MARBELLA CLUB

Work has started to demolish homes which were constructed illegally on the coast of Cantabria.The first court sentences ordering demolition were issued as long as 15 years ago, declared to be illegal under the ley de costas (coastal law), but it was on Wednesday when the bulldozers finally moved in at two different locations.The most important one is the El Encinar Urbanisation on the beach at La Arena de Arnuero, where 144 homes were built on protected rural woodland, 42 of which are now coming down, all of them corresponding to the second phase of the urbanization.Some twenty owners and locals protested as the bulldozers moved in, carrying placards which read ‘144 families, victims of the construction mafia’.

Young woman is recovering in hospital in Málaga after jumping from a first floor balcony to escape being raped by two friends who were with her in the flat above. It happened in Rincón de la Victoria on Wednesday, where police found her half-naked, sitting on a chair in the street, EFE reports.She told officers that they had all been partying the night before, and that she had jumped from the flat when the two men tried to have sex with her against her will.The two men, reported by police as Italian, now face charges from the courts.

Police in Spain have broken up a drug-trafficking network which used pensioners to smuggle cocaine into the country on board luxury trans-Atlantic cruise liners. The network used women posing as tourists who picked up the drugs in South America, hiding them in their suitcases to hand over them to another network member once the ships docked in Spain.27 kilos of cocaine were found in a cabin on board a trans-Atlantic cruise ship when it docked in port in Cádiz, the Interior Ministry says in a press release. It’s thought the drugs were picked up when the ship docked in Brazil. The cocaine was destined for Cataluña and Ibiza, the Ministry said, while cannabis destined for distribution in Europe, mainly Holland, was also smuggled in to Spain by the network.Nine arrests were made in total, including one of the suspected leaders who was arrested in Lepe, Huelva, while attempting to cross over into Portugal and then escape by plane to Brazil.Police also raided two hydroponic marijuana farms in Barcelona where more than 200 plants were found. That part of the network was led by a man from Holland, police say.

ring leader was street gang member Darnell Bell, from the Lincoln Park gang. Previously in jail for cocaine distribution, this may be a sign that gangs are branching into more sophisticated crimes. Over $9 million was deposited into an account controlled by Bell. This complex scheme resulted in charges to 24 co-conspirators for bank and wire fraud, money laundering and corrupt racketeering activity. They had participants from real estate, title insurance, appraisal and notary public. The field of players and game play worked as follows:Player 1: Located properties that had been on the market for an extended period of time with reduced asking prices. They negotiated an inflated purchase price and submitted false loan applications to support loans that otherwise would never have been approved. In most cases they were for 100% of the purchase price and did not require any capital investment. They included false letters and documents for income and reference verification. Players requested extra funds for property improvements to make the homes handicap accessible. Payout of these funds was requested upon closing to Bell Construction, a bogus construction firm.
Player 2: Buyers agreed to provide their names and credit histories to be used in the mortgage applications. Properties were purchased, however, in the name of the racketeering enterprise. Bell used his gang status to intimidate and recruit players for this role.
Player 3: Real estate appraisers who prepared inflated appraisals to give lenders the impression that the loans would be secured by the value of the properties. Player 4: A licensed real estate broker allowed the enterprise to use his broker’s license to initiate the property purchase. In exchange this person received a monthly payment of $10,000 and a percentage of the real estate commission and broker’s fees.Player 5: An escrow officer and notary republic to assist in closing of fraudulent properties.
Player 6: Certified Public Accountant and registered tax preparers.
Once the properties were closed and funds were paid out for repairs, mortgage payments were never made and the homes fell into foreclosure, creating large financial losses for the lenders. Lenders filed reports of suspicious activity, and upon investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service, it was discovered that none of the properties had any improvements done to them. The maximum penalties faced by those involved include 20 years in jail, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release. FBI Special Agent Keith Slotter commented,”The individuals charged in this indictment have one thing in common: greed. They represent precisely those who have undermined our country’s financial system by perpetuating such egregious schemes. The FBI and our law enforcement partners remain vigilant and will pursue those who engage in this type of criminal activity. The extent to which this group of people went to defraud lenders should also serve as a warning to the public. We urge people to come forward with information of suspicious activities they may encounter when engaged in real estate and mortgage transactions.”

