MARBELLA CLUB

Martin Hickman, 49, of Marbella, made £6m profit over four years selling fake and unlicensed Viagra-like prescription drugs. He was jailed for three months in 2007 for failing to close the websites, but just weeks later the M.E.N revealed how he was continuing to trade from behind bars.

The cash funded a lavish lifestyle including a £500,000 country home, a £2.4m Chelsea flat and a home in Marbella.
His Range Rover had a personalised number plate with his initials on and his Bentley had the number plate 'L13 RGE'.

Between 2003 and 2007 Hickman, a former businessman who was made bankrupt in 1998 after being jailed for 10 months for conspiracy to trade in steroids, pocketed £3.4m himself running the enterprise from his farmhouse in Lily Lanes, Ashton under Lyne. He later moved his factory to a nearby office above a shop in Market Avenue. But experts say he was playing 'Russian roulette' with his customers' health. He was caught out selling the fake and unlicensed drugs on his MSH World Traders website after a tip-off triggered a four-year probe by the government department Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Hickman was sentenced to three months in jail and fined £20,000 for contempt of court in April 2007 after he became the first retailer in Britain to be convicted of failing to abide by a High Court injunction to close the illegal websites.
But within days of going to jail, the M.E.N ordered Kamagra tablets - a generic and cheaper version of Viagra - from his company's website. investigator was sent a batch of 'Lovegra' tablets, which is another name for Kamagra. We bought eight tablets and were given another eight 'free' at a total cost of £32 plus £5 postage and packaging. Hickman's website offered a wide range of 'erectile dysfunction' medication and boasted there were no prescription, consultation or administration charges. It is believed that most of the medicines he sold were produced in India.
The website offered to supply a maximum of three months' medication in one order.Experts say that if the drugs are taken without an initial assessment by a GP, users run the risk of suffering serious side effects - including a heart attack.
Hickman is due to be sentenced today (Monday June 8th) at Southwark Crown Court in London after pleading guilty to six charges of selling and supplying counterfeit and unlicensed medicines and money laundering the sum of £1.4m. The M.E.N test purchase was one of the offences Hickman pleaded guilty to. He has already paid about £1m in an out of court settlement after civil action against him by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. A MHRA spokesman said: "There is a risk to public health because when you buy these products via the internet you do not know where they have been manufactured, how they have been stored and what the true content of the medicines are. "Tablets could have the correct basic ingredient but also be contaminated with other substances. "Prescription drugs have significant risks and possible adverse affects if used improperly - without patient's first having a consultation with their GP." Mick Deats, MHRA Head of Enforcement, said: "We have people with no medical qualification whatsoever running websites and running multi-million pounds businesses. "It is a really risky practice to turn to the internet for your medicines. People often use the internet to buy these drugs because they are too embarrassed to go to their doctor or because they wouldn't be prescribed them. And if something goes wrong that could mean they are more reluctant to seek treatment."
MHRA officers did a test purchase from his MSH website and officers raided his home.
They found various erectile dysfunction drugs plus orders, cash, cheques and customer lists. Hickman was interviewed in August and December 2005 but said he was just running a call centre and doing nothing illegal. His website at the time was registered in Germany with an internet service provider - outside the MHRA jurisdiction. But in March 2006 the agency did another test purchase and bought a multi-pack of drugs which included counterfeit Viagra - which is made under licence by Pfizer. A High Court injunction was issued in September 2006 ordering him to shut down the websites but he failed to do so and was jailed in April 2007.
The following month the M.E.N investigated Hickman and made the test purchase.
In August 2007 Hickman's assets were restrained under the Proceeds of Crime Act - including bank accounts, his house, and cars. And the MHRA continued to pursue him because he continued to trade. In January 2008 he appeared in court at the City of London Magistrates Court and was committed to Crown Court in April. 2008. He pleaded guilty to six charges in March this year.

Guardia Civil arrested a 32-year-old Albox resident for allegedly breaking into a house by forcing open the front door. When officers were called out for a possible burglary in progress they arrived at the home to find the front door open, showing clear signs of having been forced. Once inside, officers found three people, two men and a woman. One of them – who appeared to be drunk – was man-handling a woman trying to convince her to leave with him. The man was her ex-partner.It turns out that the when the drunk man was refused entry to the couple’s home, he kicked the door open. He was remanded in custody and charged with breaking and entering.

