Spanish police said their criminal assets agency was investigating properties worth millions including a holiday resort in Brazil.

 

Dissident republican crime gangs in Dublin have split and are feuding in ways similar to the bloody factionalising of the remnants of the terror group the Irish National Liberation Amy (INLA) in the late Eighties and Nineties. Since former Real IRA man Liam Kenny, 53, was shot dead at his home in Chapelizod, Dublin, in June a series of serious incidents including several attempted murders have taken place. Kenny, a former Provisional IRA member had been a member of the Real IRA in Dublin but fell out with other members after it split acrimoniously into two factions in the city. Last Wednesday, an associate of Kenny's, Frank Nolan, 49, was shot and seriously injured when a teenager on a bicycle pulled up beside him at Oranmore Road in Ballyfermot and shot him at close range. There had been a pipe bomb attack on Nolan's home in July. Nolan, who served a term of imprisonment for reckless endangerment in an incident in which a man was shot in the thigh in a Ballyfermot pub in 2000, is recovering in hospital. The incident has created more tension and gardai expect there were will be more attacks. The reasons for the attack were not clear but gardai say there had been a public meeting of republicans last weekend and threats had apparently been exchanged afterwards. It is believed that after his row with his former dissident republican associates, Liam Kenny left the Real IRA faction and moved to the group styling itself as the Continuity IRA. This group has now split in two as well, with one group led by a Limerick man in his late fifties but with support in Dublin and which is opposed to another faction also still styling itself with the same name based in Dublin. In traditional republican style, the various groups send coded claims to newspapers making allegations and threats against each other, followed by counter-claims that the initial statements were from "gangsters" or "drug dealers" and not republicans. This is exactly what went on when the INLA went into its finally destructive round of feuding in the late Eighties. All the Dublin dissident groups are aligned in one way or another with the city's drug gangs and gardai are concerned that they are adding an extra dimension to the already violent state of organised crime in the city. The investigation into Kenny's murder has become highly complicated with detectives trying to work out the reasons behind the killing as Kenny was at odds with not only his former dissident associates but also with drug dealers in the west of the city. There was initially suspicion last week that there might be a dissident link to the murder of Thomas McDonagh, 49, a traveller shot dead at his caravan in Ballymun last Saturday night. Gardai have known for some time of tensions between Traveller and settled gangs in north Dublin and believe that Travellers have been selling pipe bombs to both ordinary criminal and dissident republican gangs. However, Mr McDonagh was not involved in these activities and is believed to have been murdered by a Finglas-based gang of settled criminals involved in the drugs trade and in armed robberies including tiger kidnappings. It is believed he had been involved in drug dealing and had a heroin problem and was shot because of an unpaid debt of €15,000. One of the main current concerns among gardai in Dublin is the re-emergence of the gangland figure Freddie Thompson following a fire-bomb attack on his mother's house in the Coombe area. Gardai in the Dublin South Central Division have been on high alert since the attack on the home of Lisa Thompson, who has no involvement in criminal activity, but is believed to have been targeted by her son's rivals. Freddie Thompson had spent most of the previous 15 months in England, returning only for brief visits to Dublin and the gang violence in the south city had reduced. It is believed he was concerned that he would be arrested and extradited to Spain after Spanish police said they had issued a warrant for his arrest and extradition at the time of a series of high- profile raids in May last year on the mainly Irish gang led by Dubliner Christy Kinahan, who has been living in Estepona, Spain. However, the warrant has not been sent to gardai even though they have informed the Spanish authorities of his presence here. Thompson had been staying in Estepona up until shortly before the launching of Europe-wide raids aimed at the organisation, which Spanish, British and Europol police said was headed by Kinahan. There were 78 raids including 45 here, 21 in Spain and 12 in Britain. Some 34 people were arrested and €1m in cash seized. Spanish police said their criminal assets agency was investigating properties worth millions including a holiday resort in Brazil. Thompson was questioned in February 2007 when his associate, Paddy Doyle, 27, from Dublin was shot dead in Estepona but Thompson was not at the scene and it is thought the murder was carried out by Turkish mafia

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Spanish warship rescues French hostage from pirates

 

Troops from a Spanish warship stormed a pirate skiff in the Gulf of Aden Saturday and rescued a French hostage missing from her yacht but found no trace of her husband, the EU anti-piracy mission said. As a helicopter kept watch overhead, naval commandos in a fast launch fired on the skiff to disable its engine. The boat sank, but the hostage was rescued and seven pirates were arrested unharmed, the Spanish defence ministry said. "She was the only hostage on board the skiff. Her husband was not on board," EU naval spokesman Captain Paul Gelly told AFP, confirming the rescued hostage was Evelyne Colombo, wife and crewmate of missing sailor Christian Colombo. "She is safe and sound," he said, explaining that Colombo and the detained pirates are now on board the Spanish ship. A German warship, the FGS Bayern, found the couple's catamaran the Tribal Kat, adrift in waters off Yemen on Thursday. There was no-one on board and the EU Atalanta naval command launched an air and sea search for the attackers. French officials said there were signs of a struggle on board the yacht, which was towed to Djibouti to be studied by agents from the DGSE spy agency. "It was like searching for a needle in a haystack," Gelly said. "Our priority was to search for any vessel that might have been leaving the area and heading for the coast of Somalia." The French frigate Surcouf detected a suspect vessel and on Saturday the Spanish warship SPS Galicia chased it down. The Spanish defence ministry said when the skiff ignored an order to stop, the commander of the Galicia ordered his men to open fire. "At that time, it was discovered that they had a hostage on board, who was a woman," it said. "The amphibious ship proceeded to intercept the pirate vessel. The operation involved a helicopter and naval warfare team, who fired on the engine of the boat, to disable it." Christian Colombo is a former French navy crewman and the couple were experienced sailors who wanted to see the world and were passing through the Gulf of Aden en route for the Indian Ocean and eventually Thailand. "They knew they were taking a risk and everyone advised them not to go," a relative told AFP. One of the couple's daughters, Emilie, posted a message of concern on the blog they were keeping of their high seas adventure. "The last I heard from Christian was around a month ago. He was south of Egypt and heading for Malaysia," said the skipper's friend Gerard Navarin, who once helped him set a catamaran speed record off Toulon. The waters between Yemen and Somalia are notorious for attacks by pirate gangs, and French yachts have been among the vessels seized in the past. A second yacht went missing at around the same time as the Tribal Kat. Somali pirates frequently seize crew from merchant ships and pleasure craft in the dangerous waters off the conflict-ravaged Horn of Africa and have taken millions of dollars in ransom for their release. According to the watchdog Ecoterra, at least 50 vessels and at least 528 hostages are being held by Somali pirates, despite constant patrols by warships from several world powers. A French couple was kidnapped from a yacht in September 2008 as it headed through the Gulf of Aden. A ransom was paid, but French commandos later ambushed the pirates, killed one, captured six more and recovered the cash. In April 2009, another French yacht was seized. This time special forces troops intervened when the boat was still at sea. In the ensuing gunbattle a French bullet accidentally killed the hostage skipper. In addition, a French DGSE agent is thought to have been held hostage by Islamist militants in the Somali capital since July 2009

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Spanish police have smashed the drug ring that is believed to have supplied Kenley teenager Jodie Nieman with the ecstasy

 