"We will also seize five bunkers of the Hells Angels," Guerin said in a phone interview from Laval, Que. "We will seize the Montreal chapter ... we will have also the south chapter that is in Longueuil, we will also have the Sherbrooke bunker, the Trois-Rivières bunker and the Quebec City bunker, too."
Arrested 156 people as part of a major strike against the Quebec Hells Angels, with more than 1,200 officers taking part in a series of pre-dawn raids on properties across the province. The Sureté du Québec says the Project SharQc raids have targeted suspects who have allegedly been involved in crimes -- including various drug and gangsterism offenses, as well as various murders -- that took place between 1992 and 2009. Police say they have linked the alleged crimes to five Hells Angels chapters in Quebec. The raids, led by SQ officers, are designed to put the provincial Hells Angels out of business -- at least for the time being. The majority of arrests have occurred in Quebec, though five male suspects -- all in their 40s and 50s -- were nabbed in St. Leonard, N.B. One person was arrested in France and four others in the Dominican Republic.
Laval police spokesperson Daniel Guerin told CTV Newsnet that in addition to the arrests on Wednesday, officers had also executed 177 warrants and seized selected properties in Quebec.
RCMP Sgt. Claude Tremblay said the suspects who were arrested in New Brunswick would be flown to Montreal on Wednesday. Unspecified guns and drugs were seized from the New Brunswick suspects, whom police allege are involved in bringing drugs from the United States and into Canada. "New Brunswick is the corridor to the Maritimes and everything comes through our highways and we have a lot of small airports through the region," Tremblay said. "There's a lot of trafficking going on. It's mostly related to underground crime and a lot of it is run by the Hells Angels." Guerin said the raids were part of a three-year investigation into the Quebec Hells Angels, which involved prosecutors and 200 police officers. Police arrested both active and "retired" Hells Angels on Wednesday, Guerin said, because of their alleged involvement in 22 murders, drug trafficking, conspiracy and gangsterism offenses. Investigative reporter Julian Sher, who has co-authored two books about the Hells Angels, called the Wednesday morning raids a "huge" accomplishment for police.

"It has to be a devastating impact to the Hells Angels, regardless of how it turns out in the courts," he told CTV.ca in a phone interview on Wednesday morning.

"Just the fact that the police can pull this off again sends a message." The scope of Wednesday's raids indicates that the police used intelligence to undertake them, he said. "The police are getting smarter and better," said Sher. "They are using the only tool that is effective against organized crime and that's infiltration and intelligence, and they've learned that lesson."
James Dubro, an organized crime expert and journalist, said the larger worldwide Hells Angels will take steps to maintain the group's influence in Quebec. "The Hells Angels controls all the biker groups in this country. They will come to the aid of their brothers," he told CTV Newsnet on Wednesday. The SQ will hold a press conference about Project SharQc in Montreal on Thursday morning. Sher said the Hells Angels currently have 400-450 members scattered across Canada. Last month, police arrested 10 people in "Operation Baladeur" -- a series of raids that saw 11 people arrested in connection with alleged criminal offenses that relate to Quebec's notorious biker war of the 1990s. In February, "Operation Axe," a raid involving 700 police officers, targeted suspected biker and street gang members in Ontario and Quebec. Forty-seven people were arrested, some of whom police alleged were Hells Angels members. According to its official website, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club first formed in the United States in 1948. Since then, the Hells Angels have formed chapters around the world including in Canada, Australia, South Africa, as well as in South America and Europe. The Hells Angels are believed to have been in Quebec since the late 1970s.

