Venezuela arrests Colombian drug kingpin

 

The arrest of Maximiliano Bonilla-Orozco at his home in Venezuela's third largest city of Valencia on Sunday was announced, perhaps not coincidentally, during a visit by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. After a five-hour meeting at the presidential palace, Santos thanked Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez for the "welcome gift" of capturing "a very high-value" drug trafficker "who has caused terrible damage to our country." Venezuelan Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami said Bonilla-Orozco, 39, would be extradited to the United States, where he was charged with drug trafficking in a 2008 indictment in a New York court. The United States accuses Bonilla-Orozco of trafficking several tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States, and transporting more than $25 million in drug-related proceeds from the United States to Mexico. "Maximiliano Bonilla-Orozco is the leader of an extensive transnational narcotics exportation and transportation organisation that distributes thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, to the United States," a US State Department profile says.

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Police probe Gold Coast shooting

Police say a man shot at Robina on Queensland's Gold Coast had links to an outlaw motorcycle gang. A man fired several shots outside a house at Robina about 10:00pm (AEST) on Saturday night, injuring a 25-year-old man. The man was shot in the shoulder and is in the Gold Coast Hospital. Police say his injuries are not life-threatening. Detective Superintendent Dave Hutchinson says police are still searching for the assailant. He says some of the bullets struck cars and houses. "[The offender] was targeting a particular person, and that person received some injuries from the those gun pellets," he said. "The information we have from witnesses is that there were a number of shots fired. "The victim has an association with an outlaw motorcycle group but he's not a member himself. "At this stage, we're not able to say if it's bikie-related or if it's a personal issue." Police have already interviewed a number of witnesses but no-one has been arrested over the shooting. Detective Superintendent Hutchinson says the injured man, who is an associate of the Bandidos motorcycle gang, is cooperating with police but cannot remember much about the incident.

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SCOTLAND'S failure to tackle the scandal of sex trafficking is exposed in a damning report today.

Baroness Helena Kennedy believes sex-trafficking victims are being let down by Scots law

 

The report demands a crackdown on the organised crime gangs behind the vile trade and lifts the lid on how the victims of trafficking and exploitation have been let down.

Leading human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy, who wrote the report for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, is critical of the Scottish government, the police and other law enforcement agencies.

The report looks into all aspects of human trafficking but focuses explicitly on "commercial sexual exploitation".

A source close to the inquiry said last night: "This is Scotland's dirty little secret."

The report criticises the shortfall in public or professional awareness in Scotland of human trafficking and says police have a "significant" intelligence gap on the problem.

It reveals those who are trafficked are being exploited by organised criminals, often held captive in private flats used as brothels and systematically abused.

Other victims are forced into criminal acts such as benefits fraud or cannabis cultivation, exploited on fruit-picking farms or in the hospitality industry or forced into conditions akin to slavery as domestic servants.

The report's 10 recommendations include the establishment of a task force to take on the gangs behind the misery.

And it also calls for laws to be beefed up to punish the criminals heavily when they are caught.

The source said: "The Scottish government and police have not taken the proper steps to combat human trafficking. The problem exists all over Scotland and is not confined to the sex industry.

"People are being shipped in from all over the world to be used as cheap labour and serious gangsters are behind it.

"We've had prostitutes coming from as far away as Brazil, Nigeria and Bolivia to work in Scottish cities and police don't do anything.

"The recommendations made in the report need to be followed up urgently."

The inquiry's findings and mmendations are based recommendations on written evidence and face-to-face interviews and include statements from victims of trafficking.

Glasgow-born Baroness Kennedy described the nature and extent of human trafficking in Scotland as "a human rights abuse of terrible consequences".

She said: "Human trafficking is one of those pressing contemporary issues which speaks to the societies nature of our societies. It tests the value we attach to the humanity of others.

"That is why it is so important to develop effective strategies to combat trafficking. It speaks to who we are as a people. Confronting it involves collaboration."

She added: "I am hoping Scotland will pioneer a zerotolerance approach, leading the way with new strategies, legislation, and the kinds of multi-agency cooperation that enables the punishment of the traffickers and the identification and recovery of the victims."

Last month, in the first case of its kind in Scotland, Stephen Craig, 34, from Clydebank, was jailed for three years and four months for controlling prostitutes.

His co-accused, Sarah Beukan, 22, from Leith in Edinburgh, was jailed for 18 months.

They were the first people to be convicted in Scotland under new laws covering trafficking within the UK.

The pair admitted moving 14 people to addresses in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and Newcastle to work as prostitutes.

Equality and Human Rights Scotland Commissioner Kaliani Lyle said: "Trafficking is one of the most severe human rights abuses in the modern world.

"It operates below the radar and is kept there through fear and deception. Our challenge is to rid Scotland of this modern slavery."