Karim Pascal Reguig, also known as Karim el Grande, Pascal ‘le Turbulant’ or ‘The Turbulent’, is well-known to the police as a key French-Algerian organised crime member based on the Costa del Sol. He has allegedly been involved in a war between French-Algerian crime organizations that over the past 12 years has claimed the life of 20 people on both sides.A few months ago he almost died after someone threw a broken bottle at him, causing a deep gash in his neck during a massive brawl which broke out in a Marbella nightclub. Eleven years ago he dodged death after he was delayed leaving an Estepona sauna where two hitmen where waiting outside to kill him.
The short-tempered 44-year-old has a criminal record in France dating back to 1994 for being the alleged leader behind an armed robbery in Paris. In 1999 he was arrested for assaulting an officer, document forgery and drug trafficking. In 2003 he was again arrested in Italy in the New Palma police operation that effectively dismantled a drug trafficking network and resulted in the seizure of 100 kilograms of cocaine. However, he managed to walk free due to a legal technicality. The authorities confirm that they have known since January this year that the alleged criminal had returned to the Costa del Sol where he was linked to money laundering and the control of various late night venues in Marbella.The dispute between French crime organizations on the Costa del Sol dates back to October 5, 1996 in Marbella when an alleged mafia don, Jean Pierre Grangeon and his wife Catherine Isabelle Castagna were riddled with up to 40 AK-47 bullets by three masked gunmen dressed in black at the Las Lomas villa.During the three weeks following the double murder, the police arrested several people and searched a number of homes. One of these was the home of Nordine Benali, ‘The Flea’, a French-Algerian that had hid one of the bullet casings used in the murder. ‘The Flea’ managed to escape capture.On October 5, 1997, on the first anniversary of Grangeon and his wife’s murder, Kamel Berkani, Sumo and his friend Benallel Belkacem were critically injured in an ambush as they left the Cesar Palace located at El Paraiso Urbanization in Estepona. At the time, his friend Reguig was inside the sauna. Police think that this was what saved his life. The hit was believed to be a revenge attack for the double murder a year earlier. After the shooting, Reguig left Spain to spend time in Italy and France.On December 17, 1999 the 39-year-old Algerian, Djamel Benali, was gunned down in Fuengirola. The hit men called him on the intercom at his Avenida Romeria del Rocio apartment. When he went down one of the two men emptied the magazine of a pistol on Benali, killing him. Benali was the brother of Nordine Benali, ‘The Flea’.The Flea was killed on October 5, 2001, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Grangeon murders. He was shot as he walked down Calle Tortola accompanied by two family members in Los Pajaritos neighbourhood of Sevilla. Two men got out of a car, shot him and sped off. The 47-year-old victim sustained three bullet wounds that killed him. The authorities put the incident down to a simple revenge attack between criminals. He had been extradited to France the year before where at the time of his death; he was awaiting a trial for murder.The Grangeon murders triggered a tit-for-tat killing spree between French-Algerian gangs based in Spain that has so far claimed 20 lives in Spain and France. These French-Algerian mafia organizations are linked to large scale drug trade and high class prostitution on the Costa del Sol.

Cocaine worth £30million was found in the back of a lorry heading for London, cops revealed yesterday. The trucker and a passenger - both British and in their 50s - were being questioned by French detectives last night. Both men denied knowing anything about the coke but said they had been delivering their load to London where it was to be distributed throughout England and Scotland. Officers had become suspicious when the HGV was seen travelling erratically on the A9 Mediterranean coast motorway outside the city of Montpellier, southern France.
A spokesman said: "It's the biggest haul of cocaine ever seized in mainland France.
"The drugs were found on the lorry as it travelled from Spain. It's likely its ultimate destination was London. "At the moment, the driver and passenger can be held for up to four days but clearly this period will be extended if they are charged. "This is such an important find that budget minister Eric Woerth is coming to examine the drugs personally." The cocaine was hidden at the back of the lorry trailer, behind a pile of peat. It was distributed around 32 freshly painted cash registers which had been stacked on two wooden boards. Customs officers said the drug had also been packed inside a number of plastic bags and rubber containers sealed with silicon. Powerfully-smelling coffee beans had been placed throughout the lorry in an attempt to confuse sniffer dogs, said police.

Spain's police have captured four members of an international drug trafficking gang, including its Bulgarian leader.The police operation in Madrid discovered 10 kg of heroin with the gang, which is the largest quantity of heroin captured in Spain this year, the EFE agency reported.The drug gang and its Bulgarian leader had a whole criminal network in Spain, and had direct contacts with heroin providers from Bulgaria. Its job was to organize its distribution in Madrid.