Central American and Caribbean street gang members are being recruited by Mexican cartels in order to represent their interests in Europe, with the cities of Barcelona and Madrid, in Spain, and Oslo, Norway, being singled out. Those recruited, the UN research says, are working to expand their Mexican patrons' drug businesses and sales in European cities.José Manuel Martínez, the INCB representative for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, was quoted on the subject in the Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico last December. "Certainly the Sinaloa, Gulf, and Tijuana cartels are training young mareros (street gang members) and gang members. With them, they seek to spread to Europe and this shows that the time when the Maras were a Central American problem has now ended."

Italian law enforcement officials, based on investigations by the Carabiniere and information shared by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), confirmed in late 2008 that Mexico's Los Zetas have strengthened ties with Mafioso organizations in Italy, in particular with the ‘Ndrangheta. These Italian mobsters are home based in the Reggio Calabria area of southern Italy.

Since early last year the Carabiniere has been intercepting calls from people in the United States who are part of this transatlantic network that sends drugs from Mexico to Europe, according to a piece from the Mexican News service Apro (12/28/08).In February of this year, Apro editors reported that Nicola Gratteri, the city attorney of Reggio Calabria, said that the 'Ndrangheta mafia and Mexico's Gulf Cartel leaders communicate via Blackberries and SMS messaging. Gratteri refused to give additional details, telling the reporter he didn't want "to give the mafia suggestions."Antonio Nicaso, an expert on crime who has coauthored a new book on the Calabria mafia with Gratteri ("Blood Brothers"), added that the Mexican cartel and Italian mafia alliance is absolutely key. This because the 'Ndrangheta control all of the main seaports in Europe that are ports of entry for drugs, most of these being located in Spain and Holland, the Apro article said.Last August, in Toronto, Canada, a 42 year old 'Ndrangheta member named Guiseppe Collucio was arrested, and Italian authorities recognized him as one of those in charge of sending cocaine to Italy by way of South America, Apro reported. Collucio belongs to one of the 'Ndrangheta families that settled in Canada, and it was from there that he was in contact with Colombian drug lords in order to buy cocaine that was then shipped to Europe.
Following Collucio's arrest, his Italian clients became uneasy and they decided to change contacts. And 'Ndrangheta leaders in Italy put them in communication with Mexico's Gulf Cartel, according to Piero Grasso, Italy's Director of Public Prosecutions for Mafia Crimes."In Rome, Public Prosecutor Grasso declared: 'The novelty in this international operation is the narco starting point role that Mexico has assumed, replacing Colombia and becoming the major drug distributor in the world,'" the Apro piece concluded.

