Spanish police say they have arrested six people on suspicion of smuggling heroin

Spanish police say they have arrested six people on suspicion of smuggling heroin from Turkey and distributing it just outside Madrid.Police say investigators have seized 28 kilograms (62 pounds) of heroin, five rifles, two guns, ammunition, a large amount of jewels and more than €185,000 (US$290,000) in cash during raids.
The suspects, which included one Turkish national, allegedly used a distribution point in Canada Real Galiana de Valdemingomez, a shantytown to the southeast of Madrid.Police said Tuesday the two suspects were carrying a large bag full of cash at the time of their arrest.

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Fat’ Freddie Thompson is lying low in Salou in Northern Spain

Fat’ Freddie Thompson is lying low in Salou in Northern Spain after he fled Dublin with a €40,000 hit-bounty on his head.
Meanwhile, Thompson’s arch enemy INLA gangster Declan ‘Whacker’ Duffy has also fled Ireland in a last-minute bid to avoid assassination. Following a series of vicious stabbings shootings between the rival gangs Gardai fear - open warfare on the streets of Ireland’s capital city Dublin.With both fractions locked into a deadly feud the Gardai have warned more than 100 criminals in Dublin that their lives are in danger - and they should take precautions.The INLA are making a comeback. They've abandoned all pretence of being republican revolutionaries and are now openly operating as bona fide criminals.
THEY may regard him as one of Ireland's most wanted, but when gardai met with drug dealer Freddie Thompson before Christmas, it was not to arrest him, but to warn him about a threat to his life. Thompson, one of the countries biggest drug dealers, and the leader of a gang based in Drimnagh in Dublin, has been targeted by the Irish National Liberation Army and is regarded by gardai as a "dead man walking".
When they met the 27-year-old last month, gardai told him that the INLA was preparing to murder him. Only a few weeks before, an AK-47 assault rifle that was to be used in the assassination was intercepted on a busy Dublin street. It was the most chilling reminder yet that the INLA has become a bigger threat than the IRA in the capital, where it has been linked to murder, extortion, grenade attacks and drug dealing. Officers regard the threat against Thompson as being very real because the INLA is determined to take over his lucrative drugs territory across the south city.
Despite being warned last summer that there would be consequences if they didn't leave Thompson's patch, the INLA continues to deal there and even put a pipe-bomb in a car used by the gang leader last September.
The INLA has now decided to eliminate Fat Freddie, as he is known. The gang boss is taking the warnings very seriously and moves between safe houses around south Dublin as well as spending long periods in Spain and Holland.
The threats against Thompson and the re-emergence of the INLA as a major criminal group have coincided with the release from prison of its Dublin commander, Declan "Whacker" Duffy last February. The last 12 months has seen the INLA grow to such an extent that it is now carrying out more criminal acts than the IRA and has moved in on turf controlled by the provisionals. It is under active garda investigation in relation to four murders last year. The group is suspected of murdering drug dealer Roy Coddington in Co Meath last March after the 36-year-old refused to pay protection money.
Gardai investigating the double murder of garage owner Brian Downes and his employee Eddie Ward in Walkinstown last October are also examining potential INLA involvement.
It is known that the organisation attempted to extort money in the months before the double murder but that Downes refused to pay. He was warned that this would lead to his murder; one of the main lines of inquiry is that Downes was shot as a result of the refusal.
The killing of his friend and fellow car dealer Seanie McMahon last November could also be linked to the INLA, according to senior gardai. The group had also been attempting to extort money from McMahon and were worried that he would try to avenge his friend's death. This theory is being actively investigated at the moment.
It is not just the activities of drug dealers and businessmen that have been interrupted by the re-emergence of the INLA as a criminal force to be reckoned with. The IRA in Dublin has also felt the heat.
An arrangement has existed for over 20 years where dealers across the capital pay off the IRA for protection and to ensure that they are not targeted by anti-drugs groups.
Criminals such as 'The Viper' Martin Foley routinely pay the movement. In the last year the INLA has been seeking a share of what it sees as the Republican pie and has approached IRA 'clients' seeking extortion payments. The IRA is furious about this but the INLA has stood its ground. A senior member even inflicted a terrible beating on one of Dublin's most senior IRA figures in a packed pub in the Coombe last July.
The beating is part of a deliberate campaign by the INLA to sideline its rivals which so far has worked. The IRA did not respond (political considerations means it has to be discreet about using violence) and the INLA is now collecting cash that has traditionally gone to the Provisionals.
One of the IRA's most valuable volunteers in Dublin over the last 30 years recently defected to the INLA in a move which shocked both Sinn Fein and the IRA. He was an expert on financing the movement.
Because of the INLA's links with foreign arms dealers, forged through 30 years of the troubles, the group has access to a deadly arsenal of weapons and is not afraid to use them. For example, a senior INLA commander became involved in a minor dispute with a petty criminal last June and threw a hand grenade at his home in the south-inner city.
Nobody was injured in the attack. Just weeks later another grenade attack occurred at a house on Slane Road in Crumlin following the death of an inmate in Mountjoy prison. Garda forensic experts linked these two incidents and an investigation determined that the INLA sold a south-Dublin criminal gang the device for around 2,500.
The two grenades were part of a batch smuggled by the INLA from the former Yugoslavia and it is feared that they could control dozens of the devices and are selling them to Dublin gangs in a lucrative sideline.
A specialist garda unit has been set up to investigate the huge increase in pipe bomb and grenade attacks and the army bomb disposal unit was called out on 16 separate occasions in just six weeks last summer.
The extent of the criminal activities of the INLA is not only concerning senior gardai but it is also beginning to have political consequences. In the most recent report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) last November, the organisation was named as being involved in protection rackets as well as offering its services to organised crime gangs, most especially in Dublin.
