Drug couriers have started to smuggle hashish into Finland inside their bodies in small swallowable packets.

 

      According to the Customs, the first attempts to bring internally concealed hashish into the country were observed in 2008. In the past several months, however, the phenomenon has become markedly more common.       Customs Inspector Tero Virtanen explains that since last December more than a dozen individuals have been stopped and caught on arrival at Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport for trying to smuggle in hashish inside the body.       ”Most of them have been men between the ages of 20 and 35. They are professional couriers, and some of them have told the officials that they have made several successful runs to Finland before getting caught. Some of them have also performed deliveries to other Nordic countries.”       According to Virtanen, the Customs have confiscated more than ten kilograms of cannabis from the mules. The street value of the lot would have been in the region of EUR 100,000.       In addition to this, the officials have learned in the preliminary investigations about the importation of additional roughly 10 kg of hashish.       “Thanks to the couriers, several different criminal organisations have now been tracked down in Finland. At the receiving end of the chain there are around a dozen suspects and the spectrum of their nationalities is broad”, Virtanen notes.       The Customs believe that hash has been distributed, or was supposed to be distributed, across Southern Finland.       The amounts of cannabis that the couriers have swallowed in small packages have varied from half a kilogramme to a kilo.       The smugglers doing the ingesting of the small packages have been natives of Spain, Portugal, Morocco, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.       Customs officials suspect that the smuggled substance has generally originated from Morocco and Spain.       One of the couriers told the authorities that his fee for the gig was EUR 700.       The use of this technique to bring in hashish is a new development: traditionally the internally concealed drugs smuggled into the country have been substances appreciably stronger than hash, such as cocaine and heroin.       “Larger hashish consignments are still brought in through other means, but this is a quick way to import narcotics. There will always be a ready market for cannabis”, Virtanen says.

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Taiwan busts massive drug smuggling ring

 

TAIWAN police say they've busted a drug smuggling ring responsible for transporting $66.06 million worth of narcotics to Australia, New Zealand and Japan. A total of nine suspects have been arrested, including the suspected leader of the ring, 40-year-old Fan Chu-lin, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said on Monday. "This is definitely one of the largest smuggling rings to be uncovered in many years," bureau official Yang Ming-chang said. Over a 10-year period, the group allegedly smuggled hundreds of kilograms of ecstasy and amphetamines from Hong Kong and China to Japan, New Zealand and Australia. It also smuggled large amounts of marijuana from Thailand and Holland into Taiwan. According to preliminary estimates, the drugs smuggled by the group over the 10-year period totalled at least $65.5 million, Yang said. If convicted, Fan could face a minimum 20 years in jail under Taiwanese law.

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Five Malaysian men have been arrested in Sydney and Melbourne after allegedly trying to set up a drug trafficking network along the east coast.

Police say they seized $4 million worth of the drugs during raids in three Sydney suburbs yesterday, but the group had planned to import hundreds of kilograms of drugs.
A total of 2 kilograms of ice and 2.1 kilograms of heroin were allegedly found at the properties in the Sydney CBD and at Cabramatta and Hurstville, in the city's south-west and south.
Police say the men travelled to Australia for the express purpose of setting up a trafficking network in Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
Officers from the NSW Asian Crime Squad pounced yesterday after a six-month investigation, in cooperation with the Australian Federal Police and the NSW Crime Commission.
Police say the five arrests include the two men allegedly running the syndicate, aged 28 and 48.
They were arrested late yesterday, one at a restaurant in Sydney's Chinatown and the other while he was travelling to Sydney Airport.
The men have been charged with offences including supplying commercial quantities of ice and heroin.
Both were refused bail to face court today.
Police then arrested two more men, aged 38 and 39, at Cabramatta and Hurstville.
Again both were charged with offences including supplying a commercial quantity of an illegal drug, and refused bail to face court today.
The final arrest was a 23-year-old detained by AFP officers in Melbourne.
The commander of the NSW Asian Crime Squad, Scott Cook, says the operation was still in its embryonic stage.
"This is potentially a very serious and large operation. There's no doubt in our minds that the people involved in this had aspirations certainly of importing hundreds of kilos of drugs," he said.
"They certainly didn't get to do that yet and I think in a sense we've prevented that from occuring, which is probably better than letting it occur and then seizing the drugs.
"They were well on their way. Two of the people involved flew out from Malaysia to Australia only about 10 days ago. They were the principals who came out to oversee the implementation of their plans, which was being carried out by others who were already in Australia.
"So it was very early days. We'll be alleging that they'd started to supply drugs in NSW with a view of developing their networks to supply further drugs in future."

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Turkish police have seized large amount of hashish in the frames of an operation carried out in Istanbul

Turkish police have seized large amount of hashish in the frames of an operation carried out in Istanbul, the Anatolian Agency informs.
It is believed that the drug haul has been imported from Diyarbakir.
Three people have been arrested, charged with drug trafficking.

