid shifts in the demographics of those involved in fraud rings — and the state of the economy driving people to turn to desperate measures and commit fraud for the first time — it is clear that concentrating on those with a history of suspect claims will not prove an effective deterrent. What is needed are all-encompassing fraud detection tools and techniques, based on a joined-up approach to sharing detailed information both internally in organisations and between insurers. Ideally, as soon as a potential fraud ring is uncovered, investigators should be able to cross-reference the details of the claims involved with all other relevant cases across the industry as a whole in order to identify and investigate any links. Investment in analytical techniques and technology, coupled with an open approach to sharing data on suspected fraud rings, is essential if the industry is to stand any chance of identifying and bringing to justice those at the heart of the problem.

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Forces open fire on Kerobokan jail, which houses Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine

 

INMATES at an Indonesian prison in Bali, which holds 12 Australians, have taken over the jail again after a second night of riots. Some 400 heavily armed police and military forces were gathered outside the overcrowded Kerobokan prison, which holds 1,000 inmates, including 12 Australians convicted of drug smuggling. "The prisoners took over the prison again, which forced security personnel to fire warning shots into the air," provincial military command spokesman Wing Handoko told AFP. "The rioters wanted their friends being treated in the hospital to be taken back because they were afraid they would be mistreated by security forces," he added. An AFP reporter heard three minutes of continuous gunfire, but it was not clear if there were any casualties. A flaming torch made of rags wrapped around a pole was flung from inside the prison and landed near a television vehicle, but was extinguished before the fire could spread.  Riots continue in Kerobokan prison The prison was without light because electricity, cut off during Tuesday's rioting, still had not been restored by authorities. "There are 51 foreign prisoners from 17 countries at the prison. We will give them special security if the situation warrants," Handoko said before the shooting. It was not clear whether the most recent riot was close to the wing where Australian or other foreign prisoners are housed. Shouting and the rattling of the prison's inner gates were heard before police opened fire, but after the shooting silence and darkness descended upon the jail with inmates and security forces in a tense stand-off. Heavily armed forces had stormed the prison early Wednesday to regain control after inmates took over the prison during a night of arson and stone-throwing. All 12 Australian prisoners at Kerobokan, including two on death row and six serving life sentences, were safe after that trouble, Australia's foreign ministry said after Indonesian police had regained control of the facility. Some 100 heavily armed police and military had stormed the jail on the holiday island at around dawn on Wednesday, firing volleys of rubber bullets. Officials said they intervened after attempts to negotiate with the rioting prisoners had failed, and after some inmates managed to get hold of firearms. Three inmates had been injured in the legs, and a police officer was lightly hurt, police said. Among the Australians at the jail are convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby and a group known as the "Bali Nine", who were caught attempting to smuggle drugs from Bali. Up to 1,000 armed security forces backed by armoured vehicles and water cannon were stationed Wednesday morning outside the jail, which is in a suburban area of Bali seven kilometres from the tourism hub of Kuta beach. But police said the situation had returned to normal by late afternoon, and that only about 30 armed personnel had remained outside. Police and local reports said Tuesday's trouble began when one inmate stabbed another prisoner on Sunday, touching off reprisals that erupted into a full-blown riot. Prisoners began trashing cells and throwing stones at the guards who were forced to abandon the jail - built for just 300 inmates but now housing more than three times that many prisoners, both male and female. Police said the inmates were in charge for more than seven hours - from around 11pm Tuesday until 6.45am the following morning. Prison staff said the jail's registration office, including the files of prisoners, was destroyed in a blaze. After the rioting Tuesday, Michael Chan whose brother Andrew Chan is one of the Bali Nine, said he was worried about his brother given that during a previous riot "things got pretty bad, and they were in lockdown for a couple of days". Corby's family said she was well, with the women's wing of the prison untouched by the violence. There have been a number of riots at the jail in recent years, including one triggered by a police drug raid in June. It is one of Indonesia's most notorious prisons, with a combustible mix of inmates including convicted murderers, sex offenders and others guilty of violent crimes.

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Sweden's Chicago grapples with deadly wave of shootings

A wave of execution-style shootings and a police station bombing in Sweden's third largest city have sparked fears that gangster violence is taking hold in a Nordic country widely seen as one of the world's safest places. Only minutes into the new year, a 15-year-old was found with gunshots to his chest and one to his head outside an apartment block in one of Malmo's poorest and most troubled districts, where firefighters have occasionally sought police protection. Eight killings have occurred across the city since a 36-year-old with links to organised crime was gunned down in a parking lot in May last year. The latest victim, a 48-year-old man, was found shot in a car at the end of January. None of the murders have been solved, and now some newspapers are calling Malmo "Sweden's Chicago". "Why don't police have better control?" national daily Svenska Dagbladet asked in an opinion piece, suggesting Malmo look to New York which slashed its crime rates in recent decades. For their part, police refuse to reach the conclusion that the bomb at the police station and the killings were definitely linked, which would gangland violence is out of control. "We believe it's linked to the prevalence of weapons. It is big. But I can't say why we have a larger share here than in Stockholm," Hans Nordin, Deputy Chief Commissioner of Police in the Skane region of southern Sweden, told Reuters. With a population of just 300,000, Malmo is one of Sweden's roughest cities, long a base for smugglers because of its proximity to Denmark, with which it has been connected by a bridge since July 2000. Roughly 40 percent of Malmo's population are first- or second-generation immigrants and one in three is unemployed, compared with a national rate under nine percent. Among young immigrants, the rate is nearly 40 percent. Formerly a prosperous industrial town, much of the old industry has declined and jobs have vanished. Gangs took root here decades ago, starting with motorcycle groups and increasingly dominated by immigrants, at first thanks to an influx in the 1990s of refugees of Balkan wars and then, over the past 20 years, immigrants from the Middle East, Africa and eastern Europe. SHAKING SWEDEN Along with the July 2011 killings of 77 people in Norway by right-wing fanatic Anders Breivik, the city's problems have helped to shatter the cherished image of Sweden as a refuge of safety and peace, sparking a national media debate, soul-searching throughout Sweden and street protests. Dozens of police reinforcements sent in this year are still in the city. "I'm thinking of leaving Malmo because it is getting more and more dangerous," said Henrik Hammar, 28, who stocks shelves at a grocery store and was awakened when a small bomb exploded at the police station in his neighbourhood at the end of January, close to where the latest victim was found. "When it comes to shooting, we are used to that in Malmo. But not bombs," Hammar said outside the police station with a shattered window and a hole torn in its brick wall. The bombing happened in Fosie district, a centre of the violence. The wave of killings since May is not the first to shake Malmo. Peter Mangs was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of three murders and 13 attempted murders over a seven-year period, a string of shootings on Malmo's streets targeting immigrants. Luciano Astudillo, a Chilean-born former MP who was moved by the New Year's Day shooting to launch a campaign to say "Enough is enough," compared the crime wave to the violence that plagues Mexican border towns. "We have the same problem here as in the north of Mexico though on a smaller scale," he said, pointing to the drug and weapons smuggling that pass through Malmo from Denmark on their way to the rest of Scandinavia. "So it is logical for the gangs to gather here and fight each other," he said. Astudillo said he hopes the protests he has helped lead, including a street demonstration by more than 6,000 people on January 6, will make politicians notice what is happening. "I don't think murders will become more and more frequent in the near future, but there is nothing that indicates things will improve a bit longer-term," said Tobias Barkman, a crime reporter at regional daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet. "Society has fallen behind - with regards to the police and to the social situation. It's hard to see any rays of hope."

