Belgian couple spot the men who stole their car in Belgium on a Spanish beach

 

Sometimes it a very small world. A Belgian couple who had their car stolen at gunpoint in Belgium some months ago could not believe it when they recognised their attackers when on holiday in Alicante. They saw them on the beach in Guardamar, Alicante last Monday, and made no hesitation in calling the Spanish police. While they were waiting for the police to arrive, the couple found their own car parked nearby, and the owner decided to puncture the tyres to ensure that the thieves could not take it again. After the police arrived a search of the car revealed a simulated pistol. The two men, 47 year old L.J. and 20 year old G.C.D., were taken into custody and it’s now known that there was an international search and capture order in force against them. One of them has served time for serious sexual crimes against children. They have now both been passed to the National Court ahead of being extradited to Belgium.

Violence expected as gang tensions flare in B.C.

 

Two brazen, targeted shootings of known British Columbia gangsters in less than a month may be the kindling that sparks renewed gang warfare in the Lower Mainland, say police. The officer who heads the province's gangs task force issued an "unusual" alert Tuesday to anyone with links to two notorious crime families after a known gangster was shot and wounded last week in Surrey, B.C. Supt. Tom McCluskie told reporters both that incident and the high-profile slaying of Red Scorpions' gang boss Jonathan Bacon in August amount to a high expectation by his 80 investigators that more attacks are on the way. "We're anticipating retaliatory violence, yes," he said at a news conference held at an office of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit in Delta, B.C. "I'm not trying to instill fear in the citizens, but certainly there's enough tension in there that we're concerned there will be a retaliation, that there will be further violence." The 24-year-old man shot in his car on Friday was a known member of the Dhak crime group, which police say runs an illegal drug ring throughout the Lower Mainland. One member of that family, Gurmit Dhak, was shot dead in his BMW at a suburban Burnaby mall last October, in another scenario police said was planned. Anyone with ties to either the Dhak or Duhre crime families are currently believed to be in heightened danger, and hanging around with such people could result in peril, McCluskie said. He said he's especially concerned for the members' girl friends and those who are simply connected on the social scene. Members of both groups have been linked to criminal activity on numerous occasions by police in B.C. in the past. While the public is not the intended target, McCluskie said, there's no telling where or when the tension will flare up again as gang rivalries rear their ugly head. It means bystanders could even get caught in the crossfire, he said. Thirty-year-old Bacon was shot to death outside a posh hotel in Kelowna. The gunfire that put the latest gangster in hospital broke out on a city street. "It's the fact these guys don't care where it is, they have no regard whatsoever for the general public," McCluskie said. Officers are examining the possibility the two incidents are directly linked, although at this point it's too early to draw conclusions, he said. "As of right now we haven't made any confirmed connection." The news conference is the most vocal and direct police have been in declaring expectations around the possibility of more bloodshed since Bacon died. Tit-for-tat clashes became a weekly occurrence for several months back in 2009, as turf battles played out in the Lower Mainland. There were at least four dozen shootings that year in the Vancouver area alone. Tensions were reduced to simmering, however, as police changed their strategy, made arrests of prominent players and conducted more behind-the-scenes enforcement. Police say alarm bells went off for many dealing with the organized crime world when Bacon was unexpectedly taken out. A full-patch member of the Hells Angels and another alleged gang member were hit by the mid-day volley of gunfire on Aug. 14, while two others accompanying them in a luxury SUV were also wounded. McCluskie said he's "pleased" with how his team is progressing in that investigation, but couldn't say when any arrests may be made. McCluskie wouldn't give any details about the new "intelligence" his team has gathered suggesting people tied to the two families are in danger, in order to protect the investigation. He said officers have already conducted several "duty-to-warns," telling known gang members they have reason to believe they might be next. "I'm not confident it reaches all those individuals, I'm hopeful," he said, noting he's less concerned about giving the groups credence by putting out the warning than letting the public know the risks. "Quite often the gangs don't listen to us very well."

Authorities confirmed Monday were captured Saul Solis Solis, aka El Lince, one of the main leaders of the group of Knights Templar.