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Container ship crew member sentenced for drug smuggling

A man in his 30s has been sentenced to three years in prison for smuggling around four kilogrammes of amphetamines to Iceland. He is charged with having smuggled the drugs to the country with intent to sell and distribute them.
Benedikt Palmason took possession of the amphetamines from an unknown person in Rotterdam, Netherlands on the 6th June and took them to Iceland aboard the Eimskip container ship, Godafoss. The charged man was a crew member on board the ship, DV reported.
He hid the drugs in front of the back seat of a car which was being transported; but the police found them in a search.



The man’s three year gaol sentence is considered light, due to the fact that he has never been prosecuted for similar crimes before, and that he was not proven to be anything more than a drugs mule. He confessed without reservation to the court.
The drugs in question are considered very dangerous and the mix was very strong.
Palmason was sentenced to three years in prison and will have to pay ISK 651,375 (EUR 3,930) in legal costs — including ISK 445,000 to his defence lawyer. He has been in custody awaiting trial since the 14th June.

 

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Iranian newspapers report that a man has been hanged in the southern Iranian town of Minab on charges of drug smuggling.

The man, who was executed on July 30, was identified only by the initials H.D.

The report in the "Kayhan" newspaper did not say whether the execution was carried out in public.

The latest hanging brings to 173 the number of executions reported in Iran so far this year, according to media and official reports.

Iranian media reported 179 hangings last year, but international human rights groups say the actual number was much higher -- ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people it executed.

Tehran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order in Iran.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.

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Drug smugglers taking to the skies to ferry drugs across the border.

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 boats, built ramps over the border fence and even tried to hide drugs inside of bricks to try and succeed in their smuggling runs.

But now, ultralight aircraft seem to be the new trend among Mexican organized crime groups, now that man power, technology and security has been stepped up along the Southwest border.

"These criminal organizations have become a little bit more desperate and they find dangerous means of transporting their narcotics thru the border via these ultra light aircraft," Victor Lara, Border Patrol spokes for the El Centro sector said.

Lara said they had 118 incursions during the 2009 fiscal year.

The number of incursions doubled last year and they had more than 70 encounters in the first four months of this year.

Lara said the modified hang gliders can zip across the border within minutes.

So now agents have to turn off their engines and roll down their windows.

"They're detected by means of hearing them because they fly at low levels," Lara said. "So the only way of detecting these guys is by hearing these guys at night."

Ultralights make a sound a little louder than a lawnmower.

He said these light-weight planes have a single engine and carry one or two people.

Lara said smugglers won't carry drug loads by the ton as they once did. Ultralight carry only a few pounds at a time.

"It doesn't take a lot of skill to fly these so that's why they pose a major threat to everybody," Lara said.

He said agents can't shoot down the ultralights because it would place the public at risk and they could also crash into power lines.

Agents can only follow the planes to their destination.

They also tip off the Mexican authorities in case they fly back across the southern border.

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Scientists have invented a simple way to tell real Scotch whisky from fake.

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 to be identified quickly.
“We have developed a system that could be adapted for use on-site.”
The whisky industry loses millions of pounds a year to black market traders, particularly in the Far East.

 

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Viktor Bout refuses to plead guilty

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 guilty to the charges. If convicted, he faces from 25 years to life in prison.

 

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Twelve million counterfeit cigarettes have been discovered during a search of a warehouse in Gateshead.

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, money that is ploughed straight back into funding other criminal activity in our neighbourhoods.

"We are determined to target the criminal supply chains that flood local communities with these smuggled products."

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Honduran patrol boat has located a semi-submersible craft used by drug traffickers to carry cocaine.

 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 province of Gracias a Dios, near the Nicaraguan border.

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Three men have been accused of running a cigarette smuggling ring out of a Citgo on U.S. 1 in Spotsylvania County that sometimes sold $1 million in cigarettes a month.

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 were his employees. The company and the three Fredericksburg men are also charged with one count each of conspiracy for failing to maintain cigarette sales records.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced the indictments yesterday.

According to the announcement, starting in 2009, Patel, Amin and Desai bought cigarettes from legitimate sources in Virginia. They also bought cigarettes, both taxed and untaxed, from undercover law enforcement officers earlier this year.

The men would hold large quantities of cigarette cartons at the Citgo, where traffickers would come buy them for transport to New York, Pennsylvania and other places for resale, according to the indictment.

The men sold more than 38,000 cartons of cigarettes to New York traffickers just between June 2010 and April 2011, according to the indictment. That cost the state and city of New York more than $4.8 million in cigarette taxes and almost $432,000 in sales taxes.

