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Archive for February 8th, 2010

accomplices

Feb 8

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, Corruption & Crime, Identities, Israel, Mossad, Terrorism | No Comments

Terrorists need false identities.

Intelligence operatives need false identities.

Terrorists need to travel around the world.

Intelligence operatives need to travel around the world.
Terrorists need fake passports.
Intelligence operatives need fake passports.
Where do terrorists get their fake passports?
Where do intelligence operatives get their fake passports?
Criminals.

Authorities.
^^^^^^^

On 1/30/10 we learned that Interpol Secretary-General Ronald K. Noble considers passport fraud a global threat. Interpol has over 11 million lost or stolen passports in its database.

‘These passports are being used, fraudulently altered and are being given to terrorists, war criminals, drug traffickers, human traffickers.’

WHO gives the passports to the terrorists? WHO allows the lost and stolen and altered passports to be used for travel? HOW do the people who check passports at airports know whether the passport belongs to a terrorist or an intelligence operative?

^^^^^^^

On February 5, 2010, the Irish Times reported:

Members of a hit squad who killed a top Hamas military commander used Irish passports to enter and leave Dubai, it’s been claimed. The suspected Israeli hit team, including at least one woman, entered the United Arab Emirates using Irish documents, police authorities said. Mahmoud al-Mabhouh (50), held responsible by Israel for the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers in 1989, died in mysterious circumstances on January 20 in a Dubai hotel room.

…In 1986, US officials, including Oliver North, reportedly used Irish passports to travel to Iran to offer missiles for hostages. The passports were said to be real but the identities written into the documents were fake.

According to reports, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed by a drug injection.

The hit squad that assassinated top Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in his Dubai hotel room injected him with a drug that induced a heart attack, London newspaper The Times reported on Sunday.

A team of assassins broke into al-Mabhouh’s room and killed him silently before photographing all the documents in his briefcase and left a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door, said the paper quoting unnamed sources in the Middle East.

Many people believe Mossad assassinated al-Mabhouh. Israel, of course, denies any involvement.

^^^^^^^

Kawther Salam asks some questions about the Irish passports used, and the culpability of government officials who provided these passports and/or allowed their use.

Questions which need answers from the European Governments
  • Which is the European country which violated international law and gave the Mossad passports for the commission of this murder in another country and violating its security?
  • Is it Germany, the same European country which has recently gifted Israel with German U212 submarines built fully at the expense of German taxpayers? Among all European countries, Germany is the prime suspect in this sordid crime, as it is known that it the Mossad was always given German passports in the past. I think that giving the Mossad passports is a crime not only against us Palestinians, but against the people of the nation who gave them the passports as well.
  • Is it reasonable that while “fighting” against so-called terrorism, or actually national liberation and self-determination movements, states engage in aiding and abetting, financing and in the commission of international terrorism and in the violation of the borders and the security of another country?
  • How does international law deal with the European state which is involved in such crimes of international terrorism, and in violating the security of other countries?

Whatever European country that gave the Mossad it’s own passports or allowed Israel to forge its passports and use them for committing terrorist crimes in another state, is involved in the terror crime itself, and the officials of that state must be treated in accordance to the provisions of international law relating to the crimes of international terrorism.

An accomplice actively participates in the commission of a crime, even though they take no part in the actual criminal offense. It would be impossible to run the enormous black market economies without the help of corrupt people in law enforcement, customs, immigration and banking. Those people are accomplices to very many crimes.

And it really shouldn’t be that hard to identify these strategically located accomplices IF our governments were serious about keeping us safe and stopping international trafficking rings. Instead, it appears that they are protected as assets.

Expand your definition of organized crime. It’s organized. It’s systematic. It’s official. It’s protected.

another independent media owner murdered

Feb 8

Posted by A. Peasant in Corruption & Crime, France, India, Media, Mumbai, Terrorism | No Comments

Recall the Hadjicostis murder: an independent media owner shot by men on a motorcycle, during daylight, near embassies.