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Morocco yoga courses: Stretching out on a yogic break in soothing Berber country

Dust clouds sway like ghosts dancing to an inaudible tune across miles of Moroccan dessert. I’m only 15 minutes south of Marrakech, but the soil’s already darkened to a deep, blood-clot red that clashes violently with the cobalt sky above. Spindly Argan trees feature goats that have clambered into the branches and nibble on the fruit (yes, really), a snapshot of surreal comedy against nature’s stark, beautiful reality. It’s my first up-close and personal foray into Morocco’s rural centre, despite having fallen head over heels for mad old Marrakech eight years beforehand. Rustic retreat: Lalla Abouch offers yoga courses set in the beautiful Moroccan countryside There’s something intoxicating about the swirling, jasmine-soaked souks, the thrill of losing yourself in the medina only to wind up on a rooftop drinking pomegranate martinis hours later. I’ve returned several times since to enjoy the city’s myriad hidden bars, supper clubs and late night lounges. But this time I want a different kind of escapism, one that’s less hedonism, more health. 'We’ve the perfect place', Rosena, the Irish founder of Moroccan concierge experts Boutique Souk, assures me before arranging a car to drive me the three-hour journey south into Morocco’s Berber country. Thirty miles south of the colonial port city of Essaouira, our jeep turns inland, swerves sharply at a junction and turns up an invisible, potholed dirt road through fields of carefully irrigated vegetable patches and chicken coops. A donkey brays ‘hello’ as I clamber out, the only contender to shatter the silent calm of our weekend lodgings. Named Lalla Abouch after ‘Lady Argan‘ and Morocco’s famous Argan tree, the guesthouse embodies what many ‘boutique’ lodgings strive for yet often fail to achieve. Chic and rustic, it proffers the perfect balance between comfort and style – the home from home I’ll never replicate no matter how many Elle Decoration subscriptions I sign up for. Taking the plunge: The refreshing pool is lined with plants and a traditional stone wall Beaming Lucreiza, the Italian who runs this hideaway, gives me a tour of the farm’s intimate selection of cosy rooms, all located around a bougainvillea-splashed courtyard, before ushering me onto the farm’s charming alfresco terrace for fresh mint and ginger tea. Terracotta pots trickle fresh water into a plunge pool overlooking acres of lovingly tended vegetable patches, whilst wild tortoises sunbathe lazily in the afternoon rays as kitchen hands gingerly navigate them whilst plucking robust courgettes for the evening meal. Food is a big draw at Lalla Abouch - so don’t go thinking this is yoga with all the normal detox-wheatgrass-deprivation tags. Lunch, though simple, is lip-smackingly good: home-plucked bitter leaves; creamy local goats cheese; cumin-crusted courgettes, caramelised carrots; a fuchsia pink beetroot dip; wholegrain couscous studded with ruby pomegranate seeds. Each bite radiates with energy and (forgive the hippy hyperbole) is offered up with love. Lucreiza beams as I eat. 'We like to give an alkaline, vegetarian diet during the retreats', she explains. 'It’s a good for body cleaning and rejuvenation.' I come away from the meal feeling more satiated than many of my finest dining experiences back in the UK. Unusual sights: Goats love to climb the Argan trees, while Lalla Abouch has plenty of quiet corners for relaxing Besides intensive, twice daily yoga and meditation sessions lasting two hours a go, Lalla Abouch offers a real (and rare) opportunity to totally unplug from daily life. As Lucreiza concedes, 'the natural elements are deep and strong', so the entire operation of the farm and its retreats has been designed to really embrace the local surrounds – and the produce found within it. Better still, my experience isn’t marred by the constant checking of Blackberry’s or broadband; connectivity here is slim to none. Sure, it’s a little disconcerting at first, but after several hours our entire party agrees we’re happy for the forced technology amnesty. With no one to tweet or CC, I instead sink into an indulgent afternoon of reading in the farm’s huge hammock, slung beneath the boughs of the Argan tree. I doze, stirring only when the attention seeking donkey’s comical eey-awww or Lucreiza’s quiet, smiling kitchen hands water the fragrant herb garden. I’ve done no yoga yet, but I can already see why Moroccan specialists Boutique Souk thought they’d 'struck gold' when stumbling upon the farm.

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Members of Los Zeta cartel are among the 30 convicts who escaped from a prison in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon

Members of Los Zeta cartel are among the 30 convicts who escaped from a prison in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, it was reported on Tuesday.   Among the fugitives are former officials, ex corrupt police officers and drug distributors from that dangerous criminal gang, whose captures were considered important achievements by federal forces at the time. Bosses Oscar Manuel Bernal Soriano, known as La Araña, and Rogelio Chacha Quintanilla, aka El Yeyo, are included in that group, the newspaper Milenio reported. Also on the list are Hector Rousvel Huerta, known as El Chester, accused of collecting prohibited weapons and drug trafficking, and Francisco Javier Puente, known as El Choco, former chief of Los Zetas hired assassin group. The mass escape from the prison of Apodaca, near the city of Monterrey, took place after a fight in which 44 inmates were killed. The fight was caused to cover the prison break. Prison security agents are involved in those events, which occurred at daybreak on Sunday, according to the investigations.

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Gunmen Kill 5 Taxi Drivers in Northern Mexico

 

Gunmen killed five taxi drivers Tuesday in the streets of the northern Mexican industrial city of Monterrey, the Nuevo Leon state Security Council said. “The attack happened at around 10:00 a.m. in the Solidaridad neighborhood” in the northern part of Monterrey, a council spokesman told Efe. Several men aboard an SUV opened fire on a taxi stand at a busy shopping center located at the intersection of Cabezada and Luis Donaldo Colosio avenues. The gunmen managed to get away, leaving the streets covered with bodies. The security forces cordoned off the area, with soldiers guarding the crime scene investigators sent to gather evidence. The shootings occurred just hours after three suspected Gulf cartel members – two men and a woman – were murdered at Monterrey’s Topo Chico prison by two killers from the rival Zetas drug cartel. On Sunday, Zetas gunmen massacred 44 Gulf cartel members imprisoned at the penitentiary in Apodaca, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, while 30 Zetas members escaped with the assistance of several guards. Monterrey and its suburbs have been battered by a wave of drug-related violence that has left about 2,500 people dead since March 2010. Los Zetas has been battling an alliance of the Gulf, Sinaloa and La Familia drug cartels, known as the Nueva Federacion, for control of the Monterrey metropolitan area and smuggling routes into the United States. Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, known as “El Lazca,” deserted from the Mexican army in 1999 and formed Los Zetas with three other soldiers, all members of an elite special operations unit, becoming the armed wing of the Gulf drug cartel. After several years on the payroll of the Gulf cartel, Los Zetas, considered Mexico’s most violent criminal organization, went into the drug business on their own account and now control several lucrative territories. Mexico’s drug war death toll stood at 47,515 from December 2006 to Sept. 30. The murder total has grown every year of President Felipe Calderon’s military offensive against the well-funded, heavily armed drug cartels. Unofficial tallies published in December by independent daily La Jornada put the death toll from Mexico’s drug war at more than 50,000