Carlos “Ciego” Bladimir Montoya is an active member of the gang Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. Montoya was arrested on Sunday, May 3 in eastern Loudoun.
Montoya joined the ULS clique of MS-13 in 2002, and rose to become its leader. At the time of Montoya’s arrest last week, on federal charges of Aiding and Abetting Murder in the Aide of Racketeering, he was staying at a residence in Sterling.
Montoya’s gang-related activities were not limited to Loudoun. On May 5, 2007 in Fairfax County, police were called to an apartment complex after residents reported gunshots fired in the area. When Fairfax Police arrived, they found the dead body of Melvin “Pelon” Aguilar Reyes lying in the parking lot. Pelon was a member of the 18th Street gang, the rival gang of MS-13.The FBI was able to solve the case after a confidential witness spoke to the investigator about their role in the May 5, 2007 murder of Reyes. The witness admitted that he/she, along with four other MS-13 members, went to the apartment “patrolling” for chavalas—rival gang members or associates identified as disloyal. The five MS-13 gang members, driven by Montoya in his black Lexus, set their sights on Reyes. Montoya later confessed to FBI officials that two of these members had handguns, one of which was a revolver. According to Montoya, he drove to the back of the apartment buildings, parked on the street, and three of the gang members exited his vehicle. Reportedly, the three individuals told Montoya to wait in the car and to keep it running. They ran toward the apartment building when Montoya heard shots fired. When the three returned to the car, according to Montoya, they “bragged” of how they had shot the chavala and he had “fallen down.”According to court documents, Reyes was known to have had prior run-ins with members of MS-13. In an interview, Montoya described him as “cocky and all tatted up.” This was the second time Montoya had gone searching for the 18th Street gang member. Just a few days before, the same group had searched for “Pelon,” but could not locate him.On Sunday, May 3, the future of Montoya’s leadership in this part of MS-13 came to a swift end when a sheriff’s deputy recognized a vehicle registered to Montoya parked at a residence on Samantha Drive in Sterling. Sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant and too Montoya into custody for the 2007 homicide of Reyes.Montoya faces federal charges of Aiding and Abetting Murder in the Aid of Racketeering under Title 18 of the United States Code. Montoya–originally held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center–has now been transferred to federal authorities.In the wake of the recent homicide in Lansdowne less than two months ago, Loudoun residents are particularly sensitive to gang-related issues. After March 22, when Potomac Station residents William Bennett was murdered and wife Cynthia brutally beaten during a Sunday morning walk, residents demanded answers. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office captured four suspects in six weeks—with not much more than a white van as a clue. When four suspects were arrested with “loose ties” to a nationally recognized gang, old questions turned into new concerns.
Although Loudoun County Sheriff Steve Simpson could only say the motive was most likely robbery, he remains certain the attack was not connected to a gang initiation or ritual.Gang Response Team Coordinator Edward Ryan of the Northern Virginia Gang Task Force said that although things are under the microscope more now than they were before the Lansdowne murder, gang activity is no more prevalent than it was at this time last year. Ryan notes the Gang Task Forces philosophy is three-pronged: suppression (which works more for law enforcement), intervention and prevention. They provide services to kids and families at risk, instilling positive role models to prevent furthering the gang lifestyle. Non-profits and other organizations are involved–hoping that the converged efforts will curtail future gang activity.
At the April 30 Community Meeting at the National Conference Center, Sergeant David Zuleger acknowledged the existence of four gangs in the Loudoun area—MS-13, 18th Street Gang, the Bloods and the Crips–with a total of 180-200 members. Zuleger runs the seven-person Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Gang Unit. The unit’s functions include gang-related investigations, intelligence gathering, training, inter-agency support and suppression.

