Police Arrest 25 Alleged Anonymous Members, Angry Hackers Retaliate

Law enforcement authorities arrested 25 individuals allegedly members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective as part of an international operation, according to Interpol.

The operation began in mid-February after police traced several high-profile online attacks originating from Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Spain, Interpol said Feb. 28. The attackers allegedly targeted Websites belonging to the Ministry of Defense and president in Colombia, Endesa, a Chilean electric company, and Chile's National Library, among others.

Operation Unmask was coordinated by the Interpol's Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime. Interpol helped share intelligence across national law enforcement agencies in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain. Based on the information, police officers executed more than 40 searches across 15 cities in those four countries and confiscated around 250 devices and mobile phones. Payment cards and cash were also seized during the raids. The arrested individuals ranged in age from 17 to 40, according to Interpol.

“This operation shows that crime in the virtual world does have real consequences for those involved, and that the Internet cannot be seen as a safe haven for criminal activity, no matter where it originates or where it is targeted,” said Bernd Rossbach, active Interpol executive director of police services.

Four individuals in Spain had been arrested for sabotaging Websites and posting confidential data online, Spanish police said before the Interpol made its announcement. The server logs obtained as part of those arrests led the police to five suspects in Colombia, six in Chile and 10 in Argentina, according to a report by Agence France Presse.

Full Story(EWEEK)

Man known as godfather of Detroit's organized crime behind bars again

The man once dubbed a godfather of organized crime in Detroit wasn’t free for long.

A day after the Free Press reported on Louis Akrawi’s parole from state prison and the federal government’s failed attempt to deport him to Iraq, Akrawi found himself back behind bars Monday, his parole rescinded by the Michigan Department of Corrections.

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had released him Thursday after he spent 15 years in prison, and he returned to relatives in the Macomb County area.

But the state parole board never intended for Akrawi to walk free.

“The parole board paroled him with the intention that he would be deported,” corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said Tuesday. “We’re hopeful that he will be deported” still.

Full Story (Detroit Free Press)

Ohio shooting suspect from at-risk kids school

(AP)  

CHARDON, Ohio - A teenager opened fire in the cafeteria at a suburban Cleveland high school Monday, killing one student and wounding four others before he was chased from the building by a teacher and captured a short distance away, authorities said.

A student who saw the attack up close said it appeared that the gunman targeted a group of students sitting together and that the one who was killed was gunned down while trying to duck under the cafeteria table.

FBI officials would not comment on a motive. And Police Chief Tim McKenna said authorities "have a lot of homework to do yet" in their investigation of the shooting, which sent students screaming through the halls at the start of the school day at 1,100-student Chardon High.

Full Story (CBS)

U.S. Treasury Dept. Penalizes Japan’s Largest Organized-Crime Group

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Japan’s biggest yakuza group, an organized-crime syndicate that operates with relative impunity there and whose far-ranging criminal activity has become a significant concern in Washington.

In an announcement on Thursday, the department said it would freeze the American-based assets of the group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, and two of its leaders. It will also bar any transactions between Americans and members of the penalized crime syndicate. Yakuza have been tied to drug trafficking and other crimes in the United States, with particular prominence in Hawaii and California. The Treasury did not elaborate on the dollar value of United States-based accounts that might be frozen under the new sanctions.

In a statement, the Treasury said the group made “billions of dollars” every year around the world. Its criminal activity includes prostitution, money laundering, fraud and trafficking in humans, weapons and drugs.

The action “casts a spotlight on key members of criminal organizations that have engaged in a wide range of serious crimes,” David S. Cohen, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

Full Story (NY Times)

Detectives seize $20,000 in heroin, arrest target of probe

NEW BEDFORD — Narcotics detectives seized $20,000 in heroin and arrested a 36-year-old city man last week, wrapping up a six-month drug investigation.

Lt. Paul Oliveira, commander of the Organized Crime and Intelligence Bureau, said detectives seized more than 180 grams of heroin with an estimated street value of $20,000 and about $500 in cash.

The target of the probe, identified as Larry Araujo of 55 Independent St., is charged with two counts of distribution of heroin, trafficking heroin over 100 grams, conspiracy to violate the drug laws and a school zone violation, police said.

Bail was set at $75,000 cash when Araujo was arraigned in New Bedford District Court, and he is being held at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth, according to Bernard F. Sullivan, a spokesman for Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson.