Spanish police have smashed the drug ring that is believed to have supplied Kenley teenager Jodie Nieman with the ecstasy tablet that probably killed her. Mark Adrian Whitley, 39 from Croydon, was among 13 suspected drug dealers arrested by police last Thursday in Ibiza where the 19-year-old died in July. Spanish police confirmed the majority of the pills seized in the raids were Pink Rock Star, the same type believed to have killed Miss Nieman. It is thought the dodgy pills were also responsible for poisoning eight other individuals in Ibiza over the summer. Police said the drug ring was the biggest British group operating on the island and had now been "completely dismantled". Officers from Spain’s Civil Guard, supported by British officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, raided eight properties across the party island. As part of Operation Rula, police confiscated £60,500 in various currencies, 4kg of cocaine, 3,600 MDMA pills, 53g of hashish and 300 doses of anabolic steroids. There were also precision scales, mobile phones and other drug-related paraphernalia in the addresses. A Civil Guard spokesman said: "This one of the most active gangs on the island which is the main supplier of cocaine and other designer drugs around the clubs and bars. "Enquiries were carried out on the basis of intelligence obtained by the Guardia Civil after other gangs involved in drugs trafficking on the island were dismantled. "The majority of these gangs were British and took advantage of the influx of young people during the summer. "The gang, which is now dismantled, only travelled to Ibiza in summer to meet the large demand for drugs on the island during this period. "When some of the drugs were running short, other gangs based in the UK would send new batches via different methods." Miss Nieman, a nail technician at Nails To Be Seen in Warlingham, was holidaying with friends when she fell unconscious at the Space nightclub in the Playa d'en Bossa resort on July 13. She died of a suspected heart attack, with friends admitting to Spanish police they had taken ecstasy. But Croydon Coroner’s Court has ordered a second investigation into the cause of Miss Nieman’s sudden death. Miss Nieman’s mother Debbie and her partner Simon Atkar, along with her brother Mark, recently visited the island to see where the teenager had died and to bring her body home. Her funeral was held on August 16 at Croydon Crematorium but her mother discovered Spanish police had removed the girl’s heart for tests. The family have been told it could be six months until results of the tests, which might give a conclusive cause of death, come back.

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

 

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

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The alleged killers of a British teenager stabbed to death at a holiday resort in the Costa Brava have been extradited to face justice in Spain.

Andrew Milroy, 15, died of a single knife wound to the chest in the seaside town of Lloret de Mar on July 17.

Police named the suspects only as Remi Romai A. and Jeremy P. - a plumber and a mechanic both aged 21.

Andrew Milroy and two friends had tried to break up a 3.30am brawl between a gang of young French tourists. 

But instead, the youths turned on them in a shopping centre in the resort popular with thousands of British holidaymakers every year, it is alleged.

A nearby hotel security guard called police after being alerted by the boys' friends. 

When ambulance workers arrived, they found Mr Milroy lying in a pool of blood in an alleyway by a clothes shop.

He died after being rushed to Sant Jaume Hospital in the nearby town of Blanes, 25 miles north of Barcelona.

His attackers had fled before emergency services reached the scene.
Spanish police later identified two of the youths from CCTV footage, and then managed to find their names from local hotel bookings.

 

They passed the information on to French police, who swooped on the pair in their home town of L'Isle-d'Abeau, near Lyon, ten days ago.

Tourist spot: Andrew was a resident of Lloret de Mar in Costa Brava, which is popular with holidaymakers

A French judicial source said: ‘The Spanish police were able to identify the three youths through witness statements and video surveillance cameras.

‘Their names were then established from the bookings they had made for accommodation in resort.

‘This information was passed to us and arrests were made.’ 

Lyon prosecutor Jacqueline Dufournet confirmed today: ‘The two young men have been transferred by plane to Spain.

'They are now in the hands of the authorities there and the Spanish legal process will now run its course.' 

Michel Tallent, the lawyer for the mechanic, added: ‘It seems there was a fight on the night in question, but it is not clear who started it.' 

Andrew was born in Spain after his parents Jackie and Andy Milroy emigrated there 26 years ago.

The family run a popular US-style diner called Route 66 in the resort.
Mrs Milroy, originally from Richmond, Surrey, told French daily Le Parisien after learning of the arrests: ‘We are devastated at the loss of our son, but now very relieved at the arrests.  

'Of course my son will not be coming back but at least those responsible have been caught.

'The police have done very well considering how few leads they had to go on.

'I now await their trial and believe they should each go to prison for at least 30 years.'

Mr Milroy's death sparked outrage among locals, who said that children should have been protected from increasingly violent holidaymakers on cheap package tours.

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Brit was arrested in Sant Antoni, Ibiza

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

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

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

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

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Two Britons arrested on Ibiza on charges of attempted murder

 

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

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British man shot in Arona hold-up

 

British man, aged 58, was injured in an armed hold-up of a currency exchange shop in Arona, on the south of Tenerife, on Tuesday morning. It happened on the Paseo de Las Tosqueras in Playa de Las Américas, shortly before 9am. The injured man is named as Dennis in reports, and it’s understood that he works in the store and was shot in the right arm by the gunman. He is now under hospital treatment with an entry and exit wound in his arm from a 22 calibre weapon.

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British couple arrested for holiday rentals scam on the Costa Blanca

 

British couple resident in Mojácar have been arrested by the Civil Guard for an alleged holiday rentals scam which is believed to have brought them profits of more than 150,000 €. Europa Press reports that the pair advertised properties available for short term let on the Costa Blanca which were not in fact available for rent but were occupied by their legitimate owners. The couple, who are named as John Anthony T., aged 41, and 37 year old Amanda Jane T., advertised online on several sites with photographs and descriptions of each of the properties. Their victims, which the Civil Guard said could number more than 60 in the UK, Portugal, France, Italy and Belgium, made the bookings online and were then contacted by email by the property management company. There was however no further contact once the deposit and then the remainder of the cost had been transferred into the couple’s account. Some of those affected then travelled out to the property they had rented in good faith, only to find them occupied by their owners. The Civil Guard investigation began in February after an official complaint was presented by a French woman to officers at the barracks in Pilar de la Horadada. It was followed by other denuncias from other foreign nationals with similar stories

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Irishman stabbed on Ibiza

 

19 year old was attacked by two men, thought to be British, in what is thought to be a drug-related attackArchive Photo EFE A 19 year old Irish man, named as Jack McCarthy, was stabbed four times in the back and once below one of his eyes in an attack on Monday in Sant Antoni, Ibiza. It happened at 4pm in Calle Barcelona, and it’s thought that the man was ambushed by two others, thought to be British. One of the stab wounds perforated a lung, and the victim is now being treated in the Can Misses Hospital. The latest hospital statement says that he is making progress and is stable although serious. Tuesday morning the youngster wanted to discharge himself, but the doctors advised the duty Guardia and they have kept him under treatment. The Sant Antoni local police say that they found small quantities of drugs in the victim’s home, and materials indicating that he was dealing, and they presume the aggression was therefore drug-related.

