Angry tenant set fire to a residential building four people were killed and seven injured

four people were killed and seven injured after an angry tenant set fire to a residential building in Seoul and attacked escaping tenants with a knife, police said. Police arrested the 31-year-old suspected arsonist, identified only as Jeong, after the blaze at the five-storey studio apartment building in the southern district of Nonhyeon. Some 100 residents fled the morning blaze and 11 were taken to hospital. Four were later pronounced dead and the other seven are still being treated, police said. It was not immediately clear whether the dead or injured died from the fire or from knife wounds. Cable news channel YTN and Yonhap news agency said Jeong told investigators: "I committed the crime because I no longer wanted to live." The jobless man sprayed and ignited inflammable liquid over his own room on the third floor and the blaze spread to other floors. Some 100 firefighters and 33 fire engines put out the fire in half an hour. Police were trying to identify the victims. Yonhap said the tenants included some Chinese nationals as well as Koreans.

British deminer Christopher Howes and his Cambodian interpreter Houn Hourth:Khem Ngun, the RCAF brigadier general charged with ordering the murder

Former Khmer Rouge cadres were sentenced Tuesday to jail terms of up to 20 years for the kidnapping and murder of British deminer Christopher Howes and his Cambodian interpreter Houn Hourth, drawing to a close a 12-year-quest to bring the perpetrators to justice. "Today we feel that justice has been done for our two colleagues," Mines Advisory Group (MAG) CEO Lou McGrath, who is representing the Howes family, said in a statement. "For over 12 years the families of our colleagues have been fighting for this verdict.... Hopefully now, the loved ones of Chris and Hourth can finally move on with [their] lives."Howes was leading a team of MAG deminers in 1996 when they were kidnapped outside Siem Reap. He was offered the chance to leave in return for a ransom but instead chose to stay with his team. He was later shot in the chest and his body burned after being taken to the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng. Khem Ngun, the RCAF brigadier general charged with ordering the murder, was sentenced to 20 years in jail, despite his plea that those higher up the Khmer Rouge chain of command were responsible. Cadre Loch Mao and Puth Lim were also sentenced to 20 years for their involvement in the execution. Sin Dorn, a fourth accused, was sentenced to 10 years, while a fifth, Cheath Cheth, was acquitted. Judge Iv Kim Sri also ordered US$10,000 compensation be paid to Houn Hourth's wife.Puth Lim, who was charged with driving the captives to their death, reasserted his innocence to journalists outside the court.
"I am not the person who killed Howes," he said.

Snohomish County Jail inmate offered his cellmate $300 to help kill his ex-girlfriend

Everett police say an inmate in the Snohomish County Jail offered his cellmate $300 to help kill his ex-girlfriend, their 7-month-old daughter, relatives and neighbors.
The cellmate passed a note to the guard Sunday reporting what the man wanted to do after they got out.The man was in jail on a domestic violence charge. he's now facing an additional charge of criminal solicitation of first-degree murder.

Police did not identify Jesse Corman by name, but believe his body is the one recovered from his home

Police did not identify Jesse Corman by name, but believe his body is the one recovered from his home in the 3700 block of West Dailey Street. Phoenix firefighters responded to the blaze before 8 p.m. Tuesday in the neighborhood near Thunderbird Road and 35th Avenue. Corman's wife suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation, police said. She told first-responders that Corman was despondent. Neighbors also reported that Corman was seen sauntering suspiciously outside the home."He was walking around the house with a lighter in his hand saying he wanted to end it all," Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson said. Corman, 28, faced felony charges of attempted murder, endangerment and discharging a firearm in city limits, according to court records after the Sept. 21 shooting of the tow truck driver. His bail had been set at $200,000 by Maricopa County Court Commissioner Jerry Bernstein.
Corman was accused of shooting the driver with an assault rifle before barricading himself at the home. During the incident, he also reportedly flashed a laser and shot fireworks at an overhead police helicopter.Neighbors said Corman lived on Dailey Street most of his life. His father lives next-door. Some were shocked to see he was out of jail after the prior incident that frightened residents in the area."I just don't know why after he shot the tow truck driver, held the neighborhood up all night and kept an arsenal of guns in his home, why he would be let out of jail," said next-door neighbor Colleen Dwyer.