 

The action was carried out by the Mexican Army. The Lynx, is a cousin of Henry Plancarte Solis, also leader of the Knights Templar. The Attorney General's Office offered a reward of up to 15 millions of dollars for information leading to his capture. The action was achieved in the town of Mujica, in the municipality of Nueva Italia, Michoacán. In the raid also arrested Mario Alberto Gallardo Rodríguez, alias El Mayo, and a young child.

Gunmen halt traffic, dump 35 bodies on busy downtown avenue in Gulf coast city in Mexico

 

Suspected drug traffickers dumped 35 bodies at rush hour beneath a busy overpass in the heart of a major Gulf coast city as gunmen pointed weapons at frightened drivers. Mexican authorities said Wednesday they are examining surveillance video for clues to who committed the crime. Horrified motorists grabbed cell phones and sent Twitter messages warning others to avoid the area near the biggest shopping mall in Boca del Rio, part of the metropolitan area of Veracruz city. 11 Comments Weigh InCorrections? inShare ( no / Associated Press ) - Soldiers and police block off an area where 35 bodies lay under an overpass in Veracruz, Mexico, Tuesday Sept. 20, 2011. Masked gunmen blocked traffic on the busy avenue in a Gulf of Mexico coastal city and left the bodies piled in two trucks and on the ground, according to authorities. The scene was a sharp escalation in drug violence in Veracruz state, which sits on an important route for drugs and Central American migrants heading north. The gruesome gesture marked a sharp escalation in cartel violence in Veracruz state, which sits on an important route for drugs and Central American migrants heading north. The Zetas drug cartel has been battling other gangs for control of the state. Prosecutors said it’s too soon to draw conclusions from the surveillance video. “We’re not going to confirm or deny anything,” Veracruz state Attorney General Reynaldo Escobar Perez told the Televisa network Wednesday. “We’re looking at it in different ways, we’re seeing different numbers, that’s why we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.” Escobar said the bodies were left piled in two trucks and on the ground under the overpass near the statue of the Voladores de Papantla, ritual dancers from Veracruz state. He said some of the victims had their heads covered with black plastic bags and showed signs of torture. Police had identified seven of the victims so far and all had criminal records for murder, drug dealing, kidnapping and extortion and were linked to organized crime, Escobar said. Motorists posted Twitter warnings said the masked gunmen were in military uniforms and were blocking Manuel Avila Camacho Boulevard. “They don’t seem to be soldiers or police,” one tweet read. Another said, “Don’t go through that area, there is danger.” Veracruz is currently hosting a conference of Mexico’s top state and federal prosecutors and judiciary officials. Local media said that 12 of the victims were women and that some of the dead men had been among prisoners who escaped from three Veracruz prisons on Monday, but Escobar denied the escaped convicts were among the dead. At least 32 inmates got away from the three Veracruz prisons. Police recaptured 14 of them. Drug violence has claimed more than 35,000 lives across Mexico since 2006, according to government figures. Others put the number at more than 40,000.

Victims' burial site is in Becket

 

