Police in London have made two arrests following the theft of wine valued at up to £1 million.

Thieves used forklifts to remove 400 cases of wine from premises under railway arches at Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, last weekend.
The raiders broke through a padlock on the main gates and then bent a shutter door to gain access to the warehouse. They disabled alarms and CCTV cameras.
They are believed to have used three vehicles to make off after the theft:  two white Transit-style vans and a lorry with a brown cab and blue sides. Six white men were seen with the vehicles on Saturday afternoon.
Detective Constable Ash Rossiter said: “The stolen stock is rare and valuable. We would ask anyone with information or who is offered these goods for sale to contact us as soon as possible.
“It may be the aim of those who have stolen it to try to sell it to private collectors or auction houses.”
Some of the wine stolen was owned by private investors. A £5,000 reward has been offered by one of them for the return of a "substantial" part of the stolen stock.
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of burglary and taken to Bethnal Green police station where they remain in custody.

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Authorities in Arizona have arrested three employees of a sheriff's office known for its tough stand on illegal immigration

Authorities in Arizona have arrested three employees of a sheriff's office known for its tough stand on illegal immigration, accusing them of aiding human traffickers and drug smugglers.
A sheriff's deputy and two detention officers were among 12 people arrested in an operation Tuesday, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.
"That a deputy sheriff would provide information and associate with these drug and human traffickers is despicable," Arpaio told reporters.
Deputy Alfredo Navarrette, who had been a member of a unit targeting human smuggling, faces felony charges connected to human smuggling, money laundering and participating in a crime syndicate, Arpaio said.
"He admitted actually going to our command centers to obtain information to pass on to the drug traffickers and the smugglers," Arpaio said, noting that authorities found two illegal immigrants in Navarrette's home when they served a search warrant Tuesday morning.
The two detention officers who were arrested -- Sylvia Najera and Marcella Hernandez -- are accused of money laundering and having connections with drug-trafficking organizations. Hernandez had more than $16,000 in her purse when she was taken into custody, Arpaio said.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery praised the sheriff's office for its handling of the matter and pledged to hold the officers accountable.
"This wasn't swept under the rug. The cooperation that we received from the sheriff's office was complete and forthright," he told reporters.
"No one's above the law, and apparently no one is beyond the reach of drug-trafficking organizations in Mexico," he added.
Arpaio drew national attention and earned the nickname of "America's toughest sheriff" for his stance on illegal immigration, among other things.
Many of his prisoners are housed in tents and forced to wear pink underwear, and he once boasted of feeding them on less than a dollar a day per prisoner.
He faces a U.S. Justice Department investigation into whether his policies cracking down on illegal immigrants discriminate against Hispanics.
Earlier this month critics called for his resignation after an audit found he used nearly $100 million designated for jail funds to pay deputies' salaries.
Some activists said Tuesday's arrests are part of a public-relations ploy to clean up the sheriff's office image in the wake of such accusations.
"Now he's saying that he's cleaning out his department, but frankly, these problems have always existed inside the agency," human rights activist Lydia Guzman told CNN affiliate KTVW.

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Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of attempting to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killing six others in Tucson, Arizona, earlier this year,

Mr Loughner, 22, was found by Judge Larry Burns to be “mentally incompetent” to take part in a trial and assist with his own defence, during a hearing Tucson on Wednesday.
At one point he was dragged out of the courtroom by US marshalls, after an outburst in which he shouted: “She died in front of me” and “Thank you for the freak show”.
He is charged with 49 counts relating to the shooting spree at a meet-the-voters event hosted by Miss Giffords in a supermarket carpark on January 8.
The Democratic congresswoman, 40, was shot through the head but is recovering in a rehabilitation centre. Six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, were killed and 12 others injured.
Mr Loughner, who is described by his lawyers as a “gravely mentally ill man”, denies all the charges. He could face the death penalty if he stands trial and is convicted.

 

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Mexican police have arrested a man they suspect of being behind the murder of Juan Francisco Sicilia and six other young men in March.

Julio de Jesus Radilla, known as El Negro and an alleged drug gang leader, was detained in the state of Veracruz.

Mr Sicilia's murder prompted his father, the poet Javier Silicia, to lead anti-violence marches in Mexico.

More than 34,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since December 2006.

Mr Radilla and two other men were detained in Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz, where they had been hiding since the killings in March, officials said.

Authorities suspect Mr Radilla of being the leader of the Pacifico Sur drug cartel in the central state of Morelos.

Juan Francisco Sicilia and the other six victims were murdered near Cuernavaca in Morelos. Bearing signs of torture, their bodies were found in and around a vehicle.

Officials said Mr Radilla had no previous ties to the victims, and they had no links to the drug gang.

Most of those killed over the past four and a half years have died in confrontations between rival gangs.

But the rising violence in many parts of Mexico and the number of innocent victims have led to increasing calls for an end to the bloodshed.

Mr Sicilia blamed both the government and the criminal gangs for the violence.

In a speech in May, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the murders had shocked Mexico but he urged all Mexicans to support his government's four-year crackdown on drug cartels.

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Deputy and two women who work for America’s 'toughest sheriff' arrested for human trafficking and drug smuggling

He likes to name and shame arrestees by posting their mugshots on his website and asking the public to vote for their favourite.

But America's 'toughest sheriff' was left red-faced today when three of his own staff appeared online after being arrested in a drug and human trafficking sting.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, said a deputy and two female detention officers were among 12 people accused of being in a Phoenix-based international drug smuggling ring.

Deputy Alfredo Navarette, who was once part of the sheriff's human smuggling unit, was also accused of being part of a separate human trafficking ring.

This morning his mugshot had shot to third place on mcso.org's 'Mugshot of the Day' leader board.

One of the accused detention officers, Marcella Hernandez, revealed she is  eight-months pregnant with the child of Francisco Arce-Torres, the alleged drug ring's leader.