Oliveira said Araujo has three prior drug convictions.

"This is the arrest of a significant drug dealer in New Bedford," Oliveira said Monday.

He said Detective Justin Kagan, the lead investigator, observed suspected drug sales involving Araujo over the last six months.

Full Story (South Coast Today)

Mexico, USA Agree to Strengthen Fight against Organized Crime

Mexico, Feb 27 (Prensa Latina) Mexico and the United States agreed Monday to strengthen cooperation to prevent the presence of international terrorism in the country and human trafficking, said Secretary of the Interior, Alejandro Poire.

  During a press conference here with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, highlighted the "excellent spirit" of collaboration, dialogue and partnership between both nations.

Poire said the bilateral agenda aims at preventing entry into national territory "of any individual member of a criminal organization or individual that endangers our security." 

For this, the exchange of information will be speeded up in order to take timely preventive measures, he said.

Regarding human trafficking, he said they have been working with Central American countries to dismantle these criminal gangs and said that Mexico has made significant progress against this evil that respects no geographical boundary.

Poire announced that a new pilot program for the repatriation of Mexican nationals will shortly be launched, which responds to progress in the issue from the voluntary repatriation program which is conducted annually.

The new program will improve border security, guarantee that migrants return to their home communities and that they are not placed at the mercy of criminal networks, Poire said.


Full Story (Prensa Latina News)

Canadian targeted in Montreal Mafia sweep now faces prison for coke smuggling

MONTREAL — A man who was once the target of a four-year manhunt now faces the prospect of a lengthy prison term for drug smuggling as his wife prepares to go on trial in the deaths of their two daughters while he was in hiding.

Giuseppe De Vito, 45, was targeted in Project Colisee, the police investigation into the Mafia in Montreal and its associates.

Wiretap evidence suggests that while De Vito worked with Mafia leaders like Francesco Arcadi and Francesco (Chit) Del Balso, he was somewhat of an outsider.

But in 2004, he and others tied to the Mafia — including Del Balso — agreed to be partners in smuggling in 120 kilograms of cocaine on an Air Canada flight from Haiti on Jan. 22, 2005.

The shipment was to be packed into the false bottom of a baggage container destined for Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

Full Story (Times Colonist)

Drug-testing expert says TCU bust is sign of increased marijuana problem in college sports

National Center for Drug Free Sport vice president Andrea Wickerham said the arrests of four football players among 15 TCU students and four former students on suspicion of selling marijuana is symbolic of an increasing pot problem in college athletics.

She hopes administrators across the nation are paying attention.

“I hope they don’t see this event at TCU as an isolated incident. It’s not,” she said. “The question is, ‘What does TCU do about it?’ and what do other college administrators do?”

The arrests at TCU came Wednesday, just a month after the NCAA said that 22.6 percent of 20,474 student-athletes participating in an anonymous survey in 2009 admitted to using marijuana the previous 12 months. That number was up from 21.2 percent in 2005.

Full Story (WAPO)

RCMP trumpet drug busts worth $117M

Two separate international drug seizures worth a street value of $117 million have led to the arrests of eight men from the GTA, the RCMP announced Monday.

Five Toronto men were charged in October in connection with the seizure of 5.7 tonnes of hashish worth $69 million bound for Toronto from Afghanistan.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said the hashish, discovered en route in Kyrgyzstan, was hidden in 500 hollowed out wooden boards that each contained about 10 kilograms of the drug.

“We pursued this international investigation and allowed the container with only a small portion of the drugs to travel through (a numbers of countries) before finally arriving here in Canada,” he said, adding that since 2009 the RCMP and the Canadian Border Services Agency have intercepted and seized more than 70 tonnes of hashish overseas and domestically.

Superintendent Rick Penney, RCMP GTA Drug Enforcement Commander, told the Toronto Star there is always the fear that some of the profits from the hashish shipment could have made it back to Afghanistan to fund organized crime and even the Taliban.

In the second case, three Markham men were charged last month with importing 2,900 litres of Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), which could produce up to 4.8 million doses of the date-rape drug worth $48 million.

Full Story(The Star)

Daycare site of Rock Island drug bust

ROCK ISLAND, Ill.— 

UPDATED:  The owner and operator of a Rock Island daycare was jailed a day after her son and another man were arrested for allegedly dealing marijuana from the daycare. 