UK’s anti-fraud watchdog has joined investigations into a car theft ring involving the export of stolen luxury vehicles from Britain to Tanzania. According to British police sources, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating the international aspect of the syndicate. The SFO is a UK government department and is part of the British criminal justice system. Investigators from the watchdog agency are usually called in to probe only ’’serious and complex fraud.’’ Experts say the involvement of Britain’s anti-fraud investigators in the case proves the seriousness of the crimes committed by the gang of car thieves. ’’The key criterion we use when deciding whether to accept a case is that the suspected fraud appears to be so serious or complex that its investigation should be carried out by those responsible for its prosecution,’’ says the SFO in its website. ’’The SFO could not - and does not - take on every referred case of suspected fraud. SFO resources must be focussed on major and complicated fraud.’’ The SFO says factors considered when accepting to investigate a case include the fact that the value of the alleged fraud exceeds �1 million (approx. 2bn/-). In Tanzania, the SFO has notably been involved in investigations into the $41m military radar scandal. British authorities are trying to recover an estimated �1.5 million (approx. 3bn/-) in the international scam involving the theft of luxury vehicles in the UK, and their subsequent exportation for sale in Tanzania and neighbouring Kenya. A Tanzanian national identified as Mponjoli Malakasuka (36) was convicted in the UK last year of charges connected to the suspected car theft racket, and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The fraud involving Malakasuka saw dozens of prestige cars such as Aston Martins, Range Rovers and BMWs stolen from wealthy areas in the Midlands, UK, and then exported in sealed shipping containers to Tanzania. Malakasuka was arrested in 2007 when police ran a check on his Mercedes and found it was stolen. The Tanzanian and his associates had rented prestige high-value cars which were then reported stolen to the insurance company. The gang also swiped luxury cars from driveways by fishing car keys through letterboxes across the West Midlands, Staffordshire, the north and London. At least twice Malakasuka paid for two Range Rover Sports cars and then reported them stolen to claim on the insurance. Financial investigators from the UK’s Economic Crime Team recovered five cars in a 10-day spell in 2007, but many more were thought to have been smuggled abroad through Felixstowe or Southampton docks hidden in containers. The racket was busted when an eagle-eyed manager with a car hire company noticed that many of the cars reported stolen had been hired using the same credit card. He alerted police and, using a tracking device, they waited for a match to come up. When it did, and one of the supposedly stolen vehicles was reported driving along West Bromwich High Street, police raced to the scene and caught Malakasuka at the wheel. A UK financial investigator, acting Detective Sergeant Chris Harris, said: ’’It’s incredible to think a global investigation could come from such a small piece of information.’’ He added: ’’But the rental firm smelled a rat, let us know and when we got the shout we arrested him (Malakasuka). Then the inquiry just ran and ran.’’ The Tanzanian national eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal at Wolverhampton Crown Court. He was the only person convicted for the car ringing racket, but police believe he worked as part of a gang. Det Sgt Harris added: ’’What started as an inquiry into a rented car that had not been returned spiralled into an investigation into a global fraud. Much of the international element of it has now been passed to the Serious Fraud Office, but we’re proud to say we played our part.’’ A spokesman for the Serious Fraud Office said they did not wish to comment on the investigation.

Police officer Vladimir Grandic from Novi Sad died on the morning of April 12 as a results of injuries incurred in a conflict with burglars on the highway near Novi Sad, the Vojvodina Clinical Center confirmed for BETA. The police officer suffered serious injuries to the arm, chest and abdomen, and was operated on after the shootout. The police were able to arrest all four of the robbers, and it is suspected that 19 year-old Danijel Tomic fired at the police officers. The conflict occurred when police tried to stop the car of the four robbers, who burglarized a jewelery store in Zrenjanin. The suspects fired at police, wounding Grandic, after which police fired back. The commemoration for the fallen officer Vladimir Grandic (31) will be held on April 13 in Novi Sad, Novi Sad Police Chief Miladin Kostrasevic said. The commemoration will begin at 1pm, and Grandic will be buried at 5pm at the New Cemetery in Novi Sad. The parliamentary commemoration will be attended by Interior Minister Ivica Dacic. He will also attend the funeral.

Four robbers with Kalashnikov assault rifles raided a branch of the Carrefour Marinopoulos supermarket chain in the central Athens district of Kolonos on Saturday night, fleeing with an undetermined sum but causing no injuries. As they fled the scene, the perpetrators were spotted by a police patrol car. In the ensuing chase the robbers shot at the officers who fired back, but there were no reports of any injuries. The robbers eluded arrest. At around the same time, robbers targeted supermarkets in the districts of Halandri and Nea Ionia.

Timothy Rutherford British expat was sentenced to life in jail Sunday by Kuwait's criminal court after he was caught smuggling hashish and alcohol into the oil-rich emirate from neighboring Iraq in the latest case of drug trafficking that suggests a surge in abuse of illicit stimulants in the Arab world at large.Timothy Rutherford who worked as a civil contractor with British forces in southern Iraq was arrested last September while crossing into Kuwait with 49 kilos (108 pounds) of hashish, liquor and cash.
As a trade free zone Dubai is perhaps the busiest drug gateway in the GulfAlthough Sunday's verdict is not final and can be appealed, it is standard in a country where penalties for possession, use, or trafficking illegal drugs in Kuwait are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines.In February 2009 three Americans were caught allegedly peddling marijuana in Kuwait City's downtown after using the military postal service to smuggle marijuana into the country.Three major drug raids in Dubai recently – all involving foreigners -- yielded a haul of 651,000 Captagon pills at the airport, and several kilograms of heroin intercepted by police and customs officers.

