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Friday 27 April 2012

Gas canister man storms office

One of the country's busiest shopping streets has been closed as a man wearing gas canisters stormed into an office and threatened to blow himself up, it was reported. Tottenham Court Road in central London was closed after police received emergency calls at midday. Scotland Yard sent a hostage negotiator to the scene amid reports the man had held people hostage inside the building several floors up. Pictures emerged of computer and office equipment being thrown through one of the office windows. A police spokesman said it was "too early to say if the suspect was armed or indeed had taken any hostages" but businesses and nearby buildings were evacuated. Joaqam Ramus, who works at nearby Cafe Fresco, said before being evacuated: "There was talk of a bomb and somebody having a hostage in a building. "All Tottenham Court Road is closed and so are we - the police told us to shut. "We don't know what it is but it seems someone has a hostage."

Busy London street evacuated over ‘hostage situation’

POLICE have been called to a potential hostage situation after Tottenham Court Road in London, one of the country’s busiest shopping streets, was closed. Businesses and shoppers were evacuated from the area at midday. Scotland Yard said it had sent a negotiator to the scene after reports of a man throwing furniture out of a window several floors up. A spokesman said it was “too early to say if the suspect was armed or indeed had taken any hostages”. Joaqam Ramus, who works at nearby Cafe Fresco, said before being evacuated: “There was talk of a bomb and somebody having a hostage in a building. “All Tottenham Court Road is closed and so are we - the police told us to shut. “We don’t know what it is but it seems someone has a hostage.” A spokesman for Transport for London could not confirm details of the ongoing operation but confirmed they were “aware of an incident”. Staff from news website The Huffington Post UK were evacuated from their building after a man reportedly wearing a gas canister threatened to blow himself up in the adjoining building, they said. People near the scene reported shots being fired and said computers and equipment had been thrown out of the windows of the office block housing the Huffington Post. Huffington Post UK executive editor Stephen Hull posted a video on Twitter of an office worker who saw the man enter the building. Abby Baafi, 27, the head of training and operations at Advantage, a company which offers HGV courses, told Mr Hull the man had targeted her offices and was currently holding four men hostage. In a video posted on YouTube, she said: “What happened is, we were in the office and someone came in. He asked him what his name was and he said it was Michael Green. “I recognised him because he was one of our previous customers but he is not quite stable - mentally stable. “He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office. “He said he doesn’t care about his life. He doesn’t care about anything, he is going to blow up everybody. “He was specifically looking for me but I said ‘My name’s not Abby’ and he let me go.” Ms Baafi said the man failed the HGV training course and wanted his money back.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Credit card fraud websites shut down on three continents

Three men have been arrested and 36 criminal websites selling credit card information and other personal data shut down as part of a two-year international anti-fraud operation, police have confirmed. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), working with the FBI and US Department of Justice, as well as authorities in Germany; the Netherlands; Ukraine; Australia and Romania, swooped after identifying the sites as specialising in selling card and bank details in bulk. The move comes as a blow to what is a growing black market for stolen financial data. Detectives estimated that the card information seized could have been used to extract more than £500m in total by fraudsters. SOCA claimed it has recovered more than two and a half million items of compromised personal and financial information over the past two years. “The authorities have shut down 36 websites but it is difficult to know how many other people had access to that data. They could spring back up somewhere else if a gang is not eradicated completely,” said Graham Cluley of internet security firm Sophos. He added: “This is big business and, just as in any legitimate company there are people who specialise in different things, so there are those who actually get their hands on the personal data and those who sell it on; they are not often the same person.” An investigation by The Independent last summer found that scammers were making a “comfortable living” getting their hands on sensitive information and selling it online. Card details were being offered for sale for between 4p and £60 per card – depending on the quality – according to one source in the business. Some cards would be sold with incomplete or unreliable information; others ready to use. Some of the card details for sale on the websites shut down by SOCA were being sold for as little as £2 each. Investigators said that the alleged fraudsters were using Automated Vending Carts, which allowed them to sell large quantities of stolen data. They are said to be a driver of the growth in banking fraud over the last 18 months because of the speed with which stolen data can be sold. Lee Miles, Head of Cyber Operations for SOCA said: “This operation is an excellent example of the level of international cooperation being focused on tackling online fraud. Our activities have saved business, online retailers and financial institutions potential fraud losses estimated at more than half a billion pounds, and at the same time protected thousands of individuals from the distress caused by being a victim of fraud or identity crime.” An alleged operator in Macedonia was one of those arrested, while two British men accused of buying the information were also detained. Britain’s Dedicated Cheque & Plastic Crime Unit also seized computers suspected of being used to commit fraud.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Shooting a 'warning' from rival bikie gang