Virginia's cigarette tax rate, 30 cents a pack, is the second-lowest in the nation, while New York's, at $4.35 a pack ($5.85 in New York City) is the highest, according to data from the National Council of State Legislatures and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

At the peak of the trafficking, the three Fredericksburg men are alleged to have sold $1 million worth of cigarettes a month.

If convicted, each man could get five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count. The company could face a monetary fine.

The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office and commonwealth's attorney helped the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the state attorney general's office with the investigation.

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Irish gang runs rhino horn trade

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 organised criminal group, who are known to use intimidation and violence to achieve their ends."

The group are targeting antique dealers, auction houses, art galleries, museums, private collections and zoos, also resorting to theft and aggravated burglary, with contacts in the UK, France, North and South America, South Africa, China and Australia.

Police say the group are also involved in drugs trafficking, organised robbery, distribution of counterfeit products, tarmac fraud and money laundering across the EU.

Gardaí and Europol have called for dedicated investigations in countries where the gang has links to determine the scale and threat from the crime.

Police forces have also been urged to swap intelligence on the gang and warn people who own rhino horns or put them on display that they may be a target.

Rhinos are often poached for their horns which are sold on the black market and are used for decoration, to produce luxury products and also used in traditional medicine.

Depending on the size and quality of the specimen, a rhino horn can be worth between €25,000 and €200,000.

 

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Detained Mexico crime boss details US gun smuggling

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 difficulty," he said, according to the public security ministry.

The Rio Grande -- known as the Rio Bravo del Norte in Mexico -- forms the 1,200-mile (2,000 kilometer) border between Mexico and the US state of Texas.

Mexico has long called for stricter gun laws in the United States, which is believed to be the source of much of the weapons that end up in the hands of drug traffickers and is also one of their most lucrative markets.

Some 37,000 people have been killed in mostly drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006, when the government launched a massive military crackdown on the powerful cartels, which also battle each other over territory.

Rejon Aguilar was detained on Sunday in central Mexico as he was traveling to the south of the country to visit his mother in his home state of Campeche, according to Mexican authorities.

He was one of the founders of the Zetas cartel, a group of former soldiers who pioneered the use of military tactics and weaponry, at first in the service of the Gulf cartel, for which they worked as hitmen.

They later split from their employers and founded their own cartel, sparking a brutal turf war. The Zetas are accused of two mass killings, one in Mexico's northeast and one in a Guatemalan border province.

 

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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.

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 Bali Nine member, Scott Rush, recently had his death sentence commuted to life on appeal. However, Rush was one of the couriers while Chan and Sukumaran were classified as the Bali Nine' ringleaders. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, treats drug crime harshly.

The latest verdict means Sukumaran and Chan will be shot dead by a firing squad unless Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. However, Yudhoyono recently said publicly that he does not give pardons to those on death row, even if they are foreigners.

The Australian government has repeatedly urged Indonesia to show leniency to the Australians, including in personal pleas to Yudhoyono, according to the  SMH.

The Bali Nine smugglers were caught by Indonesian police in Bali on a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police. As a result of the 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.

Both Sukumaran and Chan have admitted their guilt and apologized. Chan has developed a strong Christian faith and has said he doesn't fear death.

Foreign minister Kevin Rudd will likely raise the issue of the death penalty when he visits Jakarta on Friday,

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HONG KONG couple has been arrested in Perth for attempting to smuggle reptiles hidden inside teddy bears.

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 searched a St James residence last night and seized 12 more bobtail lizards, several soft toys, packaging and postage material.

Customs and Border Protection WA Regional Director, Amanda Bott, said: “The smuggling of wildlife into and out of Australia is a serious issue. These activities if left uncontrolled could result in the extinction of species in the wild.”

DEC senior wildlife investigator Rick Dawson said bobtail lizards were worth up to $7500 on the Asian black market.

“While common in Western Australia, these lizards are highly sought after in Asia because they are easy to care for, attractive, and exotic,” he said.

“In some instances the reptiles’ eyes had been taped up, and the cold and cramped conditions they would have had to endure on a long journey without food or water in a cargo hold is abhorrent.

“This joint effort between Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Environment and Conservation demonstrates that we are committed to putting an end to this cruel practice.”

The seized reptiles will be assessed this afternoon by veterinary staff at Perth Zoo.

The maximum penalty for illegally importing and possessing wildlife under WA’s Wildlife Conservation Act is $4000.

The maximum penalties for offences under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 are 10 years imprisonment or a fine of $110,000 or both.

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Six people have been detained for smuggling an unspecified amount of the form of uranium that can be used to make a nuclear weapon

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 ProTV Chisinau posted on their web site a video released by the Interior Ministry showing one of the smugglers talking with an undercover police officer who claimed he was interested in buying the uranium. One of the smugglers told the policeman they could provide one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of uranium, but not the whole quantity at once, according to the video.
IAEA officials contacted shortly after the detentions were reported said they had no immediate comment.

