Some brokerages may go bankrupt due to bearish market

Statistics show most securities enterprises have been suffering heavy losses from the slumping stock market since 2008, including Vina, Mien Nam, Navibank, Thanh Cong and Nam An.

In the last three years, Mien Nam Securities Corporation lost more than 50 percent of its registered capital of VND40 billion (US$2 million), while the bearish market wiped out nearly 70 percent of brokerage Vina’s registered capital of VND185 billion.

Securities company Navibank followed a similar pattern, losing 60 percent of its registered capital of VND35 billion.

Financial experts said those securities firms will likely to go bankrupt if the stock market remains in the losing streak this year and their shareholders continue to refuse buying more shares to keep them alive.

Even some brokerages with large market capitalization including Kim Long, Saigon Securities Incorporation and Bao Viet are also struggling with the bearish market.

Established in 2006 with a registered capital of VND18 billion (US$863,000), securities firm Kim Long soon became popular among stock market players. Its capital was raised to VND2.03 trillion ($97 million) early last year.

However, the slumping stock market has forced a Hanoi-based brokerage to consider on giving up its stock brokerage business to shift its capital towards other sectors.

The company held a shareholders’ meeting last month, seeking approval to stop providing securities services and switch its business to property, computer trading, and some other areas.

Analysts and stock investors followed the case closely because Kim Long is the first major stock brokerage firm that plans to withdraw from the service.
“The firm’s brokerage services including stock trading consultancy, guarantee of stock issuance and proprietary trading have made no money amid the plunging stock market,” said chairman Ha Hoai Nam.

“Despite having VND1.8 trillion in cash, we dare not to invest in the market, which has been very quiet so far this year,” Nam told Dau Tu Tai Chinh Newspaper.

However, after failing to gather enough shareholders at its meeeting last month, the brokerage will have to wait up to one month to know whether it can proceed with a plan to exit the brokerage business.

Not enough shareholders turned up at the meeting to make up the quorum of 65 percent of stock owners. The shareholders present at the meeting together held just 33.15 percent of the total shares, local news website VnExpress reported.

Kim Long is now required to organize a second meeting within the next 30 days and it has to secure a quorum with stockholders representing at least 51 percent of the total shares.

Twenty of 105 brokerages in the country posted losses last year. Kim Long lost nearly VND180 billion ($8.6 million). The poor performance has been attributed to the market decline.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange’s VN-Index, the country’s major index, edged up 0.08 percent, or 0.4 point, to close at 461 points on April 15th.

Vietnam’s stock market was Asia’s third-worst performer in 2010 as the VN-Index sank 2 percent while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 14 percent.

The index rebounded at the beginning of this year as expected. However, it plunged again on inflation concerns. The gauge has lost 5.5 percent so far this year.

 

Read more »

Posted in: Some brokerages may go bankrupt due to bearish market

drunken British tourist who violently rocked a baht bus “for fun” ended up getting punched in the face by its driver.

Philip Champreks, 39, complained to police he’d been punched in the eye by the taxi driver and assaulted by other passengers April 4. Champreks received three stitches for a cut.

Champreks admitted he was violently rocking the pickup truck, but said he was only having fun.

Clearly intoxicated, the Brit then stormed from the station without pressing charges and ranting about unfair treatment.

Read more »

Posted in: the Brit then stormed from the station without pressing charges and ranting about unfair treatment.

A Swedish man stopped at a routine police checkpoint was arrested after testing positive for illegal drugs.

John Peter Josefson, 25, was caught around 2 a.m. April 6 at a checkpoint on Soi Bonkai. A later search of his room uncovered drug paraphernalia, but no illegal narcotics.

Josefson was one of about 10 people arrested for flunking drug tests conducted by officers at the Soi Bonkai stop.

Read more »

Posted in: A Swedish man stopped at a routine police checkpoint was arrested after testing positive for illegal drugs.

Kuwaiti man pulled over by police was arrested for possession and use of three illegal drugs.

Khaled Faea Alazemi, 31, tested positive for methamphetamines. Officers who then searched his Pinya Residence apartment discovered a half-gram of ya ice, ya ba tablets and marijuana. He was jailed on possession of Class 1 and Class 5 narcotics.

The arrest occurred April 5 as Pattaya Police were patrolling near the flyover close to Bali Hai Pier. Alazemi was pulled over for an unspecified reason and searched. He was then brought to Pattaya Police Station for drug testing.

Police claim Alazemi confessed he bought the drugs on Walking Street for his personal use.

Read more »

Posted in: Kuwaiti man pulled over by police was arrested for possession and use of three illegal drugs.

Frenchman wearing a 50,000 baht gold necklace had the expensive jewelry snatched from his neck as he rode on the back of his Thai girlfriend’s motorbike.

Frenchman wearing a 50,000 baht gold necklace had the expensive jewelry snatched from his neck as he rode on the back of his Thai girlfriend’s motorbike.
Frederic Granier, 46, reported that the 2-baht-weight necklace with a Luang Por Sothorn Buddha amulet was taken by an unknown suspect April 9 near the Naklua market.

Phanitch Chamkadklang, 33, said she tried to follow the thief as he fled from Naklua Soi 13, but lost him near Banglamung Hospital.

Read more »

Posted in: 000 baht gold necklace had the expensive jewelry snatched from his neck as he rode on the back of his Thai girlfriend’s motorbike.,Frenchman wearing a 50

Thief with Red Nails Caught Hiding in Neighbor’s House

Saturday at 3:30 am, the Pattaya Police, the Civilian Volunteers and the Police Volunteers, led by Deputy Superintendent In charge of Suppression, Pol. Lt. Col. Grisagorn Tong-in were summoned by Mrs. Pranon Foster, aged 36.  She stated that a thief was trying to break into her house, which is located in The Grand Lotus Place, on Soi Tepprasit 5.  Both she and her husband had been awoken by the sound of a glass window being broken, and then saw the thief climbing the fence to run away.
 
The police came to the crime scene immediately. The nearly burgled house was a luxurious villa, and Mrs. Pranom Foster was waiting for the police. The police found a sliding window at the side of the house broken, showing where the thief was trying to enter.
 
Mrs. Pranom and her husband said they saw a man running away and climbing over the fence after he was spotted by them. The police surrounded the villas, as it seemed the thief was still hiding in the neigborhood.
 
A dark blue Honda Wave 100 motorcycle was found parked under a tree, hidden in a bush outside the villas, and right after that discovery, the next door British neighbor Mr. Sergey Segaz, aged 37 and his British wife, informed the police that an unknown Thai man was hiding in one of their closets. The police entered the house and managed to apprehend Mr. Pumsit Yimsuan, aged 29 a local, who was indeed hiding in the closet of the British couple. Mr. Pumsit claimed that he was not a thief, but tried to hide because he was frightened by the police.
 
For no apparent reason, Mr. Pumsit had painted his right thumb nail and big right toe nail red, so the officers slapped the moniker “red nails” on him. The evidence and circumstances supported the accusations of the couple and witnesses, and so Mr. Pumsit was taken for further investigation and legal proceedings. The police were convinced that he was not alone, and will seek any accomplices.

 

Read more »

Posted in: Thief with Red Nails Caught Hiding in Neighbor’s House

large-scale police raid targeted members of two Asian criminal street gangs

Police arrested 10 gang suspects Wednesday morning while carrying out search warrants tied to a fatal Garden Grove shooting, also finding drugs, guns and $70,000 in cash during the search of more than a dozen locations in Orange and Los Angeles counties, authorities said.

The large-scale police raid targeted members of two Asian criminal street gangs believed to be involved in the killing of 19-year-old Scottie Bui, who died from injuries sustained in an early morning shooting March 20 near Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue, Garden Grove Police Lt. Jeff Nightengale said.

Police have not outlined what led to the confrontation, which appears to have involved members of at least three gangs. A juvenile also shot during the incident survived his injuries.

No drugs or guns were found at the scene, Nightengale said. Authorities believe the confrontation began in a nearby parking lot before spilling out into the street, where the actual shootings took place

Read more »

Posted in: large-scale police raid targeted members of two Asian criminal street gangs

Thai Army Denies Using Toxic Gas in Cambodian Border Battle

Thailand denied accusations that its soldiers used toxic gas against Cambodian troops in the deadliest fighting along their disputed border since tensions flared up three years ago.

Battles that began April 22 have killed five Thais and six Cambodians, according to army officials and press reports, ending two months of peace since the United Nations Security Council urged a permanent cease-fire on Feb. 14. Thai soldiers used “heavy guns loaded with poisonous gas” in yesterday’s fighting, Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“The Cambodians are really incredible to make up a story like that,” Veerachon Sukondhadhpatipak, the Thai army’s deputy spokesman, said by phone from Bangkok. “They are always making up stories to make us look bad.”

The renewed fighting comes as Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva prepares to call an election in early May. Thailand’s military is provoking the clashes to boost its popularity in the event it stages another coup, Cambodian government Phay Siphan said by phone from Phnom Penh, the capital.

“The Thai military is moving against us so they can say they are protecting Thai land and earn credibility from their people,” he said. “We are a small country and we can’t afford to take Thai land. We need peace to build our country.”

The Southeast Asian neighbors have blamed each other for provoking the battles, which occurred several hundred kilometers west of border clashes in February near Preah Vihear temple, a UN World Heritage site. Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said Thai troops were aiming to take over disputed temples, while Abhisit said Thailand wouldn’t invade its neighbors and was retaliating from Cambodian aggression.

‘International Rules’

“Our movements are in line with international rules,” Abhisit said today in a weekly televised address. “In our retaliation, we attack only military points. Our retaliation will be appropriate with Cambodian attacks.”

Five Thai soldiers have died in two days of fighting, Veerachon said. The battles have also killed six Cambodian troops, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing Suos Sothea, a commander with an artillery unit on the border.

The clashes reignite tensions along the border that escalated in 2008 after Thailand opposed Cambodia’s efforts to list Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site. Fighting in February claimed at least 10 lives and displaced 30,000 people.

Thailand has refused to accept border observers from Indonesia, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

International Arena

“The recent clash is another attempt by Cambodia to elevate the bilateral dispute to international arena,” Abhisit said today.

Cambodia accused Thailand of using cluster munitions during fighting in February, a charge verified by U.K.-based Cluster Munition Coalition, which is pushing for an international ban on the weapons that scatter ammunition over a large area upon detonation. Thailand and Cambodia aren’t among the 108 countries that have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled in a 9-3 vote that Cambodia had sovereignty over Preah Vihear. It didn’t rule on the land surrounding the temple, and the two countries have yet to reconcile 10,422 square miles (26,993 square kilometers) of disputed waters in the Gulf of Thailand that may contain oil and gas reserves.