Court documents say Arce-Torres is also a member of the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

Navarette, Hernandez, and detention officer Sylvia Najera face felony charges.

Seven other sheriff's employees were also being investigated for their possible involvement.

'We have enough violence without having moles in my own organisation that put my deputies in danger,' Arpaio said in a press conference.

'Every organisation, you're going to find some people who do wrong,' he added.  'It's human nature.'

 

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Tel Aviv lawyer indicted for ordering gangland-style hits

Gur Finkelstein indicted on 11 charges, allegedly commissioning Jaffa gang to carry out his bidding; Finkelstein allegedly attempted to murder his ex-wife's husband in attempt to gain custody of ex's 11-year-old son.
The Tel Aviv district court indicted attorney Gur Finkelstein on Thursday of 11 charges, including attempted murder, sabotage, attempted sabotage, causing damage with explosives, arson, conspiring to commit a crime and aggravated assault.

Gur Finkelstein, a lawyer who represents the Scientology Center in Israel, was arrested several weeks ago, but details of the investigation were released for publication only earlier this week.

Among the crimes Finkelstein has been linked to is the attempted murder in Haifa last November of Danny Cohen, the current husband of Finkelstein's ex-wife, in an apparent attempt to gain custody of his and his ex's 11-year-old son.

On November 21, a bomb that had been planted in Cohen's car went off, wounding Cohen and his 4-year-old daughter. According to the indictment, Finkelstein paid members of a Jaffa gang between 120 and 140 thousand NIS for assassination attempts on his ex's husband.
Finkelstein is also alleged to have commissioned a hit against Tel Aviv building inspector Shoter Hovel, after the latter had stopped work on construction for the Scientology sect that Finkelstein represented.

When Hovel came to inspect the building, he found that it exceeded its building permit by 1,000 square meters, and ordered work stopped and the excess construction demolished.

Finkelstein then allegedly commissioned Abdi Bakar and Ramzi Bakar of the same Jaffa gang to harm Hovel, offering the two 40 thousand NIS to "maim or cripple Hovel, or to cause him an injury so that he would take sick leave for a few months."

The two gang members allegedly received an initial installment of 25 thousand NIS, to prepare and execute the operation.

Hovel was not hurt in the attempted hit, and Finkelstein allegedly then paid the suspects the remaining 15 thousand NIS, after which he paid them to carry out another attack on the building inspector.

According to the indictment, Finkelstein offered the two an additional 50 thousand NIS to try and hurt Hovel again.

The indictment stated that the two Jaffa gang members purchased shirts that said "police" on them, and an electric stunner. On May 29 of last year the two allegedly stopped Hovel as he was leaving his office and attacked him. This attempt to harm the building inspector also failed, and Hovel was only lightly wounded.

Finkelstein also allegedly ordered the torching of the same Scientology building in an effort to generate new construction work, from which he was getting commissions from the building subcontractors he employed. According to the indictment he paid 60 thousand NIS to burn the building down.

The gang that carried out these assignments, most of them members of the Bakar family, is also being linked to two other murder attempts: of a senior sheikh of the Hassan Bek Mosque in Jaffa, which they allegedly planned to use to frame rightists, and of businessman Eli Shakak. Finkelstein is apparently not connected to these assassination attempts.

Exposure in March of the plot against the sheikh and the subsequent arrest of five gang members emerged as the turning point in exposing Finkelstein's alleged crimes.

Under interrogation, one of the gang members turned state's witness and described various assignments he and his relatives had carried out for Finkelstein. Police were thus able to crack several cases that had eluded them for months.

Members of Finkelstein's law firm refused to comment on the allegations. A spokeswoman for the Scientology organization said that it was too early to respond to an ongoing legal proceeding, but stressed that "neither Gur, nor any of the other suspects, are members of the Scientology organization, period."

 

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Rapists who admit their guilt could have their sentences halved under new government proposals.

Ministers say the move would spare victims the ordeal of reliving their attack by giving evidence in court.
Under existing laws, those who plead guilty to rape at the earliest opportunity can have their jail terms reduced by up to a third. The standard tariff for a rape conviction is five years.
The new plans, which could see sex attackers walk free after as little as 15 months on license, have been criticised by victims groups.
Prisons minister Crispin Blunt revealed the scheme to MPs on Tuesday.
Difficulty of prosecution should not be used as an excuse to cut sentences.
Read Sophy Ridge's blog on prison sentences for rapists
He is backed by justice minister Kenneth Clarke, who said: "It is true we are thinking of putting it up to a half.
"It makes an enormous difference to the cost, the police time, the involvement of quite unnecessary preparations for trial if everyone leaves guilty pleas to the last moment."
The current conviction rate for rape is just 6%. Supporters of the changes hope this figure will rise significantly if more perpetrators admit their crime.
Louise Casey, the Commissioner for Victims, said the halving of rape sentences "underplays the harm caused" and placed "administrative efficiency over justice".
Former Home Secretary Jack Straw asked: "How on earth will giving half off a sentence help to protect the public?"

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Kuwaiti Woman Blackmails Men With Their Nude Pictures

An unidentified young Kuwaiti woman is being interrogated for involvement in blackmailing public figures including some Members of Parliament and their immediate relatives, reports Al-Shahed daily quoting security sources.
According to reports the woman would lure her ‘victims’ to her apartment in Salmiya and then take their pictures when they were nude.
Security sources say police were tipped off about the dirty game played by the woman and most of them refused to file complaints against the woman for fear of getting involved in a scandal. Police acting on information allegedly set a trap for the woman and caught her red-handed.
They have also seized from her CDs depicting well-known personalities in compromising positions.

 

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The customs officers at Abdally Border have arrested a Syrian truck driver for smuggling 9,000 narcotic pills

The customs officers at Abdally Border have arrested a Syrian truck driver for smuggling 9,000 narcotic pills worth KD 30,000 into the country.
The officers got suspicious when the driver looked agitated upon approaching the checkpoint.  They inspected the truck thoroughly, resulting in the discovery of the narcotic pills.  The suspect was referred to the concerned security department for the necessary legal action.