The bodies of David Glasser, Edward Frampton and Robert Chadwell were found buried on private property in Becket, according to the District Attorney’s office. Authorities declined to be more specific and released no other new information about the case. Until this week, law enforcement officials had refused to even release the location of what they described as a "burial site," where the bodies of the three men were dumped and covered with boulders and dirt. Meanwhile, state and local police conducted what they described as a "high visibility patrol operation" Saturday in Lee, coinciding with the Berkshire Chapter of the Hells Angels’ annual party, Lobster Fest. Adam Lee Hall, who court records list as the third in command of the Berkshire Hells Angels, has been charged with three counts of murder in connection to the men’s disappearance. Otherwise, police haven’t linked the murders to the local motorcycle club, which has put up its clubhouse to cover Hall’s bail in an earlier case, according to court records. Police from Lee, Great Barrington, Pittsfield, Lenox and Dalton assisted State Police, who watched as motorcyclists from across the region descended on the Berkshire biker’s headquarters on Woodland Road in Lee, just past the entrance to October Mountain State Forest. Also on the scene were the state’s Environmental Police and the county’s Special Response Team. Police Advertisement took pictures of everyone entering and exiting Woodland Road leading to the Angels’ clubhouse. Many of the bikers seen in the area wore patches identifying themselves as members of the Hells Angels and other regional motorcycle clubs. State Police Lt. David Buell, the station commander at the troop’s Lee Barracks, said the club’s Lobster Fest is an annual event. He said police have conducted high-visibility patrols coinciding with the party for the past five years. He said police increased the number of patrols this year in light of the recent murders, but he declined to say how many officers were in the area. Buell said there were no arrests or incidents on Saturday, although he said several neighbors walked up to police in the area and thanked them for being there. Members of the Hells Angels were not immediately reachable for comment on Saturday. The group’s Facebook page indicated that tickets to the event were $30. It warned visitors to expect heavy police presence. Glasser, Frampton and Chadwell went missing sometime between Aug. 27 and 28 from Glasser’s apartment on Linden Street in Pittsfield. Hall, 34, of Peru, David Chalue, 44, of North Adams and Springfield, and Caius Veiovis, 31, of Pittsfield, have been charged with three counts each of murder, kidnapping and witness intimidation. Police said neither Chalue nor Veiovis are members of the Hells Angels. Police say the men killed Glasser to keep him from testifying against Hall during an upcoming trial in Berkshire Superior Court. Court records filed last week said men’s bodies had been dumped together in a deep trench that had been covered with large boulders and dirt, with digging equipment found nearby. According to the report, Hall had inquired about the availability and location of excavation equipment in the weeks prior to the murder.

Gangland boss Carl Williams fingers cop Paul Dale from beyond grave

 