French police discovered toxic mercury pellets in the car of human rights lawyer Karinna Moskalenko

French police discovered toxic mercury pellets in the car of human rights lawyer Karinna Moskalenko, one day before pretrial hearings in Moscow into the murder of one of her best-known clients, journalist and author Anna Politkovskaya. Politkovskaya's writing garnered worldwide attention for her coverage of the brutal conflict in Chechnya. She published hundreds of articles in Novaya gazeta, some of which are collected in A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya published in 2003. On October 7, 2006 Anna Politkovskaya was found shot to death in her Moscow apartment. As she was a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, Chechen Prime Minister (now President) Ramzan Kadyrov, and both sides in the Chechen wars, speculation as to possible political motives for her death abounded. In August of 2007 ten suspects were arrested. Three of those suspects—including two Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov and a former police officer, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov—were set to go on trial, with preliminary hearings beginning today. The judge refused a request to delay the trial until Ms. Moskalenko recovered from mercury poisoning.

Gerald Metcalf arrested yesterday in Texas on suspicion of killing Gerald Jackson,

Gerald Metcalf, 60, was arrested yesterday in Texas on suspicion of killing Gerald Jackson, 27, in Pacific Beach.
Jackson, a U.S. Postal Service carrier and part-time doorman at the Barbary Coast nightclub, was found dead in his apartment on Jan. 2, 1972, by friends wondering why he hadn't been to work for several days, San Diego police said. Officers determined Jackson had been stabbed to death sometime after Dec. 28 and his house was ransacked. His Ford Torino was found days later in Mexicali, Mexico, and some of his property had been pawned by someone using his identification, homicide Lt. Terry McManus said. The case went unsolved until January this year. An intern assigned to the homicide unit's cold case team examined the evidence, and investigators, using current fingerprint analysis technology, matched a print from the crime scene to Metcalf, McManus said. He said the case was reopened with assistance from the San Diego and Henderson County, Texas, District Attorney's Offices. Texas Department of Public Safety officers arrested Metcalf about noon. He is in Henderson County Jail awaiting extradition to San Diego

Gruesome murder of a Patna University teacher Prof Papiya Ghosh and her maid Malti Devi in posh Patliputra colony

Five persons, including an advocate, were convicted by a fast track court on Thursday for the gruesome murder of a Patna University teacher Prof Papiya Ghosh and her maid Malti Devi in posh Patliputra colony in 2006.Fast track court judge Om Prakash pronounced Anil Oraon, Manohar Kumar, Shanker Sah and Ashish Kumar Rai guilty under sections 396 (dacoity with murder) and 412 (dishonestly receiving property stolen in commission of a dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Advocate Ramchandra Mahto was found guilty under section 414 (assisting in concealment of stolen property). The quantum of punishment will be announced on Friday.The charges were framed against five persons in the case on March 8, 2007. Altogether 30 persons deposed as prosecution witnesses while the defence produced five. The police investigation received a set back when half a dozen prosecution witnesses turned hostile during cross-examination. Papiya, a history teacher at the Patna Women’s College and daughter of IAS officer late Ujjwal Ghosh, and her maid servant Malti Devi were hacked to death while resisting a dacoity bid in December 2006. Papiya, a spinster whose sister Tuktuk Ghosh is also an IAS officer and posted as officer on special duty (OSD) to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, lived with her maid.
The murder had found its echo in the Parliament with several MPs from Bihar raising the issue and PM Manmohan Singh calling up CM Nitish Kumar to expedite the probe. Subsequently, a special team was set up.
Papiya’s mobile phone, recovered from one of the accused, had provided vital clues. A washing machine, stolen from her house, was recovered from advocate Mahto’s home. He was charged with concealment of stolen property.

Brian Hooks and Thomas Daugherty have been found guilty of one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.

Brian Hooks and 19-year-old Thomas Daugherty have been found guilty of one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder. Both were originally charged with first-degree murder so the conviction is on the lesser charge. Jeremy Kroll, Hooks' attorney, said outside the courtroom, "There's never going to be any winners in this case; three young boys whose lives are going to be irrevocably altered."Even though prosecutors sought a first-degree murder conviction, Brian Cavanagh said, "A verdict in any case, especially in a murder case, where a man is murdered, is dead, can't be brought back, any verdict is bittersweet."The men were convicted in the 2006 beating death of 45-year-old Norris Gaynor. The rampage received national attention after surveillance camera footage of one of the nonfatal attacks was widely broadcast. Defense attorneys suggested that Hooks and Daugherty were just out to "mess with" some homeless people and urged the jury to convict them of a lesser charge of third-degree felony murder.
Sentencing will take place October 23rd.

Arnoldo "Nardo" Lopes, 30, faces a charge of second-degree murder for the 1995 Wendover Street stabbing death of Mendes, 23.