SIMMERING tension between rival bikie gangs exploded on the Gold Coast yesterday with the drive-by shooting of a tattoo parlour in the heart of Bandidos territory. Police fear the attack could be a push for territory by the Hells Angels as the outlaw gang seeks a toehold on the lucrative Glitter Strip. Less than 24 hours after police commissioner Bob Atkinson told the Bulletin that bikie gangs were "one of the greatest challenges to face law enforcement", the Bandido-protected Mermaid Beach tattoo shop was hit by at least four shots in the early hours of yesterday morning.  High-ranking police yesterday said it was "inevitable" that the violence that has plagued Sydney would eventually spill across the border. "We do not believe it is directly connected to the war between the Hells Angels and the Nomads that has been unfolding in New South Wales," said police. "But it is a similar style of attack. "We know the Hells Angels have been pushing to establish a chapter on the Gold Coast -- that push is coming from Sydney. "Tradelink Drive is not their most profitable chapter." While detectives have attempted to play down the shooting, police say there is "no doubt" it was intended as a warning. The Bandidos are the largest and one of the most secretive bikie gangs on the Gold Coast. The club has gained strength as its main rival -- the Finks -- have been severely weakened with so many senior members behind bars and Bandido territory stretches south from Broadbeach. Police said last month's Hells Angels National Run was intended as a direct message to all gangs on the Gold Coast. More than 200 patched gang members descended on Surfers Paradise for the run. "These clubs are so well organised, they do nothing without a reason," police said. "You can bet they had some purpose in coming to the Gold Coast. "They taunted the Finks and nothing happened, now the Bandidos tattoo shop is shot up in the same way the gym controlled by the Hells Angels was hit a few months ago. "You join the dots." The shop is owned by a senior member of the outlaw gang who has been a patched member of the Bandidos "for years", police say. In an exclusive interview with the Bulletin, Mr Atkinson said the danger of bikie gangs was "under-rated" by the community. "The outlaw motorcycle gangs nationally present one of the greatest challenges to police. "I think the degree of that challenge and the risk they present to our society is underrated." The Gold Coast has one of the highest populations of bikie gangs in the country. Mr Atkinson said he would not be surprised if the Hells Angels were not considering a move closer to the Glitter Strip. "They are businesses, they look for opportunity so that wouldn't be a surprise," he said. "They market themselves as a group of mature men who have a love and interest in motorbikes and they do that very cleverly. The reality is they are highly sophisticated, well organised criminal enterprises that pose a genuine risk to the community and many are well represented by the finest and best lawyers who they retain to represent them." South East Region Assistant Commissioner Graham Rynders said the gangs were constantly looking to expand. "One of things about OMCGs is they look for opportunity for criminal enterprise," Mr Rynders said. "Throughout Queensland, throughout the country, probably throughout the world they are looking to expand. It is obviously dictated to by territory, depending on who or what other groups exist in what areas."