Four detainees are Moldovan citizens, one is Russian and another is from Moldova's separatist Trans-Dniester region, Briceag said. He said the uranium was kept in a lead cylinder, adding more information will be disclosed after an investigation is conducted in a Western country.
In 2010, Moldovan authorities arrested three people who were trying to sell nearly two kilograms of uranium-238 worth €9 million on the black market. The amount was too small – and not radioactive enough – to be used in a "dirty bomb."

 

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China sentences Filipina to death for drug smuggling

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 will be brought to the Guangdong High People’s Court for automatic review, the DFA warned that China was known for its “firm stance” in drug-smuggling cases.
The woman, however, was given a two-year reprieve, according to the DFA. Such convicts in the past have been able to use the reprieve to get their death sentences commuted.
In March, Chinese authorities executed three Filipino drug mules despite repeated pleas by the Philippine government for clemency.
Earlier this year, the DFA said more than 500 Filipinos — men and women — are currently languishing in foreign jails on drug-related cases.

 

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Blitz raids' targeted at cigarette smugglers

REVENUE’S CUSTOMS officers are conducting a major investigation into cigarette smuggling and are carrying out an average of one “blitz raid” every day with a view to securing a record 150 smuggling convictions this year.

The extent of the heightened activity aimed at gangs smuggling contraband and counterfeit cigarettes was revealed yesterday by senior Revenue official Tom Talbot at a conference in Dublin on cigarette smuggling.

He said Revenue this year planned to carry out at least six “national blitzes”, which would each involve periods of up to six days of intense raids and search operations on suspected smugglers and their premises.

“We are drafting in additional staff for these – people who would work in other areas, like enforcement on alcohol and oil or social welfare,” he said.

A further 100 blitz operations would go ahead this year at airports around the country, involving Customs staff carrying out saturation-level searches on selected days.

Another 200 regional blitz operations would also be conducted by the end of the year at locations such as open air markets where cigarettes were being sold.

Mr Talbot told the Retailers Against Smuggling conference the exchequer was losing an estimated €250 million in taxes and duties every year as a result of the black market in cigarettes.

Legitimately produced and counterfeit cigarettes were being smuggled into the country and sold, all outside the tax system.

Mr Talbot said smuggling was being conducted across a range of levels, including holiday-makers, known as “ant smugglers”, bringing large quantities of cigarettes into the country.

Other people were “filling a suitcase once a month and making €10,000” or “filling a van once a year” and earning considerably more.

The conference heard those engaged in top-end organised crime, including the drugs trade, were also involved in cigarette smuggling, as were dissident republicans.

To date in 2011, some 54 million cigarettes had been seized. This compared to 147 million in all of last year. Mr Talbot said this reduction was due to the fact some very large hauls this year were intercepted by authorities in the North after they were allowed to leave the Republic.

Earlier this month, when 10 million cigarettes were found in a container in Cork, a second container that had been travelling with it was intercepted in Antwerp with the help of the Irish authorities.

A total of four container-loads destined for Ireland this year had been intercepted just outside the jurisdiction for operational reasons, with the co-operation and consent of Revenue.

Mr Talbot said the fact these seizures were not included in Revenue’s seizure total for the year distorted the level of smuggling activity into the country. This activity was increasing, he said.

Retailers at the conference were told the Republic had the second highest retail price for cigarettes in Europe. This meant international gangs favoured Ireland above other countries as a destination for cigarettes due to higher profits on the black market here.

The ease with which the border with the North could be crossed also meant gangs favoured Ireland as a gateway country to the UK and the rest of Europe.

Joe Barrett, an owner and founder of the Applegreen chain of service stations and chair of yesterday’s conference, said truckloads of cigarettes were landing at ports in the Republic, being driven north of the Border and then entering Britain via car ferry.

* Three men were arrested following the seizure of seven million contraband cigarettes in west Dublin yesterday. The haul was uncovered at Baldonnell Business Park as it was being offloaded from a 40-foot container.

Three Irish men, one in his 40s and two in their 20s, were arrested at the premises and were last night being held for questioning.

 

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Police and customs officers in Northern Ireland who launched an operation against organised crime have uncovered a fuel laundering plant

Police and customs officers in Northern Ireland who launched a major operation against organised crime have uncovered a fuel laundering plant, seized a large sum of cash and arrested three men.
There were raids on 13 commercial and private premises in Co Antrim, including in Belfast, as part of the investigation into large-scale fuel fraud, money laundering and VAT fraud.

Officials said they recovered £300,000 in cash, plus a mobile laundering plant, 72,000 litres of illicit fuel, a number of vehicles, pumps and other equipment.

John Whiting, assistant director of customs criminal investigation, said: "This operation is linked to ongoing investigations into the laundering and distribution of illicit fuel across Northern Ireland.