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13 Zetas Members Arrested in Western Mexico

 

A total of 13 suspected members of the Los Zetas drug cartel were arrested in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, officials said. The suspects, two of whom are women, were detained Monday morning in Tlajomulco, a city located about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, after several business owners complained about an extortion racket, the Public Safety Secretariat said. The group was recruited by a “Zetas boss,” known only as “Don Jose,” who took them to the city a few months ago to “execute some criminal activities,” Alfredo Vazquez, identified as the cell’s leader, told investigators. The cartel provided between 100,000 pesos and 150,000 pesos ($7,000 and $11,000) every two weeks to cover the payroll, Vazquez said. Seven of the suspects are from the central state of Guanajuato, four are from the northern state of Durango and two are from Jalisco, the secretariat said, adding that some of them have prior criminal records. State police seized an AR-15 assault rifle, five handguns and two SUVs with Durango tags in the raid, the secretariat said. Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, known as “El Lazca,” deserted from the Mexican army in 1999 and formed Los Zetas with three other soldiers, all members of an elite special operations unit, becoming the armed wing of the Gulf drug cartel. After several years on the payroll of the Gulf cartel, Los Zetas, considered Mexico’s most violent criminal organization, went into the drug business on their own account and now control several lucrative territories. Los Zetas has been blamed for several massacres in recent years. The cartel was accused of being behind the Aug. 23, 2010, massacre of 72 migrants, the majority of them from Latin America, at a ranch outside San Fernando, a city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas. Los Zetas has also been blamed for the massacre of 27 peasants in May at a ranch in Guatemala’s Peten province, which borders Mexico and Belize. Zetas gunmen set fire to the Casino Royale in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon, on Aug. 25, killing 52 gamblers and employees trapped inside, most of whom died of smoke inhalation.

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Federal agents bust heroin operation at Stillwell Ave. auto shop in the Bronx, arrest 2, seize drugs and gun

 

Federal narcotics agents busted a heroin operation at a Bronx auto shop this month, severing a million dollar supply chain that stretched to Long Island, court records indicate. They raided Mobile Creations, a luxury car customizing shop, on Feb. 7 after nabbing a Suffolk County drug dealer attempting to sell 68 grams of heroin. The dealer ratted out his supplier, who gave up his source at Mobile, at 1631 Stillwell Ave. near Pelham Parkway in Morris Park, according to a complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court. The drug task force officers had the supplier set up a meet with James Gainer, who allegedly operated out of the Bronx shop, and arrested the suspect with 500 grams of heroin he planned to sell for $28,500, according to the complaint. They also snatched Mobile Creations manager Robert Bishun after finding 1.5 kilograms of cocaine and 250 grams of heroin hidden in a vehicle at the shop, and $40,000 in cash concealed in a Mercedes-Benz sedan registered to Bishun. The officers seized a .40 caliber handgun, loose ammunition and $30,000 cash from the shop’s office, along with pay-and-owe sheets detailing millions of dollars in narcotics transactions. The complaint charges both men with drug dealing and possession and Bishun with possessing a firearm linked to trafficking. Four drug grinders and a scale were also found in the shop, according to the complaint. The Suffolk County supplier told the agents he met Gainer at Mobile Creations to buy at least 100 grams of heroin a week. Repair shops and auto parts stores line Stillwell Ave., a quiet street that abuts Metro-North Railroad tracks. The facade of Mobile Creations sports colorful signs featuring Bentleys, Range Rovers and other luxury cars. "I just work here 10-6," said Mike James, a mechanic at Mobile Creations, on Monday. "This is a legit shop." "The shop has been around for over 10 years and they do high-end customization of cars," said Javier Solano, Bishun’s lawyer. "They do Lamborghini-style doors. They do $25,000 rims, $30,000 audio systems." Bishun and Gainer are being held without bail and have not been indicted yet, said Solano. Gainer’s lawyer, Lawrence DiGiansante, declined to comment.

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Murdered man found in Abbotsford farm field

 

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has confirmed it's investigating a murder after a man was found dead in a muddy Abbotsford field on Sunday morning. "It is too early to say whether this is gang-related or a targeted killing," said IHIT spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Pound in a press statement on Monday morning. Investigators' first priority is to identify the victim and confirm the cause of death, said Pound. The man, believed to be between 20 and 30 years old, was found in a field in the 33600 block of Farmer Road. Investigators are hopeful an autopsy Monday will shed some light on the victim's identity and the cause of death, said Pound. A man out on a Sunday morning drive discovered the dead man lying 10 metres off Farmer Road. He called police around 9:20 a.m. and then waited until officers arrived, said Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald on Sunday. IHIT was called out to the scene later in the day to investigate the strange circumstances. "Certainly it's suspicious for a person to be 10 metres off a roadway in the middle of a farm field and be dead," MacDonald said. However, at the time, police officers didn't see obvious signs as to whether they were dealing with a heart attack or a homicide, he said. Residents of the rural area said officers and a police dog spent Sunday scouring a raspberry field on the north side of Farmer Road close to the intersection with McCallum Road. Mark Vaandrager, the owner of a nearby nursery, said he and his family noticed the police combing the field for evidence when they went to church at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Although officers provided residents with few details, Vaandrager doesn't feel people living in the area are in danger. "It doesn't seem like it's somebody local, so I'm not scared it's some random thing," Vaandrager said, adding the victim is likely someone with ties to gangs or the drug trade. "It's an unfortunate thing that happens in the Fraser Valley," he said. "It seems to be tied to the drug mess." IHIT members will continue to canvass the area and conduct neighborhood inquiries, said Pound. The dead man is Abbotsford's second murder victim of 2012. Ryan Saint-Ange, 21, was found dead in a home on 56th Avenue near the Aldergrove border on Jan. 14. No arrests have been made in the case but investigators do not believe it was gang-related.

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Father of holiday death Scot takes fight for justice to Brussels

 

The father of a man who died in a mysterious assault while on holiday in Spain is taking his campaign for justice to the European Parliament. Chris Lindsay, 34, died after a night out in Calahonda, on the Costa del Sol, with work colleagues last summer. He was found lying unconscious in the street, without his passport or money, and rushed to hospital in Malaga, but succumbed to his injuries five days later. Chris had been out with a meal with a group of friends and went on to a bar with a senior colleague, but the pair became separated before the end of the night. Four months on his family say they are no closer to learning what happened to the marketing officer and father of three. Chris's father Harry, 63, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, said he was determined to get answers from the Spanish authorities so he could tell his grandchildren what happened to their father. He told STV News: "The oldest boy Ryan is 10, so I speak to Ryan and as you can imagine the boy is missing his dad. "We want answers. We have got to have answers because I've got to tell his sons at a later stage and obviously for ourselves as well. "I want to know the police reports and I want to know the post mortem reports. That's all we are asking for. If anything untowards has happened, if Chris has been murdered, then that's up to the authorities to take that up, but I want to know exactly what happened to my son." Mr Lindsay is travelling to Brussels in two weeks time hoping politicians at the European Parliament can help him speed up the justice process. "I'm not going to rest until I actually find out." he said. "It doesn't make things any easier, but certainly you can turn round and say, well, I did everything I could for you Chris: I can't do any more."