Thailand’s $264 billion economy is more than 26 times the size of Cambodia’s. The Cambodian army spent $191 million in 2009, compared with $4.9 billion for the military in Thailand, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

 

Read more »

Posted in: Thai Army Denies Using Toxic Gas in Cambodian Border Battle

Thailand and Cambodia exchanged gunfire

Thailand and Cambodia exchanged gunfire at their disputed frontier Friday in a new flareup of their long-running conflict, and the Thai army said one of its soldiers was killed and five were injured.

It was the first skirmish reported since the two Southeast Asian countries exchanged artillery and gunfire for four straight days in February at the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, killing at least eight people.

Cambodian Defence Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat confirmed the latest clash and said it took place about 155 miles (250 kilometers) west of Preah Vihear.

Chhum said the fighting took place at another temple in Ta Krabey that is also claimed by both nations. He said both sides had used rocket launchers, machine guns and rifles.

Thai Army Spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd told The Associated Press the latest skirmishes erupted after dawn and continued for at least half an hour. Another spokesperson, Lt. Col. Siriya Khuangsirikul, said one Thai soldier had been killed and artillery had been used.

Siriya said both sides "are in the middle of negotiating for a cease-fire."

Serm Chainarong, the governor of Thailand's Surin province where the fighting happened, said authorities there were preparing to evacuate about 5,000 people.


It was unclear what sparked the latest fighting.

The conflict is rooted in a decades-old border dispute over ancient temples and the land surrounding them, which has fueled nationalist passions on both sides.

Tensions between the neighbors have been exacerbated in recent months in part by pressure from powerful Thai nationalist groups, which have staged protests in Bangkok urging the government to reclaim the land.

Clashes have erupted several times since 2008, when Preah Vihear was given UN World Heritage status.

Read more »

Posted in: Thailand and Cambodia exchanged gunfire

THREE MAJOR ivory seizures this month “provide further insight into the markets being targeted by organized crime syndicates smuggling elephant ivory from Africa to Asia”,

THREE MAJOR ivory seizures this month “provide further insight into the markets being targeted by organized crime syndicates smuggling elephant ivory from Africa to Asia”, according to Traffic International, the wildlife trade monitoring network.

One of the largest recent seizures – a “staggering” 707 tusks, 32 ivory bracelets and a rhino horn – was made during a routine inspection of a large truck at tollbooths on a highway in Guangxi, China, just a few kilometres from the border with Vietnam.

On April 1st, 247 elephant tusks were seized by customs officers in Thailand, concealed in a consignment of frozen fish from Kenya. And this week, Vietnamese police confiscated another 122 ivory tusks from a warehouse in Mong Cai, near the Chinese border.

“The enforcement authorities ... are to be congratulated for making these interdictions, but the tusks attest to the poaching of more than 500 elephants, which is a major conservation concern,” according to Tom Milliken, Traffic’s expert on illicit ivory trading.

“This pattern of seizures helps corroborate our suspicions that Thailand and China remain the primary end-use destinations for large quantities of ivory being smuggled out of Africa, with Vietnam now serving as the leading conduit for trade into China,” he added.

Mr Milliken leads work on elephant and rhino trade and manages the Elephant Trade Information System for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES.

The information system is the world’s largest database of elephant product seizure records. The most recent analysis listed Thailand, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo as the three countries most heavily implicated in the illicit trade.

Traffic sounded an alarm when it discovered a “seriously escalating illegal ivory trade” from 2004 to 2009. Since 2009, however, there has been almost no respite as China, Thailand and Vietnam have seized nearly 20 tonnes of elephant ivory – not counting the latest hauls.

“Sophisticated criminal networks are utilising every means available – road, sea and air – to smuggle their contraband from African source countries to lucrative markets in Asia, often via circuitous routes to avoid detection,” Mr Milliken said.

“While major seizures, arrests and prosecutions are certainly deterrents to these smuggling operations, the only long-term solution to curtail elephant poaching has to be to reduce the demand for illegally sourced ivory to negligible levels.”

Read more »

Posted in: THREE MAJOR ivory seizures this month

The infamous Bangkok nightlife is no national or international secret. From the strip joints of Patpong to Soi Cowboy with their bars and nightclubs, the Phetchaburi and Ratchadaphisek roads with their massage parlours and spas that offer "special services",

The infamous Bangkok nightlife is no national or international secret. From the strip joints of Patpong to Soi Cowboy with their bars and nightclubs, the Phetchaburi and Ratchadaphisek roads with their massage parlours and spas that offer "special services", the numerous pubs, bars, executive clubs and "marn rood" (curtained) hotels - all are proof of a thriving sex industry in the capital.

From "a-go-gos" to "coyotes" and the odd and varied sex shows, girls, boys and increasingly transvestites dance the floors half or fully naked. Alcohol flows and sex workers can be had for a fee. As for the spas and massage parlours, the rooms are conveniently included with the services rendered.

In Bangkok and other cities like Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai, you can of course enjoy sightseeing the various historical, cultural, sea and sand tourist destinations. But at the same time, the sex trade flourishes, attracting all sorts of personalities - not only tourists looking for fun but also criminals, sex offenders, paedophiles and many other dodgy characters. Human and drug trafficking are intertwined. Crime, robbery and murder become widespread and corruption rampant.

It is not just corruption in the sense that officials take bribes and allow wrongdoing to take place. The acceptance that nothing can be done about the sex trade in Thailand, that this is part of a "normal" way of life, corrupts the minds of the people and bleaches into the ethical fabric of a society.

The three teenagers, aged 13, 14 and 16, should not be blamed for society's misconduct; why should they become the national scapegoat for their misconduct, even though news reports said they admitted to having intentionally danced topless?

They had been drinking with friends before leaving home and, for them, to dance in such a manner was nothing strange since they had been to "an entertainment place that has naked shows in exchange for the price of admission and drinks; where if one went bottomless, they could win a complimentary bottle of whiskey"!

If our youth are thinking along these lines then we definitely have more problems to deal with than just fining the three girls. The police and government authorities, by clamping down on the girls and the enthusiasts who posted the video clips on the Internet, demonstrate the Thai hypocrisy and denial. By trying to quickly close the case and getting the news off the front page, the authorities are not addressing the real problem at all.

If corruption is a root cause, hypocrisy and denial are what make matters worse. If one cannot look the truth in the eye and carries on pretending that darkness does not exist, then no problem will be resolved.

Many may argue that Thailand and its red-light districts are a normal way of life and that the tourism industry, with sex as its main attraction, makes a lot of money for the country.

As I said, I am a realist; I am not going to pretend that all such establishments, right down to the last whorehouse, will be eliminated and Thailand will become the peaceful and ethical Buddhist society depicted in a lot of temple paintings.

Nor am I a saint, since as a man growing up in Thailand I've had my share of escapades to those places I have described.

But if New York City can clean up Times Square, and if Boston's aggressive policy can lead to the demise of Combat Zone, then why can't Bangkok?

If CNN can launch its Freedom Project to end modern slavery, including human trafficking, and if Piers Morgan can invite Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher on his show to say "Real men don't buy girls!", why does Thailand have to accept its place in the world as the premier sex city trading in modern slavery?

How can we all live with a clear conscience when our sons and daughters are being bought and sold, where many can attain better opportunities with education and proper healthcare? Can you really sleep at night if teenagers are willing to dance naked just for a bottle of whiskey?

Is the money we gain from tourism to sexual destinations really worth the loss of our human dignity and that of the next generation's?

Read more »

Posted in: The infamous Bangkok nightlife

Tensions are rising in Thailand's capital city as army leaders accuse opposition politicians of being disloyal to the country's revered king

Tensions are rising in Thailand's capital city as army leaders accuse opposition politicians of being disloyal to the country's revered king and some residents worry that planned elections will be blocked, by a coup or some other means.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he is preparing to dissolve Parliament and announce national elections next month, kicking off a campaign for a vote expected as soon as the end of June. He hopes the vote—the first since deadly protests erupted last year—will end five years of instability and violence and enable Southeast Asia's second-largest economy to build on its rapid recovery from the global economic slump.

But some analysts say there is still a risk the vote might not take place at all. In recent weeks, army commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has filed criminal complaints against several top opposition activists for allegedly insulting the monarchy—a serious crime here, and an allegation that could turn some voters against the opposition For Thais Party while also enraging some of its die-hard supporters.

Some military leaders fear that a national vote could allow supporters of ex-Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and is living in exile, an avenue back into power, according to people familiar with the situation.

On Thursday, pre-election anxiety got the better of many Thais when a satellite glitch knocked out television signals across the country and triggered rumors that a coup was already underway.

Military leaders have repeatedly denied any plans to launch a coup or otherwise influence the democratic process.

Members of the royalist People's Alliance for Democracy, which blockaded Thailand's main airport in 2008, are urging Mr. Abhisit to call off his election plan and allow an appointed government to take over instead. Prominent newspaper columnists are adding their weight to the campaign, saying Thailand won't be ready to have a peaceful election for four or five more years.

Some opposition leaders are skeptical the vote will push through, even if Mr. Abhisit does dissolve parliament. Nattawut Saikua, one of the key leaders of the opposition "Red Shirt" movement, worries that new election laws could be challenged in court and ruled unconstitutional, delaying indefinitely any election.

"I think there might only be a 50% chance of an election taking place," says Mr. Nattawut, who plans to run for the opposition For Thais Party.

Many Thais are also worried about the potential for instability even if an election is held. Neither Mr. Abhisit's Democrat Party nor Mr. Thaksin's backers will likely secure a majority of seats in Parliament, analysts predict. If that happens, it could lead to further violence as the two sides try to assume control of the government.

Mr. Abhisit has insisted the elections will be called soon. Under Thai law, he is required to call a vote by the end of this year.

The latest election maneuvering comes amid other sources of tension in Thailand, as the country's military clashed with Cambodian forces Friday over a bitterly disputed border, killing at least six soldiers. It was unclear what triggered the exchange of fire, which claimed the lives of three Thai soldiers and three Cambodians, but the years-old conflict over land near an ancient temple has inflamed nationalist passions in both countries.

On Saturday, Thailand rejected accusations it used chemical weapons against Cambodian troops in fighting that extended into a second day and forced thousands of civilians from their homes, according to the Associated Press.

Firing by both sides had ceased by noon, but Cambodia's defense ministry said at nightfall that the situation was "still tense," according to the AP.