"Those involved in the illegal fuel trade are not providing a public service; it is organised criminality, which impacts on local communities and makes it more difficult for legitimate businesses to compete.

"Most crime is motivated by money. The prevention of money laundering and the seizure of cash and assets stops serious crime and we would urge anyone with information about this or other illegal activity to contact us on 0800 59 5000."

It is understood the three arrested people remain in custody and the investigation is continuing

 

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TWO men have been found guilty of trying to smuggle 18 kilos of cocaine from Bolivia to Torquay.

Welder Mark Lang, 37, of Pendennis Road, Torquay, and farmhand Peter Ferguson, 57, from Liverpool, brought drugs with a street value of £2.2million into the country.

​

The cocaine was hidden in the piston of a hydraulic press sent from South America to the workshop of Taylor Made Gates on Newton Road, a business owned by Lang.

Both men denied the charge, as did a third defendant Daryl Wilson, 33, a security door fitter from Queensway, Torquay.

The jury took three hours to find Lang and Ferguson guilty of conspiring together to fraudulently evade the prohibition of importation of a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and in contravention of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.

Wilson was acquitted of the same charge.

The five-day trial was told how the drugs were discovered hidden in a metal press by officials at Frankfurt Airport in Germany.

They were removed at Heathrow Airport but the press was reassembled and taken to its destination address at Taylor Made Gates.

Officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency then mounted a surveillance operation to see who would pick up the press.

It lay unwrapped on a pallet for several days in a deliberate attempt to flush out any interest from police.

SOCA planted a listening bug and on the morning of January 16 officers heard Lang, Ferguson and another man, Ricardo Gomez, opening the package and dismantling the press.

At 11.10am local police and SOCA officers raided the workshop and arrested the three men.

The working press used to conceal the drugs bored the fake company name of Torbol, a combination of Torquay and Bolivia.

The company did not exist but a cargo firm paid to bring it through Heathrow had been given a glossy company brochure to make it seem genuine.

It was claimed Ferguson had arranged for Gomez, known as 'the mechanic', to fly to the UK a few days before to dismantle the press and extract the drugs.

Gomez admitted his part in the plot and did not stand trial.

Ferguson said he thought the press would contain cannabis.

He claimed he was asked by a businessman from his native Liverpool to take out the cannabis and drive it up to Liverpool.

Lang, who refused to give evidence, told police he had been asked by an unnamed man to take delivery of a press but had no idea it contained drugs.

Wilson denied any knowledge of the press or drug smuggling.

The prosecution said Wilson knew both men and was the 'go-between' allowing Lang and Ferguson to stay in contact by passing messages between them.

But the jury did not agree and he walked free from court.

Police said the gang wanted to extract the drugs for onward sale in the UK.

Ferguson, Lang and Gomez are due to be sentenced today.

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A British man was today being held by Spanish police after more than £500,000 of cannabis was allegedly found stashed in his car.

Anthony Kelly, 49, appeared in court in the northern city of Santander yesterday accused of planning to import the drugs to the UK.

Kelly was due to board a Plymouth-bound ferry just hours after he was arrested by Spanish drug squad detectives on Wednesday June 15.

The country’s National Police allegedly recovered 171kg of cannabis, worth £513,000 had it been sold on the street.

Kelly was held after he returned to his Santander hotel in a taxi in the early hours of Monday morning.

After searching his Vauxhall Astra, which was parked outside the hotel, officers from Madrid’s specialist organised crime unit allegedly discovered a haul of 681 packages hidden in secret compartments, including a "false floor".

Kelly was booked on a car ferry leaving Santander hours later for Plymouth.

He was today being held on remand following a behind-closed-doors appearance before an investigating judge in the Atlantic port city.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the arrest of a British national in Spain on June 15 and consular assistance is currently being provided."

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Five years for Middlesbrough drug dealer

HEROIN dealer was jailed for five years for his part in what the judge said was the “miserable trade in drugs on Teesside”.

The Crown said that Gary David O’Hare, 31, from Middlesbrough who was caught with nearly £12,000 of the Class A drug was not just a street level dealer.

Text messages showed he was higher up the chain dealing in bigger amounts than just selling wraps to addicts, said prosecutor Michael Bosomworth.

O’Hare, pictured, a building contractor, who had served a two-year sentence for heroin dealing in 2008, was caught with 117g of heroin when police raided his girlfriend’s home in Brancepeth Avenue, Middlesbrough, on September 22 last year.

The heroin which was worth £11,700 was in a bedroom, and police also seized a set of scales with traces of heroin, a dealer’s list, plastic bags and £100 in cash, Teesside Crown Court was told.

An examination of his mobile phone revealed a text message from the day before: “Want nine of that stuff you have given us.”

Mr Bosomworth said an experienced drugs officer concluded the “nine” referred to nine ounces of heroin. He added: “We are dealing here with significant quantities, and not street deals.”