Arnoldo "Nardo" Lopes, 30, faces a charge of second-degree murder for the 1995 Wendover Street stabbing death of Mendes, 23.“The testimony in this case will be paramount,” Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Dennis Collins told jurors during opening arguments in Suffolk Superior Court.Collins said Lopes and several of Mendes’ cousins were involved in a fight the night of Oct. 10, 1995, on Wendover Street. Lopes allegedly pulled a knife on one of Mendes’ cousins, followed him down the street and when Mendes and his cousin approached Lopes, he stabbed Mendes once in the heart.But Lopes’ attorney, Kevin Reddington, told jurors this morning that Lopes, then a scrawny 17-year-old, stabbed Mendes to protect himself.“The government must prove to you that he was not acting in self defense,” Reddington told jurors.Jurors are visiting Wendover Street this morning to view the location where Mendes died.Anger over Mendes’ killing, which sparked more than a decade of Cape Verdean infighting and murders, still rises easily to the surface.Outside the courtroom this morning, one of Mendes’ relatives and a member of the Lopes family exchanged heated words.
“You got a problem?” one man said as other family members stepped in to restrain the two young men who exchanged words.
Lopes left Boston two days after Mendes’ killing and started a new life for himself, Reddington said. He married, got a job, and took on a new name.
Boston police sought a warrant for his arrest days after the killing. In 2001, he was indicted for second-degree murder. He was arrested in April last year in Baltimore after returning on a flight from Jamaica. He has been held in custody since his arrest.Since Mendes’ death, his mother, Isaura Mendes, has led the charge against street violence, often heading up peace marches and vigils. Isaura Mendes’ son, Alex Mendes, 24, was killed in a gang-related shooting in 2006.Isaura Mendes and about a dozen family members declined comment today in court.

$5 million warrant for murder and possession by an ex-felon of a firearm was issued for 35-year-old Christopher Ablett

$5 million warrant for murder and possession by an ex-felon of a firearm was issued for 35-year-old Christopher Ablett on Thursday, police said.Police served a search warrant of Ablett's home in Modesto on Thursday, seizing a motorcycle and other potential evidence. Ablett has yet to be located, police said.

funeral service for the slain president of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels will be held in Daly City Sunday and Monday

funeral service for the slain president of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels will be held in Daly City Sunday and Monday, mortuary staff said.
The rosary vigil at 7 p.m. Sunday and funeral service at 10 a.m. Monday will be held for Mark Guardado, 46, at the Duggan's Serra Mortuary at 500 Westlake Ave. in Daly City.Guardado was found around 10:30 p.m. Sept. 2 at 24th and Treat streets in San Francisco's Mission District suffering from gunshot wounds. He was transported to San Francisco General Hospital where he died.

Jesse James Sebastian, 43, and James Ernest Whisman, 26, have been caught in Georgia

Escapees Jesse James Sebastian, 43, and James Ernest Whisman, 26, who escaped from the West Kentucky Correctional Complex last month, have been caught in Georgia.The two men allegedly stole a vehicle from Trice Hughes auto dealership in Princeton three days ago and had made it to Georgia before being apprehended.

yakuza organised crime syndicates are mounting a widespread assault on the country's financial markets