Mr. Thaksin, a 61-year-old former telecommunications mogul who now lives abroad to avoid imprisonment on a corruption conviction, recently emerged from his self-imposed exile to talk with the international media and reiterate that the charges against him are politically motivated. He is also urging on his followers in a series of phone-ins and messages on Twitter.

Red Shirt protesters, including many who support Mr. Thaksin, have long contended that Thailand's armed forces and royalist establishment manipulate the country's democratic processes, which the military denies.

In protests last year, tens of thousands of the protesters blockaded large areas of central Bangkok and put a serious dent in the country's tourism industry. As the protests grew increasingly violent, with some demonstrators firing grenades into crowds of commuters, the army stepped in to contain the spreading conflict. A total of 91 people—the majority of them protesters—were killed in the subsequent skirmishes.

Read more »

Posted in: Tensions are rising in Thailand's capital city as army leaders accuse opposition politicians of being disloyal to the country's revered king

BRITISH accountant and his girlfriend have been charged with killing a six-year-old girl after kidnapping her for child porn.

The 48-year-old, from South London, and his Filipina lover, 35, allegedly snatched Ellah Joy Pique outside a school in Cebu, a Philippine island.

Police claim they wanted her for porn videos but the plan “went awry, leading to the slaying and dumping of her body” over a cliff.

Warrants for both were filed by the Cebu ­Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.

Read more »

Posted in: BRITISH accountant and his girlfriend have been charged with killing a six-year-old girl after kidnapping her for child porn.

Four more people, including an official of the DGCA or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, have been arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the 'fake flying licence' scam.

The arrested DGCA official has been identified as Pradeep Kumar, who was the Assistant Director in charge of licensing till January. This is the first time that an official of the aviation regulator has been arrested in the scam. Other arrests include a pilot and two touts.

With the fresh arrests, a total of 10 people have been taken into custody in connection with the racket.

The DGCA had recently grounded 14 pilots who had obtained their commercial licences by submitting fake records and documents.

Read more »

Posted in: arrested DGCA official has been identified as Pradeep Kumar,who was the Assistant Director in charge of licensing

Jakarta Police are saying a police officer caught doing drugs with Soeharto’s great granddaughter is a drug addict.

The Jakarta Police are saying a police officer caught doing drugs with Soeharto’s great granddaughter is a drug addict.

The police caught the officer with the rank of adj. sr. comr. using crystal methamphetamine (shabu-shabu) together with Putri Ariyanti Haryowibo at a South Jakarta hotel last week. The police also found 30 grams of crystal meth and 500 ecstasy pills.

“[The officer] and Putri are both only drug users at this point,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharudin Djafar said Friday.

He said that the police had not found any evidence that the arrested officer was part of a drug syndicate. The officer’s ethics trial will be put on hold until the investigation into the case is complete.

“We are still in the process of investigating whether [the officer] was just a user or a dealer,” he said, as reported by tempointeraktif.com.

Read more »

Posted in: Jakarta Police are saying a police officer caught doing drugs with Soeharto’s great granddaughter is a drug addict.

India is reviewing the licenses of all of the more than 4,000 pilots working there for "irregularities,"

India is reviewing the licenses of all of the more than 4,000 pilots working there for "irregularities," a move that comes amid charges that more than a dozen pilots used falsified credentials for their jobs, the BBC reports.

The story, which traces back to a January flight incident, has been dramatically unfolding in recent weeks. The latest development came this morning when Indian aviation authorities revoked "the licenses of 15 commercial pilots for exaggerating their flying time during training," The Associated Press reports.

AP adds "police have arrested four pilots with fake aviation licenses in the past two weeks, leading to concerns about unqualified pilots endangering the lives of thousands of travelers. Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of failing to prevent corruption in licensing."

AFP writes "India's fake pilot scandal (first) began unraveling when a female captain landed her packed airliner on the nose instead of the rear wheels as she touched down in the holiday hotspot of Goa."

That pilot, Parminder Kaur Gulati, worked for rapidly expanding Indian discount carrier IndiGo. After being investigated for the Goa incident, she was fired and eventually arrested for flying with falsified qualifications. It turns out that the 38-year-old pilot had several similar incidents on her record, but they had been kept from airline regulators, according to the Toronto Star.

AFP says "the case set alarm bells ringing for passengers anxious about the idea of a semi-trained fraud being responsible for their lives, and for airline bosses, who have been hiring crew at a furious pace in recent years. It also cast a spotlight on a familiar problem in India, where corruption is widely seen as on the rise: most things, even qualifications for highly skilled jobs, can be bought at a price."

That's apparently not the only ongoing concern in Indian aviation.

Read more »

Posted in: Indian pilots accused of faking credentials

strong earthquake that toppled homes in north eastern Burma has killed over 70 people

strong earthquake that toppled homes in north eastern Burma has killed over 70 people, and there were fears today the toll would mount as conditions in more remote areas became known.

Last night's quake, measured at a magnitude 6.8 by the US Geological Survey, was centred just north of the town Tachileik in the mountains along the Thai border, but was felt hundreds of miles away in the Thai capital Bangkok and Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

Burmese state radio later put the death toll at 74 people with at least 111 injured and officials are concerned that the damage could be even worse in rural areas.

Read more »

Posted in: strong earthquake that toppled homes in north eastern Burma has killed over 70 people

SIX people have been arrested and firearms seized as police from the Asian Crime Squad raided a number of clandestine drug laboratories.

Officers also uncovered three clandestine drug laboratories and seized cash, ammunition and heroin.

Asian Crime Squad detectives with assistance from the Professional Standards Command, Tactical Operations Unit, Public Order Riot Squad and South West Region Enforcement Squad executed nine simultaneous search warrants at various locations across Sydney today.

Six men aged in their 20s and 30s were arrested.

One of them, aged 21, is believed to be an associate of the Rebels Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. Charges are expected to be laid against all the men.

A .38 calibre revolver, a replica pistol, an air rifle, a large quantity of ammunition, small quantities of methamphetamine, heroin and cannabis, fake credit cards and a sum of cash were also seized during the operation.

Read more »

Posted in: SIX people have been arrested and firearms seized as police from the Asian Crime Squad raided a number of clandestine drug laboratories.

VILLAWOOD man was charged with drug and firearms offences during an Asian Crime Squad operation targeting trafficking of drugs and weapons

VILLAWOOD man was charged with drug and firearms offences during an Asian Crime Squad operation targeting trafficking of drugs and weapons last Tuesday.

The 28-year-old man was taken to Fairfield police station and charged with supplying an indictable quantity of a prohibited drug, possessing a prohibited drug, selling prohibited firearms and participating in a criminal group.

He was refused bail and faced court last Tuesday, where he was again refused bail and ordered to re-appear in court on March 22.

Read more »

Posted in: VILLAWOOD man was charged with drug and firearms offences during an Asian Crime Squad operation targeting trafficking of drugs and weapons

two major Asian organised crime groups specialising in gambling fraud are behind the current match-fixing investigation

According to YLE's sources, two major Asian organised crime groups specialising in gambling fraud are behind the current match-fixing investigation, and the Singaporean man arrested in February could be working for them. He is wanted for several crimes, including gambling crimes.
Finnish FA General Secretary Kimmo J. Lipponen says that the investigation is a global affair.
"The actors are very international and operate in several different countries, as far as we know outside Europe in Africa and Asia as well as South America," said Lipponen. "The police—both the National Bureau of Investigation in Finland and Interpol on a global level—are trying to clarify what exactly is involved."
The investigation has stigmatised Veikkausliiga’s operations, according to League CEO Timo Marjamaa. He believes that the struggle affects the whole sport.
”It’s easy to get to a situation where these games were affected by wider criminal activities, against which we’re all fighting,” said Marjamaa. ”We are not immune to these problems.”
Full Support
Marjamaa believes that the matter is not yet resolved, and says that the league will offer full support to the ongoing police investigation. Clubs are also assisting police where appropriate, to help them get to the bottom of things.
The police have arrested six players in different parts of Finland. Four of them are from Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), and two played for AC Oulu last season.
”I’m certain everyone is waiting for the police to complete their investigations,” says Marjamaa. ”Once they’re done, clubs can make their own decisions about what to do with the players in question.”
Marjamaa reminds people that the players have contracts that remain in force.
”Of course Veikkausliiga can make recommendations, but you have to remember that as long as things remain unfinished, people should not act too hastily,” said Marjamaa.
He also said that he did not know which games were under investigation, just that some were Ykkönen games, the second tier of Finnish football, and some were in Veikkausliiga, the top flight.

Read more »

Posted in: two major Asian organised crime groups specialising in gambling fraud are behind the current match-fixing investigation

Thai girls working as prostitutes at a flat in College Street in the trendy Merchant City.

Asian restaurant worker, who leased an apartment under the name Kenny Smith, had four Thai girls working as prostitutes at a flat in College Street in the trendy Merchant City.
And a few minutes away in Albion Street, our reporter found dark-haired Michaela DeLucas - who claimed to be Italian - and a blonde pal selling sex for £150 an hour.
Ronnie Murray was horrified when we told him pimps had been using his agency, and vowed to immediately shop them to the police.
Our investigation has revealed a shocking explosion in the scale of Scotland's illegal vice trade.
We have learned that girls from Asia and eastern Europe have moved away from sex saunas and set themselves up in private properties, making it harder for police to catch them. The girls advertise sex on the internet and post X-rated photos and phone numbers for punters to call.
We found one website, based in the Netherlands, advertising 781 prostitutes in Scotland.

Read more »

Posted in: Thai girls working as prostitutes at a flat in College Street in the trendy Merchant City.

Police officer testifies in MCOCA case against Abu Salem - dnaindia.com

Police officer testifies in MCOCA case against Abu Salem - dnaindia.com: "Delhi court today recorded the testimony of a police officer who had arrested extradite gangster Abu Salem in an extortion case lodged under stringent MCOCA for allegedly demanding Rs5 crore as protection money from a city-based businessman."

Read more »

Posted in: arrested extradite gangster Abu Salem

Death Penalty News: Bali Nine: Has Scott Rush converted to Islam?