His previous jail sentence came after he walked in to Middlesbrough Police Station on June 12, 2008 and produced wraps of heroin.

Martin Scarborough, defending, said O’Hare was released from jail with a £13,000 drugs debt, and he had been working to pay it off. His family had now paid it off legitimately. O’Hare’s partner, the mother of three children, was standing by him.

Judge Michael Taylor jailed O’Hare, of Holdenby Drive, Middlesbrough, for five years after he pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to supply.

 

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Roanoke man faces charges including cocaine possession after chase ends in crash

A car being chased by a Roanoke police officer for speeding crashed into a minivan at a busy northwest Roanoke intersection Friday, shoving the minivan onto its side and sending its driver to a hospital, police said.

A large amount of cocaine was found on the car's driver, Roanoke police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said.

Joshua Markey Hairston, 21, of Roanoke is being held in the Roanoke City Jail without bond in connection with the incident.

The suspect led police on a pursuit that started before 4 p.m. Friday when a Roanoke officer conducting a radar check on Loudon Avenue near 18th Street, stopped a silver Nissan in the 1600 block of Loudon Avenue for driving 13 miles per hour over the residential speed limit of 25, Johnson said.

Roanoke police Officer R.H. McNiff tried to make a traffic stop when Hairston stopped in the 1600 block of Loudon Avenue, according to the police report. A police vehicle video confirmed the officer was exiting his patrol vehicle when Hairston's vehicle fled, Johnson said.

According to the police report, Hairston did not stop at two subsequent intersections. His vehicle then struck a white Pontiac minivan that was traveling north on 10th Street at the intersection of 10th Street and Loudon Avenue, police said.

Carlos Reyes, who said he was driving home from work when he witnessed the wreck, said he saw the Nissan T-bone the minivan, sending it soaring into the air. The minivan landed on its left side between a light post and a utility box near the intersection.

Reyes was driving his Ford Explorer behind the minivan when he saw the wreck, he said. He and another man ran to the minivan and tried to open its passenger door to pull the driver out, he said, but the door was stuck.

Firefighters arrived and sawed off the roof of the minivan and freed the trapped woman. Medics took her in an ambulance to a hospital. Dozens of onlookers watched from a hill across 10th Street.

The driver of the minivan was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. She was identified as Lisa Gail Johnson, 31, of Roanoke. There were no passengers with her. A Carilion spokeswoman did not have information of Johnson's condition Friday night.

At the time of the wreck, McNiff was traveling in the 1100 block of Loudon Avenue. The officer safely cleared the intersection of 11th Street and Loudon Avenue before approaching the wreck.

Hairston fled the scene, as did a passenger who was with him, police said. Hairston ran onto a Valley Metro bus that was stopped at the intersection of 10th Street and Loudon Avenue, police said.

McNiff found him on the bus and arrested him. Officers found a large quantity of a white substance in Hairston's possession that field-tested positive for cocaine, Johnson said. Hairston has been charged with possession of cocaine, felony eluding police, driving on a suspended operator's license, speeding and a seat belt violation, Johnson said.

The passenger was found at the intersection of Eighth Street and Harrison Avenue by another officer working the wreck. The passenger, who police have not named, was released Friday evening but charges against the passenger are pending.

This is at least the third wreck related to a police chase in the city this year, and at least the ninth since January 2010.

In January 2011, the police department put an officer on administrative leave after she crashed into two cars on Hershberger Road while racing to join the pursuit of a motorist who had run a stop sign.

In March, the department put an officer on administrative duty after he crashed into a fence off Melrose Avenue while pursuing a habitual offender.

Police Chief Chris Perkins said the police response was appropriate in both cases, but officers are expected to maintain control of their cruisers.

A preliminary investigation shows McNiff "acted appropriately during this incident," Perkins said in a news release.

"According to the preliminary investigation, Officer McNiff used due diligence and caution in his response to the dangerous and careless actions of the driver who chose to flee in an attempt to avoid arrest and prosecution," Perkins said.

The wreck remains under investigation.

 

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police found cocaine in the clothing of both Stone and the driver.

Funk icon Sly Stone has been MIA from the rock scene for quite some time, but that doesn’t stop him from rocking the boat with the law.

According to a post on Reuters,  the 68-year-old rocker, who is the front man for Sly and the Family Stone, was arrested April 1, along with his driver, after police found cocaine in the clothing of both Stone and the driver. One of Stone’s defense attorneys, Peter Knecht, insisted that the cocaine didn’t belong to Stone, stating that: “A lot of musicians hang out with people who have drugs. How are they supposed to know?”