Jury hears grisly details about murder scene

Police discovered a grisly scene on Sept. 10, 2000, when they entered a Cogmagun Road home in Hants County. “It was a very brutal scene,” Cpl. Shawn Sweeney, who was a constable with the Windsor rural RCMP detachment that day, testified Tuesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Kentville. It was the second day of trial for Leslie Douglas Greenwood, 42, who is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Barry Kirk Mersereau, 48, and his wife, Nancy Paula Christensen, 47. Sweeney, a Crown witness, testified that he and four other police officers who responded to a 911 call found Christensen sitting upright in a chair in the living room of her Centre Burlington home with a bullet wound in her left cheek, under her glasses. She had a cup of tea in her hand and a small dog was sitting in her lap. There were several bullet casings and lead fragments scattered on the floor. Mersereau was lying face down, with pools of blood around his head and body. Another dog, believed to be a German shepherd-Rottweiler mix, was hiding under covers on the bed in the master bedroom. A third dog was tied to the front porch and another had run off into the woods. Sweeney told Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy and the seven-woman, five-man jury hearing the case that the house appeared to be neat and orderly, with no signs of struggle. “It didn’t appear to be a house that was rifled through or things thrown around,” Sweeney testified. Const. Glenn Bonvie told the court it was immediately obvious that Mersereau and Christensen were dead. “There was no movement. There was no doubt that they were deceased.” Crown witness Ronald Connors owned a hunting cabin in the woods about half a kilometre away from the couple’s house. He testifed that he heard several shots at about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 9. Connors said he heard six shots fired in quick succession, followed by a pause and a couple more shots. Moments later, there were more shots. He said he thought at first someone might be jacking deer, but Connors concluded that the shots didn’t sound like those from a high-powered hunting rifle. The jury was shown a video of the two bodies as they were found. Former RCMP officer David Clace, then in charge of the RCMP’s forensics identification unit in New Minas, said a large amount of money was found in plastic bags in a gym bag in one of the bedroom closets. The bag was later determined to contain about $65,000 in cash. Crown attorney Peter Craig has told the court that the victims were shot to death in their home in an execution-style killing as part of a Hells Angels-ordered killing. “They were killed in their home in a quiet community, with a teapot on the stove, with no signs of struggle and their baby in the next room,” Craig told the jury. He said evidence presented by as many as 40 Crown witnesses will show that Michael Lawrence and Greenwood murdered the couple on the orders of Jeffrey Lynds, a former Hells Angels operative who died recently in a Montreal jail of an apparent suicide. Lawrence, who owed Lynds money, pleaded guilty last January to three charges of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Also killed that day, by Lawrence, was Charles Maddison, an innocent man who picked Lawrence up hitchhiking. Lawrence shot him to take his truck to commit a planned robbery. Craig said Lawrence, expected to be a crucial Crown witness, will testify that he and Greenwood shot the couple, one with a .357 Magnum, the other with a 32-calibre handgun, in what he called “planned and deliberate” killings. The couple’s 18-month-old baby boy was safely recovered from the house by neighbour Ruby McKenzie, who went to the victim’s home the day after the shootings. McKenzie said she brought the baby back to her mobile home and called police. Greenwood sat quietly during the proceedings, occasionally exchanging comments with his lawyer, Alain Begin. Begin is expected to argue that Greenwood went to the Mersereau house the day of the shootings to buy drugs, and that Lawrence shot the couple while Greenwood was waiting outside. Also charged with first-degree murder in the killings is Curtis Blair Lynds, 36, who is serving time in a federal prison for drug trafficking. A preliminary inquiry in his case is scheduled to begin July 16.