yakuza organised crime syndicates are mounting a widespread assault on the country's financial markets and this may have left hundreds of listed companies riddled with mob connections.In a surprisingly stark admission, the National Police Agency says it is locked in a battle for the economic soul and international reputation of Japan. Police investigations suggest the yakuza have become voracious traders and manipulators of listed Japanese shares and, via a network of about 1000 apparently legitimate front companies, occupy big positions on the shareholder registers of many companies that may not even be aware of the connection.
According to one veteran expert on the yakuza, the new activities of Japan's largest crime syndicates have effectively turned the mob into the biggest private equity firm in Japan. In a white paper on the subject, the NPA gives warning that the yakuza's switch from old-fashioned crime rackets such as drugs and prostitution to mainstream financial markets is "a disease that will shake the foundations of the economy". Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has compiled a watch list of hundreds of companies suspected of direct or indirect links to mafia money. The list, drawn up in private but seen by The Times, includes more than 200 publicly traded companies, many of which are household names in Japan.
The issue has become so acute that the Osaka Stock Exchange has been forced to introduce an entirely new screening system to establish which companies have direct mob links or large quantities of yakuza money on their shareholder registers.
Scores of companies, one exchange source said, faced the threat of delisting.
As well as flagging the risks of a yakuza invasion of financial markets, the police report also sounds alarm bells over the property and construction sectors. The greatest risk, it says, is that the yakuza gangs match the operational strategies of mainstream global corporations and outsource much of their financial chicanery to "co-operative groups". Yet even as police and regulators rush to address soaring yakuza interference in the securities sector, close observers of the Japanese mafia say the problem may be beyond control. The sophistication of the crime gangs has grown dramatically in recent months. Many have begun to hire newly unemployed traders who have been laid off by large financial houses feeling the squeeze of the credit crunch. According to one in-depth investigation by NHK, the state broadcaster, a few yakuza gangs even operate their own stock-dealing floors, which trade millions of dollars of shares every day. A newly published book on the subject -- Yakuza Money -- claims that the presence of skilled former bankers, stockbrokers and accountants on the yakuza's extended payroll has dramatically increased the mob's income stream and made it almost impossible to discern the difference between legal and illegal funds as they flow through the Japanese markets.
Joshua Adelstein, an author and consultant on the yakuza, says one of the key recent developments has been the emergence of mob-backed auditing firms. By getting these firms to sign off false company accounts, he says, the yakuza are able to manipulate both the apparent earnings and stock prices of numerous small listed companies.
Adelstein says: "The police are worried, but they are understating the problem. Organised crime has made tremendous inroads into the Japanese financial sector.
"The bad guys now have everything in place to manipulate the stock market."

Deng Xinzhi was living in the Toronto area when he was turned over to Chinese authorities Friday by officials with the Canadian Border Services Agency

Deng Xinzhi was living in the Toronto area when he was turned over to Chinese authorities Friday by officials with the Canadian Border Services Agency."The repatriation of Deng showed the active attitude of Canada in upholding the law," China's Ministry of Public Security said in a statement quoted by Xinhua. "We appreciate Canada's move and hope law enforcement departments on the two sides can enhance co-operation in the future."
Deng, a native of Beijing, came to Canada in January 2003. He was wanted in China for alleged involvement in a fraud scheme that netted over $3 million. Xinhua said Deng allegedly pretended to be an employee of the insurance company. Canada's Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced Deng's deportation in a statement Friday and said it "underscores this government's commitment that our country will not be a safe haven for fugitives. On this our tolerance level is zero."

According to allegations by 13 former students, Father Brian Spillane also repeatedly raped them.

Father Brian Spillane presided over a flock of young, impressionable boys at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst.A chaplain and a teacher, he officiated at school Masses, led the pupils in prayer and gave them religious guidance.According to allegations by 13 former students, he also repeatedly raped them."The first time I met Father Spillane he was very 'touch e feel e' (sic) type person, he was always putting his arms around me," wrote an alleged victim in a blog he used to expose what he called an "evil pedophile ring".That former pupil, who completed year 7 at the Catholic boarding school in 1986 before being expelled, blew the whistle on 65-year-old Spillane's alleged sex offences.The allegations are the latest in a string of abuse scandals to rock the Catholic Church.The school says it first became aware of the allegations five years ago when it was contacted by the same alleged victim. The allegations were forwarded to Bathurst police, who sent the information to the NSW Police's child protection and sex crimes squad.It is not known what became of that investigation. But in August last year Bathurst police set up Strike Force Heador to investigate the claims of abuse by Spillane and two other staff members.
The investigation was a watershed moment for the whistleblower, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has spent time in psychiatric care.
Last month police executed search warrants at the school relating to two former priests, one of whom is believed to be Spillane, and a lay teacher.Four other former pupils came forward to allege abuse and police have charged Spillane with 33 offences.The charges include six counts of sexual intercourse with pupils aged 11, 12 and 13, and 18 counts of engaging in and inciting to commit acts of gross indecency. The other charges relate to sex with males aged between 10 and 16.
Yesterday Spillane's lawyer, Greg Walsh, declared his client's innocence.

