Venezuela arrests Colombian drug kingpin

 The arrest of Maximiliano Bonilla-Orozco at his home in Venezuela's third largest city of Valencia on Sunday was announced, perhaps not coincidentally, during a visit by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. After a five-hour meeting at the presidential palace, Santos thanked Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez for the "welcome gift" of capturing "a very high-value" drug trafficker "who has caused terrible damage to our country." Venezuelan...

woman from Valletta was today jailed for two years and three months after she admitted to smuggling 12 pieces of cannabis grass hidden in dates into prison

A 27-year-old woman from Valletta was today jailed for two years and three months after she admitted to smuggling 12 pieces of cannabis grass hidden in dates into prison last Sunday.Miriam Caruana, who was taking the drugs to her Arab boyfriend who is an inmate, also admitted to...

B.C. skipper linked to cocaine shipment posed beside pile of cash

 Just weeks before notorious B.C. skipper John Philip Stirling was caught near Colombia on a boat full of cocaine, he sent his neighbour in Chase — a community in B.C.'s Shuswap region — photos of himself lying on the floor beside a giant pile of money. In the accompanying email, Stirling told Shawn Martin that he wouldn't repay cash he owed him despite being flush after a recent trip to the South American cocaine centre. Bizarre details...

ARRESTED 60-year-old, who is originally from Blackpool, but has been living in the Marbella area of Spain

Armed Naval and Gardai personnel with cocaine which was seized from a yacht off the west coast of Ireland A BLACKPOOL man has been arrested for allegedly being part of a £250m international cocaine smuggling racket. Police, acting under orders from the Serious Organised...

Gangster dead in Vancouver daytime shooting

 brazen gangland slaying in a busy area one block from a Vancouver police station has left witnesses to the Sunday morning shooting extremely shaken. A man dressed in black clothing approached the victim as he walked his dog and shot him six times in the chest from close range, according to witness accounts. A witness, who asked to be identified only as Sylvia, said she heard six gunshots. “It sounded like fireworks,” said Sylvia, who was...

‘Notorious gangster’ shot dead

 man, who police described as a “notorious gangster and shooter,” was shot dead on Tuesday night. David “Pickles” Thomas, 39, was shot once in the face by a gunman at Wharton Street, Laventille. His death pushed the murder toll to 303 for the year compared with 400 for the same period last year. Thomas was the 33th person to be murdered since the state of emergency was declared on August 21. A report said Thomas was liming near a dirt track ...

man who died while in police custody has been discovered in a morgue - more than a decade after he was supposedly buried

Officials are investigating claims that a man who died while in police custody has been discovered in a morgue - more than a decade after he was supposedly buried.The mix-up was discovered last Friday, when the Hull City Council tried to bury the body of Grace Kamara, a...

UK Border Agency hit by fresh 'bribes for visas' scandal

 Scotland Yard says a high-level employee, whose job was to vet thousands of visa applications from Africa, accepted bribes for allowing Nigerians to enter the country illegally. Samuel Shoyeju, an entry clearance officer, was arrested while working at the agency’s head offices in Croydon, south London, according to the Sunday Times (£). He is due to appear in court later this week, expected to be accused of possessing false Nigerian passports...

Italy government hangs by thread as coalition crumbles

 Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's fate hung by a thread Friday and desertions from his crumbling centre-right coalition may have already robbed him of the parliamentary numbers he needs to survive. Berlusconi, caught in the crossfire from European powers and a party revolt at home, agreed at a G20 summit in France to IMF monitoring of economic reforms which he has long promised but failed to implement. But this may soon be irrelevant...

Belizean Bloods have been charged with drug trafficking and passport fraud

 Two dozen members of a Chicago street gang have been charged with drug trafficking and passport fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. The charges against the members of the Belizean Bloods street gang, said to operate in Chicago and Evanston, Ill., were contained in an indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, a release said. The charges arise from two coordinated investigations that included agents from multiple...

Arrests of Mexican drug cartel leaders in Texas raise concerns

 The recent arrests of three alleged drug gang leaders from Mexico and the shooting of a sheriff's deputy in South Texas are raising fears among some Lone Star State officials that the brutal drug wars plaguing Mexico are taking hold north of the Rio Grande. On Sunday, Deputy Hugo Rodriguez of Hidalgo County in the southern tip of Texas was shot several times when he pulled over a vehicle containing a person kidnapped by members of Mexico's...

Police raided the Magog Motorcycle gang's New Plymouth headquarters yesterday

 Police raided the Magog Motorcycle gang's New Plymouth headquarters yesterday as part of an operation targeting the Hells Angels. The Centennial Dr gang pad was one of two addresses searched locally while simultaneous warrants were carried out at Auckland properties, including the headquarters of the Hells Angels and other properties linked with the gang, by police and the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (Ofcanz). A 56-year-old...

Dead Man Inc.: 22 charged in indictment of white prison gang

 Nearly two dozen alleged members of a homegrown prison gang that started in Maryland and spread across the country have been indicted on federal racketeering charges, including accusations of murder for hire, armed robbery and drug running, officials announced Wednesday. The members of Dead Man Inc., who refer to themselves as "dawgs" and espouse an anti-government philosophy, used contraband cellphones to direct activities and spread gang...

Gangster suspect Freddie is bailed in Spain

 SUSPECTED gangland boss 'Fat' Freddie Thompson is enjoying the Spanish sunshine after being freed on bail following a brief court appearance. Mr Thompson (30) was allowed to leave a Costa del Sol court a free man yesterday after more than a fortnight in jail in Ireland and Spain. He was told he was suspected of offences including drugs trafficking, money laundering and unlawful assembly, at the private court hearing in Estepona near Marbella....

Fat FreddieThomson has been wanted in Spain for the past 18 months

30 year old Irishman, Freddie Thompson, known in the criminal world as ‘Fat Freddie', was arrested by the Garda in Dublin on October 21.The arrest order dates from 18 months ago and was issued by the courts in Estepona, Málaga. The police consider that Thomson was a member of the Irish gang led by Christopher Kinahan, which was broken up by police in May 2010 in an operation codenamed ‘shovel’ which saw the arrest of more than 30 people in Spain,...