Another murder this weekend, strikingly similar to the Hadjicostis murder, but this time in Kathmandu:

Chairman of Space Time Network and Channel Nepal, Jamim Shah was shot dead by an unknown gang at Lajimpat Sunday’s afternoon. The unidentified person riding a motorcycle shot Chairman Shah near French Embassy, Lajimpat at 2:55 pm. He was immediately taken to TU Teaching Hospital, but in vain. Shot on chest and head, he breathed his last on the way to the Hospital. Chauffeur Mathura Man Malakar was also injured seriously in the firing.

…Meanwhile, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has expressed deep grief over the killing of Jamim Shah, the Chairman of Channel Nepal, the first television channel of Nepal, and Space Time Network.

The killing of a prestigious person in broad daylight in the sensitive and important place of the capital city proves that ………

the security situation in the country was very lax, the FNJ said, making strong demand to the government to immediately initiate the investigation into the crime and bring the culprits to book.

Maybe. Maybe it proves something else. Sometimes security seems to be lax on purpose.

A gangster claims responsibility.

Avenues Television, a private television station, Monday said it received a call from a man who identified himself as Bharat Nepali and said he had masterminded the death of Shah, who is alleged to have had links with another underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and Pakistani intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Nepali was reported last year to have split from the Chhota Rajan gang to start his own. He faces several murder charges and has been absconding in India. Nepal’s coalition government said it was unaware of the claim.

…Shah was returning home from a health club at a five-star hotel when slow traffic forced his Pajero to come to a stop near the French Embassy in Kathmandu’s VIP area that houses four embassies. A motorcycle drew up to the car and the pillion rider walked over and fired through the open window.

Shot in the chest and neck, Shah died while being taken to hospital; his driver Mathura Man Malakar received leg injuries.

The assailants’ bike had a fake number plate.  Ansari said the hit job was the work of an organised gang. Nepal’s media world has condemned the incident and warned they would start a protest movement if the murderers were not arrested soon.

Even before the call to the television station came, there was conjecture that Chhota Rajan had a hand in Shah’s killing.

In 1998, a powerful Nepali MP who was also alleged to have links with Dawood and the ISI, was shot dead in a similar way in Kathmandu. Mirza Dilshad Beg’s murder is believed to have been the handiwork of the Chhota Rajan who fell out with Dawood.

A faction in India accused Shah of being anti-Indian and linked him to Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan, but this has not been proven.

A section of Indian media that is better known for jumping the gun in matters related to regional security and politics have alleged that Shah’s media outlets were routinely used for anti-India propaganda….

“Shah ran the Channel Nepal television station that in 2000 instigated anti-India riots when it falsely reported Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as saying that he hated Nepalis,” claims a report by carried by Times of India. “Four people died in the violence that followed and scores of Indian shops and businesses came under attack. Though the channel was banned for some time, it was lifted once the furore receded.”

Here’s what India’s government-controlled news agency Press Trust of India wrote about Shah: “The Nepali media mogul is alleged to have links with the underworld, including Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan, allegations he had consistently denied. It was also alleged that his TV channel had received investments from underworld sources.”

It was widely reported at that time that a local Nepali-language weekly from Chitwan had originally carried such report about Roshan and afterwards major media from Kathmandu quoted the same report. Shah may be guilty for his alleged anti-India activities on Nepali soil but that was never verified. Neither we heard of any reports of India sharing its intelligence about Shah’s anti-India activities with Nepali authorities. There are many media outlets in Nepal (particularly newspapers) that are believed to be run (or help run) by the Indian embassy in Kathmandu because they run not only hagiographic reports about everything-India but also negative reports about Pakistan. About Shah too, there were rumors in Kahtmandu about his anti-India things but again they were never challenged in related authorities.

Additional details of the murder:

KATHMANDU, Feb 7: Media entrepreneur Jamim Shah, 47, was shot dead by two motorbike-borne masked men in Lazimpat, a high priority security zone of the capital, on Sunday afternoon. He received three bullets — one in the head and two in chest — fired from a point blank range.

…Shah was apparently being followed after he left Yak & Yeti Hotel– where he took sauna bath. He was attacked by gunmen near the French embassy, while heading home to Panipokhari on his car (Na 1 Cha 2151).