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Second chance’ for drunk drivers rejected by alcohol charities

NEW PROPOSALS TO reduce the penalties for drivers just over the blood alcohol limit have been criticised by alcohol charities.
Under the new measures, motorists caught just above the new limit of 50mg alcohol per 100ml of blood will only face penalty points and a €220 fine – although if they are caught a second time, they will be banned. It will also be a three-tier system where drivers breath-tested between 80mg and 100mg will be fined €400 and banned for six months, while anyone above 100mg faces a 12-month ban, the Irish Independent reports.
Currently, anyone caught even slightly over the limit will have to appear in caught and faces a 12-month ban if convicted. The limit is currently 80mg, but will be reduced to 50mg – or less than a pint of beer – next month in line with several other European countries. It’s understood the reduced penalties are designed to avoid the courts being glutted with drink-drivers after the new limits come into force.
However, Fiona Ryan, director of Alcohol Action Ireland, rejected the new regime. “We know there are no safe levels for drinking and driving,” she told TheJournal.ie. “It is estimated that one in three crash deaths are alcohol-related.
The penalties involved in breaking the law should reflect the gravity of the situation. The message is don’t drink and drive because someone may lose their life as a result – surely the penalties should reflect this fact?
Fionnuala Sheehan, chief executive of alcohol responsibility group MEAS, also urged drivers to avoid drinking anything at all. “Even a small amount of alcohol in your system will seriously affect your ability to drive safely,” she said. “If people plan to drink I would encourage them to designate a driver or to use public transport.”
RSA chief executive Noel Brett has defended the new system, telling the Irish Independent: “We believe that these are proportionate penalties, fairly targeted and we are comfortable with them.”

 

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Girl's father was 'never fully in favour' of relationship with Turkish teenager

teenage waiter knifed two British women to death in Turkey after one refused to let him marry her 15-year-old daughter.

The obsessed 17-year-old lured the women to a secluded wood where he cut their throats. The girl, Shannon Graham, had been dating Recep Cetin for two years. He was said to be ‘totally infatuated’ and ‘very possessive’. 

Last week her mother Marion, 53, had a blazing row with Cetin, who uses the name Alex.

Suspect: Suspect Recep Celik, left, is accused of killing the mother of his girlfriend Shannon Graham, pictured, in a frenzied attack

 

Recep Celik is accused of stabbing Marion Graham (left) and Kathy Dinsmore, both 54 and from Northern Ireland 

After he kicked Shannon during an altercation, Miss Graham ‘went ballistic’ and told him never to lay a finger on her daughter again.

The waiter apparently responded by threatening to kill Miss Graham if she came between him and Shannon.

Last night Turkey’s state-run news agency Anatolia said Cetin had confessed to killing Miss Graham and her friend Cathy Dinsmore, also 53, who both came from Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland.

 

 

Shannon was being cared for by an Irish Embassy official. ‘She is in an absolutely dreadful state but we are doing our best to comfort her,’ a consular source said.

For several years Miss Graham, Miss Dinsmore and Shannon have been regular visitors to Turkey, where Miss Graham’s family own a holiday home in the popular seaside resort of Kusadasi.

Shannon and Alex started dating after she and her mother visited the restaurant where he worked.

Like many naive British girls who find love on holiday in Turkey, she was bowled over by his attention and soon found what started as a holiday romance turned into a marriage proposal. She travelled to see him every school holiday.

Media reports in Turkey have named Recep Celik as the 17-year-old Turkish suspect said to have carried out the attacks

 

Pictures of them together show them holding hands and smiling. But yesterday Shannon’s father, Raymond McGuinness, said her mother was terrified Cetin was abusing her. 

Mr McGuinness, who was flying out to be with his daughter early today, said he was never fully in favour of the relationship.

‘There was always something that was not quite right,’ he said.

An English holidaymaker who became friendly with Shannon and Cetin said the Turkish youth seemed to be ‘very possessive’ and ‘desperate’ to marry Shannon.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said: ‘He used to write to Shannon on Facebook when she was back in Northern Ireland. If she didn’t message him regularly enough, he would be messaging her asking why.

Arrest: Eyup Cetin, the father of the 17-year-old murder suspect named by Turkish media as Recep Celik is pictured being led away in handcuffs for questioning, while right, the Turkish youth and Shannon Graham are photographed together

‘He was even strange to people like me, just friends. If I passed him in the street without hugging him he’d hold it against me and act strangely for the next few days.’

On Thursday, Cetin sent Shannon on a boat tour off Kusadasi while he offered to take her mother and Miss Dinsmore on a sightseeing tour of Izmir, 60 miles away.

They travelled there by taxi. Once in the city, Cetin collected his father’s car and drove the women to a wooded area in Buca, a suburb of Izmir notorious locally as a crime hotspot, where he slashed their throats.

Shannon raised the alarm yesterday after the two women failed to return from the trip.

Search: Emergency crews scour the woods where the two women were discovered for evidence after the brutal killings

Frenzied attack: Officials remove the bodies of two women who have were stabbed to death in Turkey.

Mrs Graham's home in Newry, Co Down, after she and Kathy Dinsmore were stabbed to death in Turkey

It is believed that Mrs Graham had a property in Kusadasi

Cetin initially denied to police any connection to the women or involvement with their disappearance.

But after their bloodstained clothes were reportedly found in a bin near his family home, he admitted driving them to the woods and stabbing them on Thursday night. He then led police to the bodies.

Mr McGuinness said that after the women disappeared, Alex came back to Shannon saying they had all been kidnapped and he had a bad cut on his hand.

‘I don’t know what has gone on really. But there has been some sort of kidnap and then this tragedy has taken place and now Alex is in custody,’ he said.

In Newry, neighbour Brian Hyland said: ‘Marion was an absolutely lovely woman, very quiet and very polite  and absolutely dedicated to her children.

“Shannon is a lovely girl and is like any teenager really. But she’s very well behaved and polite.’

 

It is believed that a 17-year-old has confessed to attacking the two middle-aged women in Izmir, Turkey, pictured

 

 

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Turkish youth is expected to be formally charged today with the double murder of two Irish women in western Turkey on Thursday night.

Marion Graham and Kathy Dinsmore were found stabbed to death in a wooded area off a road near the port city of Izmir.

The dead women were both 54 years old and from the Newry area of Co Down. Both were travelling on Irish passports.

The killings followed Ms Graham’s attempts to prevent her daughter Shannon from marrying a 17-year-old youth she had met in the country.

The youth was detained by police yesterday, and is the only suspect for the double murder. His father and a local taxi driver were also helping police with their inquiries.

The suspect yesterday appeared at a preliminary hearing in Turkey and charges are expected to follow today.

Yesterday it emerged the two women had been threatened in recent weeks during a dispute over a proposed wedding between one of their daughters and a Turkish teenager.

Marion Graham had recently told family members in Ireland that an attempt had been made to assault her 15-year-old daughter in Turkey, and this led to her to put in place arrangements to bring the teenager back home.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is offering consular assistance to the families of Ms Graham and Kathy Dinsmore, both of whom were found stabbed to death.

Ms Graham’s daughter was yesterday being cared for by consular staff at the Irish embassy in Ankara. Her father was travelling to Turkey.

Ms Dinsmore’s brothers, John and George Dinsmore, said – in a statement issued through Newry SDLP councillor Sean O’Hare – that they were “devastated” by the tragic loss of their “beloved sister Kathy while on holiday in Turkey”.

Both women were killed on Thursday night. Local media reports claimed the women’s throats had been cut, but this could not be confirmed.

It is understood that Ms Graham was separated but she continued to use a family-owned property in Kusadasi several times a year.