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Golatt also faced sex crime charges in Idaho

Angelo "Doogie" Golatt cloaked himself in the clothes and voice of a pious man of God, ministering to church youths, working with the mentally disabled, being front and center in singing and testifying in church.

He was a Louisiana College graduate in 2005, majoring in religious education, and a youth minister at Donahue Family Church. Google his name and there are many hits on older social network websites: Xanga, MySpace and others, where Golatt thanks God for his many blessings.

Golatt worked with children at the majority of places he was employed, or with adults as vulnerable as children: youth minister positions at Baptist and Assembly of God churches; helping the developmentally challenged at a facility in Idaho; interacting with Head Start program youths in his recent employment at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena.

In his writings on the Xanga website, Golatt talks of his mission in Idaho, where in 2006 he was youth minister at the Buhl Assembly of God while also working at the facility for the disabled.

"It's just so awesome being up there and seeing our people worship our Savior," Golatt wrote in September 2006. "A couple of Sundays ago I looked out in the audience and saw one of our youths singing, but not JUST singing, actually agreeing with the words in his heart."

But despite the light that Golatt professed to spread, he apparently has a very dark side.

Golatt, 28, has been charged with more than 60 sex crimes involving children ages 13 years or younger from 2003 to 2007. Rapides Parish Sheriff's detectives said the investigation centers on Golatt's work as a youth minister at Donahue Family Church in Pineville, which no longer is open.

Pastors Keith Dickens and Curtis Campbell, ministers at Donahue during the time Golatt allegedly committed the crimes, did not return messages left by The Town Talk seeking comment.

Golatt is behind bars now in the Rapides Parish jail, with a hearing scheduled Friday in front of a 9th District judge. Golatt's attorney, public defender Joe Kutch, refused a Town Talk request to interview Golatt in jail.

His March 29 arrest on four counts of youth sex-crime charges was the beginning. By April 11 the number had grown to 63 charges, including 52 charges of raping children 13 or younger.

It wasn't the first time Golatt was accused of sexual crimes.

Golatt was arrested in Idaho in 2006 on two counts of sexual abuse of a mentally challenged adult when he worked at a Twin Falls branch of the Centers for Independent Living.

The crime in Jerome County, Idaho, was reported on Nov. 17, 2006. Golatt was arrested on Dec. 4 on two counts of sexual abuse/exploitation of a vulnerable adult, eventually pleading down to a misdemeanor battery charge, according to the Jerome County Prosecutor's Office.

Golatt was sentenced to 180 days in jail. He spent 30 days in jail. The remainder was suspended, a clerk in the county's prosecutor's office said recently.

Jerome County sheriff's deputies issued a warrant for Golatt in 2007 for parole violation on the battery conviction, but by that time Golatt was back in Louisiana and officials could not extradite him for violating parole on a misdemeanor.

A Town Talk request made Friday to Jerome County sheriff's officials for Golatt's 2006 arrest report was not immediately answered. The Prosecutor's Office said the case file on Golatt and his victim was sealed in 2007.

During his time in Idaho, Golatt also was youth minister at the Buhl Assembly of God, where he raised no suspicions of deviant behavior until the arrest.

"While I was there I didn't have any issues whatsoever. I didn't have any concerns," said the Rev. Travis Hedrick, who was the pastor in Buhl in 2006 but left before Golatt got into trouble. "I found out many years later that there was some sort of accusation against him, that the church "» asked him to step down for the better good of the church and him."

Hedrick is now a pastor in St. Louis.

Golatt returned to Louisiana in 2007, where he held jobs including student services coordinator at Blue Cliff College in Alexandria, and a position at the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, where he was arrested March 29 by Rapides Parish Sheriff's deputies and deputy U.S. marshals.

Blue Cliff campus director Tracy Kazelski refused comment for this article. Pablo Paez, vice president of corporate relations for the Geo Group, said only that Golatt no longer works for the LaSalle Detention Center. The Geo Group is a private company that manages the LaSalle prison for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Questions posed to Kazelski and Paez included whether they had done a criminal background check on Golatt.

Golatt, in the first quarter 2011 Geo Group newsletter, wrote that the LaSalle prison teamed up with a local Head Start program, which helps educate very young and poor children, to deliver gifts to the kids.

"Seeing the children smile was enough to excite the LaSalle team to plan for a bigger and better next year," Golatt wrote.

Rapides Parish Sheriff's Detective Stephen Phillips said Thursday that the police investigation of Golatt has been completed and handed over to the District Attorney's Office. DA James Downs said his office would look at the findings and decide if it warrants bringing the case before a grand jury.

Assistant District Attorney Rocky Willson, who will prosecute the case if a grand jury indicts Golatt, said that although Louisiana law states the punishment meted out for aggravated rape can be the death sentence, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled otherwise.

Willson said, however, that if Golatt is convicted he'll be in prison for a long time.

The Rev. David Brooks, pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria, said Golatt was never employed by the church, but that he did help out at Calvary functions when he was a student at Louisiana College. Golatt was among many other college students who helped at church functions, Brooks said.

Brooks said no church members have come forward with accusations against Golatt, and that he's asked youth leaders at Calvary if they've heard of anything.

"Nobody ever suspected anything, never heard anything, so we don't know of anything that happened," Brooks said.

Louisiana College spokeswoman Amy Robertson said school policy prevents any comment on Golatt's years at LC.