Lorrie D. Myers, 44, was arrested February 15, 2012.  She was held in the Rock Island County Jail.  Myers was charged with misdemeanor possession of cannabis.

Police said they arrested two men for allegedly dealing marijuana from the site of Myers' Rock Island, Illinois daycare.

Royce (aka Royace) Harmon, 20, and Laron Carr, 19, were arrested Tuesday evening, February 14, 2012 after police executed a narcotics search warrant at Lorries Licensed Daycare, 2433 Tenth Street in Rock Island.

The daycare is across the street from ball fields next to Frances Willard Elementary School.

Both men are charged with manufacture with intent to deliver 30 to 500 grams of cannabis.

Police said the warrant and arrests came after an ongoing narcotics investigation by the Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group (MEG).

Harmon and Carr were held in the Rock Island County Jail.  Both men were expected to appear in Rock Island County Court on Wednesday, February 15, 2012.


Full Story (WQAD)

TCU drug bust includes 4 football players

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Authorities arrested 17 students at Texas Christian University on Wednesday as part of a six-month drug sting, an especially embarrassing blow to the school because it included four members of the high-profile football team.

Arrest warrants painted a startling picture of the Horned Frogs, with a handful of players who allegedly arranged marijuana sales after class or around practice and who told police that most of the team had failed a surprise drug test just two weeks ago.

According to police, players sold undercover officers marijuana during the season and as recently as last week.

"There are days people want to be a head football coach, but today is not one of those days," coach Gary Patterson said in a prepared statement. "As I heard the news this morning, I was first shocked, then hurt and now I'm mad."

The 17 people arrested were caught making "hand-to-hand" sales of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and prescription drugs to undercover officers, police said. They said the bust followed an investigation prompted by complaints from students, parents and others.

TCU has an enrollment of about 9,500 students, but the athlete arrests drew the most scrutiny. The bust came just one day after a thrilling overtime victory by the men's basketball team over a ranked opponent and less than 24 hours after TCU released its football schedule for next season, its first in the Big 12 Conference.

Full Story (AP)

Police: Mumbling Pa. Suspect Had Mouthful of Crack

AMBRIDGE, Pa. - A western Pennsylvania man is jailed on drug charges because police say something other than a confession came out of his mouth when he was hit with a stun gun.

The Beaver County Times reports Tuesday that 56-year-old Frank Lee Turner was mumbling when Ambridge police stopped a car in which he was a passenger on Feb. 5.

Full Story (My Fox DC)

Guatemala says it's weighing drug legalization

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — U.S. inability to cut illegal drug consumption leaves Guatemala with no option but to consider legalizing the use and transport of drugs, President Otto Perez Molina said Monday, a remarkable turnaround for an ex-general elected on a platform of crushing organized crime with an iron fist.

Perez said he will try to win regional support for drug legalization at an upcoming summit of Central American leaders next month. He got his first public support on Monday at a security meeting with El Salvador President Mauricio Funes, who said he too is willing to consider legalization.

"We're bringing the issue up for debate. Today's meeting is intended to strengthen our methods of fighting organized crime," Perez said with Funes. "But if drug consumption isn't reduced, the problem will continue."

Full Story (Times Union)

Organized crime in West Africa the focus of talks between UN envoy, Interpol

13 February 2012 – 

Transnational organized crime in West Africa, including illicit drug trafficking and the proliferation of illegal arms, as well as maritime piracy, dominated discussions today between a senior United Nations envoy and the head of the international police organization, Interpol.

At their meeting in Lyon, France, where Interpol is headquartered, Said Djinnit, head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA), and Ronald K. Noble, Interpol’s Secretary General, stressed the importance of working jointly to efficiently address the increasingly complex transnational organized crime, which they said poses a serious threat to West Africa’s stability.

They underlined that Interpol’s expertise on information sharing through its high technology infrastructure was crucial to enabling national police services in the region to work together to tackle the problem.

Full Story (United Nations)

The Business Behind the Black Market

Created by: Business Degree

A top cop in China disappears. Medical leave or U.S. asylum?

China’s most famous city police chief has disappeared less than a week after he was unexpectedly shunted from his job, sending a flurry of speculative reports across the Internet that he has sought asylum at a US consulate.