Death Penalty News: Bali Nine: Has Scott Rush converted to Islam?: "grave concerns for the mental well-being of death row inmate and Bali nine member Scott Rush, as friends and family come to terms with his decision to be circumcised at an Islamic prayer room.The circumcision occurred after a doctor was smuggled into Kerobokan prison on Friday by a group of Muslims and raised questions about Rush's religion.
Circumcision is commonly a part of a conversion ceremony although Rush told members of his prayer group who visited him yesterday that he remained a Christian.But according to a former psychiatrist who was part of the group, the young Queenslander was ''anxious, thought disordered and confused''.''He exhibited naivety and did not seem to realise the implications of what he had done,'' the former psychiatrist, who asked not to be identified, reported back to Rush's family and legal team.
''He is an anxious, lonely and terrified young man. He is trying to find understanding in a world that no longer makes sense.''
The former psychiatrist said Rush showed signs of ''death row phenomenon'', a mental malady that affects people under a death sentence, leading to ''perception disorder''.Rush has been on death row for 2½ years for his role in the syndicate that tried to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin to Australia. His final legal appeal is due shortly."

Read more »

Posted in: as friends and family come to terms with his decision to be circumcised at an Islamic prayer room,Scott Rush

Kyodo News - Story

Kyodo News - Story: "Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday sought Japan's acceptance of Beijing's planned execution of four Japanese men convicted in drug smuggling cases, saying drug smuggling is a ''serious crime'' and the planned measure is ''based on Chinese law.''"

Read more »

English Tourist drugged and Robbed in his Central Pattaya Hotel Room | Pattaya One News

English Tourist drugged and Robbed in his Central Pattaya Hotel Room | Pattaya One News: "Mr. Paul Edward Metcalfe aged 60 from England made a report at Pattaya Police Station regarding allegations he had been drugged and robbed by a woman he had met on the street. The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday Morning when Mr. Metcalfe was walking back to his Hotel located in Soi 12 off Pattaya Beach Road. He encountered a woman known as Khun Joy aged 30 who suggested the pair go back to his Hotel and engage in sexual acts in exchange for a payment of 1,000 Baht. Mr. Metcalfe accepted the deal and the pair went back to the Hotel. Following love-making Mr. Metcalfe began to feel dizzy and passed out. He awoke on Sunday Night and realized the woman had stolen his possessions, including, a Rolex Watch worth around 300,000 Baht, 6,000 Baht cash, two gold rings worth around 40,000 Baht and an IPOD worth around 10,000 Baht along with a 10,000 Baht Nokia Mobile Phone. The report was completed and the search for Khun Joy is now taking place."

Read more »

Court agrees to extradite alleged British fraudster to Dubai

Court agrees to extradite alleged British fraudster to Dubai: "The court approved the public prosecutor's request to extradite Michael Bryan Smith, 43, to the United Arab Emirates even though Thailand has no extradition treaty with the country.
The UAE Office of the Attorney General issued a warrant for Smith's arrest in August 2008 for allegedly cheating the Dubai-based Limitless Company out of 150 million dollars while working there as a human resource manager.
Smith will appeal the decision, his lawyer said. The British national has been living in Thailand since 2008.
'Although there is no extradition treaty between the UAE and Thailand, the UAE has said they intend to reciprocate on the case,' the Bangkok Criminal Court said in its ruling on the Smith case.
Thailand and the UAE are currently negotiating an extradition treaty but the talks have not been finalized.
The Thai government is known to be keen to have such a treaty in place to press for the extradition of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is living in Dubai.
'In the absence of an extradition treaty, courts can extradite on the basis of reciprocity,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said. 'So if we cooperate with the UAE on this matter (Smith), they should cooperate in a similar case,' he said.
Thaksin faces a two-year jail term in Thailand. In October 2008, the Supreme Court for Political Office Holders found Thaksin guilty of abusing his premiership in 2003 by allowing his wife to successfully bid on a plot of land in Bangkok at a government auction."

Read more »

Posted in: Court agrees to extradite alleged British fraudster to Dubai

Briton hit US Marine, fined

Briton hit US Marine, fined: "Jonathan Graham Thomson Irving, 24, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of punching Mr Clayton Sharrard, 21, on his face under grave and sudden provocation at Orchard Towers on July 4 last year. The victim suffered multiple fractures as a result.
The court heard that a dispute broke out between the two men near an ATM machine at Orchard Towers at about 1.15am that day. Irving started to laugh at Sharrard who warned him not to mess with him. Sharrard then became aggressive and started to use profanity.
Shortly after leaving the place, the victim swore at Irving from across the road. Irving continued to laugh at the victim who then crossed the road to confront Irving. Feeling provoked and fearful of being attacked, Irving punched the victim in the face. The victim lost his balance, fell down the stairs and hit the pavement.
Pleading for leniency, Defence counsel Christopher de Souza told District Judge Lee Poh Choo that his client lost his job as a mechanical systems designer for oil rigs as a result of the incident.
Irving could have been jailed for up to six years for the offence."

Read more »

Doctor accused of drug crimes

Doctor accused of drug crimes: "34-year-old doctor has been charged with drug and firearm offences after raids by organised crime detectives.
Detectives executed a drug search warrant at a house in Second Avenue in Mount Lawley, where prohibited glassware items were found.
The officers then searched a second house belonging to the man, where it is alleged a small amount of methylamphetamine was found.
That afternoon, a third premises used by the doctor was also searched and a loaded home-made pen gun and two ecstasy tablets were found.
The man has been charged with possessing an unlicensed firearm, possessing a prohibited drug and possessing a restricted item.
He is due to face the Perth Magistrates Court on May 19."

Read more »

David Solomon, a 44-year-old British national who was alleged to have been in possession of five packets of the Class 1 drug yah ice totalling 6.36 g

Thursday afternoon senior police at the Soi 9 station held a press conference to showcase a motley collection of nine people, five men and four women aged between 18 and 44, who had been arrested in a sweep of the city and charged with drugs and theft offences. Standing out among this crowd was David Solomon, a 44-year-old British national who was alleged to have been in possession of five packets of the Class 1 drug yah ice totalling 6.36 grams. An 18-year-old Thai teenager was caught with 10 yah bah tablets, while the remainder had lesser amounts of the same illegal narcotic and one man, aged 24, was also caught in possession of a stolen motorbike. It looks as though the Pattaya Provincial Court is going to be busy over the next few days.

Read more »

Posted in: a 44-year-old British national who was alleged to have been in possession of five packets of the Class 1 drug yah ice totalling 6.36 grams.,David Solomon

British man caught with class 1 drugs by Pattaya Police | Pattaya One News

British man caught with class 1 drugs by Pattaya Police | Pattaya One News: "Thursday afternoon senior police at the Soi 9 station held a press conference to showcase a motley collection of nine people, five men and four women aged between 18 and 44, who had been arrested in a sweep of the city and charged with drugs and theft offences. Standing out among this crowd was David Solomon, a 44-year-old British national who was alleged to have been in possession of five packets of the Class 1 drug yah ice totalling 6.36 grams. An 18-year-old Thai teenager was caught with 10 yah bah tablets, while the remainder had lesser amounts of the same illegal narcotic and one man, aged 24, was also caught in possession of a stolen motorbike. It looks as though the Pattaya Provincial Court is going to be busy over the next few days."

Read more »

Posted in: British national who was alleged to have been in possession of five packets of the Class 1 drug yah ice totalling 6.36 grams

Thailand’s Journalist faces 50 years in jail just too late to erase his reader’s comments.

Reporters Without Borders calls for the withdrawal of all charges against journalist Chiranuch Premchaipoen, the editor of Prachatai.com website, who is facing up to 50 years in prison under the computer crimes for failing to remove comments from her site with sufficient speed. Posted by visitors, the comments are deemed to have insulted the monarchy.Arrested and charged on 31 March, Chiranuch was released after three hours when her sister stood guarantee for the 300,000 bahts (6,000 euros) in bail demanded by the judicial authorities.“Once again, the lèse majesté and computer crimes laws are being used politically to control and intimidate people with dissenting views,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Amid the current political tension, the Thai public has greater need than ever to receive the kind of objective and quality news that Prachatai.com provides.”
The press freedom organisation added: “The charges brought against Chiranuch constitute a serious violation of free expression. They are not in accordance with the promises the authorities gave last January to combat abuses of the lèse majesté law.”Chiranuch’s trial is due to start on 31 May. She has been charged before a criminal court under articles 14 and 15 of the computer crimes act. The charges concern comments posted on the website in 2008, which Chiranuch removed quickly as soon as they were brought to her attention
The press organizations which his jobs is to defend the Journalist works in the world ‘’Reporters without Borders’’ vow the Thailand’s Attorney to write off their defamations cases to Thailand’s Journalist women Chiranuch Premchaipoen who was face a 50 years to stay in Jail cause by her late decisions to erase her readers comments on her articles about the Thailand’s kingdom in her online media Prachatai.com.
The Thailand’s attorney charge the Journalist was doing a computer crime by did not erase the readers’ comments about the Kingdom and Politics in Thailand’s. Chiranuch will attend the courth hearing next May 31, 2010. The Thailand’s court will also charge other Journalist with the same charge, Tantawut Taweewarodomkul, an Webmaster of two website of (norporchorusa.com and norporchorusa2.com) which on their articles support the oppositions ‘’red t-shirt’’ stand to opposed the government.
About 10 Thai blogger were face the same cases, one of them is Suvicha Thakor who was sentenced in Jail about 10 years.

Read more »

Posted in: Thailand’s Journalist faces 50 years in jail just too late to erase his reader’s comments.

women seeking romance or were in ‘true love’ were less likely to use condoms than women seeking ‘purely physical’ or casual sexual adventure.

Sex tourism has been long conceptualized as foreign men traveling to South East Asia to have sex with female or male commercial sex workers and children. In the 1990s, research started coming out about female sex tourism in the Caribbean. From then-until now, most literature/research on female tourist sexual relations with local Caribbean males—known commonly as beach boy, rent-a-dread or snaky panky—have been to prove or disprove that these relationships are or are not “sex tourism.” Is this sex tourism, romance tourism or maybe companionship tourism? Based on these studies particular gaps and inconsistencies were apparent, which includes the rates that condoms were used in the sexual relations between the local men and female tourists. Due to multiple contributing factors, tourist areas are epicenters for the transmission of HIV/AIDS. The low levels of condom use in these relationships pose a health risk to local and foreign populations.

The actual interactions between the beach boy and female tourist are fairly consistent, but the interpretation is where the debate lies. Studies about the sexual relations between female tourists and local men have been done in Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and the Gambia-among a few others. Rather than focusing on the debate and the details or their relationships (characteristics and motives of beach boys, the seduction process, and female tourist motives), I am going to combine information previously researched on the sexual relationships of female tourists and local Caribbean males, with research on the tourism industry, to gain insight and determine the rates of male condoms used to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Female Tourists
Studies throughout the Caribbean have common conclusions regarding sexual activities of female tourists and local male populations.