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2 Dead, 5 Wounded In Chicago Drive-by Shooting

Police in Chicago are investigating a drive-by shooting that killed two people and left five others wounded. Police officials say the shooting happened just before 7 p.m. Sunday outside a liquor store on the city's South Side. Police say a vehicle pulled up outside the store and someone inside the vehicle opened fire on a crowd of people outside. Authorities say 19-year-old Jamal Harris died inside the store, while 61-year-old Gregory Glinsey was found dead outside. Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford says both men suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Police officials say the five surviving victims were all teen-age boys. Four were treated for their wounds and released, while a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the stomach remains hospitalized.

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Fatal Detroit shooting of baby gang-related, police say

 

Diamond Salter said she was asleep in her west-side home early Monday morning when shots rang out. As her son, Delric Miller IV, dozed nearby on a living room couch, bullets pierced windows and walls, striking the 9-month-old. "I grabbed my baby and wrapped him up in a blanket … and ran in the basement," said Salter, 19, who also has a one-year-old daughter who was staying with a relative. "I thought he was asleep because that's how I left him. I thought he was alive … I started feeling for him, and he wouldn't wake up." Someone fired 37 rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle at about 4:30 a.m. into the home in the 8400 block of Greenview Avenue, near Tireman. Police Chief Ralph Godbee said the shooting was gang-related. Godbee said police have details about the shooting he didn't want to release to the public, but that investigators have a handle on what happened. "We know who they are," Godbee said. "This was not a random incident." Salter said there were eight people in the house, including three children, when the shooting took place. She called the incident "senseless" and said she doesn't know why someone opened fire on their home. Salter added that she's no stranger to violence; she was inside her home at a different location years ago when a similar crime occurred: Someone started shooting at the house, and her sister, who was also inside, was killed. "I got to be strong, because I still have a daughter to live for," Salter said. The boy's maternal grandmother, Cynthia Wilkins, 39, added: "They killed a precious baby." Delric was rushed to Sinai-Grace Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival following the shooting. Police believe that shots could have been fired from a van after a witness reported that a light-colored van sped away from the scene. "It's an act of God that more people weren't killed," Godbee said. A pink and purple motorized cart sits in front of the home and shattered glass glittered on the front porch Monday morning. Neighbors said there were usually 10 to 15 people living in the home over the past year, including three to four children. The boy's father, Delric Miller III, was not at the home when the shooting began. He arrived early Monday afternoon and stayed for approximately 20 minutes. He said his son loved to play with his toy hammer. The last gift Miller gave his son was a multicolored teething ring for Christmas, he said. When Miller left the home Monday afternoon he said, "I need some time for myself." Neighbor Diane Fryst, 67, was coming out of the bathroom when she heard the shots. Fryst said she was worried about ricochets, so she immediately laid down on top of her two rescue collie dogs to shield them from harm. "The shooting didn't last more than a few minutes," said Fryst, who has lived in her home (formerly owned by her parents) for 66 years. "It sounded like an AK-47 because of the 'pop, pop, pop' sound that it made. I've heard shots around here before so you get to recognize the sound." According to Fryst almost a dozen people, including four to five children, lived in the home where the shooting occurred. "I've never seen any trouble over there before, no violence," Fryst said. This is the second killing of a youngster in Detroit within the last three weeks. Twelve-year-old Kadejah Davis was shot to death on Jan. 31 when a gunman fired through the front door of the home in which she was living with her mother. Police arrested Joshua Brown, 19, and his mother, Heather Brown, in the incident. According to police, Joshua Brown came to the home of Kadejah's mother, Amanda Talton, on Ferguson Street and demanded the return of a cellphone Talton had found earlier at her tax preparer's office. Police said he fired shots through the door after Talton told him she didn't have the phone and closed the door. Brown has been charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder and felony firearm. His mother, Heather, has been charged with accessory after the fact. Godbee has recently unveiled initiatives aimed at stemming the violence. Earlier this month, he moved his department to a "virtual precincts" model, in which officers who manned the city's police precincts were reassigned to patrol.

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Inmate Massacre Highlights Mexico Jail Corruption

 

Nine guards have confessed to helping Zetas drug gangsters escape from prison before other Zetas slaughtered 44 rival inmates, a state official said late Monday, underlining the enormous corruption inside Mexico's overcrowded, underfunded prisons. The top officials and as many as 18 guards at the Apodaca prison in northern Mexico had been detained under suspicion that they may have helped 30 Zetas escape during the confusion of a riot early Sunday in which 44 members of the rival Gulf cartel were bludgeoned and knifed to death. Nuevo Leon state public security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano said nine of the guards confessed to aiding the escape. He said it appeared the breakout happened before the deadly fight. The massacre in this northern state was one of the worst prison killings in Mexico in at least a quarter-century and exposed another weak institution that President Felipe Calderon is relying on to fight his drug war. Mexico has only six federal prisons, and so sends many of its dangerous cartel suspects and inmates to ill-prepared, overcrowded state penitentiaries. Drug trafficking, weapons possession and money laundering are all considered federal crimes in Mexico. "The Mexican prison system has collapsed," said Raul Benitez, a professor at Mexico's National Autonomous University who studies security issues. "The prisons in some states are controlled by organized crime." AP A child yells out for her father as she... View Full Caption An increase in organized crime, extortion, drug trafficking and kidnapping has swelled Mexico's prison population almost 50 percent since 2000. But the government has built no new federal prisons since Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels when he took office in late 2006, leaving existing jails overcrowded. Calderon's administration has renovated three existing state prisons to use as federal lockups. Built to hold about 185,000 inmates, the prison system nationwide now holds more than 45,000 above that capacity, according to figures from the National Public Safety System. Of the 47,000 federal inmates in the country, about 29,000 are held in state prisons. That has drawn complaints from Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina and other state governors, who say their jails aren't equipped to hold members of powerful and highly organized drug cartels. The federal government counters that none of the escapes or mass killings have occurred at federal lockups, and it cites corruption on the state level, not overcrowding, as the main cause of the deaths and escapes. "The constant element has been corruption in the control processes" at the prisons, said Patricio Patino, assistant secretary for the penitentiary system. Prison employees say guards are underpaid, making them more likely to take bribes. And even honest guards are vulnerable to coercion: Many live in neighborhoods where street gangs and drug cartels are active, making it easy to target their families with threats. The same can be said for Mexico's municipal police forces, another weak flank in Calderon's attack on organized crime. Thousands of local officers — often, entire forces at a time — have been fired, detained or placed under investigation for aiding drug gangs. "Yesterday, Apodaca, tomorrow, any other (prison)," columnist Carlos Puig wrote in the newspaper Milenio.

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Dead gangster's assets seized

 

Anti-mafia authorities impounded real estate, automobiles and financial assets from Domenico Campisi, who was shot dead last June in an ambush in the southern Calabria region. He was 44 years old. Campisi was a member of the 'Ndrangheta crime network based in Calabria, considered Italy's most violent and wealthy mafia groups. It was reportedly one of the first time police went after assets of a deceased mafioso.