Her daughter had been staying with her in Kusadasi where she had struck up a relationship with a 17-year-old boy who worked as a waiter. That relationship dated back to at least late last year.

Reports from Turkey and sources in Dublin yesterday said it appeared that Ms Graham’s daughter and her boyfriend were planning to get married in Turkey.

Ms Graham and her friend Ms Dinsmore strongly disapproved of the relationship and the wedding plans and were trying to frustrate those plans.

While details of the killings were still emerging from Turkey yesterday, it appeared Ms Graham’s daughter had gone on a boat trip on Thursday.

However, when she returned to her mother’s house she could not find her.

By the time she had gone to the police to report her missing, they were already questioning her boyfriend.

He had returned to his place of work, reportedly with a cut on his hands, and changed his clothes after claiming he had been on a trip with a friend and the murdered women.

When this was relayed to the police they began questioning him about the missing women.

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Community rallies for Montgomery man run over in Spain

People in Montgomery are rallying around a young man severely injured on the Isle of Ibiza off the coast of Spain.  Rob McLendon was riding a moped, when he was forced into oncoming traffic.  Both Rob and a friend, Zoe Bromberg from Jacksonville, Florida, were run over.  Bromberg died from her injuries.  Friends here at home have launched an effort to help Rob recover.

"He has cracked vertebrae, he has multiple fractures on his face, his liver, his kidneys are all damaged, he punctured lungs and he's really been in a fight for his life," said Chip Broadfoot, Associate Rector for the Church of the Ascension in Montgomery.

McLendon grew up in Montgomery, but his career took him to Europe.  His family and close friends have flown to the Isle of Ibiza to be with him.  And those who can't make the trip have shown their support in other ways.  A Facebook page titled Rob's Recovery has more than 700 likes. 

A CaringBridge site has more than 20,000 visits. They're encouraging people to send Rob cards for his birthday on the 14th.  But they say what's most important for the families, is prayer.

"If we can accept the fact that we are all connected like this, we can overcome anything," Broadfoot said   "We can show our connectedness by praying in the church, we pray for one another and we can send those prayers abroad."

The family said that Rob has opened and closed his eyes, and is making expressions.  Thursday is a key day for him, as he faces spinal surgery.

 

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Former St Andrews man jailed for killing in Barcelona

William Madley (47) had admitted hitting Lanarkshire man Derek Cowan over the head with a bottle before strangling him with his bare hands in Barcelona nearly three years ago.

The father of two confessed to the crime, which occurred in October 2008.

Lawyers struck a deal where it was agreed Madley, who spent his formative years in Yorkshire, would serve 10 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay £13,000 in compensation to the family of his victim.

The court in Barcelona heard a row, believed to have been over a failed business venture, had ended in the death of the 46-year-old Larkhall man in his apartment in the Spanish city's fashionable Eixample district.

It is thought the two Brits had at one time been business partners but had had a disagreement over money and ended the partnership some years before.

Mr Cowan, who had lived in Spain for seven years and had a Spanish girlfriend, was found lying in a pool of blood in his flat on October 8, 2008.

His current business partner, concerned that he couldn't contact Mr Cowan, went to his flat where he made the grim discovery.

Police launched a manhunt for Madley, who went on the run for five weeks and was only found during a routine police check at the city's main railway station in the middle of November.

Madley is alleged to have said he picked up a bottle and hit Mr Cowan over the head in anger. Mr Cowan then fell to the floor where Madley strangled him.

Madley admitted he did not know if his former business partner had been dead or alive when he left his apartment home.

Madley was originally from St Andrews but moved at a young age to Huddersfield where he attended primary and secondary schools and sixth form college.

He was 25 when he left the west Yorkshire town to join the Royal Navy. He served as a submarine officer aboard a nuclear vessel.

 

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Holidaymakers and expats on the Costas have been asked to help track down two dangerous British fugitives believed to be on the run in Spain.

The two men escaped from a prison van during a dramatic ambush as they were transferred to court in Liverpool a week ago.
Police believe Kirk Bradley, 25 and Anthony Downes, 24, could be hiding out in Spain and have urged holidaymakers and expatriates living on the Costas to look out for them.
It is thought they may have joined known associate and fellow fugitive Kevin Parle, who appears on a Crimestoppers "most wanted" list and is wanted in connection with two murders in Liverpool.
The UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) released photographs of the pair in a bid to trace them but warned that they should not be approached.
"These are dangerous men and it is very important that nobody approaches them," said Frank Francis of SOCA. "We are asking people who think they may have seen them to call Crimestoppers, either in Spain or in the UK.

"You can do this free, and completely anonymously. Our priority is getting these two back into custody as soon as possible."
The two wanted men escaped on July 18 as they were transferred from Strangeways prison in Manchester to Liverpool Crown Court where the jury was to consider verdicts following a two-month trial.
The pair and four others were in the dock accused of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to commit criminal damage with intent to endanger life.
But as the prison van slowed in rush hour traffic on the outskirts of Manchester city centre, it was rammed by a black Saab and a gang of masked men armed with guns and wielding baseball bats beat the driver and ordered the guard to release the prisoners.
They sped off in the Saab which was later founded abandoned in Salford, less than a mile from the ambush.
During the trial the court heard how the pair were involved in a two year "campaign of intimidation and violence" and were linked to a gangland plot in which a grenade was left outside the home of Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool FC manager.
In one alleged incident, a man had to have his leg amputated after being blasted in a phone box. In another, a grandmother had her leg blown off after a hand grenade was launched through the window of her home.
Kirk Trevor Bradley of Dovecot, Liverpool, was described by police as 5'10", of proportionate build, with green eyes and cropped black hair. He has a Liverpool accent.
Anthony Downes, of Huyton, Liverpool, also known to associates as Fat Tony, is 5'7" with blue eyes and short straight dark hair.

 

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Terrorist mastermind' accused of plot to kill King of Spain demands legal aid to fight extradition

terrorist mastermind' accused of plotting to kill the King of Spain and to blow up Madrid airport has applied for British legal aid to fight his extradition. 

Alleged explosives expert Eneko Gogeaskoetxea Arronategui is accused of planting bombs at a court house, a bull fighting ring and a town centre for terror group ETA between 1996 to 1998.

But because at the time of the offences the ETA was not classified as a terrorist organisation in the UK, the alleged terrorist can apply for legal aid.


Accused: Arronategui is suspected to trying to kill Spain's King Juan Carlos

Arronategui is believed to have fled Spain to come and live in the UK.

He lived under the alias 'Cyril Macq' and worked as a computer program designer after his alleged two-year reign of terror.

He was arrested in Cambridge this month on suspicion of being a part of a ETA cell that plotted to kill Spain's King Juan Carlos when he attended the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on 18 October 1997. 

 

At Westminster Magistrates' Court the Spanish Authorities served six further warrants on 'Spain's most wanted terror suspect' all related to planting bombs in Spain. 

Arronategui was previously charged with the botched assassination on King Juan Carlos, being a member of the ETA, possession of ammunition, murdering a police officer and the theft of three vehicles. 

He is also wanted for the fraud of public documents, after allegedly transferring licence plates. 


Mr Arronategi is alleged to have been involved in a plot to bomb the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao in October 1997 as Juan Carlos opened it, before fleeing the country

Appearing for the Spanish Authorities Ben Watson listed a further six terrorism offences Gogeaskoetxea is accused of carrying out for the ETA terrorist arm Katu. 