Gold Coast's dangerous mix of wealthy beachfront and canal estates, a congested nightclub precinct, and new arrivals wanting to join the rich real quick, has changed the tourist strip from a surfers' paradise to a gangsters' heaven."I think the concentration of amphetamines, nightclubs and playground atmosphere, along with the worship of consumer goods like houses and cars, is a potential fireball for crime and, probably, violent crime," Professor Wilson told The Sunday Mail.
Cut again to some more action, this time at a Hedges Ave mansion in the wealth belt along Mermaid Beach.The scene: we're inside a recognisable beachfront property, as famous for its price tag as much as for its owners, who have included its builder, the showbiz promoter Michael Edgley, who once rented the beach pad to pop diva Diana Ross.Former Melbourne milk magnate Ken Lacey and his wife Madeleine are inside the property now, and it is filled with police. This is a raid, and the police are after drugs.They find a firearms silencer in a Versace shoe box. A photograph shows the Laceys' elder son, Jade, with a gun.He has been profiled in the Coast media about launching his music career in the United States as a rapper, but until this moment in January 2006 his photograph is yet to feature on a police brief.The skinny kid from St Michael's College has bulked up a bit since leaving school and rents a unit in Broadbeach's Albert Ave, just a few blocks from the nightclub and cafe precinct and not too far from Mum and Dad.A mate of Jade, who worked as a security guard in Broadbeach, arrived bloodied at the unit after an unprovoked beating inside a nightclub.He later alleged the gun he used to shoot a man in his upper arm was obtained from Jade.Jade is arrested on drugs and weapons charges but his father Ken tells a summary trial that his son, then aged 23, is "right against marijuana" and "all types of drugs".Magistrate Ron Kilner finds the offences at the "lower end of the scale", fines Jade $1000 and does not record any convictions.But keep watching, because this storyline is only just developing.Jade and younger brother Dionne are wearing suits and shirts in the style of the US rap stars they idolise when they surrender to police in May 2007. They are arrested at the office of their Southport lawyer Chris Nyst over the killing of Nerang landscaper Kevin Palmer.
Dionne, 22, was found guilty last week by a Supreme Court jury of Mr Palmer's manslaughter. Jade, 26, was found guilty of unlawful wounding. Both said they acted in self-defence.The jury heard Jade, who gave evidence on his own behalf, admit he often carried a loaded gun, even when at dinner with his grandmother, because he believed it was "tough".That remark grabbed everyone's attention because Prof Wilson, senior police and experienced criminal lawyers such as Coast solicitor Bill Potts, had not heard before of anyone other than bikie criminals carrying guns in public on the tourist strip.But Mr Potts, who has an office just down from the daily passing parade of crims at the Southport Courthouse, is seeing changes in the Coast's gun culture which frighten him.Possession of guns decreased after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, but there have been some recent disturbing signs.Young druggies are not just arming themselves with knives any more."And there's no point in having a gun unless you use it and want to bring fear to other people," Mr Potts said. "The carrying of them inevitably leads to them being used."
Cut to more action, this time inside the Burleigh police criminal investigation branch, where detectives are working fast to retrieve closed-circuit security footage of the bashing of an off-duty officer and his girlfriend by a gang of youths.
Inspector Marc Hogan presses the "play" button again, and from different angles cameras catch the chilling street assault by up to 20 youths, who king-hit the officer and then drag his girlfriend to the ground by her hair and bash her.
The footage shows it is 1am in Dutton St in central Coolangatta on November 17, 2007, and these teens and sub-teens are running from all corners of the intersection to join in, high-fiving each other as the couple lie bleeding on the footpath.
They're small kids. Insp Hogan, asked how old they might be, takes a closer look before replying: "There are kids there judging by their size, who look to be about 10 years of age. When I saw this, I had to wonder, 'Do their parents know their kids are out and about this time in the morning?' "Southport District Court is later told one of the boys – 11 at the time – feared that if he yelled out to pedestrians to help the policeman and his partner, he might be bashed by his mates.The female face of the attack, Tiani Slockee, 18, from Chinderah in New South Wales, is placed on two years' probation after being convicted of assault causing bodily harm while in company.Keep watching. Slockee is in a car chase with police, this time at Broadbeach in January this year.She walks free from court again after Magistrate Dermot Kehoe concedes she would face a lengthy wait for blood-alcohol results.
Crime on the Gold Coast has changed, evolved.The prospects of being mugged on Cavill Ave or having your wallet pinched from underneath your towel while you had a swim seem like misty memories of a simpler time.The Chinderah kids are just one of several aspects of gangland on the Gold Coast, senior police say.Some Coast teenagers are bred into the crime culture through their early experimenting with drugs, which brings them into contact with bikies.Some view crime from an entrepreneurial perspective, selling drugs to join the rich.Others begin their apprenticeship in youth gangs like those just across the border in northern NSW, starting with a bit of graffiti before launching into assaults.Also in the mix are established outlaws from Sydney and other countries dropping in to the Coast. Many of the gangs are ethnic-based and out to make a quick buck."The bikie gangs are here, and we have Russian organised crime. It is transient," a policeman said.
"We appear to be becoming very attractive for many NSW crime elements. There's a lot of interstate stuff, like skimming, where these criminals will watch you put in your credit card at an ATM and take down your details."We have professional shoplifters who will come in, steal and leave town."Drug deals and stolen cars no longer raise an eyebrow.In recent times, headlines have been created by road-rage executions on the side of the highway, the abduction and robbery of a bank manager, the brutal slaying of a husband and wife at separate locations, and a husband and mistress plotting the execution of his wife.Gold Coast crime has gone prime time.
When Arch McDonald arrived in town and began work on the Surfers Paradise police beat in 1994, he thought twice about moving his family to join him."As a young policeman, I thought I might not bring my children here to Surfers. But after I met people in the suburbs it was just like any other place," Mr McDonald said.
"The Coast has had a fairly violent history, unfortunately. The reputation it holds doesn't reflect on the good done by a lot of people."He retired after six years, but remains close to the city's heart as president of Surfers Paradise RSL.
"I've got several theories (about Coast crime), and the simplest is the fact that we have so many people who are not native-born and bred in the place," Mr McDonald said.
More than three million domestic tourists visited the Coast during 2008, and many of them return for a permanent stay.Some guests are more notorious than others. Melbourne underworld kings Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel used to enjoy some free time on the Coast, with regular and lengthy stays at top spots such as the Versace resort.An earlier generation of Mr Bigs, such as Sydney's Lennie McPherson and hitman Christopher Dale Flannery, had their own digs on the Coast, with caretakers looking after their holiday homes."It's a microcosm of all cultures here. They bring with them the issues of their culture, or how they were treated as kids," Mr McDonald said.To solve it, to reduce this element of organised crime, Mr McDonald argues that the region's young policemen need stronger back-up from civic leaders and parents in a city yet to reach maturity."It's the best training ground. Most young policemen who come here enjoy an extensive career and reach the highest echelons because of the experience here," he said.The city is immature because parents who arrive to live "see the beach and other entertainment and they relax and don't understand that young people are led astray".
"I do believe the civic leaders (Gold Coast City councillors) don't march to the same tune. The whole of the city needs to be brought together."
Gold Coast police superintendent Jim Keogh agrees that the policing environment is tough, and that the transient nature of the population does not help. Rather than generations of criminals in one family, there are just new and unknown crooks.
"It's a challenging environment. You have to deal with all facets, from juvenile crime to organised crime," Supt Keogh said.And television series such as Underbelly, he concedes, just add gloss to what some kids perceive as the glamour of organised crime."Some kids are influenced by TV. There is no two ways about it. Some of them see these guys as folk heroes in their eyes," Supt Keogh said.