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U.S. Ordered to Pay $1 Million to Family of Man Murdered by Gangster Whitey Bulger

 

The federal government went too far in shielding an FBI informant from the 1970s through the 1990s, not only tipping him off about state and local police investigations, but even covering up his involvement in several murders. Last week a three-judge panel of the First Circuit Appeals Court in Boston ruled that the family of one of those murder victims, Louis Litif, who was murdered by Boston organized crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger in 1980, was entitled to government compensation of $1.15 million.   Litif, a bookmaker facing murder charges, offered to help the Boston police with a drug conspiracy case against Bulger, who was already secretly informing on the rival Patriarca crime family to the FBI. About three weeks after his offer, Litif was found dead in the trunk of his car. The First Circuit concluded that “there was a pattern of FBI leaks of informants to Bulger,” mainly by Bulger’s FBI handler, John Connolly, who “was present when Litif’s plans to cooperate and incriminate Bulger were made known to the Boston Police, …[and who] leaked the names of between six and twelve informants to” Bulger, at least three of whom, including Litif, were later found dead.   In a similar case last year, the First Circuit ruled that the families of Bulger murder victims Michael Donahue and Brian Halloran could not sue the government for their deaths, because even though FBI leaks led to their murders, the two-year statute of limitations on lawsuits against the government had run out. The difference was the large amount of publicly available information linking the FBI to the Donahue and Halloran murders, compared to the lack of such information in the Litif case.   Former FBI agent Connolly is currently in prison, convicted of racketeering and obstruction of justice in 2002, and of second degree murder in 2008, although his wife runs a website maintaining his innocence. Bulger, who went on the lam in December 1994 and spent 12 years on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list, was captured on June 22, 2011, and is facing charges for 19 murders.

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Two arrests after five men shot in Homerton

 

Two men have been arrested after five people were injured during a shooting in Homerton High Street early yesterday morning (Sunday). One of the suspects arrested was also shot in the incident, which happened at about 5.40am. Police and ambulances rushed to the scene following reports of gunfire, but no one was there. Homerton High Street was closed both ways between Ponsford Street and Digby Road for several hours while officers from Trident investigated. Later that day, four men – two aged 25, a 45-year-old and a 27-year-old – turned up at an east London hospital, while a 21-year-old man arrived at another hospital seeking treatment. The four men remain in hospital where their injuries are still being assessed. “For at least three of them, the injuries are not thought to be serious,” a police spokesman said. Detectives are keeping “an open mind” regarding the motive, he added. The 21-year-old was later discharged from hospital, and was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm. Another man, aged 20, was also arrested on suspicion of the same offences. Both were bailed to return to an east London police station on April 3, pending further inquiries.

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Iran Court Starts Trial in $2.6 Billion Bank Fraud

Tehran court began hearing the trial of 32 defendants on Saturday in a $2.6 billion bank fraud case described as the biggest financial swindle in the country’s history, state television reported.   Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, read the text of the indictment against the suspects, who wore prison uniforms at the opening session at the Revolutionary Court, which deals with cases involving security and organized crime. The charges involve the use of forged documents to get credit at one of Iran’s top financial institutions to purchase assets, including state-owned companies. Iran’s judiciary has banned the news media from identifying the defendants by their full names. The primary defendant is referred to in reports by his nickname, Amir Mansour Aria, and he is described in the Iranian news media as the head of a business empire. The state television Web site quoted the indictment as saying the owners of the Aria Investment Development Company used “incorrect connections with executive and political elements” to accrue wealth. “Dozens of instances of bribe payments to staff and managers of banks have taken place under various titles,” it said. The indictment also said that company managers undermined the country’s economic security through fraud and by paying large bribes to illegally accumulate several billion dollars. State television said the top defendant has been charged with being “corrupt on earth,” an Iranian legal term meaning that the defendant is an enemy of God. The charge carries the death penalty. Aria pleaded not guilty, but he acknowledged that he had violated some laws. “Some violations were committed, and all that was on my order,” the state television Web site quoted him as telling the court. “I had no intention of committing treason against the country and the system. If I wanted to do so, I would have taken the money out of the country.” One of the suspects in the case, Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the former head of Bank Melli, now reportedly lives in Canada.

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Bloodstained Saturday in Mexico leaves 14 dead

 

Fourteen people were killed in gun violence in northern and central Mexico on Saturday, authorities said. In the metropolitan area of prosperous and industrial Monterrey, two police were among those slain in the early morning hours in a clash with unidentified assailants. “There was a chase situation. A car with four men in it went up alongside the police patrol car and opened fire,” a source with the state investigating unit told AFP. After a car chase the two police and another victim were slain in Apodaca, officials said. In troubled Ciudad Juarez, in the northern state of Chihuahua on the US border, prosecutors said two men were shot in the head and had signs of torture. In the south of the state, in the town of Parral, three bodies were found along a highway with a sign authorities said appeared to refer to ongoing clashes among rival drug gangs. In the state capital Chihuahua, two people were shot dead by gunmen in a vehicle as the victims stood watch near a hospital. And in the town of Ecapatec, in Mexico state, four men were gunned down in the early morning hours by a group of unidentified gunmen. Some 50,000 people have died in suspected drug violence since President Felipe Calderon began a military crackdown on organized crime in December 2006, according to media counts and official figures.

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Turf War in Central Mexico Leaves 8 Dead

Eight homicides earlier this week in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato stem from a turf battle between rival drug cartels, officials said, noting that one of the gangs claimed responsibility for the slayings by leaving threatening messages next to five of the bodies. All of the victims were killed with firearms under very similar circumstances, state Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre said. The most recent slaying occurred Thursday in the city of Acambaro, where a message was discovered that is “practically identical to the others that were found,” Zamarripa said. According to the state Attorney General’s Office, three people were killed in the municipality of Apaseo el Alto and one each in the cities of Celaya, Cortazar, Villagran, Acambaro and Salvatierra. Investigators found signs apparently signed by the Los Caballeros Templarios drug cartel at the crime scenes in Apaseo el Alto, Celaya and Villagran, officials said. The murders come approximately a month before Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to visit Guanajuato and a week after the discovery of 18 “drug messages” signed by Los Caballeros Templarios that ordered a rival gang to leave the state and avoid “generating violence” during the pontiff’s stay. Los Caballeros Templarios warned the Nueva Generacion cartel that “confrontations will be inevitable” and told its rivals to leave Guanajuato in peace. Neither gang, however, is based in that state, which has largely been spared the drug-related violence that has ravaged other parts of Mexico. The pope is scheduled to stay at the Colegio Miraflores in the Guanajuato city of Leon during his visit to Mexico. Benedict XVI will celebrate an open-air Mass in the morning on March 25 at the city of Silao’s Guanajuato Bicentenario Park, an outdoor venue that it is expected will accommodate about 750,000 people, who will need a ticket to enter, officials said. The pontiff is scheduled to visit three cities in Guanajuato state during his time in Mexico and will continue on to Santiago, Cuba.