Sunday 22 April 2012

Alleged break-in at impound lot could reopen gangster's trial

The Crown will investigate concerns the lawyer for a convicted gangster has over the possible tampering of evidence. Prosecutor Rajbir Dhillon said he has already made some inquiries and will investigate further whether it’s possible the police impound lot was broken into before Roland Chin’s car was inspected. Defence counsel Michael Bates said if a break in occurred before Chin’s impounded SUV was searched, there may be grounds to reopen his trial on weapons charges. Chin has already been convicted by provincial court Judge Sharon Van de Veen in connection with the seizure of a handgun from a box hidden under the hood of his Cadillac Escalade. But in a notice of motion seeking an order for further Crown disclosure, Bates said he’s received information the impound lot was broken into in the early morning hours of June 13, 2011. Police found the box containing the handgun that afternoon. “The anonymous information we have, if true, potentially opens the possibility that there was tampering with the vehicle,” Bates told Van de Veen. He said an investigation into the allegation could help his client establish doubt that he placed the handgun under the hood of his SUV. “If it turns out there is no evidence that anything was done wrong then we’ll proceed to sentencing,” Bates said. He told Van de Veen the police have already confirmed there is no video tape to assist the defence, since footage of the compound is only kept for 30 days. Bates has asked Dhillon to make other inquiries to determine whether the anonymous information has any credence. Chin was stop on June 12, 2011, when cops determined a previous owner of the Escalade had reported it stolen. He was released without charge after convincing police he had purchased it without knowing it had been previously stolen, but the vehicle was impounded. The case returns to court May 22, to get answers to Bates’ inquiries. If satisfied he’ll proceed to sentencing, if not he’ll make his disclosure application.

Jail system's flaws fatal for murdered gangster

 THE death in a high security prison cell of serial killer, gangster and police informer Carl Williams was a staggering failure of the system. An ombudsman's report released on Wednesday details the depth of the incompetence and ignorance that allowed it to occur. Fellow inmate and one-time friend Matthew Johnson bashed Williams to death in the high-security unit they shared in Victoria's Barwon Prison in April 2010. Advertisement: Story continues below The prison's Acacia section is home to the worst of the state's criminals, and Williams and Johnson were over-qualified residents. They were content to be together but the dynamics changed when Williams started helping police in their investigation of the murders of Terry and Christine Hodson who were also assisting police. Williams claimed to have paid $150,000 to a hit man to kill the Hodsons, the money allegedly having come from a former police officer. It was suggested in the murder trial that influential inmates suggested to Johnson that he was doing his reputation as an enforcer no good by sharing a cell with someone like Williams and not doing anything about it. Johnson, however, claimed his motive was fear of Williams and that he had acted first in a kill-or-be-killed situation that had been escalated by the third member of their prison unit, Tommy Ivanovic. The Victorian Supreme Court heard Ivanovic told Johnson that Williams intended killing him by bashing him with a sock full of billiard balls. Johnson made his move the next morning, taking a seat post he had previously removed from an exercise bike and using it to bash Williams to death. Johnson had been involved in an attack on a fellow prisoner in which exactly the same weapon was used. The entire murder, from the removal of the seat post to the dragging of Williams's body to his cell, was recorded on CCTV cameras. The cameras and the security system to which they were connected functioned properly, but those whose job it was to watch them did not. The first thing prison authorities knew about the incident was 27 minutes later when Johnson told one of them: ''Carl has hit his head.'' Johnson was duly sentenced to life in jail, an incredulous trial judge Lex Lasry expressing amazement that he and Williams could have been housed together. ''It is just breathtaking … what the authorities did … it just amazes me,'' Justice Lasry said.

Gang leader Domenyk Noonan’s arrest sheet lists guns, drugs, robbery and witness intimidation.

At 46, he has already spent more than half his life in jail. However, there are those who look up to him as a successful criminal.

But has it brought him wealth or happiness?

There’s not much evidence of either. What it brings him mostly is grief, aggravation and trouble with the police. 

Investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre has had unprecedented access to Noonan and his family for the past 10 years and his hard-hitting new series on Crime & Investigation Network – At Home with the Noonans – gives a fascinating insight into what makes this Manchester gangster tick.

The lives of two of his brothers were violently snuffed out and his teenage son has already served time. Most of his hangers-on have been in jail for dishonesty or violence.

But when Noonan’s out of jail, what has he got? Home is either a small flat above a shop or a council house owned by his ex-girlfriend.      

His ride is usually a clapped-out old ambulance or a knackered ex cop car. 