Being sent to jail in South Africa could turn into a death sentence

Being sent to jail in South Africa could turn into a death sentence. In just one year, more than 1 200 prisoners died of natural causes while in custody.The issue of sickly prisoners dying in jail has been thrown into the spotlight by Schabir Shaik, the convicted fraudster who has spent months in hospital. His family say they are gravely concerned about his health and want him freed on medical grounds.Dennis Bloem, chairman of parliament's portfolio committee on correctional services, said he intends to deal with the health status of Shaik, which the committee considers a serious issue. "On Tuesday, we will set a date for a meeting with the department of correctional services about Shaik, a meeting at which we expect to get a comprehensive report on his health status. I am personally very worried about this matter," he said.
Bloem said he was concerned not just about Shaik, but about the fact that "the system did not seem to be working at all" for hundreds of other prisoners who were gravely or terminally ill."In the year 2006-2007, according to the inspector of prisons, then Judge Nathan Erasmus, 1 249 prisoners died in jail of natural causes. That's during a 12-month period. It's a very high number. What is going on?" asked Bloem.
Shaik, 51, former financial adviser to ANC president Jacob Zuma, was sentenced to 15 years' jail for fraud and corruption in June 2005 and went to jail in November 2006.Since then, he has mostly been in various hospitals and seldom in a prison cell. Shaik is now at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban, where he has been for 137 days.
Last week, his brothers, Yunis and Mo, told the Sunday Tribune of concerns about his health, noting that he had had a stroke and was in imminent danger of having another, and/or a heart attack, as a result of being "gravely ill" with uncontrollable hypertension. They asked why he could not be released into correctional supervision at home or "some kind" of parole.They also pointed out that Shaik apparently had some neurological damage and had lost sight in one eye. The correctional services spokesman said the subject of Shaik or any other prisoner was not up for public discussion.Shaik's family cannot apply directly to have him released. In the case of Shaik, or anyone else gravely or terminally ill, doctors must submit a report on the case to the management committee that deals with that prisoner's case and to the parole board. The parole board then decides what to do. It could release a prisoner for correctional supervision at home, said Bloem.
"The law is clear. Section 79 does allow for medical parole and the law must be implemented. But it is not being implemented. Why? Because there are problems. In the case of many prisoners, their families simply didn't want them, or the families could not even be found. But, if there are problems in a system, you must deal with them, and fix them."
Bloem said he found it unacceptable that every year the inspecting judge of prisons tabled a report that went to the minister of correctional services and the president, and "was then forgotten until the next was tabled, and so on"."That number - 1 249 people dying in prison in 12 months - from a total prison population of about 165 000 people (45 000 of them awaiting trial prisoners), it's not on."
Bloem said an additional complication was that there was no breakdown in the reports of what prisoners had died of. "We don't know if people died of asthma, TB, HIV and Aids - we just don't know."
Regarding Shaik, Bloem said it was obvious that he was ill. "You can't have a situation in which a man spends five months in hospital. Clearly, something is the matter and must be dealt with. I don't think all those doctors spent their time manufacturing false reports."
Yunis Shaik said Schabir suffered from a genetic affliction of the vascular system and the drugs used to control it were becoming less effective and causing the body to shut down.
"By raising this issue, we seem to have launched a firestorm. A lot of what has come out in the media has been positive. On the other hand, whenever one introduces the name Shaik into a debate, you run the risk of polarisation. So we'll do what we have to do, the portfolio committee will do what it has to do, and we'll see."

Teenager has confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver after trying to imitate scenes from the controversial "Grand Theft Auto" video game

"He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game," chief police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak told Reuters.
Thai video game distributor halted sales of "Grand Theft Auto" on Monday after a teenager confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the controversial game.Police officers watch as a Thai teenager re-enacts a crime in Bangkok August 3, 2008. The teenager has confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver after trying to imitate scenes from the controversial "Grand Theft Auto" video game, police said on Monday."We are sending out requests today to outlets and shops to pull the games off their shelves and we will replace them with other games," Sakchai Chotikachinda, sales and marketing director of New Era Interactive Media, told Reuters."We are also urging video game arcades to pull the games from service," Sakchai said. An 18-year-old high school student, now in custody pending further investigations and a trial, faces death by lethal injection if found guilty of robbing and killing a 54-year-old taxi driver with a knife at the weekend.Police said the youth, an obsessive player of "Grand Theft Auto", showed no sign of mental problems during questioning and had confessed to committing the crime because of the game.
The youth, described by his parents as polite and diligent, was arrested late on Saturday after he was found trying to steer a cab backwards out of a Bangkok street with the severely wounded driver in the back seat, newspapers reported.The suspect told police he did not mean to kill the driver, whom he had chosen as a possible victim because of his age, but that he stabbed him to death when he fought back, newspapers reported."Grand Theft Auto", now available in its fourth edition, has been criticised for depicting violence including beatings, carjackings, drive-by shootings, drunk driving and prostitution.A senior official at Thailand's Culture Ministry said the murder was a wake-up call for authorities to tackle the issue of violent video games, and urged parents to pay closer attention to what their children played.
"This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse," Ladda Thangsupachai, director of the ministry's Cultural Surveillance Centre, told Reuters. "Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner."The ministry has been pushing for tougher regulation of video games such as Grand Theft Auto, including the imposition of a rating system on sales and restriction on hours that youngsters can play the games in public arcades.
A multi-million dollar lawsuit was filed in the U.S. state of Alabama against the makers and marketers of Grand Theft Auto in 2005, claiming that months of playing the game led a teenager to kill two police officers and a 911 dispatcher.
The blockbuster Grand Theft Auto games are published by Nasdaq-listed Take-Two Interactive Software.