12 Limerick criminals could be tried before the non-jury Special Criminal Court.Gardai are to request that the Director of Public Prosecutions direct cases involving Limerick criminals to the SCC in order to avoid the intimidation of jurors, and their possible murder years down the line.The news comes just days after Roy Collins was murdered at the CoinCastle Amusement arcade in what is believed to be a revenge attack against his family by members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang. It is believed that Mr. Collins was killed in retaliation for the fact that a relative of his gave evidence in a case against Wayne Dundon. Dundon received a ten year sentence after he was convicted of threatening barman Ryan Lee at Brannigans Bar. His sentence was later reduced to seven years.
Lee was shot and injured within hours of the threat being made, however, no one has been convicted of the shooting.Brannigans bar was later burned to the ground, again, no one was convicted of this.
Gardai are now said to have their sights set on twelve local criminals, who they believe, if put behind bars, will result in a dramatic reduction of organised crime in the Munster region.

Briton, who has not been named, was rounded up by the Civil Guard with seven Spaniards, two Moroccans, a Belgian, a Colombian and an Argentinian after a tip-off.police on the Costa del Sol smashed a gang of alleged armed robbers who terrorised wealthy home owners.
The force, which seized 10 guns and ammo, said the arrests had prevented the planned murder of a member of a rival gang.Civil Guard chief Jose Espinosa said victims were tied-up and threatened at gunpoint until they disclosed pin numbers or safe combinations.
Thieves switched a Portsmouth couple's £27k caravan with a mosscovered wreck at a site near Lloret de Mar, Spain.

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Hells Angels warfare erupted in Sydney Airport's domestic Qantas terminal yesterday when up to 15 bikies fatally bashed a rival Comanchero in front of terrified passengers.The 28-year-old man, believed to be a member of a bikie gang, was treated for severe head injuries at the airport but later died at the Prince of Wales Hospital. Last night four men were in custody over the bashing, which was witnessed by at least 50 people and which police described as premeditated. The dead man was one of at least two suspected gang members who had stepped off a flight from Melbourne shortly after 1.30pm. Stunned travellers said the fighting had broken out near one of the arrival and departure gates, with rivals brandishing metal poles normally used to separate queuing passengers. The dead man was struck on the head with at least one of the poles, witnesses said. "It was awful, I'm sick, it was appalling, I've never seen anything like it in my life," one witness told The Australian. "Babies were getting knocked out of strollers. It was terrible. They were fighting all through here. It was gangs. "They were bashing one man with those (chrome) stands you can see over there. I think they had a knife as well."
Another witness, Phil Cruz, told ABC radio the fighting began near departure gate 5 before moving to the check-in area. "It looked like two people fighting at first, and then all of a sudden a whole rush of guys came through the crowd, picked up the poles and just started smacking this guy in the head with the poles."
Mr Cruz said the attackers had escaped in taxis. The horrific incident raises new questions over airport security and follows reports in The Australian last week that the number of sworn police guarding Australia's major airports remains 35per cent below state and federal targets. Police said last night they had about 50 witnesses to the attack, as well as closed-circuit television footage. They believe the clash involved rival bikie gangs but were unable to confirm a report that the dead man was a member of the Bandidos, or another that Hell's Angels and Comancheros were involved. Botany Bay crime manager Peter Williams said police were still trying to determine which gangs were involved. "As far as we know we're investigating a murder involving up to 15 gang members," Inspector Williams said. "It would appear there was a degree of planning that went into this. "It would appear a group of males have exited a plane and they were met by another group of males who we believe may be other motorcycle gang members," Inspector Williams said. "A fight ensued, the fight moved through various parts of the terminal to the ultimate location where the man was deceased." A flight attendant reportedly noted tension between what she suspected were gang members on the flight from Melbourne, but a Qantas spokeswoman said she was not aware of any incidents on the aircraft. Inspector Williams said last night that four men were in custody and crime scenes had been established.
Inspector Williams described the public beating as "gruesome". "It was a disgraceful act perpetrated by a group of cowards who believe they're tough," he said. "It's very gruesome for them to do it in public." Sydney has in recent weeks seen a number of shootings linked to drug and bikie gang violence and NSW Police Minister Tony Kelly is due to meet with police to discuss boosting police powers to deal with the problem. In an another incident early yesterday, seven houses were damaged and two people injured during a shootout in the western suburb of Auburn. The NSW Opposition seized on the incidents to call for tough legislation similar to South Australia's Organised Crime Control Act, which makes membership or association with outlawed clubs illegal and carries up to 10 years in jail for bikie club members and their associates who engage in group violence. The airport attack resulted in severe traffic congestion at Sydney's domestic terminal but few aircraft delays.
A Qantas spokeswoman said aircraft had been delayed eight or nine minutes and very few people had missed their flights. "Check-in was never fully closed, it was just six check-in counters that were not operational," she said.