Donal MacIntyre’s riveting series is sometimes hair-raising, always compelling... and often very funny. But does crime pay for the Noonans? Not on this evidence...

 

 

 

To some he is a ruthless gangster who controls a vast criminal network of thieves and hard men.

To others, Domenyk Noonan is a 21st Century Robin Hood, a lovable rogue and jovial pub entertainer whose idea of a good time is to dress as Santa Claus at Christmas, touring his Manchester neighbourhood giving toys to poor children.

 

The CrewHard men: Noonan and his cronies

 

As with so many criminal characters throughout history, the truth is more complicated than you might imagine, and definitely stranger than fiction.

Now a new documentary series At Home with the Noonans by the award-winning investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre, to be screened on Crime & Investigation Network, reveals the lifestyle of one of the most famous crime bosses in Britain.

The road leading to the new series began with MacIntyre’s hit documentary A Very British Gangster screened in 2007.

When he began that programme, the gang’s enforcer was the feared contract killer Desmond “Dessie” Noonan, who had been implicated in a string of murders.

Dessie often boasted that their crime network had “more guns than the police”.

But Dessie Noonan was not untouchable. It wasn’t a police bullet that did for him, but the knife of a fellow gangster. More than 3,000 people attended Dessie Noonan’s funeral.

Contradictions

With Dessie gone the mantle was inherited by his younger brother Domenyk, who was already forging a personal relationship with Donal MacIntyre and gave his blessing to the new series.

A convicted armed robber, Domenyk’s life seems to be made up entirely of contradictions.

Noonan revels in his notoriety as a feared gang boss. But every Sunday Noonan, a Catholic, goes to church where he reads scriptures to the pews of devout worshippers.

And when the service is over, he goes for a pint with his parish priest. No doubt the local police would love to eavesdrop when Noonan goes to Confession.

Then there’s his sexual orientation. He used to live with girlfriend Mandy, but he is happy to admit to being gay. He enjoys being known in criminal circles as The Gay Gangster.

He even says one of the benefits of being locked up is the free sex.

Despite that assertion, while the series was being made Noonan was arrested over the alleged rape of a young woman.

The charges were soon dropped but, with Noonan happily agreeing that one of his ‘favourite’ offences is witness intimidation, the police thought it wise to give the girl a new identity and move her to a secret safe house a very long way from Manchester.

Then there’s his juxtaposing views on law, order and security.

It goes without saying Domenyk Noonan hates the police. Yet during the series he is seen setting up his own security company.

He owns a fleet of retired ambulances and police cars and says with a straight face he plans to convert some of the ambulances into armoured security trucks to try to get a slice of the “cash in transit” business.

Let’s hope the banks don’t insist on taking up references before they give him a contract. He still owes them in the region of £4.5million he stole from them at gunpoint in the past.

 

At Home with the Noonans 

 

Noonan’s personality is somewhat of a contradiction too. He recently changed his name by deed poll to Lattlay Fottfoy – an acronym of his motto: Look after those that look after you... **** off those that **** off you.

This reflects his outlook on life and the importance of his “honour code”.

Then there is his beloved teenage son. Noonan insists he doesn’t want him to follow him down the road he took to criminal notoriety.

But he insisted on christening the lad Bugsy, a monicker favoured by Al Capone’s gun-toting mates in 1920s Chicago.

Domenyk says he wants his son to have a better life, to go straight and stay out of prison.

But surrounded by young hoodlums, it’s a tough ask for Bugsy. At 17 he has already served a lengthy stretch in a young offenders institute after a burglary and car crime rampage committed when he was just 15.

Domenyk himself has spent over 28 of his 46 years in jail. He has been implicated – but never convicted – in six murders.

 

Dom and the boys in the pubBoss: Domenyk Noonan 

 

He has more than 40 criminal convictions. As an armed robber he stole millions in van and bank robberies. In 1993, while serving time for robbery and possessing a loaded gun, he escaped from jail.