The place where the incident took place is quite close to the Indian and British Embassies and is only about a kilometer away from the president´s office, Sheetal Niwas, where security personnel had been deployed in large numbers owing to the movement of Vice-president Paramananda Jha´s for oath retake.

…The pillion rider on the Yamaha Escort bike, with fake number plate (Ba 15 Pa 8733) as claimed by the police, caught up with his Pajero and first fired through the left hand side window and then, having overtaken, straight through the windscreen. Police has recovered a 9 mm bullet from the scene. The attackers could have used a silencer pistol as witnesses did not apparently hear sound of gunfire, said the police.

The media baron, who also ran two vernacular dailies for four years since 2001, had also courted controversy for his alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim and ISI, which he always denied stoutly.

The second son of Dr Mohim Shah, a retired senior government officer, is survived by wife Anjali and son Jacky, 24. According to family sources, Anjali had flown to East Timor for a personal visit with two other relatives a few days ago. Jacky, a young musician has been living in US.

Security officers tally the modus operandi of Shah´s murder with that of Mirza Dilshad Beg 12 years ago, who courted controversy for similar allegations.

Police arrested eight persons on suspicion of involvement in the incident till Sunday evening but an investigative official at Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu (MPRK) said on condition of anonymity that real culprits could be hiding in ´star hotels´. According to SP Ganesh KC, chief of MPRK, the shooters had a black complexion and wore black jackets.

While there are widespread suspicions about “international links” behind the homicide, a high level intelligence source said that the killing might be an act of revenge by a local party with whom Jamim had a long animosity. The source even warned another partner of the dispute could meet the same fate.

In 2004, the Times of India reported on Shah’s alleged links to Dawood Ibrahim.

The Indian government has officially asked Nepal to investigate the emerging media mogul’s links to Dawood Ibrahim, specifically to assert that the D-Company has heavily invested in Shah’s media empire in the Himalayan kingdom….According to the Indian government, Dawood Ibraham has heavily invested in the ventures and Shah is only a caretaker for the Karachi-based Mumbai don who was declared a global terrorist by the US authorities recently.

The Indian embassy in its letter last week to Nepal government said it had “credible information” that Dawood has heavily invested in Shah’s ventures and asked for an immediate investigation. The allegations are not new, but it is probably for the first time that India is claiming that it has such concrete evidence….Shah was emphatic when he denied any wrong on his part during a long interview this correspondent had with him on a rain-swept evening at his office in Kathmandu. The man laughed and often kept poker face while denying being in a Pakistani jail, or being Dawood’s front man, or even a smuggler. His mother’s sudden death, Shah said in tears, was because of such allegations by India and his business rivals.

…But last week’s letter to Nepal government indicates that Indian agencies may have managed irrefutable evidence to nail Shah. In the post-9/11 scenario and due to its heavy dependence on India, Nepal government cannot just ignore the Indian demand for detailed investigations against Shah. But it may not be easy to nail Shah, given the fact that he has friends far and wide in Nepal, and even within the palace.

Evidently, whatever the “irrefutable” evidence the Indian government had in 2004, it was insufficiently irrefutable to procure his arrest. And now he’s dead. The wanted man is dead, murdered in broad daylight in front of the French embassy in a heavily secured area.

The Himalayan Times, quoting a witness, reported that the gunmen came nose-to-nose with Shah and then shot him several times and then quickly escaped from the crime scene.

Did someone deliver a personal message?

Also, police admit to “weakness” as they detain 18 people for questioning.

Police have raided various suspicious places of the capital last night and detained 18 persons in suspicion of involvement in the incident or having information about the murder of Jamim Shah.

Talking to Kantipur FM Monday morning, Nepal Police spokesperson Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Bigyan Raj Sharma said, police had sealed all exit points from Kathmandu, scanned suspicious persons leaving the valley, and mobilised security personnel in plain clothes to seek information on the incident.