Many female tourists who travel alone engage in sexual relations with local populations (Forsythe, Hasbun & De Lister 1998; Herold, Garcia & DeMoya 2001; Taylor, 2000).

“True Love” or trusting relationships have a lower rate of condom use than “pearly physical” relationships (Taylor, 2001; Herold et al., 2001; Padilla, Guilamo-Romos, Bouris, & Reyes, 2010).

Female tourists are less likely to use condoms when engaging in sexual relations than male tourists (Forsythe et al., 1998; Taylor, 2001).
In the Dominican Republic, Herold et al. (2001) found that there is a common belief among beach boys that women who travel alone are seeking sexual relationships with local males. In this study, the beach boys estimated 70% of these women who travel alone would have a sexual relationship with a local male. This equaled about 1/3 of the women the beach boys approached. Taylor (2000) found that almost half of single tourist women in Jamaica had sexual relations with local men.

HIV/AIDS and Tourism
The UNAIDS (2009) reports that throughout the Caribbean region heterosexual transmission is the leading source of HIV infection rates, which can be tied sex work. Often when discussing sex work, the literature focuses on female sex workers or men who have sex with men (MSM). It is not until recently that there is a growing body of literature focusing particularly on male heterosexual sexual relations with female tourist populations. The thriving Caribbean tourist economy poses a considerable risk for local and foreigners. Risky sexual behavior among female tourists and local Caribbean males could lead to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and/or HIV/AIDS. The effect of STDs and HIV/AIDS transmission are continually a threat to the people of world. In the Caribbean alone 240,000 of the population is infected with the deadly virus (UNAIDS, 2009). The Caribbean has the second highest rate of HIV infections after Africa; Jamaica alone had a 9% infection rate among sex workers, in 2005. Padilla (2010) suggests that tourist areas are geographical, socially, and behaviorally distinct spaces that increase the risk associated with HIV/AIDS transmission (p. 71). Padilla (2010) points out that this increased risk for HIV transmission in tourist areas are due to four main reasons described as follows:

high HIV prevalence rates among sex workers and their clients,

high rates of HIV risk behaviors in tourism areas,

demographic changes resulting from labor migration, and

alcohol and drug use in tourism areas (p. 71).
According to Kempadoo (2004) and Padilla (2010), HIV rates are high among sex workers and migrant populations. The majority of young men working in tourist areas migrated from rural areas in search of economic advantages. Migration for labor purposes are often tied to sex work especially in tourist areas.

There have been concerns that the high rates of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean could discourage tourists visiting the islands and affect the tourism industry. Forsythe et al., (1998) study in the Dominican Republic explored this concern. The research found that some tourists who engage in sexual relations believe HIV/AIDS rates are much higher than the actual prevalence; therefore, in these cases, the risk of HIV did not discourage sexual encounters. Single women traveling alone perceived their personal risk higher than men traveling alone. It was these people who perceived that their risk was high that would be the most receptive to HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns in the country. When making travel plans, the majority of tourists did not consider HIV/AIDS infection rates in the destination country.

Condom Use
When evaluating literature regarding the Caribbean in particular, there are inconsistencies in the actual rate that condoms are used among female tourists and Caribbean males. For example, Herold et al. (2001) found that in the Dominican Republic the beach boys response to how often they use condoms with female tourists was contradictory to the female tourists interviewed. The beach boys responded that condoms were mostly used during their first sexual encounter but decreased as the relationship progressed. The female tourist’s claimed using condoms every time they were involved in sexual activities. Common beliefs among beach boys were that overweight women were economically stable and less sexually experienced; therefore, the risk of contracting an STD or HIV/AIDS was reduced. Forsythe et al. (1998) interviewed hotel workers of those who engaged in sexual relations with female tourist and 95% of these hotel workers said they used condoms every time they had sex.

Taylors (2001) study, in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic found that 67% of the female tourist’s claimed using condoms as protection, much less than the previous studies suggested, while 15% used no protection at all. Interestedly, women seeking romance or were in ‘true love’ were less likely to use condoms than women seeking ‘purely physical’ or casual sexual adventure. Also, the women who had multiple partners or who acknowledge ‘helping’ out the beach boy financially were more likely to use condoms. Previous studies have pointed out the age of the tourist, saying that older women are normally more financially stable and willing to give gifts or payments; many have purely physical motives, which in turn may lead to more condom use (Taylor, 2001).

This research is consistent with global studies that have documented the link between trusting relationships and decreased condom use (Padilla et al., 2010). Overall research on tourist relations suggests that female tourist use fewer condoms than male tourists, while engaging in heterosexual relationships with local populations. This research states that 75% of female tourists who have sex with local partners use no condom, while 42% of males do not use condoms (Forsythe et al, 1998).

Read more »

Posted in: women seeking romance or were in ‘true love’ were less likely to use condoms than women seeking ‘purely physical’ or casual sexual adventure.

Commit_A_Crime_In_Thailand

Commit_A_Crime_In_Thailand___Don_t_Even_Think_About_It

Read more »

Posted in: Commit_A_Crime_In_Thailand

young Russian tourist that she had been raped by a motorbike taxi driver, after she hired him to take her home to her condominium

PATTAYA Police Officers on the 14th March received a report from a young Russian tourist that she had been raped by a motorbike taxi driver, after she hired him to take her home to her condominium on Pratamnak Hill after an evening out with friends on Walking Street.
The attack which took place at around 4.30 in the morning, and left the victim, a 25 year old Russian woman, very shocked. She explained to the officers that she had hired the motorbike taxi driver close to Bali Hai Pier and asked him to take her to her condo. As they were riding along he suddenly pulled into some bush land and attempted to rape her. She fought, even managing to punch him in the face at one point, however, once he had violated her, he jumped onto his motorcycle and fled. As she made her way in the direction of home, she managed to get the attention of two Tourist Police Officers, who escorted her to the station.
Police have taken a statement from the young tourist, along with a very good description, and they will do everything to apprehend this monster before he attacks someone else. A composite drawing of the man has been created, and the motorbike taxi rank where the young woman hired the taxi, has been closed until further notice.
The young woman was then taken to the Banglamung Hospital where she received emergency treatment, forensic testing and a HIV check up.

Read more »

Posted in: after she hired him to take her home to her condominium,young Russian tourist that she had been raped by a motorbike taxi driver

MacMafia have failed to jail a journalist who revealed the mysterious death of their business partner.

MacMafia have failed to jail a journalist who revealed the mysterious death of their business partner.Now reporter Andrew Drummond is delivering a dossier to the Thai prime minister revealing his investigation into James Lumsden, 59, from Falkirk, and Gordon May, 67, from Edinburgh, who are involved in Pattaya's "Boyz Town" sex industry. The newsman had probed Lumsden and May's business in a series of Sunday Mail investigations. He told how, in April 1990, their business partner Iain Macdonald, 28, from Inverness, died in a Thai hotel fire.One month before his death, he had bequeathed his 50 per cent share in May and Lumsden's Boyz Boyz Boyz club and the Ambiance Hotel - worth £250,000 - to May's boyfriend, a Thai go-go dancer.
A second businessman, Kevin Quill, 39, from Yorkshire, also invested money with Lumsden and May but was jailed for sixyears for drug possession in 2000, despite a senior Thai police officer saying he had been framed. Three judges last week cleared Drummond, who faced being thrown into prison if he had lost the gruelling nine-year battle.The judges ruled: "The defendant was doing his job as a journalist, making facts public for foreigners doing business in Thailand. "There is nothing defamatory in what he wrote." Lumsden - who's drag stage name is Madame Jim - and May have been active since 1989 in an area of Pattaya called Boyz Town.Drummond, 58, said: "The Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will know exactly what I am talking about. He has already taken progressive steps against corruption."A year after opening Boyz Boyz Boyz with £250,000, Lumsden and May invited Macdonald, the son of a former provost of Inverness, to invest another £250,000 in their business. But when he mysteriously died, Drummond found he had made a will only a month earlier, leaving all his Thai investments to a man called Supan Kampanya.Drummond said: "I tracked the Thai man down. He was unhappy and scared of the influence of Gordon May.
"He had previously been a gay go-go dancer at Boyz Boyz Boyz and was May's boyfriend. He said all he got was 5000 baht - about £100.
"I am, of course, very pleased. But this is small consolation for the families of lain Macdonald or Kevin Quill. Their lives have been devastated."Marwaan Macan-Markar, president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand, said: "We welcome this court ruling in favour of Andrew Drummond, particularly since the alleged libels involved were criminal offences under existing Thai law.
"The verdicts demonstrate a fundamental respect for investigative reporting in the public interest. This is a good day for journalism and the law in Thailand."

Read more »

Posted in: Pattaya's "Boyz Town" sex industry.

THAI army officers guarding checkpoints, government buildings and military bases during an anti-government rally will be armed

THAI army officers guarding checkpoints, government buildings and military bases during an anti-government rally will be armed from Monday due to recent grenade attacks, an army spokesman said.'Starting from today, the military deployed at checkpoints, government buildings and military bases will be armed in order to prevent ill-intentioned people from inciting unrest,' Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd told reporters.'Because of the violent incidents in the past, including the (rocket-propelled grenade) attacks, the government is very concerned with the current situation so there is a need to adjust the security measures,' he said.Col. Sunsern said that only army officers at the key locations would be armed. Previously the 30,000 military personnel guarding the protests, which have stretched into their second week, were not armed.Two small grenade blasts hit Bangkok and a nearby province shortly after tens of thousands of anti-government protesters held a peaceful parade through the capital Saturday. One person was slightly injured but damage was minor. A week ago, four grenades exploded at a Bangkok military base, wounding two soldiers.

Read more »

Posted in: government buildings and military bases during an anti-government rally will be armed,THAI army officers guarding checkpoints

Mamoru Nagano, 64, from Kumamoto Prefecture, was arrested after the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok revoked his passport.

Mamoru Nagano, 64, from Kumamoto Prefecture, was arrested after the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok revoked his passport. Nagano has reportedly been living in Bangkok for the last three years, operating a real estate firm. He has been wanted by Hiroshima police on charges of violating investment-related lawsThai police on Monday arrested a Japanese man accused of swindling around 6 billion yen from about 1,600 victims across Japan, Thai Immigration Bureau officials said.

Read more »

Posted in: 64,from Kumamoto Prefecture,Mamoru Nagano,was arrested after the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok revoked his passport.