ON April 24, 2007, deep inside the razor wire of Victoria's Barwon Prison, gangland killer Carl Williams finally decided to tell his story about crooked cops and Melbourne's underworld war. Williams is now dead, but his lurid tale echoed from the grave yesterday as his version of history, made in three statements over two years, was read out to a spellbound audience in the Victorian Supreme Court trial of Williams's alleged murderer, Matthew Charles Johnson. Johnson has pleaded not guilty on the basis of self-defence. According to Williams's statements, his relationship with former policeman Paul Dale began nervously. The gangland killer and the policeman were so "paranoid" about each other that they once met in a swimming pool wearing only bathers so that neither could be "wired" with listening devices. But the court heard the dealings between this odd couple would blossom into something far more deadly. Before long, what began as merely secret payments for information escalated to a murder, sanctioned and paid for by Dale, Williams alleged. The tone of the gangland killer's statements are as casual as they are cold. When Williams heard that the hitman he hired at Dale's request to kill police informer Terrence Hodson had also killed his wife, Christine, he asked the gunman: "What happened with the sheila?" "That's not for you to worry about," the gunman replied, about which Williams said, "That was the end of the conversation". According to Williams, he met Dale following his release from prison in 2002 when Dale requested a meeting with him via another criminal. "I first met him at the Brunswick Club, where Lewis Moran was killed," Williams said. "He (Dale) was telling me he could keep an eye out for me. "In return, Dale expected to be paid for any information that he gave to me . . . I think we were both suspicious of each other at that time and remained so." Williams said, early on, Dale showed him a police report that revealed that an Asian man called Jimmy had been giving information to the police about Williams, who was called "Fat Boy" in the police report. "As a result of reading the report, I dropped off Jimmy and did no more (drug-dealing) business with him." The court heard that Williams's relationship with Dale grew as they met more often. "On most occasions when I met with Dale, I would give him an envelope with money in it. The money I paid Dale usually ranged from $2000 to $5000 each time." On one occasion, he said, Dale asked him if he wanted the detective to do anything to Williams's gangland rival Jason Moran. "It was pretty widely known that Jason and I had problems at the time," Williams said in his statement. "I didn't know whether they (Dale and a fellow detective) were fair dinkum or trying to set me up. Dale said he could kill Jason for $400,000. I told them they were dreaming." Williams claimed that Dale told him he had arranged internal police systems so Victoria Police would be unable to check on Williams without Dale knowing about it. "He told me he did this so that he could keep up to date with any investigations against me." At one stage, Williams said, Dale asked him to meet in a swimming pool near Seaford where Dale told Williams to tip off fellow gangland figure Tony Mokbel about a police investigation into a drug laboratory. "We met at the swimming pool because he was paranoid of me and I was paranoid of him," said Williams. "Dale had two pairs of shorts or swimming togs. We put these on and got into the pool and walked up and down in the water." The court heard that in his April 2007 statement, Williams said he had no knowledge of who killed the Hodsons at their Kew home in May 2004, but in his second statement, in January 2009, he was ready to reveal the hitman. "I didn't want to be a dog and be a protection prisoner, but my attitude has changed," he said. Williams alleged that Dale told him he had to "get" Hodson before he could give evidence at a committal hearing about his alleged involvement in a burglary involving drugs, in which Dale was implicated. He said: "We went for a walk. Dale told me that he had to get Hodson and he had to get Hodson before Dale's committal. "Dale said he didn't want to go back to jail. He said he had been in isolation and it was tough. "He said he had someone on the job but it was taking too long to get Hodson. Dale asked me if I could help him out." Williams claimed Dale told him the job would pay $150,000. Williams said he approached a hitman who he knew had "a reputation as a fairly ruthless bloke". He met with the hitman, who can't be named for legal reasons, on the ground floor of the Marriott hotel. "I told him there was a contract there for Terry Hodson and I told him the amount of $150,000. There was never any contract on his wife and I never mentioned Terry's wife to (the hitman)." Williams said he didn't know exactly when Hodson would be murdered and the first he heard about it was on the news. The court heard that a few days after the Hodsons' deaths, Williams's statement said, he got a call from Dale telling him "it's been dropped off". "I knew he was talking about the money for the Hodson murders," Williams said. "I was at my mum's when Dale made that call to me. I went and checked the bin. It was a large green wheelie bin that Mum kept inside the gate. Inside the bin, I saw a plastic bag and I took it out of the bin and went back inside." He said he counted the money, which was bundled in $10,000 amounts with rubber bands around it. "It might have been $100 or so short but effectively the money was all there." A few days later, Williams met the hitman at the Marriott again. "I left the bag containing the $150,000 on the ground next to our seats and he collected it." "(The hitman said) 'Quick, hey?' and smiled and chuckled. "I said to him: 'What happened with the sheila?' He said: 'That's not for you to worry about.' That was the end of the conversation. "I asked him about the sheila because I didn't think she needed to die and she wasn't a part of the contract. Having said that, I didn't push it any further." Williams said he never spoke again to the hitman about the Hodson murders. "It is an unspoken rule that once a job is done, you don't mention it again so you don't get caught out on a listening device or something." He also revealed that hitmen preferred to kill on cold days because "the cold weather means it's less likely that people will be out walking around and possibly witness something". In his January 2009 statement, Williams said "since I have been locked up, (lawyer Nicola) Gobbo has told me that Dale has asked after me and has asked if there is anything he can do for me. I just dismissed it because there was nothing he can do for me and I don't want to deal with him." Williams was bashed to death in Barwon jail in April last year.

THE record company behind Irish rockers U2 has allegedly been unwittingly used by a multi-million dollar drugs trafficking ring

 

THE record company behind Irish rockers U2 has allegedly been unwittingly used by a multi-million dollar drugs trafficking ring. A year-long investigation by the US Drugs Enforcement Authority (DEA) is alleged to have uncovered a racket where the band's record company, Interscope Records, was being used to transport Class A drugs and money inside the United States. It is understood that the record company's Californian headquarters was being used for pick-ups and deliveries of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine while a New York recording studio at the other end was also being used for the drug and cash shipments. Members of the drugs ring allegedly used musical equipment called “road cases” for shipping cocaine from Los Angeles to New York, between January 2010 and June 2011. On the way back, the same cases were filled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, according to documents filed in a US court. The illegal trading was allegedly going on for 18 months, but it was not alleged that Interscope Records or its staff knew or were involved in any drug shipments. The allegation was contained in a letter detailing evidence against James Rosemond, a music-industry manager and head of Czar Entertainment. Mr Rosemond, 46, known as ‘Jimmy Henchmen', is a rap music manager who represents artist The Game. He was indicted three months ago on drug trafficking charges. Federal prosecutors say Interscope employees knew nothing about Mr Rosemond’s alleged drug smuggling. However, it is not yet understood how Mr Rosemond's team got access to Interscope's Californian headquarters to drop off and take the shipments. The ring is alleged to have used a New York recording studio at the other end for the drugs and cash shipments, the Wall Street Journal reported. The cases were shipped by music gear specialists RockIt Cargo, which is the company responsible for shipping U2's musical equipment around the world — including during their latest 360 tour. However, there is no suggestion in the filing that RockIt Cargo knew what was inside the cases. RockIt has not commented. Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine, long a highprofile executive within the music industry, has recently become something of a household name thanks to American Idol, which he joined last season to provide creative guidance to contestants. His company, which is part of Universal, released a statement yesterday afternoon. “Interscope Records has been informed by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York that there is no evidence that any employee of UMG or Interscope Records had any involvement in the drug trafficking ring being prosecuted by that office,” the statement read.