If the current degree of criminality continues there is speculation that the IMC will have little option but to declare the INLA's ceasefire as being over. Money raised in Dublin gets sent to the INLA leadership in Belfast and is used to run the organisation there.
Garda sources say that the core membership of the INLA only runs to around 20 individuals.
The organisation is most active in Tallaght, Blanchardstown and Finglas but operates across the city. Detectives say that the INLA has taken advantage of the void left by the weakening of the IRA since the peace process. The group has exploited the demise of several major criminal gangs over the last two years as an opportunity to make serious money.
Gardai say that unlike the IRA there is no political aim or doctrine behind the INLA other than to make as much money as possible. They say that they are now more feared than the Provos in Dublin and will quickly grow far bigger if they are left unchecked.
Duffy's history of no mercy THE man reputedly in charge of the INLA's Dublin unit is 33-year-old Declan "Whacker" Duffy. Duffy, who is from Armagh, re-assumed control of the organisation when he was released from prison last February after he completed a nine-year sentence for his role in the so-called 'Ballymount Bloodbath' in 1999. The INLA took six men hostage when they went to a factory in the Ballymount industrial estate to demand money from the owner.
The men were viciously tortured and transported to a van. Twelve of their friends then arrived, after which a massive brawl ensued. INLA volunteer Patrick 'Bo' Campbell died after being struck with a machete. Duffy, who had wanted to shoot one hostage, was in charge of the operation.
He was convicted on the strength of a note to the INLA leadership that was discovered in his possession detailing exactly what happened at the warehouse.
While serving his sentence in Castlerea, Duffy worked as the bodyguard of notorious INLA murderer Dessie O'Hare, the 'Border Fox'. Gardai believe that O'Hare works as an enforcer for Duffy, using his reputation for extreme violence to collect drug debts and extort money. Duffy had been out of prison less than six months before he came to the attention of the authorities. Last August the Garda Special Branch received a tip-off that a man had been kidnapped and was being held hostage at a house on Cushlawn Drive in Tallaght. When armed detectives raided the house they discovered a 21-year-old man bound and gagged lying naked in the bath upstairs. He was in agony and covered in blood, having been attacked with a wheel-brace and a broom handle. The torture had lasted hours. The victim was a son of a small West Dublin businessman from whom the gang was trying to extort money. Nine people, including Duffy, were arrested in a downstairs room. Gardai believe that those in the house were an active INLA service unit. The man was so scared of the gang that he refused to make a complaint. A file on the incident has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Following a dispute last summer with a small drugs gang in the south-inner city Duffy was told by gardai that a contract had been taken out on his life. In an interview he said: "Anyone who even considers taking up the contract will be held as accountable as those taking it out." Duffy has previously bragged about kneecapping people and is known to be fond of inflicting violence. He cannot return to Northern Ireland because he is wanted for questioning over the murder of Sgt Michael Newman who was shot dead by the INLA in Derby in March 2002. He joined the INLA at 13 after his older brother was shot dead by the British army in 1987 and has served five years for escaping from custody at gunpoint. Duffy lives in the Coombe with his partner. Their house is a two minute walk from the home of his enemy, Freddie Thompson.
INLA working every angle of crime GARDA sources say that the INLA "has its finger in literally every pie" when it comes to criminality in Dublin. The group makes its money on a day to day basis by extorting cash from businesses across the capital. A company is approached and told that it has to pay a certain amount each week to ensure it is "protected". People feel they have little option but to pay.
Those who have refused have found their homes firebombed, family members beaten and . . . in four cases last year . . . murdered.
The INLA supplies bouncers and security guards to dozens of pubs and clubs in Dublin and also receives payments from drug dealers in order to let them operate free from threats and intimidation.
In some areas INLA members will deal heroin and cocaine themselves over the heads of established dealers and will use violence to force them out and claim the turf for themselves. The sale of pipe bombs and hand grenades brings in significant sums.
The most recent fundraising initiative involves them buying the drug debts of petty addicts from small to medium dealers. If an addict owes /10,000 the INLA adds around /5,000 to the principal and warns that if the debt is not paid they will be murdered.
Gardai have identified several cases where the parents of addicts have had to remortgage their houses in order to pay the drug debt because they are terrified of what might happen if the bill is not settled.
Gardai have had success against them.
Last November they arrested a man carrying an AK-47 in a bag on Camden Street with 21 rounds of ammunition. The previous month members of the Special Branch swooped on premises in Stanhope Street and discovered three pipe bombs, two handguns and ammunition as well as balaclavas and fake security guard uniforms. gangland boss, Declan 'Wacker' Duffy grins like he hasn't a care in the world as he is frisked down by members of the Garda Special Branch. The obese INLA godfather has begun to style himself as the Republic's version of Loyalist psychopath Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair.
These days cops try to watch Duffy's every move because they feel it is now only a matter of time before he is responsible for the deaths of innocent people. This Republican hypocrite has brought terror to the streets of Dublin since his release from prison 18 months ago.Last summer Duffy, who is heavily involved in drug racketeering, was behind a number of bomb and grenade attacks on homes in south inner city Dublin.The cowardly 37-year-old from Armagh used lethal M75 and M52P military grenades that are believed to have been smuggled into the country with drug shipments. Luckily no-one was injured in the mindless attacks. In one of the houses he targeted, a grenade bounced off a living room window and exploded outside.
If it had gone through the window, the children who were sitting inside watching TV would have been shredded by the deadly weapon. Since his release Duffy and his mob have been at war with the criminal drug gang led by Fat Freddie Thompson.'Wacker' and his mentor, mass murderer Dessie 'the Border Fox' O'Hare, have been trying to extort cash from drug dealers in the past year. At the same time, they have been providing other drug traffickers with 'protection'. The series of grenade attacks last summer erupted