From 1996 to 1998 - when he was 'forced to flee the country' - Arronategui is accused of planting bombs next to two civil guard barracks, a Madrid airport, a Basque Court House and a bullfighting ring. 

Arronategui is accused of planting a bomb in the centre of a Basque town and used a trip wire to set it off, but the lethal explosive was deactivated by police.

Two of the six bombs exploded causing extensive damage to the back of the court house and another exploded near a Spanish bullfighting ring causing one injury. 

He used grenades and anti-tank grenades as explosives for his bombs, the court heard. 

Appearing by video link from Belmarsh prison, where he is on remand, Arronategui spoke only to deny consent to extradition and ask the court for time to speak to his lawyers. 

Defence barrister Mark Sumers said at the time of the offences the ETA was not classified as a terrorist organisation and he was allowed to apply for legal aid. 

He said: 'There is a legal issue in that ETA was not classified as a terrorist organisation in this country when the offences were alleged to have taken place.'

In a previous hearing before Westminster Magistrates' Court acting on behalf of the Spanish Authorities, James Stansfeld said during the attempt, Gogeaskoetxea had been spotted in the museum gardens filling window boxes with ammunition and grenade launchers.

Mr Stansfeld said: 'The requested person was stopped while he was in the Guggenheim gardens filling garden window boxes with ammunition and grenade launchers.

'The police officer who stopped them was shot and killed.

'In order to effect his escape throughout the city he hijacked three cars to evade capture.'

He will next appear by video link on August 22 at Westminster Magistrate Court before a full review of all the extradition warrants on September 7.

 

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Spanish police dismantle a money laundering ring Tuesday run by the girlfriend of a Colombian drug lord.

The police arrested nine suspects, four of which were Colombian, four Spanish, and one Armenian. Authorities claimed that the ring was run by the girlfriend of Luis Augustin Caciendo Velandia, alias "Don Lucho," a convicted Colombian drug lord who is currently serving time in a U.S. prison.

The arrests marked the culmination of a year-long investigation that discovered a money laundering network of shell companies that received drug money from Colombia, Mexico, and Panama and white-washed the money in Spain.

The money was used to buy gold jewelry that was then smelted down into ingots and disguised as copper to fool customs inspectors. They also used the money to buy 30 properties across Spain valued at $17 million and 15 luxury cars worth more than $2 million.

Don Lucho ran a cartel that specialized in money laundering prior to his arrest, and was thought to have laundered $1.5 billion between 2005 and 2009. He was arrested on drug charges and extradited to the U.S. in 2010.

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Estibaliz Carranza, a dual Spanish-Mexican citizen accused of dismembering her ex-husband and a former boyfriend in Austria

Estibaliz Carranza, a dual Spanish-Mexican citizen accused of dismembering her ex-husband and a former boyfriend in Austria, is asking her current boyfriend not to abandon her and to take custody of the baby she is carrying, the Austrian press reported on Thursday.
Carranza sent several letters from prison to her 47-year-old boyfriend, identified only as Roland R., asking for his help, the weekly News said.
"Please, don't abandon me; don't think that I'm a monster; please think of our child, who I am carrying under my heart," the accused double-murderer said in a letter published by the magazine along with an interview with her boyfriend.
Carranza, who is nine weeks' pregnant and awaiting trial in Vienna, assures her boyfriend that the killings were committed by "a disease" and not by her.
The woman had been undergoing psychological treatment and took medications for insomnia and panic attacks, Roland R., an Austrian who knew both victims, told the magazine.
There was nothing unusual, however, about Carranza, who was "the best person in the universe," Roland R. said, adding that he had found "complete happiness" with her and wanted to get married after learning she was pregnant.
"I am out of sorts, I don't know what to think or what I feel," Roland R. told News.
The letters are "small explanations for the fathomless," the man said, adding that his world came crashing down when he heard that "Esti," as he refers to his girlfriend, had murdered two men.
The 32-year-old Carranza revealed in her letters that she planned to write an autobiography with a happy ending, enjoying a good family life in a few years once they found a doctor who knew "what's inside my head" so she could gain her freedom little by little.
Carranza is suspected of having killed her German husband in 2008 and her Austrian ex-boyfriend last November.
The victims' bodies, which were dismembered, packed in plastic bags and covered with concrete, were found by construction workers on June 6 in the basement of the Vienna building where Carranza, who was born in Mexico, ran an ice cream shop.

 

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Lisette Lee, the Beverly Hills woman who used her family's private jet to smuggle 7,000 pounds of weed to the non-medical state of Ohio pleaded for sentencing leniency this week

Lisette Lee, the Beverly Hills woman who used her family's private jet to smuggle 7,000 pounds of weed to the non-medical state of Ohio pleaded for sentencing leniency this week, saying in a letter to a federal judge that she is ...

... shocked and appalled at the devastation caused by drug usage, and cannot even begin to express how sick I feel inside for even having danced around the fringes of this world, ignorant as to its relentless destruction.
We're going to guess the judge might not be enamored with the wording "danced around the fringes." Smoking a joint is dancing around the fringes. Being friends with Charlie Sheen is dancing around the fringes. Going to a Cypress Hill concert is dancing around the fringes.



Flying $3 million worth of chronic is being a core part of "this world." Just sayin.'

Lee could face 10 years to life for the smuggling operation, and she has already served about one.

That time, she says, has opened her eyes to the "ruined victims of drugs."

Her attorneys argue that the time she's already served is enough, especially in light of the fact that marijuana is quasi-legal in Lee's home state of California.

They also allege that co-defendant David Garrett enlisted her in the smuggling scheme "because of her naivety and her access to her family's private jet," according to Associated Press' take.

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Sex gang offered buy 10 get 1 free loyalty card

PROSTITUTION ‘pimping’ gang which offered sex loyalty cards to customers was dismantled in Barcelona, police said. With the card, regular customers would get free sex after paying for ten ‘sexual encounters’. Twelve alleged members of the gang have been arrested.

When the women arrived in Spain, their documentation was taken by the gang who then forced them to work as prostitutes, handing the takings over to them.

The network provided a 24 hour service where Chinese women were forced to have sex with customers at five apartments in several neighbourhoods of the city.

The highly organised gang advertised its services on the internet and in the local press.

Meanwhile, 15 Romanians were arrested by La Linea National Police for allegedly forcing women into prostitution in Campo de Gibraltar (Cadiz). It is thought they also operated in Malaga Province and northern Spain.

 

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man has been arrested by the National Police in Torremolinos in connection with the stabbing of another man on May 17th

It is understood from the reports a 32 year old British man was discovered by a passer by at a bus stop with a deep stab wound

It is reported that a 48 year old British man, named with the initials P.D who works at a local bar where the victim drank was arrested within 10 hours of the attack

According to the reports it is understood that the man allegedly stabbed the other man after accusing him of having an affair with his wife

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32 year old Spanish man was admitted to the Carlos Haya Hospital after receiving two gunshots to the hand and right shoulder.

It is understood that the man was shot outside his home in an apartment block in the of Trinidad neighborhood of the city by two men who hid their faces with motorcycle helmets.