Man quizzed over UBS rogue trading

 

31-year-old man was arrested in London today in connection with allegations of £1.3 billion of rogue trading at Swiss banking giant UBS. The man, named in reports as Kweku Adoboli, was arrested at 3.30am on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position and remains in police custody, sources said. Related articles Notoriety awaits UBS rogue trader French banks scramble to prove they're strong enough for debt crisis Search the news archive for more stories The bank, which has 6,000 staff in the UK, revealed earlier that a trader had lost two billion US dollars (£1.3 billion) on unauthorised trades and warned that the activity could have tipped the bank to a third-quarter loss. Oswald Gruebel, UBS chief executive, called the loss "distressing" and said he "will spare no effort to establish how it happened". According to his LinkedIn profile, Adoboli works as a director in European equity trading and was previously a trade support analyst at UBS. He was a student at the University of Nottingham, according to his profile on the business networking website.

Madeleine Cops In Portugal

 

They may not have welcomed the order from Downing Street to launch an investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, but at least Scotland Yard detectives have made a first visit to Portugual. I can't imagine they were given a warm welcome by their Portuguese colleagues whose work (failure to solve the mystery) the Met team is reviewing. Still, it's a step in the right direction and officially the two groups met "with very good co-operation and liaison will continue." There are 30 Met officers - the equivalent of a murder squad - working on the review and I'm told that a senior officer is having to give regular spending updates to the Home Office which is funding an operation that will cost several millions and last many months. It's four months since the review was launched with great fanfare by the Prime Minister after a plea from Kate and Gerry McCann. The couple had long felt abandoned by the British and Portuguese authorities to hunt alone for their missing daughter. But it's difficult to get much information about the operation from the cops, No 10 or the Home Office. A recent Freedom of Information request for answers to a dozen of so questions has been held up by the Yard's FOI man while he considers if the info sought is in the public interest.

Zemun gangsters enter pleas in PM murder case

 

Addressing the Special Court in Belgrade, Kalinić confirmed that the shooter was Zvezdan Jovanović. Jovanović has already been found guilty and convicted on the charge, along with Milorad Ulemek Legija, who was tried as the main conspirator. "After the murder I was sitting with Jovanović and (one of Zemun Clan leaders) Mile Luković Kum, and we were watching TV when Jovanović said, 'I guarantee that he is not alive'," Kalinić told the judges as his retrial in the Đinđić murder case started on Monday. He also claimed that Luković told him that "Zveki (Zvezdan Jovanović) bumped off the prime minister", and that Jovanović himself confirmed this. But Kalinić denied that he had any role in the assassination, and told the judges he was "asleep" when the murder took place on March 12, 2003, and that Luković "called him around 13:00". He confirmed that he was acquainted with Jovanović since 1993, that he "saw Milorad Ulemek (Legija) once in Bosnia", and that he met the Zemun Clan leader Dušan Spasojević, "a couple of years before the murder of Đinđić". Kalinić also denied that he was a member of the Zemun Clan. Another gangster that spent years on the run after the assassination, Miloš Simović, was in the courtroom for the start of his retrial in the case. Both were originally found guilty and each sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison, but the retrial was granted on grounds that they were "tried in absentia". Unlike Kalinić, Simović admitted to taking part in the murder, and said he "also knew about the political background", but refused to elaborate on this point. Last June, Simović shot and wounded Kalinić in Zagreb, Croatia, and was arrested several days later while attempting to cross the border between into Serbia. Kalinić was arrested in Croatia and later extradited to Serbia.