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Detectives investigating McNally's cold-blooded shooting in the first gang murder of the year now believe the chief suspect also killed his brother in February, 2009

. And, that the gun-for-hire carried out the pub murder of Paul ‘Farmer' Martin over three years ago. Our CCTV footage shows him entering the Jolly Toper bar in Finglas to carry out the hit on 39-year-old Martin in August, 2008. Five months later, Graham McNally's body was found in a ditch on the former Dublin to Derry road -- he had been shot at least five times in the head. "There are links to suggest that all three murders were carried out by the same man," said a source. "Alan McNally's fatal mistake was when he swore to avenge his brother's death." SHOT He was shot six times in the Cappagh Nua pub in Finglas on February 2 in a killing that was dubbed the Love/Hate murder because of its similarly to a scene from the RTE drama. As the garda probe intensified they questioned a sister and niece of the chief suspect but they were later released without charge. Detectives made a major breakthrough in the case when they obtained CCTV linking relatives of the chief suspect to the crime scene. However, they have still not recovered the handgun used to shoot Alan McNally six times. The Herald previously revealed that McNally was murdered on the order of a violent thug who himself survived an assassination attempt in December 2010. McNally (36), from Cappagh Avenue, Finglas, had been warned by gardai that his life was under threat after rowing with criminal elements in Finglas and Coolock. He had been warned by gardai to be inconspicuous as they feared there was an imminent danger to his life. However, sources say that he ignored gardai and publicly boasted about getting revenge for his brother's death. This is thought to have led his killers to adopt a "let's get him first" approach. Graham was 34 when he was shot dead by slain crimelord Eamon 'The Don' Dunne's gang in January 2009. Alan was in jail at the time after he had a falling out with his former close associate Dunne who had suspected that he was trying to murder him. He was only released last October having served five and a half years for having €200,000 worth of heroin. Sources say that despite the warnings he made himself an easy target for a gunman by drinking in the same pub for 14 hours. Gardai are anxious to apprehend the hitman who could also be responsible for other gangland assaults in the city. 'Farmer' Martin was a known criminal believed to have been involved in over a dozen bank robberies in the late 1980s and 1990s. Speaking at his funeral, Paul Martin's local priest branded his killers as "sick people not fit to be called men".

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'IRA' drug-gang linked to double British murder

The "IRA" gang referred to in a British murder trial last week as running the drugs trade in Liverpool is almost certainly a mixture of local gangsters and their Dublin and Limerick-based associates, gardai believe. The mention of the gang came in the murder trial of Thomas Haigh, 26, who was convicted last week of the double murder of two men referred to as gangland "enforcers", David Griffiths, 35, and Brett Flournoy, 31. Both men were shot dead, their bodies burned in a car and then buried on a remote Cornwall farm in June of last year. The court heard that Haigh was a low-level member of a Liverpool drugs gang. He said he had been forced to carry out a drugs run to South America and to oversee the cultivation of cannabis plants at the farm in Cornwall to pay off a €40,000 debt to the gang which he insisted, in statements to police, was run by the IRA. When the two enforcers came to the farm there was a confrontation and Haigh shot the two dead and buried their bodies. He was convicted by a jury at Truro Crown Court last Tuesday and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years. In the UK a minimum term is the set time a prisoner must serve before he or she is eligible for parole. Garda sources last week said there has never been any evidence of an organisational link between the IRA and drugs criminals in the UK, but they are aware that former IRA members, including members of one well known family with both IRA and criminal links in south inner Dublin, has links to organised crime and drug dealers in Liverpool and the Midlands of Britain. These links, gardai say, go back for at least two decades and one of Liverpool's biggest drug dealers also was a close associate and bought drugs off John Gilligan and his gang. After Gilligan's gang was broken up during the investigation into the murder of Veronica Guerin in 1996 these links continued. Gardai know there were strong links developed by the major Dublin and Liverpool gangs as they rubbed shoulders in Costa del Sol holiday resorts where they owned villas. Liverpool, Dublin, Limerick and even Belfast-based ex-loyalists all became interlinked as they shared drug trafficking operations. Over the past two decades there have been persistent disputes and dozens of murders in the UK, Spain and Holland -- the centre of drug trafficking in Europe. Gardai said the most likely figures that Thomas Haigh was referring to as the "IRA" in Liverpool are members and associates of a south Dublin family-centred gang with close links to the criminal "Fat" Freddie Thompson. This family and their close associates are central to the drugs supply in Dublin and have well-established links with UK criminals. Ironically, gardai point out, the same IRA and Sinn Fein figures were closely involved in the anti-drugs movement known as "Concerned Parents Against Drugs" which was active in Dublin in the Eighties, picketing the homes of heroin dealers and carrying out vigilante attacks. During the Nineties this IRA group eventually became involved in extorting money from certain drug traffickers and then became centrally involved in drug trafficking. One of their associated former IRA families from Ballyfermot in Dublin became one of the biggest suppliers of heroin in the State, at one stage using private jets to import large quantities of pure heroin supplied by Dutch-based Eastern European traffickers. The major Irish drugs cartel in Spain, broken up by joint Spanish and European police action in the summer of 2010 also had strong links to Liverpool and London gangs. Gardai believe that the "IRA" associates of the Liverpool gang, referred to in the Haigh trial, are almost certainly the "ordinary" Dublin traffickers and their associates who were formerly in the IRA but who have continued "trading" on the IRA name in order to scare opponents. On Friday convicted drug dealer John Gilligan was given a further six-month sentence by the Special Criminal Court after he pleaded guilty to possession of a mobile phone at Portlaoise District Court in 2010.

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Pair Of Late Night Shootings In Coachella Valley

 

Two shootings happened within minutes of each other in the Coachella Valley Saturday night. The first, a drive-by in a Cathedral City neighborhood, according to police. It happened around 8:30 P.M. near the intersection of Shifting Sands and Ortega. A vehicle pulled up along side a car and someone inside the first vehicle opened fire, hitting a man inside the car, said officers on scene. The suspect vehicle then took off before officers arrived on scene. Emergency crews took the victim to the hospital, but there is no word yet on his condition. Investigators have not provided a suspect description, nor have they provided any information on the suspect's vehicle. The second shooting also happened around 8:30 P.M., this one in Coachella. Two men shot at a home on the 1600 block of 6th Street, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. Deputies arrested the suspects, but are not releasing their names. No one was hurt in this incident. If you know anything about either of these shootings, call Valley Crimestoppers at 760 341-STOP. You can remain anonymous and could receive up to a $1,000 reward. PrintEmail

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FOUR men have pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to charges linked to the Gambino crime family.

 

The charges result from a variety of activities including assault, loansharking, drug trafficking and trying to recruit illegal aliens to work in adult entertainment clubs. The US Justice Department described the four, Alphonse Trucchio, Michael Roccaforte, Anthony Moscatiello and Christopher Colon, as being "a captain, two soldiers and an associate of the Gambino organised crime family of La Cosa Nostra." Attorney Preet Bharara said, "For those who believe La Cosa Nostra's criminal activities and influence are on the decline, the sweeping charges in this case and today's guilty pleas should disabuse them of that notion". According to the Justice Department, Trucchio and Gambino family captain Louis Mastrangelo - who had previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges - supervised crews of street level criminals, known as soldiers and associates. From the late 1980s through 2010, Trucchio and his associates oversaw the Gambino family's narcotics distribution network, which was based in Queens, New York, the Justice Department reported. "Numerous drug suppliers, wholesalers and street dealers operated under the authority and protection of the Gambino family, in exchange for paying the family a portion of their profits," it said in a statement. Drugs they distributed included cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and the narcotic pain killer, Vicodin. The accused men's other illegal activities included extorting payments from business owners and strip clubs, stabbing one person and hitting another with a car while trying to collect a debt and operating illegal gambling enterprises. Charges are pending against 11 more defendants.