large amount of cannabis found in a raid on the Adelaide headquarters of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club

Police have seized a large amount of cannabis in a raid on the Adelaide headquarters of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, while searching for a 40-year-old man.
Police said officers from the Star Group and the Crime Gangs Task force went to the clubrooms this morning looking for the man after a disturbance at another location in Adelaide last night.A spokesman said the man was believed to a prospective member of the bikie gang.
He was found at the clubrooms and charged with aggravated assault, drug trafficking and firearms offences.A more extensive search also uncovered what officers said was a large amount of cannabis.The man was refused police bail and was expected to appear in court later today.

Thailand 34-year-old Briton, detained after cocaine find

Thai police have arrested three foreigners and two Thais on charges of narcotics possession and selling drugs to tourists in the southern resort island of Samui, the drugs agency said yesterday.
Working with the US Drug Enforcement Agency, Thai police on Friday arrested 38-year-old Iranian national Shahriar Zarghamzade, who the Narcotics Suppression Bureau named a key figure in the drug dealing operation.
He was charged with conspiring to commit unspecified drug offences. A 30-year-old Thai woman was arrested at his Samui home at the same time and charged with assisting a suspect.
Two others were detained in the same operation: a man holding Iranian and Turkish passports, who was found with a small amount of heroin, and a 34-year-old Briton, who had a small bag of cocaine.
They were both charged with possession.
Meanwhile, a 36-year-old Thai man was arrested elsewhere in Samui with bags of cocaine. He was charged with drug dealing and owning an unlicensed firearm.
"Drug dealing in famous tourist spots like Samui or Phangagn islands has damaged the economy and the country's image, as well as having a social impact," the Narcotics Suppression Bureau said in a statement.
Police gave no further details of the operation or the DEA's involvement, saying only that several bank accounts were frozen, and cash in many currencies and other valuables were seized during the swoop.

Police on Monday shot dead a suspected gangster following a dramatic car chase along Thika Road in Nairobi.

Police on Monday shot dead a suspected gangster following a dramatic car chase along Thika Road in Nairobi.The suspect was in a group of four armed gangsters whom police had trailed from Nairobi's sprawling Dandora estate. According to Thika deputy OCPD, Mudambi Kola, the suspect's accomplices managed to escape with bullet wounds but police officers have launched a manhunt for them. Kola said police recovered two firearms with several rounds of ammunition during the incident.
In Nakuru police have arrested a prime suspect believed to be behind a series of car-jackings and robberies in the area. Area OCPD, Daniel Kimeu said police also recovered a Toyota Saloon car at the residence of the suspect in Bahati area of Nakuru North district which is believed to have been stolen. The OCPD said police on patrol ambushed the suspect as he attempted to car-jack a motorist along the Nakuru-Bahati road. Kimeu the suspect is assisting the police with investigations.

Scott Hensley was wanted by Campbell police for his alleged involvement in a home invasion robbery on July 23.

Scott Hensley, 31, of San Jose, had barricaded himself inside an apartment complex in the 2300 block of Paulene Drive for about 6 1/2 hours, according to officer Enrique Garcia, a San Jose police spokesman. Hensley was taken into custody just before 7 a.m. by members of the police department's tactical Merge Unit and K-9 officers.Hensley was wanted by Campbell police for his alleged involvement in a home invasion robbery on July 23. Hensley and two other men allegedly broke into a home on Jones Way, located west of San Tomas Expressway, and assaulted and robbed the residents. As the armed robbers left, a resident followed the three men, who in turn fired one shot at the resident, according to Campbell police.The bullet did not hit anyone.San Jose police received a tip about Hensley's location and made contact around midnight Thursday. When police finally entered the apartment - after evacuating residents from the complex near Bascom and Union avenues - they found Hensley hiding under a bed. Garcia said there was an air gun beside him, which could have been mistaken for a handgun."Clearly this guy knew he was wanted and we had the place surrounded and he was refusing to come out," Garcia said. "When we made entry, he still had a gun right next to him. It could have turned into a potentially deadly encounter."
The two other men allegedly involved in the home invasion robbery, Jonathan Rodriguez, 22 and Mark Zavala, 20, are in custody. Rodriguez, of San Jose, was arrested July 24. Zavala, of Campbell, surrendered to Campbell police early this morning after Hensley was arrested.All three men were booked into Santa Clara County Jail.