Stone’s next court appearance has been set for July 19, at a pre-trial conference at a court in Van Nuys, a suburb located in Los Angeles. Stone, whose real name is Sylvester Stewart, is the artist behind such iconic soul tunes as “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey” and “I Wanna Take You Higher,” but his career has been plagued troubles with the law, including charges for drug and gun possession.

His first public appearance in close to 13 years was made during the Grammy Awards in 2006, when he was the focus of an all-star tribute. He stormed the stage in a rendition of “I Wanna Take You Higher,” but he left before the song ended.

Stone will be ending a 30-year hiatus from the recording scene this year, as he is set to release a new album on August 16. This was revealed by Tim Yasui, general manager for Cleopatra Records.

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Highway Patrol busts smugglers, finds $2.4 million in cocaine

traffic stop by North Carolina state troopers led to one of the largest cocaine seizures in the Charlotte area, according to the Justice Department.

On Thursday, June 16, state troopers stopped a Ford F-150 truck along Highway 74 in Monroe. During the stop, state troopers said they saw three duffel bags in the back seat of the truck.

One of the bags was slightly unzipped troopers said, and they saw what appeared to be packages wrapped in brown tape.

A drug-sniffing dog was called to the scene and the animal indicated to officers that drugs were present in the truck. After a conducting a search…troopers said they found 81 kilograms of cocaine.

The 81 kilos has an estimated street value of $2.4 million, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Two men, Rueben Orozco-Garcia, 33, and Juan Gonzalez-Vejar, 46, were arrested on June 17, 2011, and charged with suspicion of trafficking cocaine.

A department of justice spokesperson said the case against Gozalez-Vejar and Orozco –Garcia is still unfolding, and more information about the case could be revealed over the next few days.

Investigators said the men confessed to and showed DEA agents several homes they used in Union and Mecklenburg counties to process cocaine.

Both men are suspected of being in the United States illegally, and are in federal custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail under no bond.

 

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Saudi security forces have foiled attempts to smuggle drugs worth more than SR1.65 billion into the Kingdom during the last three months

Saudi security forces have foiled attempts to smuggle drugs worth more than SR1.65 billion into the Kingdom during the last three months and arrested 503 drug smugglers, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said those arrested were 252 Saudis and 251 foreigners from 24 countries.

During the drug busts, which took place during March, April and May this year, three security officers were injured while five smugglers killed.

During the first operation, drug enforcement agencies foiled an attempt to smuggle 7.92 million amphetamine pills, 3,605 kg of hashish, 64,482 kg of qat and 12.89 kg of heroin into the Kingdom. In the second operation, police confiscated 3.6 million amphetamine pills, 1,367 kg of hashish, 24,458 kg of qat and 4.88 kg of heroin in addition to SR3.23 million in cash.

Al-Turki said police seized 2.7 million amphetamine pills, 1,243 kg of hashish, 4.44 kg of heroin and 22,732 kg of qat in another major anti-drug operation. He commended the coordination between the Customs Department and security agencies in carrying out the operations against drug-smuggling and trafficking.

The spokesman said during the first three months of this year, police arrested 241 Saudis and 237 foreigners of 23 nationalities for their involvement in drug smuggling and trafficking operations.

Al-Turki said the smugglers had used children and women to carry out their malicious operations. “There were at least five cases in which women and children were involved,” he said. However, he pointed out that women have never been the main operators. He said most drug smuggling operations took place through the land borders. “There were only fewer cases of smuggling through the Kingdom’s marine borders,” he added.

Al-Turki said security officers considered these successful anti-drug operations their national duty. “We have stated several times before that Saudi Arabia has been targeted by drug barons. Even some tablets given to patients by some doctors are aimed at making them drug addicts. Drug traffickers bribe doctors and pharmacists to market such narcotic pills,” he said.

He said it is the duty of the Health Ministry to monitor hospitals and pharmacies and prevent them from promoting narcotic drugs. “We have good coordination with all government departments.” The general called for the cooperation of all members of society to prevent drug smuggling and trafficking in the Kingdom.

“Some people think certain drugs would not create any addiction. This is wrong. All drug barons and producers are involved in this illicit business to make money. They want to make people addicts gradually by promoting soft pills.”

Al-Turki urged students not to take narcotic pills during examination times in order to keep them awake. “It will make them drug addicts,” he said and urged parents to keep a watch on their children.

Maj. Ahmed Al-Harithy, director of labs at the Anti-Drugs Department, pointed out that all the confiscated pills were contaminated as they were manufactured improperly.

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TWO drug traffickers were sentenced to death, one with a two-year reprieve

TWO drug traffickers were sentenced to death, one with a two-year reprieve, by a court in northeast China's Jilin Province yesterday.

Weng Tanggen was found guilty of possessing drug paraphernalia and possessing and selling illegal drugs and sentenced to death.

Police seized more than 10,000 magu pills, 757 grams of magu powder and drug-making equipment from a house rented by Weng.