Baltimore homicide detectives are investigating threats by two suspected members of the MS-13 gang to kill a Baltimore police officer, the alleged gang members threatened to kill an unidentified police officer during questioning at Southeast District headquarters.The suspects had been arrested on gun possession charges.The officer reported that the suspects – whom police believe have ties to the violent MS-13 gang – said they had killed a police officer in El Salvador and only got two years in prison, according to a report filed by the officer.Then, the officer alleges, the suspects threatened to kill him.
“We’ll do the same to you,” the report states.The threats were made during an investigation of activities of the gang in the Southeast police district that includes parts of Fells Point, home to the city’s 5,000-member Hispanic community.The officer who was threatened is Hispanic, and was translating questions posed to suspected gang members after their arrests. The officer noted in his report the violent history of the gang, which often target family members.The threats were made directly to the police officer during an investigation and were considered credible enough to warrant a full investigation by the city’s homicide division, a source from the Southeast district said.MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is a gang with Salvadorian roots that has been gaining growing influence in the Baltimore/Washington area, according to federal prosecutors.Last week, Victor Ramirez, aka "Mousey," 30, a resident of Hyattsville who was born in El Salvador, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for his role in three murders and a string of violent crimes including armed robbery."The evidence proved that MS-13 sent Victor Ramirez to Maryland from El Salvador as part of a plan to strengthen the MS-13 gang and expand the gang’s criminal activity," U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said after Ramirez was sentenced.Along with MS-13, the recent high-profile murder case involving eight alleged members of the city’s Bounty Hunters gang, a violent drug organization with ties to the Bloods, also has garnered headlines. Eight suspected members, incuding a 16-year-old female, have been charged with first-degree murder.Police allege that eight gang members beat 20-year-old Petro Taylor unconscious at a Baltimore motel last December then drove him to a secluded area of Leakin Park,where they stabbed him more than 30 times before dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire. The state medical examiner’s office determined Taylor was burned alive.Last week a series of violent incidents at the city’s Inner Harbor area – including two stabbings – raised the specter of a growing gang presence at Baltimore’s most popular tourist destination. The violence including the vicious beating of a Michigan teen who was pummeled on Pratt Street by a group of young men wearing bandannas.