 

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Police in Detroit are hunting a gang of middle-aged women, nicknamed the "Mad Hatters",

Police in Detroit are hunting a gang of middle-aged women, nicknamed the "Mad Hatters", who they blame for a string of robberies, purse snatching and fraud.
The suspects typically steal a woman's wallet or purse, police said in a statement. Shortly afterward, the credit cards and checks are used at stores to buy merchandise or at banks to get cash.
Surveillance photographs supplied by police show the middle-aged to elderly women wear hats, usually of the floppy, fisherman variety, at the time of the incidents.
Purse-snatching crimes are not uncommon, but what is unusual is the organised nature of the crimes.
"Seldom are there these organised rings doing it, such as this one," Sterling Heights police Lt. Luke Riley said.
The incidents began about a year ago and the most recent incident occurred last week, according to a press release from the Sterling Heights Police Department.
The total value of merchandise and cash stolen could be as high as $500,000, police said. The women stole almost $200,000 from one bank.
Riley said authorities are looking for "at least" five or six women in this group.
Photographs show the person responsible for the theft is not always the one who uses the stolen items to commit the fraud, police said.

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youngest of the 24 accused Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangsters operating in the Bay Area are barely 20

The youngest of the 24 accused Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangsters operating in the Bay Area are barely 20. They were still minors -- or had just turned 18 -- when they were arrested in 2008 during the Operation Devil Horns gang takedown. Since then, they have been indicted for conspiring to beat, rob, and murder with the gang -- or even to have been the triggermen themselves.

They didn't come out of the womb with devil-horn tattoos. So how did things go so wrong while they were so young?

Court documents, trial revelations, and an interview with one member's father outline a strikingly similar path to gangster life. As one defense attorney, who is defending a young man accused of murder, said during opening statements: "This is going to sound eerily familiar."  

1. They grew up dirt-poor in war-torn Central America, and were abandoned by parents moving to the United States.

Walter Chinchilla-Linar, one MS-13 member who pleaded guilty to gang conspiracy earlier this year, grew up in a tiny village in Guatemala during a series of coups when death squads roamed with impunity.

"Walter's earliest memories include the discovery of a body in the streets," according to a court document. "He has a particularly vivid memory of a stranger's body -- the head attached to a body by only a small strip of flesh."

Walter's father, an uneducated broom maker, moved to Guatemala City to find work, but after that failed, he moved to the United States when Walter was 3. His mother then left for the United States two years later -- to send money back to her family. Walter was left with his grandma and up to 12 family members in a three-room "structure" in rural Guatemala, the documents state.

This story was played over and over again in the opening statements of the trial. The father of one defendant was killed in the Salvadoran civil war. His mom left for the United States, and he was raised by his grandparents. Another member, born in Honduras in 1989, was abandoned by his parents and also raised by his grandma.

2. They were themselves were fearful of gangbangers back in Central America.  

None of the seven men in the current trial claim to have had gang ties before coming the United States. The father of one defendant, who asked that their names not be published, says he left for the United States before his son was born. His son would call him on the phone, saying gangsters had threatened to rob him on the way to school. "He was very scared talking on the phone," the man recalls. 
 
3. They trekked solo to the United States, entering illegally, to reunite with parents in their early teen years.

Chinchilla-Linar ventured north across Mexico when he was 15 to rejoin his parents. He paid a coyote to cross the desert into the United States, remembering those who were too weak to continue were left behind to die. He arrived "emaciated and exhausted," a court document states.
 
The father mentioned previously says his then-14-year-old son called him from detention at the U.S.-Mexico border. His son and older brother had made the trip riding north through Mexico on the top of freight trains to surprise their father in San Francisco. The older brother had been caught by authorities in Mexico, and was deported to Salvador. But the 14-year-old boy had continued -- and made it into the U.S. before getting nabbed. He evaded deportation, supposedly for being a minor with a father who was a permanent resident in the United States. 

The father invited the teen to join him in San Francisco; he was worried about the pressure on Latino boys growing up in the Mission. "I was a little worried he'd join a gang, but I thought I'd be able to have more influence on him than the gangs would." 

4. They face bullying and isolation upon arriving in San Francisco.

Chinchilla-Lina moved into a basement of a Bayview apartment with his

​ parents and two young brothers he'd never met. For his entire first year in San Francisco, he didn't go to school and barely left the house. Rather than getting the reunion he'd always wanted, he found himself estranged from his family members, who struggled with addictions and mental health problems, court documents say.

Similarly, the defendants in the ongoing trial had inauspicious starts in the city. Jonathan Cruz Ramirez had moved into the Potrero Hill housing projects and Guillermo Herrera moved in with his mom in the Bayview, where he was robbed twice in two years. By the time Moris Flores arrived from El Salvador at the age of 12, his mom was working several jobs.

5. They met other MS-13 members in San Francisco public schools.  

A number of the indicted gang members entered the school system through Newcomer High School, a landing pad for immigrants to improve their English skills so they can to transfer to a mainstream school. (Newcomer was closed last year because of budget cuts.)

That's where some indicted gang members met each other. "As a young El Salvadoran immigrant, he had to find his place among other Spanish-speaking immigrant children he was in contact with everyday in school," says Mark Rosenbush, the attorney for Moris Flores. "He ended up associated with MS-13 because they, like him, came from El Salvador."

Chinchilla-Linar, Cruz-Ramirez, and Herrera also attended Newcomer High School. But the school wasn't necessarily the root of the problem.

The father we interviewed said he had no problems with his son during his six months at Newcomer. But when he transferred to Burton High School, things took a turn for the worse.

"The first week, he started to have problems with boys. He didn't want to go to school. They had him scared." The father recalls his son would come home with his Nike sneakers or his backpack stolen. Another time he came home beaten up -- saying it was at the hands of three gangsters.

6. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Suddenly his son went from being bullied to being one of the bullies. "The school called saying he's not going to school and was hanging out with bad kids," the father says.

Likewise, court documents about Chinchilla-Linar say: "Walter did not seek recruitment into the gang. Instead, he felt persuaded to join once gang members confronted him, since he had witnessed what happened to others who refused."
 
The father says gang members started giving his 15-year-old son brand-name clothes -- baggy

​ pants, long T-shirts, shoes -- and a lot of weed. "He was manipulated," the father says. "They tried to win him over."