Olympic starting pistols converted into guns by Tottenham gangster

 

TOTTENHAM man who specialised in converting Olympic starting pistols into deadly firearms has been jailed for seven years. James Jones, 27, ran a gun conversion business out of a suitcase which was uncovered when officers raided his home last year and arrested him. The Collingwood Road resident is one of 37 people caught in the Boombox music store sting by Enfield Police, to catch gangsters trading guns, ammunition, weapons, and drugs. Detective Chief Inspector Paul Harwood, who ran the major undercover operation – codenamed Peyzac – said: “It is believed that James Jones had converted many more firearms than actually recovered. “He specialised in Olympic 38 starting pistols, which he converted to live firing firearms. This particular make of starting pistol is now illegal to possess in the UK.” Boombox, in Fore Street, was wired with hidden cameras and listening devices, and operated for more than a year with a functioning shop at the front and a backroom for criminals to trade in. Loaded guns, thousands of pounds of drugs, and ammunition were all brought into the shop, and sold to police. Among those jailed at Wood Green Crown Court in the Boombox case, Damien McGowan, 33, of Collingwood Road, Tottenham, received a ten-year prison term for conspiracy to supply nine firearms and ammunition. Kasheef Hardy, 25, of Mount View Court, Green Lanes, was also jailed for ten years for leading a group who sold a gun and ammunition to police in January last year. And Junior Homer, 21, of Bath Road, Edmonton, was jailed for ten-and-a-half-years for conspiracy to supply firearms, conspiracy to supply drugs, receiving stolen goods, and passing counterfeit currency. Judge Fraser Morrison, who oversaw all 37 cases, said on Friday at the sentencing of the final two defendants: “I need to say for the record, being involved in the movement of guns is very serious indeed. “The reason why it is viewed so seriously is the items can dispatch lethal force. There is a lot of violence in this country with guns when people suffer very severe consequences.”

Spanish warship rescues French hostage from pirates

 

Troops from a Spanish warship stormed a pirate skiff in the Gulf of Aden Saturday and rescued a French hostage missing from her yacht but found no trace of her husband, the EU anti-piracy mission said. As a helicopter kept watch overhead, naval commandos in a fast launch fired on the skiff to disable its engine. The boat sank, but the hostage was rescued and seven pirates were arrested unharmed, the Spanish defence ministry said. "She was the only hostage on board the skiff. Her husband was not on board," EU naval spokesman Captain Paul Gelly told AFP, confirming the rescued hostage was Evelyne Colombo, wife and crewmate of missing sailor Christian Colombo. "She is safe and sound," he said, explaining that Colombo and the detained pirates are now on board the Spanish ship. A German warship, the FGS Bayern, found the couple's catamaran the Tribal Kat, adrift in waters off Yemen on Thursday. There was no-one on board and the EU Atalanta naval command launched an air and sea search for the attackers. French officials said there were signs of a struggle on board the yacht, which was towed to Djibouti to be studied by agents from the DGSE spy agency. "It was like searching for a needle in a haystack," Gelly said. "Our priority was to search for any vessel that might have been leaving the area and heading for the coast of Somalia." The French frigate Surcouf detected a suspect vessel and on Saturday the Spanish warship SPS Galicia chased it down. The Spanish defence ministry said when the skiff ignored an order to stop, the commander of the Galicia ordered his men to open fire. "At that time, it was discovered that they had a hostage on board, who was a woman," it said. "The amphibious ship proceeded to intercept the pirate vessel. The operation involved a helicopter and naval warfare team, who fired on the engine of the boat, to disable it." Christian Colombo is a former French navy crewman and the couple were experienced sailors who wanted to see the world and were passing through the Gulf of Aden en route for the Indian Ocean and eventually Thailand. "They knew they were taking a risk and everyone advised them not to go," a relative told AFP. One of the couple's daughters, Emilie, posted a message of concern on the blog they were keeping of their high seas adventure. "The last I heard from Christian was around a month ago. He was south of Egypt and heading for Malaysia," said the skipper's friend Gerard Navarin, who once helped him set a catamaran speed record off Toulon. The waters between Yemen and Somalia are notorious for attacks by pirate gangs, and French yachts have been among the vessels seized in the past. A second yacht went missing at around the same time as the Tribal Kat. Somali pirates frequently seize crew from merchant ships and pleasure craft in the dangerous waters off the conflict-ravaged Horn of Africa and have taken millions of dollars in ransom for their release. According to the watchdog Ecoterra, at least 50 vessels and at least 528 hostages are being held by Somali pirates, despite constant patrols by warships from several world powers. A French couple was kidnapped from a yacht in September 2008 as it headed through the Gulf of Aden. A ransom was paid, but French commandos later ambushed the pirates, killed one, captured six more and recovered the cash. In April 2009, another French yacht was seized. This time special forces troops intervened when the boat was still at sea. In the ensuing gunbattle a French bullet accidentally killed the hostage skipper. In addition, a French DGSE agent is thought to have been held hostage by Islamist militants in the Somali capital since July 2009