Ann Fehilly, of the Glasgow Community and Safety Services TARA Project, said: "If we are able to ensure that protections are in place, then more prosecutions will follow, ensuring that Scotland sends a message to those who traffic and exploit vulnerable women that such abuses will not be tolerated."

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "The Scottish government welcome this inquiry and the extensive work Baroness Kennedy has undertaken to expose the unacceptable and atrocious practices which allow human trafficking to persist."

He added: "Trafficking is a particularly horrific and brutal violation of human rights. It has no place in modern Scotland and the consequences it brings for victims and communities are incredibly damaging."

Case Study: Evil deeds exposed in Record

THE Daily Record has shone a light on Scotland's seedy underbelly, with senior reporter Annie Brown interviewing victims and those working to beat trafficking.

Last month, Annie met former vice girl Susan, 36, who worked out of flats run by Scotland's only convicted sex traffickers Stephen Craig and Sarah Beukan.

The mum-of-three told how one woman worked for Craig when she was six months pregnant and another was traumatised after having sex with 12 men in a row.

And sadistic Craig threatened to pour boiling water down one woman's throat if she moved on.

Annie also met Ann Hamilton, who established the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) in 2005 to help identify and support women in Glasgow who had been sex trafficked.

Ann said: "We saw there were a lot of foreign women in prostitution in Glasgow and the Met Police in London were warning us about trafficking.

"We had never heard the term but very soon we realised we had an issue and we had to establish a service for the women and I think it has worked very well."

Key Points

1 Scotland needs a comprehensive strategy against trafficking.Recommendation: Scottish government should develop strategic plan.

2 There is little public or professional awareness of human trafficking or its indicators. Recommendation: Holyrood should run an anti-trafficking campaign.

3 Human Scotland and in the UK has developed in a piecemeal fashion.Recommendation: Holyrood should consider introducing comprehensive Human Trafficking Bill.

4 Police service has a significant intelligence gap on human trafficking.Recommendation: Set up multi-agency task force.

5 There have been few prosecutions against suspected traffickers.Recommendation: Review legislation to consider tougher sentences where human trafficking is background to crimes.

6 Law enforcement bodies have disrupted organised crime through asset recovery but there have been few operations against traffickers.Recommendation: Develop strategy for using asset recovery powers against trafficking groups.

7 Recommendation: Scottish and UK governments to help various agencies, such as employers, bring awareness of human trafficking into their operations.

8 Recommendation: Holyrood involve private sector in strategic approach in dealing with awareness and monitoring of trafficking.

9 Recommendation: Home Office should lead review of system for identifying trafficking victims.

10 Scotland does not yet have comprehensive, end-to-end services for victims of human trafficking. Recommendation: Holyrood should develop a trafficking care standard.

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Marvel character, Erik Lensherr a.k.a. Magneto, has apparently infringed the copyright of the King of Spain

Marvel character, Erik Lensherr a.k.a. Magneto, has apparently infringed the copyright of the King of Spain in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, with the Zarzuela Palace claiming the X-Men villain's alternate costume is identical to the military uniform worn by King Juan Carlos.

Representitives for the Zazuela Palace have contacted the Spanish distributor of the game in the region, Koch Media, to warn them of possible copyright infringement.

This isn't the first time the Spanish Royal's has stamped their feet over the strong resemblences, as Marvel faced a similar dispute when Magneto first donned the uniform in The Pulse: House of M Special X-Men special.

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New ecstasy fears after two dead and one seriously ill following club weekend

 

The clubbers, aged 20 and 21, died within hours of each other at the same hospital after attending separate dance music events at Alexandra Palace in north London over the weekend. Another 20-year-old man, also thought to have attended an event at the venue, is also being treated at the same hospital where he is said to be in a serious but stable condition. Last night Scotland Yard issued a special appeal to any young people who may have taken drugs at or before either of the events to seek immediate medical attention amid fears dealers may have been peddling an ultra-strong batch. It comes just a week after the charity Drugscope, which monitors trends in underground the drug trade, warned of an alarming rise in the popularity of ecstasy which dominated the 1990s rave scene but fell out of fashion. A surge in use follows an influx of a more-potent Chinese variants of the drug which is based on the chemical MDMA, or methylenedioxymethamphetamine.