He was one of the ring leaders of the notorious prisoner’s riot at Manchester’s Strangeways jail in 1990, an event which he describes as “one of the best days of my life”.

He’s been arrested in possession of £1million worth of heroin, but got off at trial. He’s also been involved in handling stolen goods, fraud and protection racketeering.

Police ambush

He has had many acquittals. It’s a matter of record that at least eight key witnesses against him have refused to give evidence, and in some cases fled abroad rather than testify.

But things don’t always go Noonan’s way. In 2005, when police ambushed him in a Jaguar in Darlington they found a revolver and ammo hidden in the engine compartment.

Noonan was promptly nicked. There were no prosecution witnesses to threaten, buy off, or bump off.

This time the shaven-headed hard man took a big fall. Nine-and-a-half years.

Out on parole with just half his sentence served, Noonan’s licence to be back on the streets was an opportunity for Donal MacIntyre to really get to grips making the series.

But trouble dogs the Noonan family wherever they go. First the rape complaint put Domenyk back in custody. He was released again after the allegation was dropped.

But then came the 2011 summer riots, sparked off when London police shot Mark Duggan – by coincidence a distant cousin of Domenyk Noonan.

When looting and mayhem spilled on to the streets of Manchester, Noonan’s distinctive bald head stood out like a beacon on seven hours of CCTV as hundreds of youths trashed and looted the heart of the city.

The police said Domenyk had been orchestrating the night of criminal chaos. Noonan said he had been acting as a good citizen, trying to persuade wayward youths to go home quietly.

After three months the police agreed there was no evidence to charge him. But by then Noonan’s parole licence had been revoked.

He was back in jail – where he remains now, with little hope of release before 2014.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Diddy tops hip-hop rich list

Rap mogul and entrepreneur Sean 'Diddy' Combs has topped Forbes magazine's annual hip-hop rich list. The star is worth $550 million, according to the publication. New dad Jay-Z comes in second with an estimated $460 million fortune. Coachella festival headliner Dr. Dre, Bryan 'Birdman' Williams and 50 Cent round out the top five.

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Monday 16 April 2012

West San Jose gang shooting, stabbing injures 3

Two teenagers and a man were hospitalized with various gunshot and stab wounds not considered life-threatening after a gang fight Friday afternoon in West San Jose, police said. San Jose police said they haven't arrested anyone and aren't releasing information about the details of the fight. Officers arrived in the 3700 block of Woodcreek Lane, south of Interstate 280, at 3:50 p.m. Police say they found three victims: a 32-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy who were shot, and a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed.

British terror supergrass sentence cut by two years


jailed British terrorist has had his sentence cut by two years in a supergrass deal after giving evidence about an al Qaeda-linked “martyrdom” plot in New York, it was revealed today. Former teacher Saajid Badat was jailed for 13 years in 2005 for plotting with shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a transatlantic airliner in 2001 in what an Old Bailey judge said was a “wicked and inhuman” plot. He has now had his term reduced by two years under the first “supergrass” deal involving a terror convict, after providing intelligence to US prosecutors investigating an alleged plot to blow up the New York subway on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attack. Details of the deal — kept secret for more than two years — were revealed today by the Crown Prosecution Service as a trial of the alleged al Qaeda plotters began in New York. Defendant Adis Medanjanin, a 27-year-old Bosnian-born US citizen, is charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing “material support” to al Qaeda. He is said to have had terrorist training in Pakistan in 2008 and then returned to begin a plot to use beauty parlour chemicals to blow up the subway. Badat, from Gloucester, joined Reid’s shoe bomb conspiracy but pulled out at the last minute.

Sunday 15 April 2012

Western embassies targeted in Afghanistan attacks

 

Gunmen have launched multiple attacks across the Afghan capital Kabul. Western embassies in the heavily-guarded, central diplomatic area are understood to be among the targets as well as the parliament building in the west. There are reports that up to seven different locations have been hit. The Taliban has admitted responsibility, saying their main targets were the British and German embassies. There is no word at this stage on any casualties.