It is reported the two men knocked on the victims door and shot the man without warning as he opened it

The two men then fled the scene

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Civil Guard seizes 250 kilos of hashish at the Ceuta port after inspection of 4 vehicles

- A Catalan, two Moroccans living in France and two young Belgians, to court accused of separate crimes against public health

- The estimated market value of the narcotic which had intervened touched the 400,000 euros

 

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Clashes over jail conditions shake Moroccan prison

Clashes between security forces and prisoners from the radical Salafist branch of Islam on Tuesday rocked a jail in Sale, close to the Moroccan capital Rabat, officials said.
"The situation was brought under control at the end of the morning. One policeman was wounded and taken to hospital. His life is not in danger. About 34 Salafists surrendered at the end of the morning," a security official told AFP.
Security forces intervened on Monday afternoon to break up a rally by Salafist prisoners who sought to protest about their conditions of detention and clashes broke out. The fighting went on overnight, but authorities said Tuesday that the situation "seems to have calmed down".
"Tear gas grenades and rubber bullets were used this morning by police forces who confronted the detainees inside the prison and even on the roof," a witness said.
"There is a climate of total anarchy in this prison, which houses more than 200 Salafist detainees," according to Abderrahim Mouhtad, the head of the Annassir association, which defends Salafist prisoners' rights.
"Clearly the prison administration intends to take back control of the situation and adopt firmer tactics than before," Mouhtad told AFP.
"These detainees sequestered prison warders yesterday and today. They took on the security forces with stones and the clashes were unusually violent," said a senior official in the ministry of the interior.
According to a family member of one prisoner, "the prison authorities wanted to lay their hands on a detainee suspected of having recently broadcast a video on YouTube in which you see the Salafist prisoners protest, inside the prison, about their detention conditions."
Citing eyewitnesses, the MAP official news agency said on Monday that the security forces "intervened to establish order", and added that "eight members of the security forces and prison warders were slightly wounded during the course of this intervention".

 

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Spanish court has sentenced two Somali pirates to 439 years in jail each for their role in the hijacking of a tuna fishing boat.

 Spanish court has sentenced two Somali pirates to 439 years in jail each for their role in the hijacking of a tuna fishing boat.

The two men have been detained in a Madrid jail since they were caught after the attack in late 2009.

The court said government-linked bodies had paid to have the vessel freed, but the government has insisted it does not pay ransoms.

The vessel and 36 crew members were held off Somalia for 47 days.

The Somalis were found guilty of 36 counts of illegal detention and robbery with violence, but absolved of charges of terrorism, membership in an organised crime group and torture.

Maximum sentence

The National Court identified them as Cabdiweli Cabdullahi and Raageggesey Hassan Aji, according to the Associated Press.

Under Spanish law, they will serve only a maximum of 30 years in jail, regardless of the sentence.

They were also ordered to pay 100,000 euros to each person detained.

During the trial, the suspects said they had been fishing and were themselves seized by the pirates who later hijacked the vessel.

The court said "public organisations linked to the Spanish government" had paid for the release of the crew.

Spain's Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said the government did not pay ransoms.

Piracy is a highly lucrative trade in Somalia, where gangs can often demand millions of dollars in ransoms.

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Police break up enforced prostitution ring in Andalucía

gang of 13 people have been arrested in a National Police operation which has uncovered a criminal network which recruited women from abroad to put them to work as prostitutes in alternative nightclubs in Andalucía.

The Interior Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday that the Romanian-Spanish network was led by a clan known as ‘Los Cortés’, whose leaders were a married couple who recruited their staff on regular trips to Brazil and Romania with the false promise of a respectable job. Once in Spain, the women were kept shut up in a warehouse in Córdoba until they could be provided with false identity documents.

They were then put to work in nightclubs in Sevilla, Córdoba and Málaga under the threat of extreme violence.

The criminal organisation also had a network of ghost companies which it used to launder their profits.

 

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Former television hypnotist Martin Smith, 45, who used violence to groom and sexually abuse a young girl

A paedophile whose partner is accused of murdering their two children in a Spanish hotel was jailed for 16 years today.

Former television hypnotist Martin Smith, 45, who used violence to groom and sexually abuse a young girl, carried out the attacks over a nine-year period.

While he waited to go on trial his partner Lianne Smith suffocated their two young children just days after he had been extradited back to Britain.

She has admitted asphyxiating the youngsters with a plastic bag and is due to go on trial for murder.

Her partner's victim, who is now in her 20s, told the jury during his case how he would try to hypnotise her and hit and bully her to ensure she complied with his demands.

He was found guilty of 11 specimen charges of rape, attempted rape, indecency with a child and indecent assault, spanning nine years from May 1995 to May 2004, in December.

As he waited to go before the judge, his daughter Rebecca, five, and Daniel, 11 months, were found lifeless on the bed in the Hotel Miramar in Lloret de Mar on May 18 last year.

Hilary Manley, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court today that Martin Smith began the abuse by forcing the girl to touch him intimately.

On occasion he would turn violent, act in a 'domineering and bullying manner' and use hypnotism in an effort to bend her to his will, the court heard.

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Egyptian officials' assets to be traced by Serious Organised Crime Agency

Egyptian officials' assets to be traced by Serious Organised Crime Agency | World news | The Guardian: "Officers from Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency are expected to begin tracing the bank accounts of Hosni Mubarak's cabinet after the Egyptian government made a formal request for a freeze on the assets of the ousted president and his former colleagues.

The foreign secretary, William Hague, said Soca would take charge of the hunt for accounts in London, although the timing and extent of the investigation would be decided by EU finance ministers following discussions in Brussels. Hague said UK rules prevented the police from freezing bank accounts without 'evidence of illegality or misuse of state assets'. He said if evidence became available, the government would take 'firm and prompt action'.

Egypt's state prosecutor meanwhile launched corruption investigations against three former government ministers and a member of parliament from Egypt's ruling National Democratic party. They are the former minister of commerce, Muhammad Rachid, the former tourism minister, Zoheir Garranah, the former housing minister Ahmed Maghrabi, and member of parliament Ahmed Ezz."

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Crime gangs may be fighting with guns on Sydney's streets

Crime gangs may be fighting with guns on Sydney's streets but the city isn't a crime capital like New York or Los Angeles, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says.

Speaking after two shootings in western Sydney, Mr Scipione said it was important to remember that gun crime trends in the state had been falling.

"This isn't a place like Los Angeles or New York, if you look at the gun crimes, the number of homicides in those place," Mr Scipione told reporters on Tuesday.

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He cited figures showing there were 513 crimes involving any type of gun in the year to September 2010, down from 1,128 offences in 2004.

Most events were related to drugs, personal matters or organised crime.

"My greatest concern is the propensity of organised crime to rely on the use of a firearm to resolve an issue seems to be increasing," Mr Scipione said.

A search of AAP news archives shows that in the six months to February 15 this year, there were 24 shootings - an average of one a week - and mainly in western Sydney.

Many of the shootings resulted in leg wounds and this week there have been two separate shootings in western Sydney, putting four men in hospital.

The issue became political on Tuesday, as the coalition promised an extra $20 million for hi-tech equipment for police, if it wins the March 26 state election.

Premier Kristina Keneally said gun crime was falling and vowed police would clamp down on bad behaviour by a small number of individuals.

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WOMAN had a gun pulled on her and was told she would be killed as thieves carjacked her Maserati in broad daylight

Concerns that gun crime in Sydney is on the rise: "WOMAN had a gun pulled on her and was told she would be killed as thieves carjacked her Maserati in broad daylight yesterday, just hours after police sought to allay concerns about gun crime being rife in Sydney.