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Baltasar Garzón, travelled to Málaga those arrested in‘operación Troika’ face charges of illegal association, money laundering,

Baltasar Garzón, travelled to Málaga where he ordered one of the people arrested in the city, Spanish woman Leocadia Martín, to jail without bail on money laundering and other charges, and extended the detention time of Svetlana Kousmina, a Russian woman, wife to one of the men arrested in Marbella as part of the case. In Málaga provinces searches were carried out in Marbella, Estepona, Málaga City, Torrox and Nerja with another one of the heads, Alexander Malyshev being arrested at his home in Frigiliana.he has released four of those arrested as part of the ‘operación Troika’ against the Russian mafia in Spain, sending another person to prison and extending the detention time for a further 13 people after his questioning carried out over the weekend.
The interrogations continue today of the twenty people in total who were arrested in Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, and Málaga. Those still in custody are being held in the cells of the National Court in Madrid, and the judicial order for the case will be made public later today.
It is now reported that at least 15 million € worth of assets have been impounded in the case, but that sum does not include the bank accounts of those arrested.
Among those being held is Gennadios Petrov, considered by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor as the head of one of the most dangerous Russian mafias in the world, and who was arrested in his mansion at Calviá on Mallorca.Police have impounded several luxury cars which belonged to some of the accused, along with 12 million € in cash and dozens of yachts and luxury villas. The investigation by the Anticorruption Prosecutor and the Judicial Police started more than two years ago and has resulted in 20 arrests so far.
All those arrested face charges of illegal association, money laundering, and the falsification of public, mercantile and tax documents, which under the Penal Code means sentences of between six and nine years.

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Francis Smith who lives in Alhaurin, Malaga,not guilty verdict

The case against a man accused of conspiring to distribute a staggering £2.6 million worth of cannabis has been dropped – because the evidence has been destroyed.
Francis Smith had denied conspiring with van driver Roy Selby and others to distribute the 1.2 tonnes of cannabis in February 2006 near Rugby.
Selby, now 43, from Stockton, was jailed for two-and-a-half years in August that year after he admitted possessing the cannabis with intent to supply it.
It was alleged that evidence was found linking Smith (56) who lives in Alhaurin, Malaga, on Spain's Costa del Sol, to the packages of cannabis seized from Selby's van.His case had been adjourned for trial after he entered his not guilty plea at a hearing at Warwick Crown Court in May.On that occasion prosecutor Adrian Keeling said: "This case relates to the stopping of a vehicle back in 2006 when 1.2 tonnes of cannabis worth £2.6 million was found."He said it was alleged that wrappings around the cannabis revealed Smith's fingerprints, but a report had to be prepared on exactly where the prints were, and on which layer of wrapping – which he commented 'could help one side or the other' in the trial.But at a resumed hearing Mr Keeling told the court that the prosecution was offering no evidence against Smith.He explained that when Selby's van was stopped for a routine check and shocked police officers discovered the consignment of cannabis in the back, Smith was living outside the jurisdiction of the courts.He was arrested earlier this year when he returned to the UK to attend Cheltenham races."The evidence against him rested in no small part on three of his fingerprints on the packaging which wrapped the cannabis in the back of the van."The packaging was to be further examined to establish on what part of the packaging the fingerprints fell, and the alignment of them on the packaging."But when that was put in train the unfortunate discovery was made that all the exhibits had been destroyed."When the case against Selby was completed, two entries were made on the police system – one that the matter was still outstanding against another potential defendant (Smith) and another saying it was a closed case.
"Of those, it is unfortunate but perhaps inevitable that the one saying the exhibits could be destroyed was the one which was followed; the cannabis, the wrapping, everything has been destroyed."So we have come to the reluctant view that there could not be a fair trial of this defendant. The only course open is to offer no evidence against this man."
So Judge Trevor Faber formally entered a not guilty verdict on Smith, who had been in custody since his arrest.

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Brink's-Mat bullion Detectives last week found six suitcases crammed with gold inside a London deposit box.