The ex-president of Capistrano Playa was voted out of his position on March 28th at a meeting after other residents in the community had started to suspect that what they were paying out didn't balance with the bills and expenses for work being done.Saturday Civil Guards in Nerja arrested a British man, M.P.T., who is aged around 50 years old, after a community of neighbours had reported him on Friday and accused him of taking a large amount of community money, which could be as much as 200,000 euros.Capistrano Playa overlooks Nerja's Burriana beach and there are 130 homes in the development, many of them owned by foreigners who do not live there permanently. Apparently there had been various problems with the foundations and three years ago the community set about having them reinforced. The work which was contracted and supervised by the ex-president has a cost of more than 1.2 million euros.
According to the other Capistrano Playa home owners the British man, who has lived in Nerja for 20 and is married with three children, had stopped paying some electricity bills which meant that the supply was cut off in some of the homes. "He was friendly with many owners, who trusted him with the payments of taxes or household bills," said a community employee. "The problems started when he started to manage so much money for the work on the foundations," he added.M.P.T. is now due to appear before a judge in Torrox.

Heaviest sentences, each of 22 years, on the gang’s ringleader, 44-year-old Jafar Hajebrahim; and his associate, ex-soldier and fireman Alan Austin, 55, of Barnstaple.
five members of a gang jailed for a total of 72 years for conspiring to smuggle £1 million worth of cocaine into the UK were told their activities were “evil” by a judge at Bournemouth Crown Court. Judge Christopher Harvey Clark told them: “Almost every day in this court, I see the consequences of heroin and cocaine addiction. “It wrecks and destroys people’s lives. It leads these days to most offences of robbery, burglary and theft being committed in our society.” Hajebrahim’s nephew, 24-year-old Poria Abraham of Charminster in Bournemouth, was sentenced to 12 years; and the man described as a “go-between”, Iranian Ali Tavakolinia, 39, also of Charminster, was sentenced to 11 years. Drugs courier and single parent Louise Brindle, 33, from Christchurch, was sentenced to five years. She had her 13-year-old son with her when Customs officers at Portsmouth found 10 kilos of cocaine hidden in the car on the pair’s return from Spain in December 2006. The sentences were the culmination of a complex three-year police and customs investigation and 14-week trial at Bournemouth Crown Court. Three weeks into the trial, Hajebrahim changed his plea to guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence against him. The other four were found guilty on April 8. The prosecution case was that Hajebrahim, who first came to the UK from Iran as an illegal immigrant in the 1980s, was at the heart of the conspiracy to buy cocaine from South America and import it into England via Spain. The gang used Vauxhall Corsa cars because the drugs could be hidden in the petrol tanks. Father-of-two Hajebrahim is thought to be the first criminal to be successfully extradited to the UK from Brazil, where he owned properties and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. Austin, who had been in business and owned properties in Bournemouth with Hajebrahim, was described as “controlling and cunning” by the prosecution. Abraham was heavily involved in laundering the drugs money and had taken Brindle to Spain to “show her the ropes”. Senior investigating officer Det Chief Inspector John Crossland of Dorset Police said after the case: “This is an excellent example of what can be achieved through police forces sharing resources and intelligence and working with our partnership agencies.”

National Police operation against a money laundering network linked to alternative nightclubs in Almería province last week has discovered evidence which could prove key in an unsolved murder from September 2006: the death of Italian businessman Giusseppe D’Amico, who was found dead at his home in Pechina. The victim was found tied up with two bullet wounds in his body and had been tortured.Detectives in the money laundering investigation discovered two 9-calibre pistols in one of the property searches which took place, and forensic testing has revealed that one of them was the weapon which was used to kill D’Amico. Both weapons were found in the home of the man believed to the head of the money laundering network, nicknamed José El Francés, in the filters of a Jacuzzi he had installed in a secret room in the house.Giuseppe D’Amico owned a number of bars in Almería province, but had a lengthy criminal record, both in Spain and in Italy. Police suspected that he had led an organised criminal operation in Almería since his arrival there in the 1980s.

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.