The father realized he was losing his son to the MS-13 gang. "I told him the Mara was the worst of the worst," he says. "At first he listened to me, but once they brainwashed him, he no longer listened to me."  
 
As for the eldest son who was deported to El Salvador? He's completing his computer-engineering degree, his father says. If only they would have deported his younger son -- the one now on trial for gang conspiracy -- he would have likely taken a different path, the father says: "He would be in the third year of the university right now."

He says his son recently called him from jail to apologize for not listening.

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US customs finds missing Vietnam war plaque

US customs officials have retrieved a Vietnam war plaque missing for seven years, after raiding a shipment of military items bound for Thailand, officials said Wednesday.
The memorial plaque, paying tribute to 19 prisoners of war and military personnel missing in action during the conflict, disappeared after being sent for re-polishing by its owners in 2004.
It belonged to Americans Who Care, based in Fayetteville, Carolina, and was seized by customs officers in a shipment leaving the West Coast port of Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, on April 19.
"This discovery attests the attentiveness, vigilance and high degree of expertise of CBP?s outbound enforcement team at LA/Long Beach seaport," said US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting Los Angeles head Carlos Martel.
"I commend the CBP officers involved in the recovery of this piece of history that will bring closure to military families in Fayetteville."
Janice Lee Urton of Americans Who Care said: "Its return will bring great relief to many and deep healing that it will be coming home," to be seen again by those who "want to pay tribute to our military men and women."

 

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arrest of 20 gang members in South Texas.

"Operation Community Shield," a national initiative of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has resulted in the arrest of 20 gang members in South Texas.

A two-day multi-agency of law enforcement authorities worked together to arrest various gang's members for various violations including robbery, aggravated assault, a felon possessing firearms, and drugs in the Corpus Christi area.

According to HSI reports released today, the operation ended April 21 with coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement.

The operation targets "significant public safety threats posed by transnational street gangs. target foreign born gang members."

The 20 gang members and associates arrested during this operation include the following street gang affiliations:

AD MOB, (1);
Aryan Brotherhood, (2);
Chula Vista, (1);
Little Mobster, (1);
Mexican Mafia, (2);
Suicide Barrio, (2);
Surenos Trece (SUR-13), (1);
Raza Unida, (3); and
Texas Syndicate, (7).
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"The effective removal of dangerous gang members and their associates from our streets makes our communities safer," said Fred Schroeder, assistant special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Corpus Christi. "ICE continues to work closely with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to dismantle gang activity in our neighborhoods."

The joint takedown was conducted by the following agencies: ICE HSI; Corpus Christi Police Department; the Bureau of alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the U.S. Marshals Service. All were U.S. citizens arrested on outstanding State of Texas arrest warrants, and turned over to local law enforcement.

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A woman faces aggravated murder charges in Friday's shooting death of a Eugene police officer as he attempted to pull over a car for running a red light.

A woman faces aggravated murder charges in Friday's shooting death of a Eugene police officer as he attempted to pull over a car for running a red light.

Cheryl Dawn Kidd, 56, is in the Lane County Jail on one count of aggravated murder. She faces arraignment Monday.

Springfield Police Chief Jerry Smith told KVAL News that Kidd is the woman suspected of shooting Officer Chris Kilcullen, 43, as he attempted to make a traffic stop on Friday afternoon around 4:30.

She was taken into custody after a high-speed chase on country and forest roads that ended outside of Oakridge.

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largest crystal meth busts in Ontario history — which included the arrest of a city police officer

Hamilton police say they've made one of the largest crystal meth busts in Ontario history — which included the arrest of a city police officer.

On Wednesday morning, police raided 23 homes and businesses across Ontario. Officers seized 26 kilograms of crystal meth and anabolic steroids in the pre-dawn raids in Hamilton, Grimsby, Burlington, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Sudbury and Mississauga.

Police arrested 21 people.

Police said the drugs seized were valued at more than $4 million. The meth alone was worth more than $3 million.

On Thursday, police arrested one of their own for allegedly leaking police information to the main target of the investigation. The allegations have not been tested in court.

Const. Andrew Pauls, a nine-year member of the Hamilton force, is facing a charge of breach of trust. "He's been arrested and now those charges are before the court," Sgt. Terri-Lynn Collings said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Collings said Pauls was on suspension when he was arrested Thursday for a previous charge.

Last year, Pauls, who remains on paid suspension, was charged after drugs went missing from a police locker.

Collings said the arrest of an officer shouldn't paint the entire force. Hamilton officers, she said, are continuing to do their jobs.

"There's a lot of good work that does take place," Collings said. "From time to time these things do occur."

Dubbed "Project Newton," the 18-month investigation included more than 175 police officers from nine different police agencies, including the RCMP and Ontario Provincial Police. Collings said there were no indications the people arrested this week had gang affiliations. They also were not producing the drugs, but allegedly acting as middlemen and trafficking the drugs.

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A Trinity County jury has found a Trinity man guilty in connection to a drive-by shooting in November of 2008, which ultimately resulted in the sheriff's death.

A Trinity County jury has found a Trinity man guilty in connection to a drive-by shooting in November of 2008, which ultimately resulted in the sheriff's death.

"It was the shooting incident in the Pinecrest subdivision that the sheriff's department responded to as well as the Texas Rangers and my office.  It's a result of that incident, there was a female dispatcher that was at home off duty and she received a gunshot wound to her abdomen area," said Trinity County District Attorney's Office Investigator Travis Haygood.

The jury sentenced Ricky Dalon Rains, 22, to 20 years in state prison.

The conviction comes following a two-year investigation by retired Texas Ranger Pete Maskunas, and Haygood. The investigation has resulted in four arrests, with three of them now convicted.

"We were traveling all across the state, collecting statements and interviewing multiple witnesses. We were fortunately able to recover the gun that was used in the incident," said Haygood.