Canadian Woman Gets 3.5 Years in Thai Jail

Canadian Woman Gets 3.5 Years in Thai Jail

Read more »

Posted in: Canadian Woman Gets 3.5 Years in Thai Jail

Two Malaysians are still languishing in a jail in south Thailand as their families cannot afford to pay the 900,000 baht (RM90,000) bail

Two Malaysians are still languishing in a jail in south Thailand as their families cannot afford to pay the 900,000 baht (RM90,000) bail fixed by a southern Thai court.

Read more »

Posted in: 000 baht (RM90,000) bail fixed by a southern Thai court.,Two Malaysians are still languishing in a jail in south Thailand as their families cannot afford to pay the 900

Thailand's anti-government protesters said they will hold a candlelight vigil Wednesday to honour the revered monarch

Thailand's anti-government protesters said they will hold a candlelight vigil Wednesday to honour the revered monarch, who has been in hospital since September.The "Red Shirts" loyal to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra have been demonstrating since March 14, pushing for snap elections to replace a government they criticise as elitist and undemocratic."Tomorrow we will light candles at eight o'clock in the evening to bless His Majesty the King's good health and to show our loyalty to the monarchy," Reds leader Jatuporn Prompan said Tuesday.Thaksin, who lives in exile to avoid a jail term for corruption, has been accused by his critics of disloyalty to King Bhumibol Adulyadej -- a grave offence in Thailand, where the monarch is regarded by many as a demi-god.The 82-year-old, who is the world's longest-reigning monarch, was admitted to hospital on September 19 with a lung infection and fever. He has appeared in public several times since then.The protesters are also planning a rally on Saturday which they say will "shut down" Bangkok and exceed the parade they mounted in the capital last weekend which drew 65,000 people in a noisy but peaceful procession.

The Reds have rejected Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's offers of talks with a junior minister, saying they will only speak with the premier and only to discuss the dissolution of the lower house.

Jatuporn played down comments from Thaksin's brother, who reportedly said he could act as a go-between to negotiate talks aimed at ending the street protests, which threaten to damage Thailand's image and economy.

"Thaksin's brother gave his private comments, it does not relate to the Red Shirts and what we call for again today is the dissolution of the house," Jatuporn said.

The Reds say the government is illegitimate as it came to power with army backing via a parliamentary vote in December 2008 after a court decision ousted Thaksin's allies from power.

The ruling brought an end to a blockade of Bangkok's airports by rival, royalist "Yellow Shirts".

Read more »

Posted in: "shut down" Bangkok and exceed the parade they mounted in the capital last weekend

GRENADE attack occurred at around 10.30 pm Monday at a Highways Department depot in Bangkok's Talingchan area.

GRENADE attack occurred at around 10.30 pm Monday at a Highways Department depot in Bangkok's Talingchan area. No injuries were reported.A security box located in front of the local Highways Department office in Taling Chan area was damaged. Bang Phat police said the grenade used was an M-67.Pol Lt Colonel Prathan Jaemduang refused to comment whether the attack was politically motivated, but said a night guard was recently fired, and possibly responsible for the attack.No eyewitnesses were at the scene at the time of the blast.The officer said there was a security camera located around 100 metres away from the scene, but the distance was possibly too far to catch details of the incident.

Read more »

Posted in: Highways Department depot in Bangkok's Talingchan area.

accused, Rajinder Singh, Balvinder Singh, Kuldip Singh and Rajbir, had arrived in Mumbai on an Air India flight from Delhi early Sunday morning

Air Intelligence unit of Mumbai Customs arrested four persons at the Mumbai airport on the charge of smuggling digital memory cards worth Rs 52 lakh and produced them before a court on Monday which remanded them to five days custody.The accused, Rajinder Singh, Balvinder Singh, Kuldip Singh and Rajbir, had arrived in Mumbai on an Air India flight from Delhi early Sunday morning, a Customs official said.
One of them had arrived in Delhi from Hong Kong while the rest joined him there, the official said."They were detained while attempting to get past the green signal without declaring their goods," he added.
During the search, digital memory cards worth Rs 52 lakh were recovered from them, the official said, adding, subsequently all four accused were arrested under the Customs Act.

Read more »

Posted in: digital memory cards worth Rs 52 lakh were recovered from them

saffron smuggling scams every day as criminals try to illegally import the aromatic flower from Iran.

widening gap in prices of the commodity between countries has fuelled a rise in criminals turning to the seasoning as an easy way to make money.

Customs officials have warned of an alarming rise in the number of illegal consignments of the red strand-like spice being seized at airports. officers claim they are uncovering up to three saffron smuggling scams every day as criminals try to illegally import the aromatic flower from Iran. The trend is being driven by the fact that while saffron costs around £1,100 per kilo in Iran, it fetches double that figure in India. Prices have soared in India as dwindling domestic yields have caused demand to outstrip supply. Saffron is imported legally from Iran, but criminals have turned to smuggling in order to avoid high import duties and reap the rewards of inflated prices in India. It is thought that gangs operating from within Indian and also in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are employing saffron “mules” to carry parcels of the spice in their hold luggage on international flights. An Indian customs spokesman said: “The smugglers are operating through carriers, who are paid 25,000 Indian rupees (£365) per trip. “The processed saffron powder is packed along with the unaccompanied baggage.” He added that the packages, which normally weigh between three and 10kg, are difficult to trace because scanning devices often fail to pick up saffron. Most of India’s saffron is grown in Kashmir, where the annual crops in October have sustained thousands of families for centuries. However, production has fallen from around 40 tonnes 20 years ago to just six tonnes last year, with experts blaming climate change, poor irrigation, and pollution in the region. Consequently, prices have doubled in the past three years. Shakeel Ahmad Mir, a spokesman for the Kashmir Saffron Growers Association, said: “Severe drought conditions that prevailed in 2000 and 2005 has effected the saffron yield to a large extent. “With poor or no irrigational facilities and the pest attack on the crop, the saffron production has gone down by approximately 85 per cent during last 10 years.
“The demand is quite high in India and the mafia, mostly based in south Indian states and Mumbai, smuggle Iranian saffron which is sold at cheaper rates compared to Kashmiri saffron. “The high demand and the influx of smuggled Iranian saffron in Indian market at a lost cost have emerged as a major challenge for the Kashmiri saffron.”
Although the decline in Indian saffron production is affecting prices in the region, European markets are not significantly affected as Iran and Spain provide the bulk of the 3,000 tonnes grown worldwide every year. Apart from its use in cookery, saffron is also used for religious purposes and in the pharmaceutical, therapeutic, dyeing industries. The spice is derived from the flower of the saffron crocus and its production is thought to date back around 3,000 years.

Read more »

Posted in: saffron smuggling scams every day as criminals try to illegally import the aromatic flower from Iran.

Liverpool-born gangster Curtis Warren, thought to be one of Britain's richest criminals, is due to appeal against a conviction

Liverpool-born gangster Curtis Warren, thought to be one of Britain's richest criminals, is due to appeal against a conviction for plotting to smuggle £1 million worth of cannabis.Warren, known by his nickname "Cocky", was once Interpol's most wanted man. He is the only drug dealer to have appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List when, in 1997, he was listed as a "property developer" worth £40 million
Warren, 46, started a 13-year jail term in December after he and five others were found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to import the drugs from mainland Europe to Jersey in the Channel Islands.The plot, the trial heard, would have seen 397lb (180kg) of cannabis bought in Amsterdam and driven back in a hire car through Belgium and France to the Normandy coast. It was then to be picked up by boat and smuggled on to the island where it was to be sold on the streets at massive profit.But when Warren's co-accused failed to come up with the cash, the plan fell apart. Police swooped to arrest the conspirators in July 2007 before the deal could be done.During the trial the court heard secret recordings made by police bugs fitted in the hire car and in public phone boxes around the island's capital St Helier.John Welsh, 43, originally from Liverpool, was jailed for 12 years; James O'Brien, 45, from Glasgow, got 10 years; Jason Woodward, 22, from Kent, and Jersey men Paul Hunt, 27 and Oliver Lucas, 23, were each handed five-year terms.All six men are appealing against their convictions and sentence at a two-day hearing in St Helier before Dame Heather Steel

Read more »

Posted in: known by his nickname "Cocky",Warren,was once Interpol's most wanted man.

Two girls, aged fifteen and sixteen, ran away from a Nebraska juvenile home and made their way to a hotel in Omaha.

Two girls, aged fifteen and sixteen, ran away from a Nebraska juvenile home and made their way to a hotel in Omaha. A woman who introduced herself as Jazzie invited the girls to her room to smoke marijuana. Jazzie later introduced them to Russell. The girls were invited to join Jazzie and Russell on a road trip and were told they would have to make money along the way. The girls agreed to go. Prior to leaving, Russell gave one of the girls an identification card of a twenty-three or twenty-four-year old woman. The girls were later told that they would have to work at strip clubs and as prostitutes.In the days that followed, one or both of the girls performed at strip clubs and had sex in exchange for money. In time, law enforcement officers learned of the runaways' whereabouts and apprehended them. Based on information provided by the girls, they also apprehended Russell. The State charged Russell with the crimes listed above and a jury found Russell guilty as charged.Russell moved for a new trial, in which he challenged the credibility of the witnesses. The district court denied the motion. The court imposed sentence, which included a fine of $1000 in connection with the conviction for ongoing criminal conduct. Russell appealed.

Read more »

Posted in: aged fifteen and sixteen,ran away from a Nebraska juvenile home and made their way to a hotel in Omaha.,Two girls

The Prosti who goes by the name “Kylie had worked in Brigitte’s Massage Parlour since 1993 before being fired in April 2003.

prostitute who was fired by a Cape Town establishment has gone to the Labour Appeal Court and judges are stumped.
The Prosti who goes by the name “Kylie had worked in Brigitte’s Massage Parlour since 1993 before being fired in April 2003.
She was apparently fired for not doing enough, being choosy when it came to clients for spending time in her room with her boyfriend, who did not pay for the service.
I guess they don’t have real pimps in Cape Town. A regular pimp would have pimp-slapped her, all the time asking “who yo pimp master, beeyaach!” Then he would have thrown her back into her room and tell her to up her game.
And since Cape Town has an extremely large gay community, the pimp would have found some work for the boyfriend – to pay for his upkeep and the “services” from his girlfriend.The three Labour Appeal Court judges are still grappling with whether she is entitled to challenge her dismissal, since her “work” is legally not kosher.
An exasperated Judge President Raymond Zondo asked the hooker’s lawyer: “When dismissed you are made to stop with something criminal…but then you say ‘please protect me from someone who is stopping me from doing something criminal, it doesn’t makes sense to me.”
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration flatly refused to entertain her.
If she succeeds in getting reinstated, then it would open a whole new world for drug dealers and taxi industry hit men.
Then we will begin to see media stories like: “A Hit man has taken a taxi industry boss to the CCMA following his dismissal for mistaken identity killing”.
Or “Mule fired for losing cocaine stash”. Hijackers will also hijack the headlines: “Hijacker demands full payment for bloodstained car”.
Then the whole thing will spiral out of control and we will have protest marches for better wages by drug mules, car hijackers and hit man.