Two men in a red Holden swerved in front of the 35-year-old mother's car at 1.30pm after she turned off the City West Link at Haberfield, forcing her to stop.

One man armed with a gun then walked up to her silver 2009 Maserati Quattroporte, which cost $300,000, and told her: ''Get out or I will kill you.''"

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No funds for coastal train expansion | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain

Euro Weekly News | No funds for coastal train expansion | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain: "Costa del Sol residents have waited for a train service that would one day be provided from Malaga to Marbella and Estepona. For the first time the Junta de Andalucia has admitted that it is having problems finding money to fund the project, estimated at €4 billion.

Councillor for Public Works, Josefina Cruz, said that more private investors are needed, as well as the creation of a joint society which can present the project and request funding, from bodies such as the European Investment Bank.

Cruz said the authorities were well aware of the importance of creating the rail connection."

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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Likes to Make Banks 'Squirm' - Deal Journal - WSJ

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Likes to Make Banks 'Squirm' - Deal Journal - WSJ: "Last night, a “60 Minutes” interview with Julian Assange, the man behind WikiLeaks, tackled the question of whether the anti-secrecy organization is turning its Klieg light to Wall Street.

Assange was asked about the speculation that WikiLeaks has a cache of internal Bank of America documents.

“I won’t make any comment in relation to that upcoming publication,” Assange said.

There would be a “process of elimination” if we “denied some [banks] and admitted others,” he said. “I think it’s great to have all these banks squirming thinking maybe it’s them,” Assange said."

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Four Spanish Savings Banks To Transfer Financial Operations - WSJ.com

Four Spanish Savings Banks To Transfer Financial Operations - WSJ.com: "Four Spanish savings banks said Monday they have decided to transfer their financial operations to Banco Mare Nostrum"

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Tottie Goldsmith Busted At BBQ

Undercover News: Tottie Goldsmith Busted At BBQ: "Chantoozies singer and Neighbours star Tottie Goldsmith is alleged to have been busted in a drug operation at the Hot BBQ music festival outside Melbourne on Saturday.

Goldsmith was in the VIP Beach Club marquee during the festival when police swooped with drug sniffer dogs and nabbed the singer/actress.

Tottie Goldsmith is alleged to have been caught with cocaine."

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Beauty Queens | Mexican Drug Trafficking | ARRESTED | Styleite

Beauty Queens | Mexican Drug Trafficking | ARRESTED | Styleite: "Juliana Sossa (pictured) is the latest stunner to be arrested in connection to the Mexican drug trade. She won several Colombian beauty pageants before relocating to Mexico City and shacking up with alleged drug lord Jorge Balderas Garza.
This comes a few months after Colombian model Juliana Lopez Aguirre was arrested along with her narcotics gang member boyfriend Harold Mauricio Poveda, which came a few months after Venezuelan Miss Universe Alicia Machado was linked to drug kingpin/potential baby daddy Gerardo Alvarez Vazquez and Colombian beauty pageant winner Angie Sanclemente was arrested for managing “young women ferrying cocaine to Europe via Mexico” in Argentina. Sanclemente is married to Mexican drug lord “El Monstruo” (yes, “The Monster”). And the list goes on.
According to the Mexican National Institute of Women, the number of women arrested for trafficking-related charges has increased four-fold in the last three years alone."

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High court affirms life term for 6 Chinese in shabu case -- 2011/january/24

 High court affirms life term for 6 Chinese in shabu case -- 2011/january/24: "THE Supreme Court has affirmed the life sentence a lower court imposed on six Chinese nationals for drug trafficking.

The court found the Chinese in possession of 364 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, with an estimated value of P1.6 billion.

In an en banc decision, the high tribunal, through Associate Justice Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., upheld the judgment of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court finding Ng Yik Bun, Kwok Wai Cheng, Chang Chaun Shi, Chua Shilou Hwan, Kan Shun Min, and Raymond S. Tan guilty beyond reasonable doubt of possession of illegal drugs.

The six Chinese nationals were also ordered to pay a total of P30 million.

They were arrested by police while preparing their drug shipment at a resort in Sariaya, Quezon on Aug. 24, 2000.

A total of 25 heat-sealed transparent plastic bags containing 364 kilos of the illegal substance were recovered from the group on board a white Mitsubishi L-300 van.

The accused said their arrest and the search of the shipment were"

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ZAMBIAN businesswoman arrested in Ethiopia for drug trafficking | UKZAMBIANS MAGAZINE, WEBSITE, VIDEOS, TV

ZAMBIAN businesswoman arrested in Ethiopia for drug trafficking | UKZAMBIANS MAGAZINE, WEBSITE, VIDEOS, TV: "ZAMBIAN businesswoman has been arrested in Ethiopia for alleged drug trafficking. Izalo Kalenda, 31, was arrested at Addis Abba international airport on her way from Pakistan via Dubai to Zimbabwe.


Woman Arrested
This is according to a statement released on January 22 by Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) public relations officer, John Nyawali.

Mr Nyawali said Ms Kalenda allegedly swallowed the heroin weighing over half a kilogramme.

She is detained in Ethiopia awaiting trial.

Meanwhile, the DEC has arrested a 24-year-old man of John Laing Township in Lusaka for allegedly trafficking in pure grade cocaine.

Joseph Mwamba was allegedly found with 16 sachets of cocaine powder after a DEC search at his house.

And 94 people were arrested in the last seven days for trafficking in different quantities of cannabis weighing a total of 428kgs.

Among them are two Somali nationals resident in Ndola who were found in possession of 34 bundles of Mirra, weighing over 12kgs.

Meanwhile, Police in Kitwe have arrested three suspected conmen, including a foreigner, for allegedly swindling businessmen out of huge sums of money on the pretext that they supplied pharmaceutical seeds.

Copperbelt Police commanding officer Martin named the suspects as Keith Musonda, 36, Lameck Katongo, 18 and Person Brian Gordon, a foreigner from unknown country."

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10 dead after a clash between military and drug traffickers in Mexico

10 dead after a clash between military and drug traffickers in Mexico: "10 suspected drug traffickers killed after encountering with the government forces in the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico.Mexico Defense Department have announced, that soldiers were patrolling when they found the camp of armed men.A shot had been fired on the soldiers which have caused the said encounter.The authorities have also confiscated a rocket launcher, 20 grenades, two grenade launchers and 24 guns from the said camp.It was found out that there's a chronic drug trafficking in Tamaulipas due to competition of two drug cartels namely Zeta and Gulf Cartel."

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Late cyclist's father on drug charges - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Late cyclist's father on drug charges - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "The father of the late world champion cyclist Jobie Dajka has faced the Adelaide District Court accused of being involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.

Stanley Bruce Dajka pleaded not guilty to six counts of laundering money and two of trafficking cannabis in February and March last year.

Jobie Dajka's uncle, Frank Peter Dajka, and another accused man, Wayne Bruce Edwards, also pleaded not guilty to the same charges.

Jobie Dajka, 27, died in April 2009. The former kierin world champion spoke publicly about his battle with alcoholism and depression before his death.

A cause of death has never been stated publicly.

A courts official said the coroner released a finding of 'medical cause of death' to the family and did not hold an inquest.