The case against Cole Norman Brown is next in line for the prosecution.

Joey Leon Gray and Angela Fannin Gray have pleaded guilty for their part in the crimes and are now confined.

According to Haygood, the victim, a Trinity Police Department dispatcher, was shot when Rains shot into the residence.

Sheriff Brent Lee died in a car wreck which occurred while he was responding to the scene.

For Haygood, a third conviction means some closure in dealing with the loss of his close friend.

"We were friends. It was difficult for me to go out there and see that but just like he was during his job, we all have to do our part," said Haygood.

Assistant District Attorney Bennie Schiro has no doubt Rains' actions lead to the sheriff's death.

"I hold Ricky Rains responsible for what happened to the sheriff," said Schiro.

"If he had stayed at home and not returned back there with a gun I think that sheriff Lee would have still been with us today," said Haygood.

Haygood can't get his friend back but he can help bring justice to Lee's family, and those he served.

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60-year-old conman returned to the spot where he faked his own death in a canoe to reflect on a £680,000 sting that ­secured his place in criminal ­notoriety alongside wife Anne.

60-year-old conman returned to the spot where he faked his own death in a canoe to reflect on a £680,000 sting that ­secured his place in criminal ­notoriety alongside wife Anne.

And he spoke of the moment nine years ago when he paddled out to his “death” from the shoreline overlooked by the huge house his family lived in.

Darwin told how he gave no thought to the ramifications of his selfish act – the grief of his two sons Mark, 35, and 32-year-old Anthony, a £100,000 search and, finally, a six-year jail sentence.

Speaking for the first time since being freed from prison after serving half his time, he claimed crippling debt had left him so desperate, the thought of suicide had crossed his mind.

Darwin said: “As I was paddling out, I thought shall I do it for blooming real.”

But he stuck to his plan and so began a shocking tale of deception and greed that gripped the nation.

Saddled with a £240,000 mortgage and debt collectors poised to swoop over a year-old credit card bill, Darwin told how his mounting problems clouded his ­judgment over the hurt he would cause his sons.

He added: “My boys had grown and moved away from home, they had lives of their own.

“I was trying to sort out a future for me and Anne. I thought it would be hard for a month or two for them, then I genuinely believed they would move on.

“I honestly thought my sons would get over it in a month or two.

“I always felt I’d tell them at some stage. But I had not considered when. Then, when it came to it, it was ­impossible. It stayed that way for years.”

STRESSED

To his neighbours in Seaton Carew, Co Durham, Darwin seemed to have it all. His 27ft lounge had a commanding view of the bay, he owned a string of 14 rented properties in the area, worked full-time as a prison officer and had a Range Rover on the drive.

But he was staring at a county court hearing over his credit card debt and his “rosy” lifestyle was about to crumble around his ears.

Darwin added: “I was asset rich, cash poor. I didn’t have that money in my pocket, it was a huge problem.

“Anne was just so stressed out. I had options, I could have smuggled drugs, telephones into prison, I could have burgled houses.

“But I realised looking at our policies that I was worth more dead than alive, and that stuck in my head.

“The way I looked at it that was the logical option.”

Desperate Anne suggested she would walk into the sea and take her own life.

Darwin said: “She said it would end all my problems. But I told her people know you can’t swim and will know it’s suicide so the insurance won’t pay out.”

So, the canoe plot was hatched. He would be “drowned” at sea, Anne would get the £680,000 from pensions and insurance companies and they could start a new life. Darwin disappeared on Sunday, March 21, 2002.

It had been stormy the night before and the North Sea swell was large enough to cause an accident in a tiny craft.

After paddling into the sea, he returned to shore where Anne was waiting to drive him to Durham railway station.

Speaking about the cost of the search mission, Darwin said: “I honestly didn’t think about that.

“I just thought the canoe I’d pushed back out to sea would be washed up and the assumption would be I was dead.” With £100 in his pocket, he headed for Cumbria and stayed in a B&B. For the next few weeks he lived in a tent on a remote beach along the Solway Firth, growing a beard, beach combing and buying essentials from a supermarket as temperatures plummeted.

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Tory researcher has been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling after police found the party drug GBL in parcels sent to the head office of one of Yorkshire’s largest councils.

A Tory researcher has been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling after police found the party drug GBL in parcels sent to the head office of one of Yorkshire’s largest councils.

Martin Thomas, 38, was detained by detectives investigating suspicious packages delivered to North Yorkshire Council’s County Hall headquarters in Northallerton.

He is employed by the council as a research and communications officer for the Conservative group, which controls the authority with a 22-seat majority.

The council last night confirmed it had suspended Mr Thomas, who worked from an office in County Hall.

Officers from the UK Border Agency arrested the researcher at his home in Northallerton after receiving a tip-off that drugs were being smuggled into Yorkshire from abroad.

The Yorkshire Post understands they are investigating a number of parcels which were delivered to his home, as well as those sent to County Hall.

Said to have euphoric and sedative effects, GBL, or gamma-butyrolactone, became an increasingly popular drug on the party scene in the late 2000s.

But supplying the drug, which is usually sold as an odourless liquid in small bottles or capsules, was made illegal in 2009 after the Government came under growing pressure to ban so-called “legal highs”. A common solvent used in paint strippers and stain removers, it is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act as a Class C substance like tranquillisers, ketamine and some painkillers

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Chris Halliwell: profile of murder suspect in Sian O'Callaghan investigation

Declared bankrupt last January, the 47-year-old had only been working for Five Star private hire in Swindon for a couple of weeks before he was arrested.
Not new to the taxi scene, he was known by the other local drivers for the fact that he always used to wear a suit to work.
Previously employed by United Radio Cars, he had also tried his hand at construction and window cleaning.
He married wife Lisa in July 1991 and the couple went on to have three children – two daughter and a son.
They met when he was 23 and she was just 16 and lived in the Broad Green area of Swindon with their children.