Police have begun a search of over 7,000 safety deposit boxes in what is believed to be a massive crackdown on British gangsters.Around 300 officers are involved in what is being described as a hunt for cash, guns, drugs and child pornography. They believe they could find contents worth tens of millions of pounds.Cops said the raids on three London depots, thought to belong to the Safe Deposit Centres Ltd company, would target the “top tier” of Britain’s criminals as part of a two-year investigation into money laundering, dubbed ‘Operation Rize’.
Two people, believed to be connected to Safe Deposit Centres Ltd, have so far been arrested in the blitz.Scotland Yard detectives last week found six suitcases crammed with gold inside a London deposit box. They could help solve a crime so spectacular it panicked the international gold market, reconfigured London's criminal map and left a trail of murders in a gangland feud over the whereabouts of the missing bounty.
The gold 'grains' - carefully wrapped in plastic and wedged inside travel luggage - were hidden inside a deposit box raided by the Metropolitan Police last week as part of a huge two-year investigation into the proceeds of organised crime. Scotland Yard sources, pointing out it was too early to glean the origin of the gold, have confirmed they are examining the 'possibility' that it may have come from the 1983 heist in which bullion worth £26m was stolen from the Brink's-Mat warehouse near Heathrow Airport by six armed robbers.
Commander Allan Gibson of Scotland Yard's specialist crime directorate said his officers had never seen anything like it. The haul is thought to be the single largest discovery of unexplained gold seen in Britain. Provisional estimates suggest the suitcases' contents could be worth £8m, potentially a significant portion of the Brink's-Mat loot never recovered, and eclipsing the £2.6m stolen during another of Britain's most high-profile crimes, the Great Train Robbery of 1963. Alongside the gold, Scotland Yard officers last week found £30m in cash, much of it stuffed into plastic supermarket bags, which officers believe are also the profits of organised crime. For those officers investigating what happened to the unrecovered bullion stolen in the Brink's-Mat raid the find may yield vital clues to a crime that has perplexed some of Scotland's Yard's finest. Although the Metropolitan Police would not reveal the weight of last week's discovery, Gibson said the suitcases were so heavy officers struggled to pick them up. The weight of the stolen Brink's-Mat gold was three-and-a-half tonnes.
'We have identified six suitcases of gold grains which, if real, could be very, very valuable. It's a phenomenal amount. They were wrapped like a large packet of peas and were so heavy officers couldn't pick them up,' said Gibson. Police are stressing that the focus of their inquiries is on the people who rented the boxes.The raids on thousands of deposit boxes in London last week were based on intelligence indicating they contained the proceeds of crime syndicates who for years had viewed the storage space as a safe deposit for assets. Although last Thursday's discovery of gold in Operation Rize, which yesterday still involved more than 200 officers, has still to be fully analysed, sources said the gold appeared to be the genuine article.
Numerous attempts to locate the Brink's-Mat bullion have been made over the years. In 2001 police excavated land owned by a builders' merchant in Kent after receiving a tip-off that gold bars had been buried there, but as in other instances found nothing. Unsubstantiated rumours, meanwhile, claim that proceeds from the gold have been invested in property abroad. Last week's discovery was found in storage vaults belonging to a firm called Safe Deposit Centres Ltd, of which two directors have been arrested on suspicion of money-laundering offences and bailed to return to a central London police station in September. The firm was established in 1986, three years after the Brink's-Mat robbery, raising the possibility the gold was kept in temporary storage before being hidden inside the vault. Investigators will attempt to ascertain whether such a large amount of one of the world's most precious metal - its price reached a record high last March as the global financial crisis increased its investment appeal - can be linked to any modern crime, although it remains more likely the stash relates to a more historical crime. It remains unclear how much of the £26m of Brink's-Mat bullion has been recovered or melted down so far. After escaping from Heathrow with their haul, the robbers turned to one of Britain's most notorious criminals for help in transforming the bullion into cash. An expert in his field, Kenneth Noye even mixed some of the gold with copper to alter its purity and disguise its origins.
Detectives investigating the crime found 11 gold bars worth £100,000 wrapped in cloth in a drainage trench at Noye's former Kent home. The 60-year-old was jailed for helping to launder some of the proceeds, but not before he stabbed to death an undercover detective staking out his house. He was cleared of murder after pleading self-defence, but later jailed for murdering Stephen Cameron on a slip road of the M25 in a road rage incident. The killing is just one brutal episode in a trail of death and wrecked lives among those who have become embroiled in a deadly feud over where the gold from Britain's biggest bullion haul might have been stashed.
Last year two ageing hitmen were jailed for the murder of millionaire businessman George Francis, a former associate of the Kray twins, who had survived a murder attempt in 1985. He was the sixth person linked to the Brink's-Mat heist to have been murdered. Another two have killed themselves. Francis was entrusted with part of the haul belonging to 'Mad' Mickey McAvoy, who was jailed 25 years for his part in the robbery. McAvoy is one of only two men convicted in connection with a crime that involved armed men bribing a security guard to let them into the Brink's-Mat warehouse at 6.30am on 26 November 1983. Once inside, they poured petrol over staff and threatened them with a lit match if they did not reveal the combination numbers of the vault.
Another well known criminal, conman John 'Goldfinger' Palmer, was cleared of smelting and recycling the Brink's-Mat bullion in 1987. Palmer, who allowed Noye to use his jet to flee the UK after he stabbed Cameron, was accused by Spanish police last year of masterminding a crime organisation in Tenerife. The 58-year-old spent four years in prison from 2001 after being imprisoned for timeshare fraud that affected up to 20,000 victims.
So far, officers have investigated a third of the 7,000 storage units. Gibson said: 'It is a difficult job in difficult conditions and officers are working through the night to get the job done. Every box is a story, a potential investigation.'