Tags: law-crim"

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International swoop on drug traffickers nets three in Dubai

International swoop on drug traffickers nets three in Dubai: "The Dubai Police on Monday announced the arrest of three alleged drug traffickers, including the leader of an international drug gang whose members were nabbed in South Africa, the UK and the Netherlands.
A South African and two Asians were arrested from the emirate after almost a year of coordination with several countries, including where the other arrests took place, Major-General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai Police, said at a press conference here. The coordination started after the Dubai Police received information that an international gang of drug traffickers was operating in the UAE too, besides South Africa, the UK and the Netherlands."

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Niger kidnappings show terror's spread

 Niger kidnappings show terror's spread: "With stunned diners looking on, the turbaned attackers burst through the metal door of the open-air restaurant and went straight for their targets: two Frenchmen whom they brazenly dragged at gunpoint into a vehicle waiting outside.
The kidnapping, blamed by French authorities on al-Qaida's North Africa branch, ended with the pair's tragic deaths during a failed French-led rescue attempt over the weekend. The bold hostage-taking showed in the most chilling way that abductions like these are no longer limited to the distant, lawless deserts of northwestern Africa where smugglers and bandits have long held sway.
This abduction on Friday happened right in Niger's capital, Niamey.
David Zounmenou, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa, said it shows the kidnappers 'have the capacity to operate freely wherever they want.'
'They are no longer limited to looking for victims in places without state authority,' he observed. 'They can go anywhere.'"

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Eta ceasefire: 'A step forward but a slow one' | World news | The Guardian

Eta ceasefire: 'A step forward but a slow one' | World news | The Guardian: "The words of peace uttered by three Eta leaders hiding behind white silken masks sounded promising, but hopes that they would turn into anything concrete were dim today.

'It is a step forward, but a slow one,' said Kepa Aulestia, an Eta expert at the Vocento media group. 'Eta's end is inevitable. It is now trying to justify its own place in history.'

The key words used by the men with the raised fists were that they now considered the ceasefire to be 'permanent' and 'general', while also offering a vague promise it would be 'verifiable'.

Spain has been down this road before. The ceasefire Eta called in 2006 was also deemed 'permanent'. Carlos Palate and Diego Estacio disovered that December that the description was not literal when Eta planted a bomb at Madrid's Barajas airport.

Both men died. Not only were hopes of peace buried in the rubble, so was much of Eta's credibility."

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Tunisia closes schools and universities over unrest | Reuters

Tunisia closes schools and universities over unrest | Reuters: "Tunisia's government on Monday ordered the indefinite closure of all schools and universities in response to a wave of unrest, the official news agency reported.

'Following violence in universities and lycees, and while awaiting an investigation to establish who was responsible for inciting students, we have decided to stop all the lessons in all educational establishments ... from tomorrow, Tuesday, until further notice,"

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Iran: 'Mossad assassin' reveals training methods - Israel News, Ynetnews

Iran: 'Mossad assassin' reveals training methods - Israel News, Ynetnews: "A man suspected of spying for Israel and assassinating an Iranian nuclear scientist was exposed on Iranian television Monday.

The suspect, Majid Jamali Fesh (28), said he had visited Tel Aviv and met with senior Israeli security officials. He also said he was trained in explosives.

The man, who Iran claims is a Mossad agent, did not say in the television interview when he visited Tel Aviv. 'I was taught how to follow people, avoid being followed myself, and how to plant bombs on the bottom of under cars,' he said.

The suspect, who was referred to as a 'terrorist' by Iranian TV, said, 'We traveled from Tel Aviv along the fast highway to Jerusalem, and a half-hour later we reached the headquarters.'

The suspect described the facility as being surrounded by a 3-4 kilometer (1.9-2.5 mile) wall with numerous cameras installed on it. He did not specifically mention Mossad during the interview.
"

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Iran: 'Mossad assassin' reveals training methods - Israel News, Ynetnews

Iran: 'Mossad assassin' reveals training methods - Israel News, Ynetnews: "A man suspected of spying for Israel and assassinating an Iranian nuclear scientist was exposed on Iranian television Monday.

The suspect, Majid Jamali Fesh (28), said he had visited Tel Aviv and met with senior Israeli security officials. He also said he was trained in explosives.

The man, who Iran claims is a Mossad agent, did not say in the television interview when he visited Tel Aviv. 'I was taught how to follow people, avoid being followed myself, and how to plant bombs on the bottom of under cars,' he said.

The suspect, who was referred to as a 'terrorist' by Iranian TV, said, 'We traveled from Tel Aviv along the fast highway to Jerusalem, and a half-hour later we reached the headquarters.'

The suspect described the facility as being surrounded by a 3-4 kilometer (1.9-2.5 mile) wall with numerous cameras installed on it. He did not specifically mention Mossad during the interview.
"

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Fresh clashes break out in Tunisia amid EU criticism

AFP: Fresh clashes break out in Tunisia amid EU criticism: "Fresh clashes broke out in Tunisia Monday as the European Union condemned a government crackdown on weekend protests over food and jobs that killed at least 14 people.
Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators in Kasserine, Thala and Regueb, while security forces were on alert in the capital after the weekend violence, the deadliest since protests erupted mid-December.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in Brussels she was concerned about events in Tunisia and called for the release of detained protesters.
A union member died Monday in a hospital in Kasserine, 290 kilometres (180 miles) south of Tunis, after being shot in protests on Sunday, said Sadok Mahmoudi from the regional branch of the UGTT workers union.
A 'great number' of people wounded in the unrest were being treated in the hospital, which was put under army control, he said."

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France Blames Al-Qaida for Killings of French Hostages in Niger | Europe | English

VOA | France Blames Al-Qaida for Killings of French Hostages in Niger | Europe | English: "The French government says al-Qaida was probably behind the kidnapping and killing of two young French men in the Sahel. The pair were found dead Saturday near Niger's border with Mali following a failed rescue attempt by French and Nigerian forces.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called the incident a 'barbaric and cowardly act.'

After his arrival in Niger, France's defense minister warned French living there to be vigilant.

In a TV interview Sunday, Juppe said the estimated 1,700 French expatriates in Niger should take precautions and French tourists should refrain from traveling to the West African country.

The killing of the two young men has shocked France. It is especially poignant since one of them, an aid worker, was about to be married. The other man was to have been his best man."

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Dogs maul Irish tourist to death in Malaysia | News

Dogs maul Irish tourist to death in Malaysia | News: "Two dogs mauled an Irish tourist to death at an organic farm on the Malaysian island of Penang.

Maurice Sullivan, 50, was reportedly staying at the farm with a Polish friend to take photos.

The farmer kept the dogs to protect his property from wild boars and pythons.

State veterinary department director Wan Mohamad Kamil Wan Nik said it was the first fatal dog attack in the region."

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60 million bond set for Sean Connery and associates in Marbella urban corruption case

60 million bond set for Sean Connery and associates in Marbella urban corruption case: "judge investigating the 'Goldfinger' case has set a bond of more than 60 million euros liability to the principal accused in the case, including the actor Sean Connery, his wife and major law firm partners who have the legal representation of the actor.
The Judge of the Court of Instruction No. 1 of Marbella (Málaga) gives processed 10 days to deal with this bond and ordered the seizure of property if they can not respond. In addition, if any are declared insolvent, he has directed the Judicial Police and the Tax Office to investigate whether there may have been operations by the defendants to hide assets since April last year."

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