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Nguyen, 44, also known as "The Godfather" "The Boss" and "The Old Man" was the leader of the violent street gang, “The Young Seattle Boyz”

 

Nguyen, 44, also known as "The Godfather" "The Boss" and "The Old Man" was the leader of the violent street gang, “The Young Seattle Boyz” according to a release from the office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. Nguyen pleaded guilty in November to drug conspiracy charges, in conjunction with murder charges and organized crime charges in King County Superior Court. In January, King County Superior Court Judge Julie Specter sentenced Nguyen last month for second-degree murder in connection with a Tukwila killing. U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez sentenced Nguyen to more than 25 years in prison to run concurrently. Working together, federal and local law enforcement have taken a very dangerous criminal off the street,” Durkan said.  “This case shows how the strong  cooperation between our office and the King County Prosecutor’s Office improves public safety,” For more than a decade Nguyen had been operating as leader of the crime organization and was involved in laundering millions of dollars from numerous marijuana grow operations, drug trafficking and gambling operations. Nguyen and his associates were linked to murder, assaults and shootings. Among his many criminal activities, Nguyen laundered illegal money by buying home in Tukwila and Seattle and turning the homes into marijuana grow operations. “Criminals and criminal organizations use money laundering as a means to infuse their illicit proceeds into our local economy,” said Kenneth J. Hines, IRS Special Agent in charge of the Seattle field office.  “Dirty money was used to purchase homes in Seattle and Tukwila and those homes were turned into illegal factories manufacturing a controlled substance. Law  enforcement will not stand by while our neighborhoods are put at risk.” In 2009, Nguyen was finally arrested as the leader of a criminal enterprise, and specifically in connection with the 2007 murder of his “right hand man” in the gang, Hoang Van Nguyen. Quy Dinh Nguyen, the hit man he hired, Jerry Thomas, and the go-between, Le Nhu Le, all pleaded guilty in King County Superior Court just  as the trial was getting underway. The murder was prompted by a feud within the gang.  The violence was a way of life for Quy Dinh Nguyen.  As prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo, “Quy Nguyen himself has admitted to engaging in a long-term pattern of violence that was designed to maintain the profitability of his marijuana and gambling enterprises.” Le Nhu Le was also sentenced today for his role in the murder and drug enterprise.  He  was sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervised release.  The sentence will  run concurrent with LE’s five year sentence in King County Superior Court.  A third defendant  Kristine Nguyen was previously convicted and sentenced for conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The case was investigated by a state and federal task force of law enforcement officers including agents and officers of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), Seattle Police Department, and Tukwila  Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg, and  Senior Deputy King County Prosecutor Roger Davidheiser.

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India wants Italian ship captain to surrender

 

New Delhi wants the captain of Italian ship Enrica Lexia and two marksmen who shot dead two Indian fishermen to surrender to Kerala Police on Sunday after several rounds of diplomatic confabulations on Saturday culminated in a telephonic conversation between External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and his Italian counterpart. Rome wanted the three to be permitted to go in return for a joint investigation into the incident. But in the conversation late in the evening, Mr. Krishna turned down the offer an hour after Kerala Chief Minister Ooomen Chandy sought the Central assistance to persuade the captain and the two security personnel to give themselves up. Mr. Chandy said his government was left with no option but to arrest the Italians after receiving advice on the issue from the State's Attorney- General, said government sources here. Mr. Krishna and the Indian Ambassador in Rome told the Italians that this was not a diplomatic row that could end with discussions. The question was that those responsible for killing two Indians must submit to the law of the land. The call from the Italian Foreign Minister capped a hectic day of activity in Rome, where the Indian Ambassador was offered options such as the despatch of a multi-Ministerial team to Kochi and a high-level investigation of the incident.

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Child asylum seekers receive £1m Home Office compensation

 

Forty children held in adult detention centres while seeking asylum are understood to have received a share of £1m compensation from the Home Office. The children, thought to have been as young as 14, began legal proceedings in 2005 for being "wrongfully detained". Previously, immigration officers could refuse to accept a person's claim to be under 18, if they suspected otherwise, and deal with them as an adult. The government has since accepted its policy was unlawful, and changed it. The compensation, plus a further £1m in costs, was paid to a number of boys and girls from countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia and China, reports the Guardian newspaper. The payments were made in 2009 and 2010 but have only just come to light. The children had launched judicial review proceedings of the Home Office's policy in 2005. Mark Scott, of Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, who represented the children in their judicial review proceedings, said: "It is obvious that vulnerable children who have done nothing other than to seek help should not be locked up by the State." 'Expert knowledge' Before 2005, the judgement on whether they were 18 or over could be made by an individual immigration officer and they could then be kept under lock and key in an adult detention centre. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Vulnerable children who have done nothing other than to seek help should not be locked up by the State” Mark Scott Bhatt Murphy Solicitors This policy was eventually accepted to be unlawful by the Home Office in January 2007, which conceded that it "did not strike the right balance between, on the one hand, the interests of firm and fair immigration control and, on the other hand, the importance of avoiding the detention of unaccompanied children". A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "We take the welfare of young people exceptionally seriously. "Where there is any doubt over an individual's age, they will not be detained unless an independent local authority age assessment concludes that they are over 18. These checks are carried out by social workers with expert knowledge. "All of our front-line staff receive specialist training to ensure that the welfare of young people is considered at every stage."

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Men who smuggled drugs from Dover to Skelmersdale jailed

 

A gang who smuggled heroin and cocaine into the UK hidden in a lorry have been jailed for a total of 31 years. Carl Robinson, 30, and Graham Miller, 38, both of Skelmersdale, were tracked bringing the drugs from Dover to Lancashire in August last year. They were arrested after meeting Ian Adderley, 46, of Kirkby, in Skelmersdale. All three pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import and supply Class A drugs at an earlier hearing. They were arrested in dawn raids on 12 August after a major surveillance operation carried out by officers from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Titan. Officers also seized the class A drugs which had an estimated street value of more than £1m. 'Ill-gotten gains' Robinson, who also pleaded guilty to affray in connection with an incident at a pub in Skelmersdale on 6 August, was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison. Adderley, who also admitted cannabis production was sentenced to 12 years, and Miller to nine years and six months in jail. Speaking after the trial, Det Supt Jason Hudson, head of operations for Titan, said it would do all it could to end the mens' criminal enterprise. "Titan is here to dismantle and disrupt the organised crime groups causing the greatest levels of harm to the North West," he said. "This group clearly fit that category and we are committed to not only arresting and bringing those people to justice but also financially ruining them, to ensure that all the financial gain that they have managed to achieve through their ill-gotten gains can be taken off them."