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Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, branded a "dirty player"

"Spain is heavily mentioned by Simon Mann. It was where the plot started and that country has very good intelligence service," he said, adding that a special relationship still existed between the west African nation and its former colonial rulers. "And yet not a hint was given from Spain and we wonder why.
Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, branded a "dirty player" who hoped to reap huge benefits from the plot and claimed that Ely Calil, the London-based businessman who allegedly financed the project, was planning to "silence" Mann. Mann, a 55-year-old former SAS soldier, faces the death penalty if convicted of leading attempted coup in 2004. Speaking ahead of the trial which opens today in the capital Malabo, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said he "strongly suspected" that authorities in Britain, Spain and America were fully aware that a coup attempt was being staged and did nothing to stop it or warn him of the danger. He said he found it very hard to believe that three countries which had such powerful intelligence services could have failed to have known about the plot.
"Simon Mann is British and given his reputation as a mercenary his movements would have been monitored all the time by British intelligence," the leader of the oil-rich nation said. "And yet they did nothing."
He said the same was true of Spain where Severo Moto, the opposition leader who was to be installed as the new president following the coup, now lives in exile.
"The US has the greatest involvement in Equatorial Guinea with investments worth $30 billion (£15 billion) that they have a right to protect. For the US to not to have taken notice or claim ignorance of the movements of the plotters is doubtful."
But he admitted that there was little he could do to prove it, saying: "We don't have firm evidence that Western powers were involved, just strong suspicions."
At a press conference in his presidential office, the former governors' house from Spanish colonial times, the president, who wore a diamond-encrusted gold watch, claimed he was aware of Sir Mark Thatcher's role in the alleged plot. "He is known as a dirty player. He spent his life getting involved in all sorts of dubious deals and he jumped quickly into this boat expecting to reap huge financial benefits," the 66-year-old leader said of the former British Prime Minister's son. Equatorial Guinea has said it will issue an international warrant for his arrest and others named by Mann as co-conspirators.
A friend of Sir Mark last night said: "Sir Mark has made it clear he was not involved in the alleged attempted coup and has no further comment to make. "He doesn't know Sir Mark and Sir Mark doesn't know him and I suggest he keeps his opinions to himself." Security on the island had been heightened ahead of the trial amid fears that an assassination attempt would be made on the nation's most famous defendant. "We have precise information about this and have taken measures to ensure his safety," said the president. "This Ely Calil is a man with a lot of money and a lot to lose. He will try his best to kill Simon Mann or kidnap him or any other means of silencing him because he doesn't want Mann to continue revealing information that could be used against him."
Mr Calil, who has denied knowledge of the plot, has previously accused the president of bringing a "malicious prosecution" against him.
Jose Pablo Nvo, the lawyer hired last week to defend Mann, yesterday said his client seemed in good spirits but was understandably nervous about the trial.
"He feels as anyone would feel ahead of such an event," Mr Nvo said. "He is a human being after all and therefore feels nervous. But he seems relaxed and we had a glass of wine together." The president last night assured reporters the trial would meet international standards. "I do believe the trial of Simon Mann will qualify as just and transparent on all levels set by international standards," the president said.
It was hoped that Mann would give evidence from a purpose built bullet proof glass box in the courtroom, the location of which is a closely guarded secret, but it has not been constructed in time for the opening of proceedings this morning.
Instead, authorities have introduced a raft of security measures designed to protect Mann. Those attending court, including journalists, international observers and lawyers, will be forced to leave their shoes outside and don flip flops . Long sleeve shirts, wristwatches and pens have also been banned.
The president denied the measures were extreme. "We are very much aware of sophisticated gadgetry and weaponry that can be used to inflict harm," he said.
If Mann is convicted and avoids the death sentence, it is possible that he may be able to serve at least some of his sentence in a UK prison.
The president said he would not rule out sanctioning such a move if the judges felt he had cooperated fully with authorities. "If they think that the level of cooperation has been good enough there might be some clemency," he said. "It could be that we negotiate with the British government."

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Man believed responsible for twelve armed robberies over the last two years that netted around a quarter of a million euros, was arrested in Huelva

Man believed responsible for twelve armed robberies over the last two years that netted around a quarter of a million euros, was arrested in Huelva last Friday. The 67 year old recommenced his activities in April 2006 after escaping from Villabona jail in Asturias, where he was serving time for 11 similar offences. After a lengthy investigation, the suspect was tracked down to a car dealership on the La Paz industrial estate where he had just bought a car using a false identity. A search of the man's home in El Portil (Huelva) yielded a wealth of incriminating evidence including a 32 calibre Taurus handgun, various fake identity documents, a fake Local Police badge, and pepper spray.

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ANTI-Russian mafia operation was carried out simultaneously in several places in Spain

ANTI-Russian mafia operation was carried out simultaneously in several places in Spain, including Marbella, Nerja, Malaga, Torrox, Palma de Majorca, Javea, El Campello, Valencia and Madrid.
Spanish authorities said Friday they had broken up a massive Russian criminal network operating in the south of the country, arresting 18 people.
The Tambovskaya-Malyshevskay gang is the "largest criminal organisation of Russian origin in the world" and has been "totally dismantled", police said in a statement.
It said 400 officers took part in the crackdown in southern Spain, from where "they planned their criminal activities in Russia, in several countries of the European Union and in the United States.""They controled the criminal activities of lower-ranked leaders", which included murders, weapons and drug trafficking, racketeering and influence peddling.The gang also carried out money laundering through financial institutions in Switzerland, Cyprus and Latvia, and a network of companies," it said.Eighteen people were arrested Friday, including leaders of the network, and the number is expected to grow, a judicial source said.A police source said foreign intelligence services also participated.It was under the supervision of Judge Baltasar Garzon and anti-corruption prosecutors.Garzon is expected to travel to Palma de Majorca, in the Balearic islands, on Saturday to oversee search operations there.Spanish authorities have already carried out several operations against Russian criminal gangs, notably on the Costa del Sol, where they are suspected of carrying out money laundering activities.Operation Avispa (Wasp) in June 2005 led to the arrests of about 30 people from the former Soviet Union, including 22 leaders of criminal gangs, most of them from Georgia.The interior minister described that operation as "the largest crackdown on organised crime in Europe."