Read more »

Posted in: being choosy when it came to clients for spending time in her room with her boyfriend,fired for not doing enough

man who reportedly smuggled Giant African Snails into the U.S. so his followers could drink their mucus

man who reportedly smuggled Giant African Snails into the U.S. so his followers could drink their mucus is being investigated by state and federal wildlife agencies.
In January federal agents raided the home of Charles Stewart, 48, after they received several complaints. Stewart says his religion, Ifa Orisha, uses the snails in healing ceremonies. Some followers said however they got violently sick, lost weight and developed strange lumps in their stomachs after ingesting the snail mucus.
The Giant African Snail is prohibited in the U.S. without special approval. Experts say the snail, which can grow up to 10 inches, can devastate ecosystems; it eats more than 500 plant species, even plaster and stucco and can reproduce on its own.
For the last several decades, there was no known giant African snail in Florida. However, the state is no stranger to this massive mollusk. In 1966, a boy smuggled three snails into Miami as pets and his grandmother subsequently released them into her garden. Seven years later, more than 18,000 snails were found. It took almost 10 years and more than $1 million to eradicate this pest from Florida.
While not charged yet, Stewart could face a number of smuggling or customs violations in additional to civil penalties.

Read more »

Posted in: It took almost 10 years and more than $1 million to eradicate this pest from Florida.

Police are investigating reports of three rapes of foreign women in Oslo during the past week.

Police are investigating reports of three rapes of foreign women in Oslo during the past week. A police spokeswoman has described the cases as “brutal” and “extremely serious.”
All three occurred in apartments being used by the women, who reportedly have been working as prostitutes in Oslo. Street solicitation was outlawed in Norway last year, and most prostitution has since “moved indoors,” according to media reports.
The first report of rapes occurred when two women from Hungary were found bound and gagged inside an apartment in Oslo’s fashionable Frogner district. They said two men, possibly from Somalia, had forced their way into the apartment, raped them and left them with tape over their eyes and mouths.
A third report came from a 31-year-old woman from Russia, who described a similar ordeal. The rape she reported this week occurred on Saturday, while the two Hungarian women were found on Monday.
Police said they were taking the reports seriously but had few leads in the cases.

Read more »

Posted in: Police are investigating reports of three rapes of foreign women in Oslo during the past week.

the New Boys are declaring a war on one club, they can expect to cop it from all clubs

The New Boys has been undercutting other dealers, and targeted outlaw bikies, the Hell's Angels, in a series of drive-by shootings in August.The New Boys emerged in the northern suburbs about four years ago and once congregated at pubs around Elizabeth and Smithfield. They use Hindley St as their base, as well as the Norwood entertainment strips, including The Parade, where they sell drugs. The gang has two "chapters" and is extensively involved in selling drugs, including ecstasy tablets and methamphetamine, and street fights, usually using knives.The group said to be headed by a city tattooist, the target of the bungled bomb attack who lashed out at cameramen yesterday when he returned to his home, metres from the crime scene.It was two hours before sunrise on Thursday when Enfield shook with the force of the home-made bomb, ripping apart a hire car and killing two men on Truscott Rd.Convicted drug runner Vahe Hacopian, 31, of Munno Para West, and a 23-year-old Walkley Heights Hell's Angels associate, made it within metres of their suspected target when the explosives accidentally detonated.Their target, a tattooist and New Boys drug dealer, lived just metres from where shrapnel showered the road.They were killed instantly, with one man's body blown across the road while the other remained in the vehicle, secured by his seatbelt.The tattooist was a suspect in the 2008 Gouger St shootings, his Enfield home raided by STAR Group officers hours after the gun battle.Yesterday, he returned home to his wife and children, but stayed only five minutes.A uniformed police officer stood about 40m away, guarding the crime scene around Thursday's bomb blast."Get that camera off the house," he shouted while rushing at a television cameraman. "Haven't you got any respect for my kids and wife? Is this how you protect the community, you maggots? Insects. Dogs."The tattooist has a criminal history dating back to when he was 17, including numerous convictions for serious assault and drug dealing.Yesterday, bikie expert and author of The Brotherhoods, Inside the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, Professor Arthur Veno said Adelaide was most likely in the middle of a turf war between drug dealers. "It's extremely unlikely that the (motorcycle) clubs are doing this," he said."The clubs are desperately trying to get rid of these guys."They have to distance themselves from the criminal element because the understanding is if they want to keep their club, they need to get rid of that kind of thing. It's much more likely to be an underworld drug situation or turf war."Prof Veno said if the New Boys wanted a war with one club, they would be shut down by all of them. He said the once-warring bikie gangs had been brought together by the United Motorcycle Council to fight the state government's anti-bikie laws."If the New Boys are declaring a war on one club, they can expect to cop it from all clubs, who will join together and stop it real quick," he said. "The bikie clubs are under so much pressure and they've reached a consensus through the United Motorcycle Council that they will push out the criminal element."They are desperately trying to keep a lid on things.

Read more »

Posted in: the New Boys are declaring a war on one club,they can expect to cop it from all clubs

targeted killings in Monterey County during the past year are the result of gang orders to cleanse the area of those considered traitors by Norteños

targeted killings in Monterey County during the past year are the result of gang orders to cleanse the area of those considered traitors by Norteños and their parent gang, the Nuestra Familia.Recent slayings of at least seven people not in good standing with the gang in Greenfield and Salinas led investigators to conclude that a "cleanup" of the streets in the wake of two large federal racketeering cases is continuing."We're dealing with violence that is spread across the Salinas Valley and beyond," Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier said. "The issues are not in any one city and the solutions will have to involve the region."Gang members, agents and federal prosecutors -- all of whom asked not to be named -- say the FBI is working a new gang conspiracy case in the Salinas Valley. Only San Francisco U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said on the record that the FBI and his office are investigating more gang crimes in Monterey County.The brazenness of some slayings remind longtime gang cops of a bloody era more than a decade ago, when gang leaders in Salinas and points south ordered dozens of killings in a civil war and power struggle within the gang.

In late 1998, several regiment leaders and so-called traitors were slain, with attempts made on many more as Nuestra Familia crew bosses fought over control of the valley.The slayings of three people in and near the Pueblo Inn.motel in Greenfield in December and January point to the possible involvement of a higher "shot caller" presumably still at large, investigators said.
Israel Cota of Soledad, who police say is a Nuestra Familia boss for Salinas Valley, is wanted on warrant by state parole officers. Police declined to say if he is a person of interest in the Greenfield slayings.Police continue to try to apprehend 18-year-old Francisco Tamayo, believed to be the shooter of two women at the motel, but investigators do not consider him to be the gang authority who ordered the crime.
Yliza Martinez and Veronica Gallegos, both 30, were shot in their motel room Dec. 5. Gallegos died that night, Martinez died a week later.Shortly after the slayings, fire crews were summoned to put out a mysterious fire in the motel's hallway.Although police have not speculated on a suspect or motive behind the apparent arson, gangs for years have used arson and fire bombings as warnings to tell would-be crime witnesses not to cooperate with police.On Jan. 14, Gallegos' half-brother Angel Gutierrez, 40, was shot and killed not far from the motel.About that time, officers learned Cota failed to show up for a parole appointment. Cota was released from Monterey County jail in late December.Citing an ongoing investigation, police declined to say whether they are aware of a specific motive for the three slayings, although Gutierrez was known to have had a falling out with Nuestra Familia years ago. Before that, he was "very active" with the gang in Soledad, an investigator familiar with his history said.Some killings likely ordered Salinas police detective Lalo Villegas said that just because a gang member is on a hit list doesn't necessarily mean his killing was ordered by the gang."Norteños can be on a hit list forever and nothing ever happens to them," he said.
Nonetheless, in the past year, he said, "we've also seen some of the true hits."
Gang officers from Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties say current levels of violence are in part the unforeseen consequences of large federal prosecutions.
A leadership struggle at the gang's highest level emerged after the FBI's Operation Black Widow took out the Nuestra Familia's top captains and generals and sent them to a federal supermax prison in Colorado in 2005. Since then, it has been well-documented that two factions in the Central Coast have struggled over control of the gang: Those still loyal to the leaders in federal prisons, and those loyal to the new general, D.C. Cervantes of Chino, in Pelican Bay State Prison, the gang's traditional headquarters.During the past year, investigators say, the Pelican Bay faction has asserted its authority after the government's Operation Valley Star in 2007 swept up key figures in the Salinas and Central valleys still reporting to the old leaders.
A second likely factor in the violence is competition from rival Sureño gangs.
The bloodshed has stepped up in part, police say, because the Nuestra Familia is trying to re-establish territory lost to its archenemy during the Nuestra Familia's recent years of organizational chaos.

"Sureños are definitely getting more organized," said Villegas. "We do know that we've been having some high-ranking people trying to unite them. They're starting to be a little more structured than we've seen before.

"Villegas said the Salinas Valley is seeing Sureños targeting suspected traitors within their ranks, although he said he hasn't seen evidence the killings were ordered by higher-ups.Links to '98 homicide?One curious aspect of the investigations is that police are looking into whether at least two of the past year's victims may have known something about the slaying 12 years ago of Nuestra Familia's Salinas crew leader Miguel "Mikeo" Castillo by Rico "Smiley" Garcia, a case that made dramatic headlines at the time.In 1998, Alberto Arizpe contacted police in an apparent attempt to mislead officers shortly after Castillo's killing, according to a police report.He told skeptical detectives that Castillo's attackers were three Sureños -- members of the Norteños' rival gang. But Garcia later admitted to conspiring to kill Castillo and is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Florida.Arizpe eventually left the gang after he was assaulted and beaten by Norteño gang members in Monterey County Jail.Last summer, he was 28 years old when he was killed along with a female friend in a brazen home-invasion attack on a Salinas residence.Authorities are looking into whether last week's slaying victim, Gutierrez, was connected to Castillo's murder.Suspect not believed to be gunmanThe only person charged in the Pueblo Inn killings is a 15-year-old boy held in Juvenile Hall. Prosecutors say he was not the triggerman in the slayings of the two women, but was present when they were killed.On Wednesday, a county court is expected to decide if the boy will be tried as an adult on two counts of murder.