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Ecstasy alert after club deaths

 

wo young clubbers suspected of taking ecstasy died after separate dance music events at London's Alexandra Palace, police said. The men, aged 20 and 21, were admitted to a north London hospital on Sunday and were pronounced dead within seven hours of each other. The 21-year-old is thought to have attended an all-night party called Bass Culture, which started on Friday and continued into Saturday. The 20-year-old is believed to have attended a night called Epic, starting on Saturday night and running into Sunday. A second 20-year-old man who was also believed to have attended the event on Saturday night was admitted to hospital as well and remains in a serious but stable condition. The Metropolitan Police said the cause of the deaths and injury was yet to be established but confirmed that one line of inquiry was that the men may have taken illegal substances, possibly MDMA - the chemical name for ecstasy. They issued an urgent appeal for other clubbers to seek medical attention following the unexplained deaths. Detective Inspector Rita Tierney said: "Although it is too early to say what caused these men's health to deteriorate, we are investigating the possibility that illegal drugs may have been involved. "If you have taken what you believed to be MDMA, or any other substance, during this weekend's events at Alexandra Palace, and are now feeling unwell, I would strongly urge you to attend your nearest hospital as soon as possible."

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Man shot in Brunswick

 

A gunman is on the loose after a man was gunned down in a busy Brunswick street late this afternoon. The man was shot several times outside a gym and then stumbled across the Brunswick shopping centre car park where he collapsed beside a vehicle, police say. At least six shots rang out at the Barkly Square Shopping Centre late this afternoon and the 37-year-old man was hit in the upper body.

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Bali jails Australian boy over cannabis possession

 

An Australian boy has been jailed for two months for possessing cannabis on the Indonesian island of Bali. The case sparked an outcry in Australia, where the media argued the 14-year-old was too young to be jailed. But Indonesian analysts hit back, criticising Australia for holding Indonesian youngsters in detention in people-smuggling cases. The teenager, who has not been named, will serve the rest of his sentence at an immigration detention centre. The jail term includes the time already served, so the boy, from New South Wales, is expected to be freed in two weeks' time. He will be deported to Australia at the end of his sentence. The boy bought a small amount of cannabis from a dealer on the island - a crime punishable by up to two years in jail. But the court treated him leniently after hearing that he had pre-existing drugs problems and had sought help from doctors. Drugs cases involving Australians in Indonesia regularly cause a huge outcry because of the country's extreme sentencing rules. The most notorious was that of the so-called Bali Nine, who were convicted of trying to import heroin. Most of them are serving lengthy prison sentences after having death penalties commuted on appeal.

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Police were in dark over foreign axe killer living in UK

 

COPS did not know an East European axe murderer was living in the UK until he caused a killer car crash, a court heard yesterday. Intars Pless, 34, hacked through a friend's throat in his native Latvia, then moved to Britain after he got out of jail. But Lincoln Crown Court heard police can only check a foreign national's record if they break the law here. So Pless's horrific crime came to light only after he drove into moped rider Valentina Planciunene, 37, while over twice the limit. Stuart Lody, prosecuting, told the court: "On the night of Valentine's Day he decided it would be a perfectly good idea to drink a very large quantity of whisky. Surprised "He and a friend spent a considerable period of time drinking whisky and driving around. "During the driving he was possibly drinking whisky as well. An empty whisky bottle was found in the boot of the car. "At the time of the collision he was heavily under the influence of alcohol. His ability to drive would have been severely impaired." Pless was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving after the jury heard he left her dead in the road in Wyberton Fen, Lincs. He was told he faces a long jail term. The judge also called for his deportation.

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U.K. tax falls on overseas property investors

 

Overseas property owners based in the UK are about to be targeted by a new HM Revenue & Customs "affluent unit", which has been set up by the British government to address what it sees as tax avoidance by the rich.Photo 20minutos.es What next I wonder?? A new team of 200 taxation investigators and specialists has been established by HMRC to identify wealthy individuals who, amongst other things, own land and property abroad … such as a holiday home. OPP understands that the tax attack unit will concentrate on overseas property assets first, and then switch its attention to UK-based commodity traders (who have been accused of helping to drive up food prices,) before looking into the number of UK residents who hold offshore investment accounts. HMRC says that it will be using sophisticated "data mining" techniques to try and track down people who own overseas properties, but do not pay the right amount of tax. This might include someone who owns a villa in Spain which they are renting out, or an individual who owns a piece of land in France that is being used as business premises, said an HMRC spokesman. The experts will be looking for people who do not seem to be declaring the correct income and gains. The new unit, which has been announced by the UK’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, will focus solely on people paying the 50% top tax rate. David Gauke, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said there would be "no hiding place" for tax cheats, adding that the UK government “is committed to tackling tax evasion and avoidance across all areas of the economy. That is why we allocated HMRC £917m to reduce the tax gap over the next four years. This new team is part of that investment." Ronnie Ludwig, tax partner at accountancy group Saffery Champness told OPP that “those who have been letting out their foreign property and declaring the rents received have nothing to fear, but those who own foreign property which has never been let out should be prepared to prove to HMRC that they have received no income from the property.” “This will involve producing UK and foreign bank statements and being able to demonstrate that they could afford to purchase and maintain the property out of normal declared sources."

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