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Monzer Al Kassar Marbella property siezed and all funds contained in three separate bank accounts

Indictment seeks the forfeiture of an estate located in Marbella, Spain, and all funds contained in three separate bank accounts. The forfeitures represent the alleged proceeds obtained from the charged offenses.



Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michele M. Leonhart, the Acting Administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), announced that international arms dealer Monzer Al Kassar, a/k/a Abu Munawar, a/k/a El Taous, arrived in New York today after being extradited from Spain on federal terrorism charges. Al Kassar was extradited to New York for his participation in a conspiracy to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (the FARC) -- a designated foreign terrorist organization -- to be used to kill Americans in Colombia. Al Kassar’s co-defendants, Tareq Mousa Al Ghazi and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, were both previously extradited to New York from Romania to face the same terrorism charges. According to the superseding Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court:Since the early 1970s, Al Kassar has been a source of weapons and military equipment for armed factions engaged in violent conflicts around the world. Some of these factions have included known terrorist organizations, such as the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF), the goals of which included attacking United States interests and United States nationals.To carry out his weapons-trafficking business, Al Kassar developed an international network of criminal associates, including co-defendants Al Ghazi and Moreno Godoy, as well as front companies and bank accounts in various countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania. Additionally, Al Kassar has engaged in money-laundering transactions in bank accounts throughout the world to disguise the illicit nature of his criminal proceeds.Between February 2006 and May 2007, Al Kassar agreed to sell to the FARC millions of dollars worth of weapons, including thousands of machine guns, millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenade launchers (RPGs), and surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs). During a series of recorded telephone calls, e-mails, and in-person meetings, Al Kassar agreed to sell the weapons to two confidential sources working with the DEA (the CSs), who represented that they were acquiring these weapons for the FARC, with the specific understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack United States helicopters in Colombia. During their consensually-recorded meetings, Al Kassar provided the CSs with, among other things: (1) a schematic of the vessel to be used to transport the weapons; (2) specifications for the SAMs he agreed to sell to the FARC; and (3) bank accounts in Spain and Lebanon that were ultimately used to receive and conceal more than $400,000 sent from DEA undercover accounts that the CSs represented were FARC drug proceeds for the weapons deal. During his meetings with the CSs, Al Kassar reviewed Nicaraguan end-user certificates that he accepted despite knowing that the arms were destined for the FARC in Colombia. Al Kassar also promised to provide the FARC with ton-quantities of C-4 explosives, as well as expert trainers from Lebanon to teach the FARC how to effectively use C-4 and improvised explosive devices (commonly referred to as IEDs). In addition, Al Kassar offered to send a thousand men to fight with the FARC against United States military officers in Colombia.
The Indictment charges Al Kassar with four separate terrorism offenses:
Count One: Conspiracy to kill United States nationals, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2332(b);
Count Two: Conspiracy to kill United States officers or employees, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1114 and 1117;
Count Three: Conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2332g; and
Count Four: Conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, in violation of Title 18,
United States Code, Section 2339B.
In addition, Al Kassar is charged in Count Five with money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956.
The superseding Indictment seeks the forfeiture of an estate located in Marbella, Spain, and all funds contained in three separate bank accounts. The forfeitures represent the alleged proceeds obtained from the charged offenses.
Al Kassar is expected to appear later this afternoon in Magistrate court in Manhattan federal court.If convicted of Counts One through Three, Al Kassar faces a maximum sentence of any term of years or life imprisonment, as well as a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment on Count Three. As part of the extradition process, however, the United States has provided assurances to the government of Spain that it will not seek a life sentence for Al Kassar, but instead will ask for a prison term of years. If convicted of Count Four, Al Kassar faces a maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment. Finally, if convicted of Count Five, Al Kassar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment.
The international law enforcement operation that culminated with today’s extradition was the result of cooperation between the DEA, the Spanish National Police, and the Romanian Border Police.Mr. Garcia praised the investigative efforts of the DEA, the Spanish National Police, and the Romanian Border Police. Mr. Garcia also thanked the United States Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. State Department."Monzer Al Kassar intended to provide millions of dollars worth of lethal weapons to a foreign terrorist organization to be used to kill Americans," said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia. "As a result of extraordinary cooperation with our international law enforcement partners, Al Kassar will now face justice for his crimes in a United States courtroom.""The arrest, extradition and pending criminal prosecution of Monzer Al Kassar before a U.S. Court of justice are a testament to DEA's global alliances and unique investigative skills," said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. "Al Kassar's days of arming and funding global terrorists are over. Spanish authorities are to be commended for their diligence and perseverance to ensure Al Kassar's extradition to the United States."
Assistant United States Attorneys Boyd M. Johnson III, Leslie C. Brown, and Brendan R. McGuire are in charge of the prosecutions.The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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Two Spanish tourists who have been detained on charges of making homosexual advances at two taxi drivers in Gambia

Two Spanish tourists who have been detained on charges of making homosexual advances at two taxi drivers in Gambia face up to 14 years in prison for violating the principles of Islam, the gay organisation FAGC said Tuesday in Barcelona.The Spaniards were being held at a police station in the coastal resort of Kotu. They were arrested Friday after the taxi drivers reported them to police.Gambian President Yahya Gammeh has threatened to "cut off the head" of any homosexual caught in the touristic West African country.The Spaniards were receiving visits from the Spanish consul to Gambia, who gave them his "full support," sources of the foreign ministry said in Madrid.