Indirectly conceding weakness of security personnel in the incident DIG Sharma said, the police are investigating the incident from all angles. Meanwhile, a meeting of the top security officers held at the police headquarters Sunday accepted weakness of the police as the murderers fled from the scene without being caught.

Police have said, a silencer could have been used with the gun used to fire at Shah as police personnel deployed in the nearby security posts said they did not hear the firing.

There are at least half-dozen embassies around the area where the firing took place and the murders had fled through the road along the President’s office and Police training academy among other places with high security sensitivity.

UPDATE:  Two more unconfirmed but interesting details:

1) It was reported Shah was scheduled to make a visit at the French embassy.

2) A sharpshooter attacked Shah (52) just outside the French Embassy in Lazmipat on the main road….The police said ‘it has not ruled out any possibility, including the use of cross border criminals and syndicate given the use of sharpshooter’ in the crime’.

Other reports give his age as 45.

Other reports say he was shot three times at point blank range — twice in the head and once in the chest.

For the purposes of American consumption, the narrative goes roughly like this: Two men gun down self-made media tycoon near French embassy. Possible connection to “international crime syndicate” next breath Dawood Ibrahim. That should remind you of Mumbai and Pakistan and terrorism.

unauthorized terrorist incident and worldwide tentacles of money laundering (hawala)

Feb 8

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Corruption & Crime, France, India, Italy, Money Laundering, Nigeria, Psychopaths, Terrorism, UK | No Comments

1. “terrorist” on a Dubai-bound plane incident in India brushed under the rug as a “family dispute” — sociopath son wants his dad’s property so pulls this stunt… oh that’s a little inconvenient for our war on terror. nevermind!!

That’s why Arif Khan laid the ‘terrorist on board’ trap for his father, who was on the same flight, say police; the latter has been detained

A son’s desire to see his father behind bars may have been behind the drama surrounding the Emirates flight yesterday. The Dubai-bound flight, with 356 passengers and crew on board, was grounded for four hours in Mumbai, after an anonymous phone call before takeoff warned about the presence of a ‘terrorist’ on board.

A businessman Shahbaz Khan and his wife Munira were detained. The MRA Marg police believe that the caller was none other than their son Arif, who is embroiled in a property dispute with them.

Sanjeev Kokil, senior police inspector, MRA Marg police station, said, “I am cent sure that the son has done this. If the Sahar police ask for our help, we will prove this. Arif, at regular intervals, comes out with a plan to frame his father, so that he can lay his hands on his property.”

Kokil added that when Shahbaz was contesting the Assembly elections in 2009 from Colaba “Arif made a call to the Election Commissioner, saying his father had a criminal background and should not be allowed to contest”.

Criminal record

Arif and his father are locked in a dispute over a flat belonging to Shahbaz, which is currently leased to a tenant. Arif was even sent to seven days’ police custody for stealing from the tenant’s home. Said Kokil, “In June 2009, he entered the tenant’s house and stole everything. He even put up his nameplate on the door, stating that he was the owner of the property.” When cops arrested Arif, he confessed.

The father and son have also registered a number of non cognizable complaints against each other.

“Shahbaz always helps the poor, helps them get treatment at local hospitals. His son has ruined him,” rued Kokil.

Neighbours say

When MiD DAY reached Arif’s house on Modi Street in Fort, a female family member said, “Shahbaz and Munira have gone to Dubai and Arif is not at home. When Arif returns, I’ll ask him to call you.”

A neighbour said, “Arif is stupid. All the people in the building are fed up of him. Wonder how the father is tolerating the son. He is always shouting at his father and disturbing the building.”

Another neighbour added, “Arif has not only given a bad name to his family, but also to the entire building.”

DCP Zone 8, Brijesh Singh said, “We cannot confirm any thing. Whether the arrested people are members of a  terrorist group or if the call was a hoax — everything is under investigation.”

A senior ATC official said, “We got a call from the airport manager around 9.55 am that a terrorist was on the flight and sent a message to the captain not to take off.”