Italian police say they have arrested 28 suspected mobsters in pre-dawn raids in a small village in southern Italy.Capt. Costantino Airoldi of the Carabinieri in Caserta said three suspects remained on the run after Tuesday's operation in the village of Maddaloni. The village is in an area where the Camorra crime syndicate has its roots.Airoldi says the suspects are accused of murder, criminal association, illegal possession of weapons and extorting money from local businesses.
Camorra is the regional equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia and has long shaken down local businessmen for money. Those who refuse risk violence to themselves or their property.

"Crips and Bloods: Made in America"

British traffickers traditionally operate in Spain and the Netherlands, where they will buy the cocaine alongside other drugs. Traffickers will vary their routes, use coded communications and conceal their drugs in ingenious ways to import into Britain. Often a middleman is used to drive drugs into the UK, where they are recovered by the buyer. cocaine on the UK market is controlled by British gangs operating in Spain. Increasingly, however, Colombian gangs are based in Britain, where they run the supply of drugs to dealers.West Africa is a growing hub, but the traditional trail into the UK, via the Caribbean, still brings cocaine eastwards on yachts or via air couriers.In Britain the trade is estimated to be worth between £4bn and £6.6bn a year. The Home Office estimates there are 300 large-scale drug importers, 3,000 wholesalers and 70,000 street dealers.Profits from the drugs trade are used in other criminal enterprises. Cocaine traffickers will often import guns as well, partly to provide their own protection and also to sell to other criminals lower down the pecking order. The consumption of crack cocaine - which is imported as cocaine powder and produced in the UK - was once confined to urban areas, but is now being seen across the country. The links between drug use and crime are clearly established. With crack addiction comes acquisitive crime - street attacks, robberies, burglaries - all carried out to fund a habit. At the most violent level shootings, kidnappings and knifings are carried out by dealers to protect their stash or move in on a rival's patch. At times members of the public are caught in the crossfire, sometimes with fatal results.

Police in Thailand have arrested the editor of a leading political website, on charges of carrying content that threatens national security.
The Bangkok-based Prachatai website is well-known for carrying content that Thai newspapers will not publish.The charge carries a maximum five-year jail sentence.Thailand's reputation for media freedom has suffered in recent years, in particular through lese-majeste laws, which ban criticism of the monarchy.Armed with an arrest warrant Thai police entered the offices of Prachatai, and detained Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the woman who founded the popular news website five years ago.She has been charged under a new law which makes it an offence to carry computer content that endangers national security.When asked to explain what kind of content had brought about the charge, the police refused to comment, saying it was too sensitive.But one officer, who did not want to be named, told the BBC it was comments about the monarchy posted by readers on the website at the end of last year that were at issue.The Thai authorities have been increasingly intolerant of perceived criticism of the monarchy in recent months.Thousands of websites have been blocked, and a number of people charged and arrested, including a well-known academic, who fled to Britain before he could be detained.However the use of the severe lese-majeste law has provoked widespread condemnation around the world, and a campaign by academics to have the law changed.By instead invoking the new computer crimes law - passed just 18 months ago - the authorities may be hoping to stifle debate about the monarchy without stirring up another outcry over freedom of expression in Thailand.