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Spanish police have arrested 16 people suspected of being part of a gang that stole hundreds of tons copper for sale in Spain

Spanish police have arrested 16 people, most of them Romanians, suspected of being part of a gang that stole hundreds of tons copper for sale in Spain and abroad, the interior ministry has said.It said the theft of copper rolls from a solar park in the southern region of Albacete led police to a warehouse where the gang had hidden around 1.6 tonnes of copper as well as machines for making fake identity cards.
The ministry said in March that police had detained 77 Romanians suspected of being part of a gang that stole copper to ship to China and Germany.Surging demand on the global market for copper, used in phone lines, power cables, radiators and air conditioners, is driving thefts of the material around the world.

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Spanish resident convicted of drug smuggling

Two Nigerians have been convicted and sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment in hard labour by an Accra Regional Tribunal presided over by Justice Frank Manu for possessing narcotic drugs.Mondistus Nidimakor had 11years jail term for each count of attempting to export and possessing 73 pellets of cocaine while Gabriel Alaoma received 10 years for each count of importing and possessing 4475.388g of heroine, a narcotic drug.
However, the sentences are to run concurrently. The convicts had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but later changed their pleas to guilty.
The court ordered that properties including money taken from Nidimakor should be handed over to him and the exhibits should be destroyed.
Concerning Alaoma, the court observed that he had been on remand for the past four years therefore his sentence should take effect from the day he was arrested.
Also, the properties seized from the accused should be given back to him and the exhibits destroyed.
Prosecuting, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, a State Attorney, said Nidimakor, a resident of Spain, arrived at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on January 16, 2006 to board a KLM flight to Amsterdam, Holland and that while going through departure formalities, he was arrested on suspicion of carrying narcotic drugs.
She revealed that the accused was taken to the 37 Military Hospital for X-ray examination and it revealed that he had foreign materials in his system.
As a result of that, he was put under observation till he expelled 73 pellets of a material suspected to be narcotic drug. The substance was confirmed to be cocaine with 959.462grams as net weight.Alaoma on the other hand arrived at the KIA on March 12, 2004 from Karachi, Pakistan enroute to Cote d’Ivoire.However, his movement at the transit lounge aroused the suspicion of the officers of the NACOB and so was picked for a search.She disclosed that when accused’s briefcase was thoroughly searched, the officers found four large parcels of powdery substance concealed in a false compartment and suspecting it to be a narcotic substance, the officials sent it to the Ghana Standards Board (GBS) for examination.The parcels were duly examined by the Forensic Department of GBS and their report indicated that the exhibit was heroin, a narcotic drug substance with an estimated weight of 4475-388gram.

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David Hibbs-Turner mastermind behind one of Merseyside’s biggest ever drug rings had a home in Marbella

mastermind behind one of Merseyside’s biggest ever drug rings was arrested by police as he played five-a-side football with his trusted gang.While having a knockabout at Walton Hall sports centre, Fazakerley gangster David Hibbs-Turner kept six mobile phones hidden in his sports kit, ready to act at any time as the wheels turned on his multi-million pound international cocaine and heroin operation. he was convicted of ordering the assassination of fellow Liverpool gangster Michael ‘Mikey’ Wright.This week, Hibbs-Turner was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 37 years for the murder, the drugs and running an extortion racket.Now he and his 13-strong “armed and very dangerous” gang are serving more than 150 years behind bars.The operation was simple and the gains massive. Police admit the drugs they seized, worth £4m, are only the tip of the iceberg.Hibbs-Turner, 30, and his gang bought a fleet of white Vauxhall Combi vans and fitted them with secret compartments,The inconspicuous vehicles then brought drugs into the country from Amsterdam and Spain after deals with South American cartels.Hidden in some of Liverpool’s plushest addresses – Beetham Tower, Beetham Plaza, City Lofts, Royal Quay – workers in drug factories would crush up the packages, mix and dilute them and create hundreds of kilos of coke, heroin and ecstasy for the streets of Merseyside and the north west.
The gang are also thought to have controlled patches as far afield as eastern Scotland and Dublin.The extent of the operation was highlighted when officers seized nearly £163,000 found in plastic shopping bags in a cupboard under the stairs at one of Hibbs-Turner’s Liverpool homes.But the drug baron, who also had a home in Marbella, simply walked away from the cash – never bothering to turn up at a hearing at Liverpool magistrates court, where he could have tried to reclaim it. This, police say, is a mere glimpse of the money he was making.At another address, on Cornwallis Street in Liverpool city centre, detectives found 50kg of drugs – worth more than £2m – together with a silenced Steyr machine gun.That was forensically linked to at least six shootings in Merseyside and was just one of an arsenal of weapons uncovered throughout the 20-month investigation.
With his trusted lieutenants, brothers Stephen and James Kelly, by his side, Hibbs-Turner was able to disappear for months when the heat got too much.But from September 2004 to his arrest on February 16, 2007, he and his gang were being watched.
A small team of the best surveillance officers in Merseyside police were put together after they scratched the surface and were shocked at what they found.
Police admit they had no idea of the scale of the operation, and without calls from the community concerned about dealing, the gang may not have appeared on their radar until much later.DCI Brian Gaddas, of Merseyside police’s Matrix team, said: “This was a highly organised and dangerous criminal group who had little respect for authorities or even other criminal groups in Merseyside, and ruled through fear and intimidation.“These convictions are the result of an extensive and complex investigation which has now totally dismantled this group. I have to praise the small group of detectives who were able to collect evidence of such gravity that almost all of the defendants saw they had no choice but to plead guilty.
“They worked long and hard in the most hostile environment building a case while putting their own lives in danger on a day-to-day basis. The fact none of the targets had any knowledge whatsoever of their existence is testament to their professionalism.”Twelve members of the gang admitted conspiracy to supply drugs of class A and B, with three also pleading guilty to firearm charges.
Two members, Michael Kinsella and a man who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted after a 17-day trial.
Ringleader David Hibbs-Turner, 30, of Fazakerley, was the mastermind of the operation, spending substantial periods of time in Amsterdam organising deals, fake passports and properties.Joint second-in-command brothers Stephen Kelly, 30, of Princes Dock, and James Kelly, 24, of Stalmine Road, Walton, were both jailed for 14 years. They ran much of the day-to-day operation and were seen turning up at an array of luxury pads in top-end cars to organise the cutting, packaging and distribution of the drugs.Lee Cole, 27, of Rice Lane, Walton, received 15 years after also admitting firearms offences. He was involved in the operation both in Liverpool and Amsterdam. He was previously jailed for two years for supplying heroin, as well as a six-month sentence for importing cannabis.Wesley Barton, 23, of Oakhouse Park, Walton, was directly connected with a drugs factory at Royal Quay. He received 15 years.Michael Kinsella, 30, of Holy Cross Close, Liverpool city centre, worked in both Merseyside and Holland. He was involved in sending money and delivering large quantities of cocaine. He was jailed for 10 years and has previously served seven years for possessing heroin and coke with intent to supply.
David Surridge, 21, of Ruskin Street, Kirkdale, was jailed for 15 years. He bought hydraulic presses and delivered drugs.Stephen Phillips, 19, of Glenista Close, Walton, was connected with several of the raided drugs factories. He received 10 years.
Anthony Wignall, 31, of Granton Road, Everton, was jailed for 11 years and three months after being caught making regular journeys to Amsterdam and sending money to Holland.
Michael Riley, 27, of Bianca Street, Bootle, travelled to Holland at least six times in 2006, carrying money out to Hibbs- Turner. He was jailed for 10 year.
Adam Joynson, 19, Willowdale Road, Walton, was jailed for eight years. He sent out substantial amounts to Holland.
Nicholas Miller, 20, of Betula Close, Walton, was involved with the Rice Lane drugs factory and was locked up for nine and a half years.
Jamie Quirk, 26, of Bulford Road, Walton, was jailed for 10 years. He sent money to Amsterdam.