Yesterday, neighbours in Broad Green recalled a strained marriage.
"They were living together but they weren’t getting on well," said one former neighbour.
“There were problems between husband and wife, then they moved away from here and then after they moved away from here they got divorced.”
Originally a window cleaner, Mr Halliwell lived in a rented flat on the County Road in Swindon before moving into a two-up two down terrace in nearby Broad Street with his girlfriend Lisa Byrne, a shop assistant, in the late 1980s.
Her father, Tony, a builder, and Sylvia, a former bus conductor, lived opposite and the family was staunchly Catholic.
By the time they married at Holy Rood Roman Catholic Church in 1991, Mr Halliwell was working with his father-in-law as a builder.
Neighbours still remember his large transit van parked outside their house.
Dennis Sutton, who married the young couple in 1999, said he knew Lisa's family.
"I do remember the event but didn't really stay in touch with them," he said. "I knew Lisa's family better as they were Catholic.
"I am shocked about all this. You never imagine such things happen so close to home."
The couple later moved a few miles away to Ashbury Avenue, but about five years ago Mr Halliwell moved in with Heather Widdowson, who lived a few doors down.
“He moved away with his missus but then moved in with another woman up the street, she was a bit older than him,” recalled the former owner of the corner shop at Broad Street.
He proudly introduced her to his former neighbours as his "new missus".
Speaking about Mr Halliwell’s arrest, the shop owner said: “He is the last person I would have thought would have done anything like this.
“He was all right, a family man, I used to have a laugh with him, when he moved away he used to pop in.”
Yesterday, the house he shares with Mrs Widdowson, a mother of three daughters, remained cordoned off by the police as forensic teams continued to trawl through the property.
His sister Sarah, from whom he is estranged, said she hadn't spoken to him for nearly 20 years and both their parents are dead.

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South Side shootout involving police this week was started by suspects who were trying to fire on rival gang

South Side shootout involving police this week was started by suspects who were trying to fire on rival gang members when they were actually shooting at officers in an unmarked police car, prosecutors said Saturday.

The alleged gunman, Julian Davis, 22, of the 2200 block of West 51st Street, is charged with two counts of attempted murder and a count of aggravated discharge of a weapon. Cook County Judge Jackie Marie Portman ordered him held in lieu of $400,000 bond Saturday.

The man accused of driving the car Davis was in, Anthony Rollins, 25, of the 2200 block of West 50th Place, is charged with aggravated flight from police and a host of traffic offenses. He was ordered held in lieu of $300,000 bond.

The men were caught following a short foot chase when the car they were in crashed after one of them fired at the unmarked car near 47th Street on Western Avenue about 4 a.m. Thursday and police returned fire.

No one was injured in the shootout, although the alleged shooter was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after the crash.

A woman who was in the car with the two men was released without being charged, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Anne Dwyer.

The officers were headed north on Western Avenue just after 4 a.m. Thursday when a tan Mercury pulled up next to them near 47th Street, said Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. The 22-year-old man then began firing shots at them, and the officers returned fire, Mirabelli said.

Both cars were hit in the exchange, prosecutors said.

The officers began chasing the Mercury north, and during the pursuit the shooter threw the gun he had been using out of the car, Mirabelli said.

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handgun, a large amount of marijuana and a bulk of cash were seized during a search of a Fillmore home.

handgun, a large amount of marijuana and a bulk of cash were seized during a search of a Fillmore home.

The search was conducted on Friday by Fillmore police and Ventura County sheriffs as part of an ongoing gang-related weapons investigation. Authorities searched a home on the 700 block of Akers Street.

Two suspects were arrested during the search. Steven Chaveste, 30, of Fillmore was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, and Matthew Chaveste, 36, also of Fillmore was charged with possession of narcotics with the intent to sell.

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Moshe Katsav, Israel's former president, who was on Tuesday sentenced to seven years in jail for rape

Moshe Katsav, Israel's former president, who was on Tuesday sentenced to seven years in jail for rape, rose from impoverished beginnings to the top job in the country only to fall from grace and become a political leper.
Katsav was formally indicted in March 2009, more than two years after the case went public, for offences committed against his employees when he served as tourism minister and president, including rape and sexual assault.
The Iranian-born bureaucrat, who rose from impoverished origins as a child immigrant to Israel's top job, resigned in June 2007 and became ostricised within the political establishment, his humiliated and loyal wife Gila in tow.
Despite strenuously professing innocence to a litany of sex and rape charges, and refusing enormous public pressure to resign for months, Katsav stepped down as part of a plea bargain that incensed women's rights groups.
However, he later decided that instead of facing trial for lesser charges he would "fight until the truth comes out" and called the deal off.
He was convicted in December of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice following an 18-month trial which included harrowing details which portrayed him as a sexual predator who routinely harassed his female staff.

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Two Los Angeles police officers Friday pleaded guilty to charges of insurance fraud

Two Los Angeles police officers Friday pleaded guilty to charges of insurance fraud stemming from a case in which one of them had his car torched and the other helped cover up the crime.

As part of a deal he struck with prosecutors, Anthony Robert Villanueva, 24, admitted that last April he arranged to have his 2001 Lexus sedan taken to the desert and set on fire. Villanueva then reported the car stolen and submitted a claim with his insurance company to be reimbursed, prosecutors said.

Under the settlement terms, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Horwitz dismissed two other counts against the officer -– one for arson and another for filing a false report of a criminal offense. Horowitz spared Villanueva a prison sentence, giving him three years probation and 400 hours of community service.

The second officer, Ricardo Rebolledo, 27, vouched for Villanueva and his alibi on the day of the fabricated theft in a letter to the insurance company, the district attorney’s office said in a statement. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of insurance fraud and was sentenced to three years of formal probation and 200 hours of community service.

Both officers, who were rookies at the time of the attempted fraud, could have been sentenced to more than five years in state prison had they been convicted of the original charges. Villanueva's guilty plea likely brings an end to his short career as a Los Angeles Police Department officer.