Read more »

Posted in: targeted killings in Monterey County during the past year are the result of gang orders to cleanse the area of those considered traitors by Norteños

Hells Angels violent biker war with the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club

Rising tensions between two biker gangs have Winnipeg police closely monitoring their actions.Police paid close attention to a bar at a St. Boniface hotel Saturday night following a tip that a fight could be imminent.The news follows a serious attack against a Winnipeg member of the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club inside a business on St. Mary's Road about three weeks ago.Sources tell CTV News the victim was lured to the business where he was then beaten.The victim had such serious injuries that he was unrecognizable.Officers say they had received information that the people responsible for the attack were Hells Angels members and a few of their associates.
The group was allegedly unhappy with the victim because he is a former member of the Zig Zag crew, which is a puppet club to the Hells Angels.He had apparently been seen around the city wearing his new gang's vest, which drew negative attention from the Hells Angels.Since the attack, police have been preparing to deal with some sort of retaliation.There were suspicions that members of the Rock Machine were going to attend a bar on Saturday night at the hotel because they knew associates of the Hells Angels frequented the place.Nothing appeared to happen at that bar Saturday night.Still, a number of Rock Machine members from outside the province have been seen in Winnipeg over the past week.Saturday night's events follow the execution of several search warrants, including one last week on Mighton Avenue in Elmwood.A 30-year-old man was arrested and a loaded nine millimetre handgun was seized at the home.CTV News has learned the man who was arrested is a member of the Redlined Club, a group which is considered a friend club to the Hells Angels.This arrest is also believed to be connected to the rising tensions between the gangs, say sources.Police have confirmed they were at the bar on Saturday night, but will not provide any further information.The public's safety was one of the main reasons police say they were there in such large numbers.
There has been trouble between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine in the past. Both groups were involved in a violent biker war in Quebec in the mid-nineties.
A truce was made but police say they are worried violence could erupt again.

Read more »

Posted in: violent biker war

24-year-old Howard Astorga, found guilty of first-degree murder

Four-year-old Roberto Lopez loved creating artwork out of glitter and sequins at a neighborhood arts and community center in the southern edge of Echo Park. It was while Roberto was near that neighborhood center that he was fatally shot a year ago last month by a gang member on parole. Today, a jury found that gang member, 24-year-old Howard Astorga, found guilty of first-degree murder, according to Associated Press. Astorga was firing his gun at a speeding car but one of those bullets struck Roberto instead. Astorga faces a prison sentence of 82 years to life.Since the murder, several groups have tried to organize residents of the neighborhood, wedged between Temple Street and Vista Hermosa Park, against crime.

Read more »

Posted in: 24-year-old Howard Astorga,found guilty of first-degree murder

Morgan Hill police are offering $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the gang-related death

Morgan Hill police are offering $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the gang-related death of a 24-year-old Hollister man, the city's first homicide in four years.
Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said today that detectives are still trying to figure out who killed Juan Jose Arrellano Jr. on Oct. 2.
Shortly before midnight that day, police responded to 911 calls from residents who heard multiple shots fired near the Crest Avenue apartments. The arriving officer found Arrellano on the sidewalk, bleeding from a gunshot wound in his upper body. He was pronounced dead at 11:35 p.m.
Witnesses told police they saw at least two young men, between 16 and 20 years old and wearing dark blue clothing, shoot Arrellano with a 9 mm handgun while shouting gang-related slurs.
Arrellano was the first homicide in Morgan Hill since 2005.
Officers flooded the area with the help of dogs from the Santa Clara County sheriff's K-9 unit and air support from San Jose police, but to no avail.

Read more »

Posted in: 000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the gang-related death,Morgan Hill police are offering $5

Capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simenta

Capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simental, who was captured last month. Teodoro and Manuel Garcia are brothers.Lopez, known as "El Muletas," and Garcia, known as "El Chiquilin," were arrested Monday in La Paz, a city in the southern end of the Baja California peninsula, said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.Mexico's Public Security Department confirmed the arrests in a brief statement, describing Manual Garcia as the gang's leader after his brother's arrest and Lopez as the current second-in-command. It said the arrests were the result of leads starting with the capture of Teodoro Garcia in La Paz on Jan. 12, but offered no further details on the operations.Roderick said there were no U.S. indictments pending against the suspects.The gang was known for its brutality, having executed, beheaded and mutilated hundreds of rivals in Tijuana, which is across the U.S. border from San Diego. Gang members pinned notes to corpses and dissolved bodies in caustic soda.Tedoro Garcia's arrest netted 19 mobile phones and two laptop computers. Twelve more cartel suspects were arrested in two raids in late January, including two men and a women who were allegedly about to dissolve a body in a bathtub with chemicals.Manuel Garcia is the youngest of three brothers. The oldest brother, Marco Antonio, was arrested in a shootout with Mexican authorities in Tijuana in 2004.
Teodoro Garcia was once considered a top hit man for Tijuana's dominant drug gang, the family-run Arellano-Felix cartel. He launched a new group affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel after law enforcement arrested or killed most of the Tijuana cartel leaders in 2008.

The splintered organizations have been involved in a violent turf battle in Tijuana, a valuable trafficking corridor to the U.S.

More than 1,500 people have been murdered in Tijuana since the beginning of 2008.

Across the country, more than 15,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels when he took office three years ago. More than 2,500 of the killings occurred last year in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The military announced Monday that soldiers had seized more than 12 tons of marijuana found beneath a false floor of a tractor trailer. The drugs were found during a routine search at a checkpoint near San Felipe, a town in the central part of the Baja California peninsula.

Read more »

Posted in: Teodoro Garcia was once considered a top hit man for Tijuana's dominant drug gang,the family-run Arellano-Felix cartel.

Today another Mexican cartel leader was taken off the street and is no longer able to carry out his bloody turf war

Teodoro Garcia Simental, blamed for a years-long campaign of massacres, beheadings and kidnappings that chased away tourists and caused social upheaval in northern Baja California, was arrested by Mexican federal police without the suspect firing a shot, and immediately flown to Mexico City.The heavyset Garcia, believed to be in his mid-30s, with close-trimmed hair and a goatee, scowled and dabbed at his mouth as he was paraded before television cameras at a police base wearing a zippered warm-up jacket.Better known for savage killing rampages than narco-business acumen, the man nicknamed "El Teo" bedeviled Mexican authorities for years and narrowly escaped capture several times. Last January, authorities arrested the man they said admitted being Garcia's body disposal expert. Known as El Pozolero, or "the stew maker," he claimed, authorities said, to have dissolved 300 bodies in barrels of caustic chemicals.Mexican federal authorities, acting on intelligence provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said they tracked Garcia down after a five-month surveillance operation. He was captured in an upscale area in the southern part of the city."Today another Mexican cartel leader was taken off the street and is no longer able to carry out his bloody turf war," said Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the DEA. "This was not an isolated event: It exemplifies the growing effectiveness of our information sharing with [Mexican President Felipe Calderon's] administration, and our continued commitment to defeat the drug traffickers who have plagued both our nations."Though Garcia was not considered to be in the top echelon of Mexican drug lords, few reputed crime bosses have had such a ruinous effect on a region. Mexican authorities say he was responsible for hundreds of killings during a nearly two-year power struggle with rivals in the Arellano Felix drug cartel, in which he had once been a top-ranking lieutenant.Garcia is said to have branched out from traditional drug trafficking and focused his criminal empire on extortion and kidnapping, targeting all levels of society. During his reign, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Tijuana residents moved out of the border city to avoid being kidnapped, and more than 42 police officers were killed.

Read more »

Posted in: Today another Mexican cartel leader was taken off the street and is no longer able to carry out his bloody turf war

masked gunman walked into a southern Sacramento County Vietnamese restaurant Wednesday afternoon and executed a 22-year-old man at close range.

authorities are calling a likely gang hit, a masked gunman walked into a southern Sacramento County Vietnamese restaurant Wednesday afternoon and executed a 22-year-old man at close range.No words were exchanged before the unknown assailant fired a black semiautomatic handgun multiple times at the victim, hitting him in the head and chest, said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Curran.The gunman fled on foot down 53rd Avenue, and had not been identified by evening, Curran said.Few homicides investigated by authorities, he said, are “as cold and as calculated as this one.”
“It’s very scary,” he said.Curran said detectives suspect the killing to be gang-related because the victim had been validated as a gang member by law enforcement and because the area – near Stockton Boulevard and the 65th Street Expressway – is known for gang activity.Deputies were called to the Pho Ga Hung Vietnamese Cuisine restaurant on Savings Place for a shooting just after 2:15 p.m., Curran said. They found a 22-year-old man, whose name was not released, on the restaurant’s floor. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

He is the fifth homicide victim within the Sheriff’s Department’s jurisdiction in 2010.The victim was eating with three friends – a man and two women – when the suspect walked into the restaurant, up to their table and unloaded his gun, Curran said.

Three employees also were inside at the time, but nobody else was shot at or injured, Curran said. For that reason, he said, detectives suspect the victim was targeted.Witnesses described the suspect to deputies as a man between age 28 and 35, 5 feet, 7 inches tall with a medium build. He wore a dark ski mask and a dark jacket.
Curran said the victim’s friends, who later wept in the parking lot, and the employees were cooperative with detectives. At this point, he said detectives do not believe they were involved in the killing.The call drew roughly two dozen deputies and detectives, including a number of investigators from the gang unit. It also drew spectators, who stopped along the sidewalk of the busy 65th Street Expressway.Richard Sims said he walks by the shopping center often while on his way to the grocery store. He described it as fairly quiet and humble.But he agreed with the Sheriff’s Department’s assessment about gang activity in the area, and noted that people he believes are gang members often congregate at one of the businesses in the center and at another across the street.“There’s something going on,” said Sims, 52. Gesturing toward the deputies, he added, “These cats know – the police know – but they don’t come by here.”
Curran said that’s because budget cuts and resulting layoffs mean deputies have little time for anything but emergencies.“Unless there’s a call for service there, our deputies don’t have time to be proactive,” he said. “They’re going from call to call to call.”

Read more »

Posted in: masked gunman walked into a southern Sacramento County Vietnamese restaurant Wednesday afternoon and executed a 22-year-old man at close range.