An Emirates spokesperson said, “We handed over a passenger and his wife to the  police. We are cooperating with them.”

source: mid-day

2. India: IAS officer with 220 bank accounts, assets worth millions

An Indian Administrative Service Officer (IAS) in Chhattisgarh has been found to have a staggering 220 bank accounts and assets worth millions of rupees. This was revealed after the income tax department raided his residence here, official sources said on Saturday.

The IT department raided the houses of some IAS officers and businessmen in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in the past two days. Chhattisgarh’s Bharatiya Janata Party government is waiting for a final report from the IT department about Agriculture Secretary BL Agrawal’s assets to initiate action against him. IT officials searched the residence of Agrawal as well as business establishments of his close relatives on Thursday. On Friday, the officials similarly raided his chartered account Sunil Agrawal’s house and came across documents suggesting that the IAS officer had amassed assets disproportionate to his known income.

The officer had at least 220 bank accounts, several of them opened on fake names and addresses, and a few in the names of his domestic helps.

Efforts to contact BL Agrawal failed. A man who answered his mobile telephone said Agrawal was busy in a meeting.

Income Tax department sources said they were analysing the documents and papers they seized. Some documents suggest he might be involved in hawala transactions, the sources said.

The Madhya Pradesh government had on Friday suspended a Bhopal-based IAS couple - women and child development department principal secretary Tinu Joshi and her husband Arvind Joshi, principal secretary of the jail and parliamentary affairs department. IT department found Rs three crore in unaccounted cash in a raid on their residence on Thursday. Brajesh Gupta, Director General of Investigations (I-T) for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, said bank notes stuffed in a suitcase were recovered from the residence of the couple.

source: mid-day

3. hawala transactions: part of money laundering
Hawala (also known as hundi) is an informal value transfer system based on the performance and honor of a huge network of money brokers, which are primarily located in the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and South Asia….In the most basic variant of the hawala system, money is transferred via a network of hawala brokers, or hawaladars. A customer approaches a hawala broker in one city and gives a sum of money to be transferred to a recipient in another, usually foreign, city. The hawala broker calls another hawala broker in the recipient’s city, gives disposition instructions of the funds (usually minus a small commission), and promises to settle the debt at a later date.

The unique feature of the system is that no promissory instruments are exchanged between the hawala brokers; the transaction takes place entirely on the honor system. As the system does not depend on the legal enforceability of claims, it can operate even in the absence of a legal and juridical environment. No records are produced of individual transactions; only a running tally of the amount owed by one broker to another is kept. Settlements of debts between hawala brokers can take a variety of forms, and need not take the form of direct cash transactions.

more @ wikipedia

also see: Interpol http://www.interpol.int/Public/FinancialCrime/MoneyLaundering/Hawala/default.asp

also see: IMF http://www.gdrc.org/icm/hawala.html

See? they know all about it.

4. India: SIFO (serious fraud investigation department) not all the serious — unlikely to get power to track funds parked abroad. that might impinge on the money laundering!

NEW DELHI: The government has said it is not considering to give the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) the powers to trail money stashed abroad by corporates.

A corporate fraud investigating body under the corporate affairs ministry (MCA), the SFIO has for long been seeking powers to carry out investigations abroad. The SFIO is one of the agencies probing the multi-crore Satyam scam on which it has submitted a 14,000-page report.
“Not just during Satyam, but even before that we have been asking the MCA to permit us to carry out investigations abroad. We cannot trail funds abroad, therefore, we could not completely probe the Satyam fraud,” an SFIO official said.

Set up in 2003, the government plans to give the SFIO more teeth in the new Companies Bill, which was tabled in Parliament last August. However, the government officials say allowing the SFIO to probe cases related to routing of money outside the country is not a part of the proposal.

When contacted, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, “No, there is no proposal to allow the SFIO carry out investigations abroad. There is no point. We do not want duplication of work, as the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate are already equipped to do that job.”

Diversion of funds is a Companies Act violation, but when funds are hived off abroad it becomes a hawala transaction, and falls under the ambit of the ED, the minister explained.

The proposals to give the Serious Frauds Investigation Office more teeth for investigation, is mostly based on the recommendations of the V Vepa Kamesam Committee, Khurshid had earlier said. Giving the SFIO powers to trail money stashed away abroad is, however, not part of the committee’s suggestions.