Wang Lijun, who led a high-profile crackdown on mafia gangs in the southwestern China mega-city of Chongqing three years ago, is a close ally of the city’s Communist Party secretary, Bo Xilai, one of China’s main contenders for a top spot in the party leadership as it prepares for a major transition later this year.

Mr. Wang’s fate is expected to shape Mr. Bo’s political future. Wang's removal from the police department and Internet rumors that he had requested political asylum at the US consulate in the city of Chengdu, near Chongqing, “is not good news for Bo,” says Wu Yue San Ren, an independent political commentator. “This will negatively impact Bo’s hopes of getting to the top,” Mr. Wu adds.

Bo’s open ambition and flamboyant style – both unusual in Chinese politics – have earned him many enemies. In the run-up to next autumn’s Communist Party congress, which will choose the next nine-man Standing Committee to run China, contenders for the top jobs are thought to be jockeying fiercely behind the scenes for position.

Full Story (Alaska Dispatch)

Mexican Mafia members had cellphones, drugs in fed jail

Two members of the Texas Mexican Mafia pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that they got cellphones and drugs smuggled into a federal jail with help from a guard.

Paul “Polo” Hernandez and Jesse C. “Chuy” Guerra also pleaded guilty to an extortion and drug-possession charge for their roles in the gang's enforcement of a 10-percent “street tax” on other drug dealers in San Antonio. Guerra's cousin Fernando “Klan” Delgado also pleaded guilty Thursday to a heroin-possession charge.

The three were among 12 snared in November 2010 by the San Antonio Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Three of the 12 pleaded guilty last year and were sentenced to prison.

Hernandez's plea deal said he made several phone calls while awaiting trial on drug-related charges at the Central Texas Detention Facility, a federal jail in San Antonio run by Florida-based The GEO Group.

Full Story (My San Antonio)

Feds charge 27 in major Bay Area drug trafficking bust

Twenty-seven people have been arrested and charged by law enforcement officials as part of a “large-scale takedown” of Bay Area drug traffickers and gang members that was focused on two Peninsula cities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

Most of the arrests were in the East Palo Alto and Menlo Park areas, and included the seizure of “significant quantities of money, drugs, firearms and several vehicles,” federal prosecutors said in the announcement.


Full Story (San Francisco Examiner)

2 juveniles charged in Stevenson High School drug bust

A wide-ranging, two-month investigation into drug sales at north suburban Stevenson High School has resulted in juvenile charges against two teenagers, police announced Wednesday.

The boys — a 16-year-old from Lincolnshire and a 15-year-old from Buffalo Grove — have been referred to Lake County juvenile court for misdemeanor charges of unlawful delivery of marijuana and conspiracy of unlawful delivery of marijuana, said Lincolnshire authorities, who did not name the youths.

The probe into drug dealing at the affluent, high-achieving school made news last week when it was revealed that school officials confiscated cellphones of suspected students and searched texts stored on those phones to find other suspects. A school spokesman said the tactic was "perfectly within our rights," though other legal experts called it a gray area in an evolving part of students' rights law.

Lincolnshire police said they obtained search warrants to view records of one cellphone. They also said they recovered less than 10 grams of pot, and that, while it appeared drug sales were arranged during school hours, the actual transactions took place off school property.

Full Story (Chicago Tribune)

Media given leaked info on Mafia case

The Quebec government has ordered an independent investigation into information leaked to the media in the high-profile case of a retired officer alleged to have been collaborating with the Mafia.

Public Security Minister Robert Dutil said Wednesday that he wants provincial police to investigate circumstances of the Ian Davidson case and find out how the media learned about it.

The Crown prosecutor's office called for the probe announced Wednesday. It said an investigation into Davidson's activities had been underway when someone informed journalists, and said it wanted to know how that happened.

Such Crown requests are rare but, in this case, there are hints charges might be forthcoming.

"We allege ... that there were leaks of information that were privileged, sensitive and highly confidential that came out in the media and we need to know how they came out," said Jean-Pascal Boucher, a spokesman for the Crown.

"We allege that a criminal act might have been committed in divulging this information."

A recent example of such a Crown-triggered investigation was in March 2011, when the body ordered a probe into Boston Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara for a bone-jarring hit on Montreal Canadiens Max Pacioretty. The hockey probe lasted months and resulted in no charges against Chara.

This latest case involves allegations that a Montreal police officer sold the names of police informants to the Italian Mafia.

Full Story (Castanet)