Wang Jianping, who had 5,912 magu pills and 265 grams of methamphetamine in his apartment in Changchun, Jilin's capital, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

Magu is made by combining methamphetamine, also known as ice, and caffeine.

The court heard that Weng had brought more than 14,000 magu pills from Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, and sold them to Wang at 43 yuan (US$6.6) each.

Seven people who bought drugs from Wang were jailed for between 18 months and 15 years.

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Turkish police investigating a mass alcohol poisoning last month have made 22 arrests and seized thousands of bottles of bootleg liquor.

A clandestine factory was reportedly found where methanol was being used to make counterfeit alcoholic drinks.

Four Russian tour guides died and some 20 fell ill after being served tainted alcohol on a yacht near the resort of Bodrum.

The deaths of the guides, mostly young women, made headlines in Russia.

According to Turkish news agency Anatolia, arrests were made in four different regions of the country.

In the southern province of Mersin, 7,000 bottles of bootleg liquor were found along with empty bottles, stickers and other materials used in production.

Police reportedly found methanol, commonly used to mix bootleg alcohol, in whiskey on the yacht.

Turkey's agriculture ministry said earlier that the alcoholic drinks served on the yacht had been imported by an Ankara company from North Cyprus and distributed to Ankara, Mersin, Antalya and Mugla.

'Strange taste'
The latest victim, a Russian man, died on Monday in hospital in western Turkey.

Two of the other victims also died in Turkey and the third after flying back to Moscow.

Twenty Russians and one Turk were affected, and one woman has been in a coma.

The party of some 60 Russians was largely made up of travel agency managers, in Turkey for a fact-finding visit, the Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty reported last week.

Anatasia Lavrenko, whose friend Marina Shevelyova died in Moscow, told Russian online newspaper Life News they had paid $50 for the night-time cruise and each had been served between 10 and 12 of their favourite cocktails, whiskey and cola.

"Sometimes it seemed like the taste of the alcohol was too strong but then I thought the barmen had simply poured out too much whiskey and I did not attach any importance to it," she said.

Life News published on its Russian-language website a photo said to show the two young women drinking aboard the yacht.

The day after the cruise, when they were due to fly home together, both women woke up feeling ill but blamed a hangover.

However, Ms Shevelyova became more and more sick on the flight back and, after being rushed to hospital in Moscow, died last Tuesday.

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proximity of Oman to drug producing nations is a cause of increase in attempt to use the country as a transit point for global drug smuggling

Drug dealers are increasingly using Oman's strategic location as the transit point for drug trafficking, according to Lt. Colonel Yaqoub Bin Salmeen Al Habsi, Acting head of the Drug Control Department at the Directorate-General of Criminal Investigation.
He said that the proximity of Oman to drug producing nations was another cause of increase in attempt to use the country as a transit point for global drug smuggling.
Traffickers were getting innovative in smuggling drugs through sea route. "Among the newer methods used, infiltrators are used as means to smuggle narcotics into the country as they are dropped off along the coastal area during night."
Oman has also detected cases of air passengers swallowing drugs to smuggle them.
The pitfall of increasing drug smuggling through Oman is increase in use of banned drugs by young Omanis. "Most users [of drugs] in the country are Omanis, although smuggling and trafficking [of drugs] is largely done by the expatriates," said Lt. Col. Al Habsi.
He revealed that last year 895 drug related crimes were reported and 1,417 people accused for such crimes. The senior police officer points out that last year there was an increase in drug related crimes compared to 2009.
The number of drug related crimes reported in 2009 was 688 and the number of those arrested was 1048.
"The drugs seized included 314kg of hashish, 52kg of heroin, one kg of opium, 123gm of morphine and 11kg of qat in addition to 276,455 tablets," he added.
He urged all residents to make every effort to protect society from drug abuse and to discourage young people from falling prey to the menace.
He said that smugglers were now targeting young people for their operations too. "They are taking help of the youth to store these smuggled consignments before smuggling them out to another country," he pointed out.
He stressed that the Royal Oman Police (ROP) was vigilant and had increased patrolling. "We have foiled several bids to smuggle drugs and have arrested a number of smugglers," Lt Col Al Habsi revealed.
He also revealed that a large quantity of drugs has been destroyed and cash earned by smugglers from the drug trade has been confiscated.
He said that the ROP role was not limited to foiling smuggling attempts and arresting traffickers but they also make efforts to rehabilitate drug addicts.
"We take help of Health Ministry's Ibn Sina hospital and other institutions," he said, adding that currently 86 addicts were under treatment at different health institutions in the country.
He also appealed to the parents to raise their own awareness about the drug-related problems and also educate their children and protect them from falling pray to drug addiction.
Lt. Col AL Habsi said that Oman and UAE had formed a joint committee to counter attempts to smuggle drugs through the long coastline of the country.

 

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