The eight-member committee has suggested that the SFIO be given exclusive jurisdiction to probe and prosecute entities involved in financial frauds, besides also probing cases related erring entities/individuals like chartered accountants and company secretaries.

The committee is of the opinion that power of search and seizure, and attachment should be entrusted with the SFIO as available with the Income Tax authorities, Customs, Enforcement Directorate etc. It has also suggested that the SFIO be empowered to take up a case suo moto and even on a source-based information if a corporate fraud has been committed.

The committee has also called for the SFIO having flexibility to outsource the services of experts like chartered accountants, legal experts
etc and officers joining the investigating agency on deputation be ensured protection of their existing pay and allowances, sources said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/SFIO-unlikely-to-get-power-to-track-funds-parked-abroad/articleshow/5546719.cms

5. 1/18/10: enough evidence to arrest hawala kingpin: Naresh Jain — linked to Dubai, Pakistan, Italy, Dawood Ibrahim

New Delhi: A Delhi court today said there was “sufficient material” with Narcotics Control Bureau to arrest alleged hawala kingpin Naresh Kumar Jain for his reported complicity in international drug trafficking trade.

“The accused has rightly been arrested. There is sufficient material to effect his arrest under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,” additional sessions judge Sanjiv Jain said.

The court, which extended the judicial remand of Jain till February 1, trashed his plea that he has “wrongly” been arrested by NCB, that too at the instance of Enforcement Directorate (ED).

“The accused is involved in nefarious activities of drugs trade and money laundering… investigation has revealed that the proceeds of the drugs trade were being laundered through hawala banking,” Rajesh Manchanda, special public prosecutor for NCB, told the court.

Jain was being supported by Dubai-based Ahmed Parvez, a Pakistan national, who is now being prosecuted in Italy, in the hawala trade, the prosecutor claimed.

Besides NCB, ED has also filed a separate case against Jain under various provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for his alleged hawala transactions relating to proceeds of drugs trade.

Naveen Kumar Matta, special prosecutor for ED, had earlier informed another court that the probe into the money trail of Jain was at a “crucial” stage. Jain was arrested by NCB on December 6 last year for allegedly financing and transporting narcotic drugs.

The accused, who used to run M/s Kumar Trading Company in Dubai, was arrested there as well after it came to light that sale proceeds of drugs, running into several crores of rupees, were credited in the firm’s account, the ED had said.

The money was transferred into the account of the company from Europe, China and Africa, it said.

The accused was also under the surveillance of the US authorities which had confiscated $4.3 million from Jain in June last year, they added. It also alleged the accused had financed persons involved in drug syndicate in India and abroad.

He allegedly laundered money for global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and financed narcotic cells.

source: DNA india

6. 2/7/10: REMINISCENT OF HADJICOSTIS MURDER, gunmen kill Nepal media baron with alleged Dawood links in broad daylight near French, Indian and British embassies in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU: Twelve years after Mirza Dilshad Beg, a controversial – and powerful – Nepali MP with links with Dawood Ibrahim and the ISI, was gunned down on a public road in Kathmandu by a rival gang, a Nepali media baron, also rumoured to have the same connexions, shared the same fate.

Jamim Shah, a Nepali of Kashmiri origin who headed the Space Time Network, was gunned down in broad daylight near the French Embassy in Kathmandu’s crowded Lazimpat area on Sunday, close to the Indian and British Embassies. Police told TNN two masked men on a motorcycle fired at Shah’s car around 2.55 pm, hitting both him and his chauffeur, Mathura Man Malakar. Shah, in his 40s, was shot in the chest and died while being treated at the nearby Teaching Hospital. Malakar has been hit in his left thigh.

Though police were informed about the number of the motorcycle, no arrests had been made till the time of writing this report. Shah ran the Channel Nepal television station that in 2000 instigated anti-India riots when it falsely reported Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as saying that he hated Nepalis. Four people died in the violence that followed and scores of Indian shops and businesses came under attack. Though the channel was banned for some time, it was lifted once the furore receded.