Police officer who shot dead Mark Duggan will NOT return to duty until probe is complete

 

The firearms officer who shot dead Mark Duggan, the event believed to have triggered the London riots, has not returned to active duty despite reports to the contrary, Scotland Yard has confirmed. Mr Duggan, a father-of-four, was shot in the chest and arm after the taxi he was travelling in was stopped by police near Tottenham Hale on August 5 His death sparked protests in the area which were later followed by rioting. It had been reported that the officer who fired the fatal shot had been returned to duty as part of the Metropolitan Police's CO19 firearms unit, but Scotland Yard have denied this saying he will remain suspended until investigations have been completed. The funeral of Mr Duggan is due to be held today with between 1,500 and 3,000 people expected join a procession through the Broadwater Farm estate where he lived. It was initially reported that Mr Duggan, 29, had shot at police. But ballistic tests later found that a bullet which lodged itself in one officer's radio was police issue. Mr Duggan's relatives have accused officers of deciding to 'shoot to kill' and say they do not believe the gun discovered hidden in a sock belonged to him.

'Credible' terror threat for 9/11

 

The threat is unconfirmed but reportedly involves Washington DC and New York, where people are preparing to mark the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, the worst ever terrorist attack on US soil in which nearly 3,000 people died. New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the new threat was uncorroborated, but he asked citizens to report suspicious activity and said that security would be increased at bridges, tunnels and on public transport. He added: "For the record, I plan to take the subway tomorrow morning." 9/11 anniversary The anniversary of 9/11 will be marked by a ceremony at Ground Zero, attended by President Barack Obama as well as former president George W Bush. The White House said President Obama had been briefed on the threat against the United States. It noted that the US government had "enhanced its security posture" ahead of the anniversary. White House spokesman Jay Carney added: "We're hyper-vigilant to this specific report that's just coming in."

Australian slain mobster Carl Williams 'was informant'

 

Notorious Australian gangster Carl Williams was offering information to the police in the weeks before he was beaten to death in his jail cell, the trial of his alleged killer has heard. A lawyer who handled Williams' talks with the police said the gangster was preparing to provide the names of some of his underworld associates. The lawyer said Williams had become worried about his safety in prison. His former cellmate Matthew Charles Johnson, 38, denies murder. Johnson has admitted killing Williams, but said it was self-defence, adding that he was in a "kill or be killed situation". At the time, police feared the killing could spark another gangland war in Melbourne's criminal underworld. Williams was already serving a 35-year jail term for murdering three of his rivals when he was killed in April 2010. On the third day of Johnson's murder trial, Williams' former lawyer told the court that the gangster had been ready to tell police the names of other people involved in those murders. Shane Tyrrell said Williams had hoped to get his sentence reduced, as well as having his daughter's school fees paid, in return for the information. However, Mr Tyrrell said his client had become uneasy because prison staff had known about his talks with the police. On Wednesday, Williams' father George had told the jury that Johnson had killed his son because he wanted to benefit from the police deal. George Williams, himself a convicted drug trafficker, said Johnson had asked his son: "Can you get me on board?" Williams was one of Australia's most infamous gangland bosses before he was jailed. His life of crime and the gangland warfare it engendered in Melbourne was the inspiration for the TV series Underbelly.