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They're using ultralight aircrafts as the new tool to smuggle drugs and U.S. Border Patrol officials said the number of encounters are increasing.U.S. Border Patrol officials from the El Centro sector said it's a sign that drug smugglers are becoming desperate since the border is becoming more secure.Hang gliders which are usually used for recreational purposes are now being modified to carry drug loads.Drug smugglers have dug tunnels, sailed...
They blind-tested 17 samples of blended whisky, correctly identifying eight authentic and nine fake samples using an infrared spectrometer.The hand-held device identifies the whisky by measuring whether the alcohol content matches the label and whether ingredients such as caramel colouring are present in the quantities expected.Prof David Littlejohn, who led the research at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, said the present method of checking authenticity involved lab-based analysis “which isn’t always the most convenient system if a sample needs...
The lawyers of Viktor Bout have acknowledged for the first time that their client was engaged in arms trade. The defense made their statement at a pre-trial hearing in New York earlier this week.Bout was extradited to the United States from Thailand in 2008 on charges of attempting to sell a large batch of arms into Colombia to representatives of the FARC group that intended to use them to kill U.S. citizens.FARC is an acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a guerrilla group that fights against U.S. influence.Bout has pleaded non...
HM Revenue and Customs officers said it took three lorries to remove the haul and a full day to count the cigarettes.The haul, worth £2.2m, was found during checks on industrial sites in the area on Wednesday.HMRC spokesman Michael Connolly said the find was "staggering" and the largest ever seizure of its kind in the North East."This was a staggering amount of cigarettes to uncover in one place and shows the scale of this type of crime," he said."Each year the British economy loses over two billion pounds in duty from the sale of illicit tobacco,...
Five crew members have been detained.Officials say the submarine-like vessel is floating about 15 meters (50 feet) under the surface of the Caribbean off the Honduran coast after the crew tried to sink it.They say divers have recovered part of the cocaine aboard the craft. They estimate it was carrying as much as five tons.Defense Minister Marlon Pascua said Thursday it was the first time Honduran authorities have seized such a craft in their waters.A coast guard patrol detected the craft Wednesday off the coast of the sparsely populated...
A federal grand jury in Charlottesville on Wednesday indicted Vijay Nanubhai Patel, 50, Pullin P. Amin, 30, and Diveshkumar Desai, 23, all of the Fredericksburg area.Each is charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarettes and six counts of trafficking in contraband cigarettes.The jury also charged Mars and Roshni Inc., the company that owns the Citgo station, and an unnamed man from the Bronx. Patel is the president of Mars and Roshni and runs its operations, including the C&J Citgo near Four-Mile Fork.Amin and Desai...
An organised crime gang from Ireland is masterminding illegal trade in rhino horns around the world, according to Europol.The European law enforcement agency said it has uncovered intelligence and evidence identifying an organised crime group illegally trading stolen rhino horn across Europe and beyond."The theft of rhino horn shows how organised criminals are always on the lookout for new and creative crime opportunities", Europol said on Thursday."Significant players within this area of crime have been identified as an Irish and ethnically-Irish...
Captured Mexican crime boss said his gang purchased weapons in the United States and smuggled them across the Rio Grande river, according to testimony released Tuesday by Mexican authorities. Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar, one of the founders and leaders of the feared Zetas drug cartel, said smugglers began transporting the weapons across the river following increased security at international crossings. "All the arms are bought in the United States... Before we would transport them over the bridges, but now we transport them across the river, with...
As a result of the Bali Nine death sentences, Australia — which does not support capital punishment — has put in place measures to prevent the police from putting Australian lives at risk when co-operating with overseas authorities.A top member of the so-called Bali Nine heroin trafficking syndicate, Myuran Sukumaran, has lost his final appeal against a death sentence in Indonesia for heroin smuggling.The decision by Indonesia's Supreme Court follows a similar rejection for fellow Bali Nine member Andrew Chan last month, the Daily Telegraph reports.Another...
The 27-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were arrested last night following a joint investigation by Customs and Border Protection officials and the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation.Authorities had been monitoring the pair after they allegedly made several attempts to post teddy bears overseas which contained more than 18 bobtail lizards, sand swimmer skinks and crevice skinks.Over the past 12 weeks, a total of six packages in four consignments were intercepted by Customs and Border Protection at Perth Mail centre.Authorities...
Interior Ministry official Vitalie Briceag said the uranium-235 was brought in from Russia. He said the smugglers were trying to sell it to a North African country for €20 million (£18 million).Uranium-235 makes up less than 1 per cent of natural uranium. Highly enriched uranium – which is used to arm nuclear weapons – is 90 per cent or more uranium-235.The International Atomic Energy Agency considers 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of uranium-235 a "significant quantity" – technical language for the amount needed to make a nuclear bomb.Television channel...
Filipina teacher was sentenced to death for smuggling heroin into China, three months after three Filipino drug mules were executed, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said Friday.The woman, who was not named, was sentenced last week the DFA said, quoting a report from the Philippine consulate in Guangzhou.“She was arrested for drug-smuggling in October 2010 at the international airport in Guangzhou, for carrying 1,996 grams (67 ounces) of heroin concealed in a foil packet,” in her suitcase, the DFA said in a statement.Although the case...