Vera Momcilovic's double life came crashing down in January 2006, when Werribee police arrested one of their suburb's street-level dealers in Carlton.

Vera Momcilovic's double life came crashing down in January 2006, when Werribee police arrested one of their suburb's street-level dealers in Carlton.
That arrest led to her boyfriend, Velimir Markovski, 57, being put under investigation, and the apartment he shared with Momcilovic was raided.
It appears Momcilovic did as much business at home as at the office. Investigators found 719g of ice and $169,500 in a shoebox. Now Momcilovic, 41, is behind bars awaiting a pre-sentence hearing next month after being convicted in the County Court last week on charges of trafficking a drug of dependence.
Momcilovic is still listed as working with Queensland-based IP Wealth, a firm specialising in intellectual property. Callers to IP Wealth were, as late as Thursday, being told Momcilovic would be back on deck next Tuesday.
Her name remains on the company website, where surfers are told of her educational achievements, including a Bachelor of Law from Monash University, a graduate diploma in intellectual property law, and a Master of Law majoring in intellectual property from Melbourne University. "With so many qualifications to remember, it's no wonder that Vera requires a short black with one sugar in the morning, followed by more long blacks throughout the day," the company website notes. Markovski, 57, has been sentenced to six years' jail with a minimum of four after pleading not guilty to trafficking methamphetamine and cocaine. He had a prior conviction for heroin trafficking.

International criminal Charles Sobhraj, who is 64 years old, is in love with a 20-year-old St. Mary's student, Nihita Thapa.

In 1975, Thailand issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of drugging and killing six women, all wearing bikinis, on a beach at Pattaya. But he was jailed in India before he could stand trial on those charges.International criminal Charles Sobhraj, who is 64 years old, is in love with a 20-year-old St. Mary's student, Nihita Thapa, the daughter of a well-connected senior Nepali Lawyer, Shakultala Thapa.Arrested in 2003 at a casino in Kathmandu, Sobhraj, who earned the nickname "the bikini killer," is accused of killing more than 20 young Western backpackers across Asia, usually by drugging them, in the 1970s and 1980s.Of late, Sobhraj has been seen frolicking with young Thapa, who brings him food. Thapa is the progeny of a Bengali from Kolkata, India, and a successful Nepali career woman; similarly, Sobhraj is the son of a Sindhi (Indian) tailor and a Vietnamese mother. Thapa and Sobhraj have exchanged rings and are engaged.
Sobhraj is confident that his appeal against the "guilty" verdict will be overturned by Nepal's Supreme Court and that he will be released this year. In the event that does happen, the lovers are planning a Hindu ceremony in Kathmandu, to be followed by a legal ceremony in Paris, France. Sobhraj is a French national.
Sobhraj is fond of publicity and celebrity status. He has made headlines many times: by killing people, by escaping from tough jails, such as Tihad of Delhi, by selling his story for $15 million, by reentering Nepal and getting arrested, and by getting engaged to Sobhraj.Sobhraj also earned the nickname "the serpent" for his ability to give police the slip. He is a master of disguise who has escaped from various jails around the world.In the mid-1980s, while serving a 20-year sentence in India, he escaped from prison, but was caught and returned to jail. In 1997 he was released. In July 2004, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Nepal for murdering two tourists, an American and a Canadian, in Kathmandu in 1975.Bollywood is making a movie about Sobhraj, who will be portrayed by star actor Sanjay Dutt. Titled "Charles and I," the film is about two men -- one who kills and cons people for pleasure and the glory of being world famous and the other who will stop at nothing to bring the killer down. Sobhraj is depicted as a complex character -- a charming man with a dangerous mind and dangerous intentions.The film will be shot in Turkey, France, India and Australia, and may be released next year.
Sobhraj married a French woman in 1969. However, she filed for divorce when he was arrested in India in the '70s, and on May 17, 1974, the French Tribunal of Nanterre granted the divorce. (His ex-wife married an American and had a daughter by him a year later.)