Taliban free hundreds from Pakistan prison

Hundreds of prisoners are believed to have escaped from a jail in northwest Pakistan after it was attacked by anti-government fighters armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Some of those who escaped from the facility in the town of Bannu, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, early on Sunday morning were "militants", an intelligence official told the Reuters news agency. "Dozens of militants attacked Bannu's Central Jail in the early hours of the morning, and more 300 prisoners have escaped," Mir Sahib Jan, the official, said. In Depth   Profile: Pakistani Taliban "There was intense gunfire, and rocket-propelled grenades were also used." Many of those who escaped following the raid were convicted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder reported from Lahore. A prison official in Bannu confirmed that "384 prisoners have escaped". A police official identified one of the inmates who escaped as a "dangerous prisoner", who took part in one of the attempts to kill the former president, Pervez Musharraf. The TTP, an umbrella organisation for anti-government groups that are loosely allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda, took responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for Hakeemullah Mehsud, TTP's leader, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the group was responsible for the attack. Another Taliban spokesman told Reuters: "We have freed hundreds of our comrades in Bannu in this attack. Several of our people have reached their destinations, others are on their way.".   Our correspondent said the attack took place in the early morning and had resulted in an exchange of fire that had left several people wounded. "After the attack the paramilitary and regular military forces came to that location and tried to surround the area," he said. "They have arrested up to a dozen men, but most of the people have indeed escaped." The injured were rushed to a local hospital in Bannu. Sources told Al Jazeera that as many as 150 fighters were involved in the attack. After blowing up the gates of the main prison at around 1:30am local time (20:30 GMT on Saturday), they entered the compound and freed the inmates, the sources said. The attackers had arranged for the transportation of the inmates from the facility. A police official told Reuters that Bannu's Central Jail held 944 prisoners in total, and that six cell blocks had been targeted in the attack.

Sunday 1 April 2012

BRIT Government 'planning new Internet snooping laws'

The British government wants to expand its powers to monitor email exchanges and website visits, The Sunday Times reported. Internet companies would be instructed to install hardware to allow the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to go through "on demand" every text message and email sent, websites accessed and phone calls made "in real time, the paper said. The plans are expected to be unveiled next month. The Home Office said ministers were preparing to legislate "as soon as parliamentary time allows" but said the data to be monitored would not include content. "It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public," a spokesman said. "We need to take action to maintain the continued availability of communications data as technology changes. "Communications data includes time, duration and dialling numbers of a phone call, or an email address. "It does not include the content of any phone call or email and it is not the intention of government to make changes to the existing legal basis for the interception of communications." An attempt to bring in similar measures was abandoned by the Labour government in 2006 amid strong opposition. However, ministers in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government believe it is essential that the police and security services have access to such communications data in order to tackle terrorism and protect the public. The plans would not allow GCHQ to access the content of communications without a warrant. However, they would enable the agency to trace whom a group or individual had contacted, how often and for how long, the report said.

Eight people from 'Holy Death' cult arrested in Mexico over ritual sacrifices of woman and two 10-year-old boys


Eight people have been arrested in northern Mexico have over the killing of two 10-year-old boys and a woman in what appears to be ritual sacrifices. Prosecutors in Sonora, in the north-west of the country have accused the suspects of belonging to the La Santa Muerte (Holy Death) cult. The victims' blood has been poured round an altar to the idol, which is portrayed as a skeleton holding a scythe and clothed in flowing robes. The cult, which celebrates death, has been growing rapidly in Mexico in the last 20 years, and now has up to two million followers. Jose Larrinaga, spokesman for Sonora state prosecutors, said the most recent killing was earlier this month, while the other two were committed in 2009 and 2010. Their bodies were found at the altar site in the small mining community of Nacozari, 70 miles south of Douglas, Arizona. Investigations were launched after the family of 10-year-old Jesus Octavio Martinez Yanez reported him missing early this month.

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