Shah also ran a newspaper, Space Time, that carried anti-India propaganda. In 2004, he came under the ire of the Indian government who asked Nepal to freeze the assets of Space Time Network, alleging that it was funded by Dawood. Shah is also believed to have had ISI links. However, he had stoutly denied both allegations.

Shah’s killing comes after the arrest of Yunus Ansari, son of former Nepal minister Salim Miya Ansari. Ansari was caught recently after Nepal police busted a fake Indian currency network that ran from Karachi. Yunus Ansari is currently behind bars.

source: times of india

7. f**k India group on Facebook may be banned, complaint lodged with President’s office

Youtube videos belonging to India or Pakistan have been a favourite ground for warring groups from the two countries to vent their ire.Going by the war of words, one can easily imagine the fate of track two diplomacy. It shows that if such groups are let loose they will wage a bitter war than what the armies from both sides could achieve.
F**k India - a group on the social networking website, Facebook - has solicited a similar response.
The web page that shows “F**k India” written in the middle of the national tricolour says Pakistan Zindabad in its description.

But, as the anti-group is getting stronger with the membership going up by leaps and bounds, the web page may soon be banned.

Naresh Kadyan, an animal rights activist, has written to the President of India on February 7 demanding an immediate ban on the site, and has recommended corrective measures to the department concerned.

Forwarding the url link to the objectionable website, Kadyan, has written in his complaint : “I have seen many hate material on the web about India and our beloved leaders. Few years ago, I moved a public interest litigation in the Punjab and Haryana High court, seeking removal of vulgar content from Youtube. Following my plea, the controversial Gandhi pole dance was also removed from the Internet.”

“There are many communities on Facebook that spread hate against India, violating National Flag Code of India as well. Hence, you are requested to look into the matter for concerned authorities to take legal action against offenders and promoters. Both Orkut and Facebook may also be directed to filter such content,” the letter to the President read.

more @ source: mid-day

8. Africa: Atiku deals with the Mafia

Three months after his re-election as Nigeria’s Vice President, in August 2003, Atiku Abubakar was the guest of Domenico Gitto, who anonymous risk consultants and media sources say is a member of the Italian mafia clan Provenzano and owner of Gitto Construzioni Generali Nigeria Limited. The meeting was held at Mr. Gitto’s home in Sicily, Italy.

This revelation, based on NEXT’s ongoing investigations into the connections between foreign interests and Nigerian politicians, also shows that a major fallout of Mr. Atiku’s visit was a significant jump in the fortunes of Gitto Construzioni which subsequently earned contracts worth over N100 billion from different tiers of government in Nigeria.

Mr. Atiku was accompanied on that trip by his wife, Jennifer Douglas Abubakar; two of his political associates, Boni Haruna, then governor of Adamawa State, and Musa Adede, a former senator; as well as two Italian business associates, Gabrielle Volpi, and Angelo Perucci, believed to be members of a different mafia family.

Garba Shehu, the former Vice President’s media officer told NEXT when contacted on this matter that “Atiku has always wanted more world renowned companies to compete for construction business in Nigeria” and that “When Gitto made an entry into the country, Intels of which he (Atiku) is a shareholder bought 5% stake. Intels became unhappy with Gitto at certain stage and decided to divest. That ended the relationship.”

The Gitto revelation further puts Mr. Atiku in a negative spotlight at a time when he is under harsh scrutiny for money laundering by congressional investigators in the United States.

Last Wednesday, the United States Senate’s permanent sub-committee on investigations, which is affiliated to the committee on homeland securities and intergovernmental affairs, stated in its report that “from 2000 to 2008, Ms. Douglas (Jennifer Abubakar) helped her husband (Atiku Abubakar) bring over $40 million in suspect funds into the United States, including at least $1.7 million in bribe payments from Siemens AG, a German corporation, and over $38 million from little known offshore corporations, primarily LetsGo Ltd. Inc., Guernsey Trust Company Nigeria Ltd., and Sima Holding Ltd.”

more @ next