Boston police officer working an undercover drug investigation shot a teenager in the chest

Boston police officer working an undercover drug investigation shot a teenager in the chest during a struggle after a vehicle stop last night in East Boston, a witness and police officials said.The shooting victim, believed to be 18 years old, was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment of injuries not considered life-threatening. Police would not identify him last night, but said the victim and the man believed to be the driver of the vehicle were charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute within a school zone.The officer who fired the shot was taken by ambulance to a hospital for evaluation, police said. The officer is expected to be placed on administrative leave while an investigation into the shooting continues.Police said the officer, who was not identified, was working with State Police drug detectives on an investigation when he tried to stop a sport utility vehicle on Princeton Street.Police Superintendent Bruce Holloway said the officer, who was in a marked police cruiser, flashed his emergency lights to initiate the stop at about 8:30.Two men were in the car, and the shooting victim, believed to be the passenger, struggled with the officer, said Holloway, head of the bureau of criminal investigations."A struggle ensued, and one shot was discharged," Holloway said. He would not describe the nature of the struggle or how it was initiated. He said the bullet wound was superficial. A Mass. General official would not comment last night on the victim's condition.Holloway said the men in the SUV were the target of the drug investigation.Holloway said the shooting remains under investigation. He would not say whether either of the two suspects was armed.
The shooting occurred at a delicate time for Boston police, who have been criticized recently for use of force.An investigation continues into the handling of crowd control during the Boston Celtics championship celebration in June in which a 22-year-old man, David Woodman of Brookline, died in police custody. His family has questioned whether police used excessive force in arresting him. He was initially apprehended for allegedly drinking in public.The local district attorney's office is investigating, and an outside review is also being conducted. Police have defended the officers' handling of Woodman during the arrest, saying it was not excessive.
The last police shooting occurred in May, when police shot a suspect on Boston Common after he allegedly held up a toy handgun. The man was shot in the arm and survived.In November, a man was fatally shot by police after he allegedly led them on a pursuit in Dorchester and Mattapan waving a handgun.In March 2007, a police officer shot a woman in the leg. The woman, who was treated at a local hospital and released, had waved a knife and charged officers.The outcome of the investigations into those shootings was unknown last night.Last night, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis and Superintendent in Chief Robert P. Dunford arrived on the scene.One neighbor, who witnessed the shooting, said the area has been a hot spot for drug activity.The woman, who asked that her name not be used for fear of her safety, said she was in her home across the street when she heard gunshots.
"I ran downstairs and I saw him sitting there, saying: 'Why'd you do that, man? Why'd you do that?' " the woman said. She said the man was sitting in the passenger seat of the car and stood up only when emergency medical workers brought him into an ambulance."He was shot in the chest. I thought he died," the woman said.

Elliott "Cisco" Valderrama, the president of the Oakland Hells Angels chapter arrested

The president and sergeant-of-arms of the Oakland Hells Angels chapter were arrested Tuesday morning after 58 marijuana plants, guns and money were seized at two sites in Oakland and Alameda, authorities said.Another man and three women were also arrested during the raids.The raids began about 7 a.m. at a trailer in the 1100 block of Fifth Avenue in Oakland and at a home in the 2200 block of San Antonio Avenue in Alameda.Five of the arrests happened at the Oakland site, including 66-year-old Elliott "Cisco" Valderrama, who authorities said is the president of the Oakland Hells Angels chapter. Authorities said Valderrama lived at the site.
Arrested at the Alameda residence was Gavin Malone, who authorities said is the chapter's sergeant-at-arms.The names of the others arrested were not immediately available.

Manuel Juarez,and Veronica Alvarez were arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine

Manuel Juarez, 30, and Veronica Alvarez, 26, both of Visalia, were arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine and maintaining a residence where narcotics are sold. Juarez additionally was arrested on suspicion of committing a felony while on bail.

Police in Spain they had seized 4.2 tonnes of hashish in the south of the country and arrested nine suspected drug traffickers.

Police in Spain said Wednesday they had seized 4.2 tonnes of hashish in the south of the country and arrested nine suspected drug traffickers. The drugs were found in April on two speedboats, one carrying 2.4 tonnes of hashish and the other 1.8 tonnes, police said in a statement. Police also seized 1.2 million euros (1.9 million US dollars), four vehicles as well as several guns and documents during 18 searches carried out as part of their probe of the group which is suspected of smuggling hashish from Morocco. They did not give an estimated street value for the drugs. Morocco is believed to be one of the world's largest producers of hashish. It has vowed to crack down on trafficking and toughened border controls in recent years. Spain, with its extensive coastline, is Europe's main entry point for Moroccan hashish and cocaine from South America, mostly from its former colony Colombia, the world's top producer of the drug.