Dunedin's streets turn into a boxing ring for gangs after Black Power members got out of a car in Brockville Rd yesterday and allegedly attacked a lone Mongrel Mob member walking on the street.
The incident is another in a growing list of gang assaults as tensions rise between the gangs. Police say gang numbers in the city are swelling, as gangs seek a share of the lucrative cannabis market. Acting Senior Sergeant Ed Baker, of Dunedin, said two gang members were arrested following yesterday's incident. Black Power member Allan Waru Kukutai (31), of Henley, was charged with unlawfully having an offensive weapon (a broken broom handle), which he allegedly used to assault the Mongrel Mob pedestrian.
A 19-year-old Mongrel Mob member was also arrested and charged with a drug offence in nearby Wray St. He had been travelling in a vehicle to help his associate, Snr Sgt Baker said. "The most concerning aspect of it was, when the incident occurred, the bush telegraph went into action and a carload of Mongrel Mob members went to his aid. Fortunately, we intercepted them before they made it to the scene." No-one was injured in the altercation, which took place at 10.15am near the shopping centre at the top of Brockville Rd. The frequency of recent gang-related assaults in the city was beginning to irk Dunedin police, Snr Sgt Baker said. "That type of behaviour is not going to be tolerated and we are going to respond to it in urgency," he said. "They can't use our streets as a ring for fighting. If we catch them and identify any offence, they will see the inside of a cell and a court room. The entire police force will be focused on these people." Black Power kingpin Albert Epere was recently recalled to prison and Dunedin police have arrested more than a dozen gang members in the past month for a range of offences. The most serious include a drive-by shooting at a South Dunedin house, the arson of another house and the throwing of Molotov cocktails at several other properties. Kukutai, unemployed, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday afternoon and was remanded in custody until today.

Francisco Velasco cruised around in an SUV that had been reported stolen. He toted corrido music glorifying drug smugglers and hit men, and allegedly helped them operate in this beach resort.And until a few weeks ago, he was Cancun's police chief.Now Francisco Velasco is in custody in Mexico City while federal authorities investigate whether he took part in the killing last month of a retired army general who had been hired to revamp the city's police force.The 57-year-old Velasco, who was in his fourth stint as Cancun's police chief, has not been charged. But federal officials say they believe he protected seven people accused of kidnapping and killing Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello and two others."Without a doubt, we are talking about an organized crime execution," state Atty. Gen. Bello Melchor Rodriguez told reporters. He said the bodies were found in a bullet-riddled SUV that had probably been intercepted on the dark road. The men had apparently been tortured before being killed with single shots to the head, Melchor said. Killed with the general were an active-duty army lieutenant and a man thought to be a civilian who was serving as a bodyguard, authorities said. There was speculation that the slayings were intended as a warning to Cancun officials, some of whom have sought to rid the popular beach resort of drug traffickers and other gangsters. The notorious Gulf cartel, among the most ruthless of Mexico's drug gangs, is active in Cancun. Tello and the two others "fell in the line of duty," Cancun Mayor Gregorio Sanchez said at a news conference. "We will continue with a firm hand. They are not going to intimidate us."
The trio disappeared in downtown Cancun late on Feb. 2. Their bodies, riddled with bullets, were found the next morning beside a highway, 15 miles away. The general's arms and legs had been broken, apparently as a result of torture. Authorities believe the slaying was the work of the Zetas, much-feared enforcers for drug-smuggling gangs.The murky case has hit Cancun like one of the tropical storms that lumber in off the Caribbean, setting off charges that a police force touted as one of the most trustworthy in the nation is rife with corruption.A high-profile killing in the country's signature beach resort is the last thing Mexico needs at a time when drug-related violence has scared away visitors from areas such as Baja California. More than 6,000 people were slain last year, predominantly in areas near the U.S. border, while President Felipe Calderon has struggled to root out corruption in law enforcement at every level."The reality is that Cancun, like the rest of Mexico, is at war," said Cesar Muñoz, an editor at Novedades, a daily newspaper in Cancun that has closely followed the Tello case. "It's at war with the drug cartels.