Sgt. Mitzi Grasso, an LAPD spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail that when an officer pleads guilty or is convicted of a felony, the department will "terminate their employment."

Rebolledo, who pleaded to a lesser misdemeanor charge, could get a wide range of punishment from an admonishment to firing, depending "upon the circumstances surrounding the officer's misconduct," Grasso said.

The officers did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

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Police forces across the UK have paid out a total of £770,000 in compensation to people bitten by police dogs

Police forces across the UK have paid out a total of £770,000 in compensation to people bitten by police dogs in the past three years, the BBC has found.

One bite during a chase led to a payout of almost £49,000, Radio 4's You and Yours discovered.

That is more than the cost of employing two junior constables for a year and comes as police budgets face a 20% cut.

Police chiefs said dogs were an essential resource and training of them was being constantly improved.

According to information obtained through Freedom of Information requests, Greater Manchester Police paid the most compensation of any force, a total of more than £180,000.

The Metropolitan Police had the second highest total, paying out £95,000.

Forty-three forces provided a breakdown of their figures by the type of person bitten. Between them, 2,725 suspects were bitten, along with 196 police staff and 155 other members of the public.

Eight police forces reported more than 100 dog bites over the last three years.

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Spider venom can cause four-hour erections 'the new Viagra'

Spider venom can cause four-hour erections 'the new Viagra' | Mail Online: "In her study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, Dr. Nunes’ experiment managed to give erection-challenged rats with high blood pressure a bit of a boost.

A peptide called PnTx2-6 was given to the flaccid rats, who achieved side-effect free erections.

Dr. Nunes said: ‘We found the toxin responsible [for the erections] and performed experiments using hypertensive rats which have severe erectile dysfunction. The toxin was able to normalise the erectile dysfunction in these animals.’

The spider’s toxin worked in a different way to drugs such as Viagra though and Nunes told MSNBC: ‘This is good because we know that some patients don’t respond to the conventional therapy.

‘This could be an optional treatment for them.’

She is also hopeful that the toxin could help female sexual dysfunction, but has not yet studied this.

The Brazilian wandering spider, which has a leg span of over four inches, has already been found in some American and Canadian supermarkets but is normally found in tropical banana plantations.

According to the curator of arachnids at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum, Rod Crawford, only 10 humans out of 7,000 have died from its bite."

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GANG of men from Bolton have admitted being involved in the running of a multimillion pound booze smuggling operation.

GANG of men from Bolton have admitted being involved in the running of a multimillion pound booze smuggling operation.

Businessman Saleem Khan, aged 45, of Kilworth Drive, Lostock, pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court on Friday to import duty evasion fraud. He is the eighth member of the gang to plead guilty to playing a part in the huge fraud, after a longrunning investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officials.

It is believed Khan was a key player in the gang, which had a network of storage facilities across Bolton, as well as a distribution network with drivers and packers. The smuggling ring supplied large quantities of alcohol, mainly cans of beer and lager, to shops in Bolton.

Some of the alcohol was smuggled into the country and some was bought duty-free in the UK for sale abroad, then diverted back to the UK.

It is thought the gang’s duty evasion scam was worth up to £2 million.

This does not include the value of the drinks and the profits, which would have run into many more millions.

Legitimate businesses pay duty on alcoholic drinks sold in the UK depending on their alcohol content.

The men, who have already pleaded guilty to their involvement at earlier hearings, are: Mark Norris, aged 44, of Radbourne Grove, Lostock; Zulfkhar Hussain, aged 54, and Sharif Hussain, aged 23, both of Cross Street, Bolton; William Booth, aged 53, of Dunoon Drive, Astley Bridge; Richard Booth, aged 20, of Hill Cot Road, Astley Bridge; Kevan Ashcroft, aged 61, of Halliwell Road, Halliwell; and Walter Patton, aged 60, of Lorne Street, Farnworth.

Khan was arrested in April 2008, and the others in 2007 and 2008 after HMRC officials raided warehouses across Bolton.

They seized thousands of cans of lager, which were stacked to the rafters — in one case officials found 150 pallets of beer.

The warehouses raided were at Pilot Industrial Estate, Lostock Industrial Estate and Bolton and Sunnyside Business Centre.

Some of the men were arrested handling the goods, some after a surveillance operation and some were forensically linked to the smuggling ring by documents or fingerprints.

The men will return to court on Friday when a date will be set for their sentencing.:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

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Bulgaria's Mafia War: Resolve versus Results: Bulgaria's Mafia War: Resolve versus Results - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency

Bulgaria's Mafia War: Resolve versus Results: Bulgaria's Mafia War: Resolve versus Results - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency: "'The Bulgarian government has demonstrated political will to combat major organized crime rings and has begun prosecuting numerous cases where the defendants are high-level organized crime figures,' the report reads.

Here is culprit – the four letter word 'will' – for the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party and for Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, this is certain and unprecedented praise; the opposition sees it as criticism."

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125,000 people have purchased illegal ‘top-ups’ for their meters from gangs offering electricity at half the price.

An estimated 125,000 people have purchased illegal ‘top-ups’ for their meters from gangs offering electricity at half the price.
Prepay electricity meters work like pay-as-you-go phones. You purchase energy at newsagents and garages by topping-up a plastic 'key'.
The key is then plugged into your meter and the amount is added to your account.
But last year hackers cracked the technology used to create engineer’s keys that come with £50 credit.
Cloned keys have been sold-on to gangs who are using them to top-up meters for £25 cash.:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

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Libya rescue: William Hague says Gaddafi 'must go'

Tony Blair had kept the government informed about telephone conversations he had had with the Libyan leader over recent days.

The foreign secretary said the UK was 'working intensively' to establish how many Britons remained in Libya and said the Foreign Office 'continued to urge British nationals to leave' the country."

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