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Turkish criminal gangs are ruling over the streets in the UK

 

Turkish criminal gangs are ruling over the streets in the UK, controlling much of the drug market in Germany, as well as providing political influence in the Netherlands. Turkish mafia has launched a wide range of activities in various European countries, has its own network subject to certain Turkish political circles. This is stated in the reports of the European countries and the UN. Turkish mafia is influential especially in Germany and the Netherlands. According to annual report of the German police, Turks as well as migrants from Nigeria and Sierra Leone are playing major role in coordination of crime among the immigrants. The number of residents of not German nationality suspected of organizing criminal gangs reached 471,067, while 106,396 out of them were Turks. As to drug trafficking, 26.6% of Germany’s drug dealers are Turks, 21.9% of those engaged in cocaine trafficking are Turks as well. The representatives of this ethnic group stood out as part of those involved in sex crimes in Germany - 34.9% of rapes and other similar crimes accounted for Turks only. German press reports that dangerous Turkish youth criminal gangs are operating in the cities of Germany. They also deal with the main business of Turkish mafia – drug trafficking and prostitution.   Back in 2010 Militant Islam Monitor website wrote that Turkish criminal gangs are controlling the streets of Berlin.  Turkish groups also form a part of a large Turkish community in the Netherlands. It is dominated by Turkish gangs, engaged in buying and selling drugs. According to local police, these groups often appear with their families and clans. The dealers are often controlled directly from Istanbul. The Turks in the Netherlands and Belgium are also selling weapons, are dealing with trafficking of immigrants, prostitution, forgery and money laundering. In the UK drug market is also under control of the Turkish clans. The British press reported that the Turkish criminals are fueling fear. According to law enforcers, about 90% of imported heroin is of Turkish origin. The Turks engaged in heroin business are mainly concentrated in the eastern part of London. They have links with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Back in 2006 thirteen members of a Turkish gang were arrested for hiding 13 kilos of heroine in a butcher shop. Later police found famous Hamit Gokenc aka “Mafia babası” (God father). The criminal gang he was heading had close ties with Turkey’s Grey Wolves gang. As a result of police operation, 22 kilos of heroine was found. In order to understand the reasons for Turkish mafia’s influence in Europe, we must look back at the history. Drug trafficking, distribution and use of drugs were considered a normal thing under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Prior to the ban on cocaine, opium and other drugs in Europe, they were imported directly from the Ottoman Empire. Exports of opium was one of the main sources for income. Naturally, the Turkish suppliers entered the European market being particularly active in France. After the First World War, the Turks formed alliances with the Yugoslav, Bulgarian and Greek criminal circles by organizing cooperation in drug smuggling. Nowadays, the Turkish-Bulgarian, Turkish-Serbian and Turkish-Albanian groups are active in this business. Large Turkish communities formed in Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary are contributing to this. After the Second World War, when Marseilles was major opium trafficking center, the Turkish mafia established ties with the leaders of the drug market – Marseille residents and Corsicans. Then, they expanded their activities reaching the United States. Nowadays, the Turks are controlling major part of the black drug market in Europe - about 93%. The reports of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says 110 tons of heroine entered  Europe in 2009, while 80% came by a route lying through Turkey. Thus, the Turkish criminal groups are expanding their activities in Germany and the Netherlands due to a large and influential community. In the UK, the lever is a huge community of Sunni Muslims. The Muslims from African countries are also joining the Turkish clans selling drugs in the European streets.

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Scott Storch -- Arrested for Cocaine in Vegas

 

Storch tried to hide a baggie of cocaine in a trash can at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Vegas before cops arrived ... this according to the police report, obtained by TMZ. In the report, the arresting officer says cops fished out the baggie after receiving a tip from hotel security ... and discovered it contained 2.7 grams of blow. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hip-hop producer Scott Storch -- a recovering drug addict -- was arrested in Vegas earlier this month for possession of cocaine ... TMZ has learned. According to law enforcement, Storch was arrested at a Vegas hotel around 8:30 AM on Feb. 4. Sources tell us ... the arrest went down after an employee called police to complain that Storch wouldn't pay for his room. When cops arrived to the scene, we're told officers discovered Storch was in possession of cocaine. Storch was hauled to a nearby police station ... where he was released on $5k bond. Storch -- who has worked with stars like Beyoncé, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Pink and more -- famously blew a $30 million fortune after getting hooked on drugs back in 2006. He eventually checked into rehab and has been working on his recovery ever since

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'Britain's war against Afghan opium production is failing'

 

Britain’s war against opium production in Afghanistan is being lost, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, with outputs of the class-A drug soaring to record levels in the past decade despite western intervention.

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Actor given 42-month sentence for conspiring to buy cocaine Actor given 42-month sentence for conspiring to buy cocaine

The film version of Un Simple Soldat will have to wait. Montreal actor Tony Conte, 48, was sentenced to a prison term of 42 months Thursday for conspiring to purchase cocaine. The fact he became involved in film projects as his trial approached last year was not enough to prove he is rehabilitated, Superior Court Justice Sophie Bourque decided at the Montreal courthouse. In January, a jury convicted Conte on charges of conspiracy and drug possession with intent to traffic. Factoring in time he has already served, Conte has more than 39 months left on his sentence. The actor sighed audibly while listening to Bourque's decision but his face registered little reaction when he learned he was heading to a federal penitentiary. Conte, who acted as a Mafia associate in the 1990s French-language TV series Omertà, had tried to convince Bourque he merited a suspended sentence because he was already rehabilitated. During a sentence hearing on Feb. 2, he testified he slipped into a deep depression after his arrest in October 2008, but recovered months before his jury trial in December and started working on various projects, including a film adaptation of Un Simple Soldat, by Quebec writer Marcel Dubé. Dubé testified at the Feb. 2 hearing that the project was to start production this year, and that Conte held a crucial role as actor and producer. Bourque acknowledged Conte's efforts at resurrecting his career but noted he persisted in lying about how he ended up at a downtown hotel on Oct. 29, 2008, ready to buy 30 kilograms of cocaine from an undercover police officer. During his trial, Conte told the jury he was there to look in on a guest of the hotel at the request of a friend named Diego Guzman Diaz who had resided in St. Léonard. Conte testified the man he knew as Diaz had been kicked out of Canada because of an expired visa and had called him from Mexico to ask that he look in on his ill friend at the hotel. Det.-Sgt. Stephane Durocher told the sentence hearing "Diego" was actually Vladimir Estenssoro, 42, of Bolivia who was removed from Canada three times in the past decade for residing here illegally under aliases. In 1999, Estenssoro - a suspected street gang member - was convicted of trafficking in several kilos of cocaine in Montreal. While in prison, he hung out with members of the Hells Angels, according to Parole Board of Canada records. On Thursday, Bourque said Conte's insistence on maintaining his false version of events - even after a jury rejected it - is a sign he has not been rehabilitated. Bourque determined that Conte merited a sentence similar to that of Anthony Riccio, 54, whom Conte described as his partner while making his deal with the undercover agent. Riccio was sentenced to a 42-month prison term after pleading guilty to conspiracy and drug trafficking charges in 2010.

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