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David Geering computers were traced to an internet cafe in London’s Victoria district, an address in Hertfordshire and a property in Spain.

David Geering, 48, had been a detective with the Metropolitan Police’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command. But all the time he was a child sex pervert trading hundreds of vile images with other sickos. A number of photos featured the most extreme kind of child abuse.Geering was found to have taken indecent photos of two kids himself. He used the false name Nigel Robotham to cover his tracks but was nabbed when he made internet contact with someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl. It was actually a fake identity assumed by officers from the Met Police Paedophile Unit.
Three of his computers were traced to an internet cafe in London’s Victoria district, an address in Hertfordshire and a property in Spain.
Checks with other forces revealed Geering’s evil trade in images of kids. Geering was jailed at London’s Southwark Crown Court on 20 counts of distributing indecent images of children and two counts of taking indecent images of children.
The cop of 27 years was convicted last month. Det Supt Sue Knight of the Met’s Child Abuse Investigation Command said: “It is a reminder to paedophiles that wherever they go and whatever their occupation, the Met will track them down.”

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Richard Davison is currently on bail in Spain where he is facing drug smuggling charges.

‘Uncatchable’ boats…that’s been the claim made against British manufacturer Crompton Marine with its two principals, Richard Davison, 39, and Ellen George, 41, now facing court in Ipswich, UK. The court was told that Crompton Marine had built an enviable reputation for its production of high-speed inflatables. However, according to the UK’s Daily Mail, the respectable front of Crompton Marine is alleged to have hidden an undercover ‘trade’ producing high-speed craft for international drug smugglers. It is alleged Davison and George were well paid for their efforts. Sums of money mentioned before the court include ‘secret cash deals’ on AUD$720,000 boats, the pair lived in a AUD$722,000 home in the seaside village of Lowestoft, Suffolk, and customs officers who raided the house are reported to have discovered AUD$2,472,000 in cash hidden in various places. Additionally, a further 1,000,000 Euros (about AUD$1,351,620) was allegedly unearthed along with AUD$80,350 in a property used by the couple in Malaga, Spain.
The boats built by Crompton Marine were giant inflatable RIBs with up to eight 250hp engines (usually Yamaha) installed at the transom. They were capable of better than 112km/hr. The court heard that the boats were ‘virtually invisible’ to radar being of low profile and painted grey or black. It has been alleged the couple were in the process of producing a 33.0-metre (108’) version destined for criminals running contraband between northern Africa and Spain. According to the Daily Mail, prosecutor Simon Draycott, QC, revealed a photograph of a boat to the court that could carry up to 15,000 litres of fuel and used 900-litres per hour at top speed.
He told the court the boat was so powerful it could carry 'a lot of drugs, a lot of contraband and still outrun any maritime craft.'
George is awaiting sentencing after admitting to possession of criminal property and money laundering, while Davison is currently on bail in Spain where he is facing drug smuggling charges. The couple was arrested after British customs officers put Crompton Marine under surveillance following a ‘tip off’ from Spanish authorities.
As the Daily Mail points out, 'the trial is continuing.'

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