"The slayings are raising uncomfortable questions about how deeply corruption has infected the city's government. The director of the Cancun jail and head of the city's traffic division also have been detained, according to news reports. There is no sign, however, that Mayor Gregorio Sanchez, a self-styled reformer elected last year, is under investigation.

"There is corruption," Cancun's new police chief, Maria Esther Estiubarte, the first woman to hold the post, conceded in an interview a few days after taking the job. But she said it was limited. "It doesn't put the tourist destination at risk," Estiubarte said.The incident does not seem to have spooked spring break vacationers, who already are pouring into the palm-lined beach region. The killings took place miles from the sprawling resorts and high-rises, where security is strict and crime against tourists is rare.The surrounding state of Quintana Roo remains relatively tranquil compared with other states where drug violence has exploded. The state registered about 20 homicides last year.
But although roadside billboards welcome visitors to "paradise," Cancun has long had an unsavory side that looks nothing like the brochure pictures of sugary beaches and deep-blue waters.
The area is a well-established transshipment point for cocaine smuggled by air from South America or overland through Central America on its way to the U.S. A former Quintana Roo governor, Mario Villanueva Madrid, awaits extradition to the United States on charges that he took payoffs in exchange for helping Mexican traffickers move tons of cocaine through his state.In August, a pile of 11 decapitated bodies turned up in the neighboring state of Yucatan, in what was believed to be an organized-crime hit. A 12th headless body was found the same day in a separate spot. The killings were attributed to the Zetas.Many residents worry that the killings augur a menacing new phase for Cancun. Apart from the main tourist zone, drug sales flourish on the streets of the shabbiest barrios, where prostitutes beckon from the shadows and fear of gang members keeps residents from venturing out more than a few blocks at night.A stream of job seekers from Mexico's impoverished south means business for flophouses that charge as little as $50 a month, but it has strained the city's resources. Along rutted streets on the edge of town, squatter families inhabit stick shacks that are lighted by electricity stolen from nearby utility lines.
The fast growth has turned this other Cancun into a traffic-clogged city of about 750,000 -- big enough, some say, to serve as cover for the drug syndicates that operate elsewhere in Mexico."This is the moment. Cancun has grown a lot and now looks like a good cave, a good hiding place, for these activities," said Father Rafael Ruiz, a parish priest in a graffiti-spattered part of what he calls the "Mexican Cancun."Around town, mystery cloaks the case of the slain general. Tello's body, along with those of army Lt. Getulio Cesar Roman Zuñiga and Juan Ramirez Sanchez, who was the mayor's nephew, were found in a pickup next to the road to colonial Merida, which sits across the Yucatan peninsula about 175 miles from Cancun.
They were seized apparently in downtown Cancun hours after Mayor Sanchez introduced Tello to other municipal staffers as his new security advisor, with the task of creating a separate elite police squad.Former top infantry commander of the Mexican army, Tello had completed a command tour in the western state of Michoacan as part of Calderon's military-led offensive against drug traffickers. He had arrived in Cancun in late January.Sanchez had asked Tello, known as a well-trained and tough commander, to organize a SWAT-type team of 100 former soldiers that would answer only to the mayor; essentially a parallel force above the reach of then-Police Chief Velasco.The mayor said he wanted a new force that would remain "outside the contamination" of the 2,000-officer police department."We don't want to put all our eggs in the same basket," he said in an interview.Sanchez said he did not suspect Velasco of wrongdoing, but believed that there were dirty cops on the force, despite months of culling.A popular businessman who ran as candidate of a leftist coalition, Sanchez has cultivated the image of a reformer in less than a year in office. He announced a "zero tolerance" policy on corruption and has fired 150 suspect cops. In December, Sanchez said, the federal government named Cancun's force the third-most trustworthy in the country.