Archive for category Drug Trafficking

fitting the facts around the new policy in Afghanistan: reconciliation with Taliban?

Feb 22

Posted by A. Peasant in Afghanistan, Drug Trafficking, Military, NATO, The West | No Comments

1. Dutch govt falls apart over Afghanistan

THE HAGUE — Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende met Queen Beatrix on Monday to chart the way forward after his government collapsed over the Netherlands’s role in Afghanistan. Balkenende held 90 minutes of talks with the head of state at her working palace in The Hague early Monday, government spokeswoman Fridy van Hapert said. Thereafter, the queen was to meet the leaders of the two Dutch houses of parliament, political party chiefs and the deputy president of the council of state advisory body.

…NATO had asked the Netherlands to extend its four-year-old mission, mainly in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, by a year to August 2011….The queen must now decide whether or not to accept the resignations and call early elections….If the queen accepts the resignations, as widely excepted, parliamentary elections will have to be brought forward. They had been scheduled for March next year.

more @ afp

2. Dutch troops to exit Afghanistan as planned — very small contingent of soldiers. the Dutch play some other role in the drama.

Following the collapse of his cabinet, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende says he expects his country’s troops to leave Afghanistan as planned….Around 1,600 Dutch troops have been stationed in southern Afghanistan since 2006. According to their mandate they should have returned home in 2008, but their deployment was extended by two years since no other NATO member state offered replacements.

more @ press tv

3. last week: NATO (supposedly) flabbergasted, this will play into the hands of the Taliban. (wink wink?)

This is not the first time Nato is amazed and annoyed by the Dutch political approach to Afghanistan. At a time when practically all Nato members have committed to sending more troops, the Netherlands is trying to abandon its mission in Uruzgan. At a press conference in October, Rasmussen said the Netherlands would play into the hands of the Taliban if it left….But most worried about how to proceed if the Dutch cabinet does take a dive.

more here

4. earlier this month: Taliban will negotiate, but path fraught with risk. if only there were some way to get everyone to the table so we can be one big happy family again…..there must be so much drug money to make there that it outweighs the ongoing war profiteering.

LONDON (Reuters) - Unthinkable a year ago and still officially beyond the pale, the idea of a political role for Taliban leaders in Afghanistan is creeping onto the agenda as war-weary governments seek to bring an end to an unpopular war.

Some say this could open the door for negotiations if the Taliban think they can secure a better settlement through talks than by waiting for U.S.-led troops to leave and then fighting their way to power through a renewed civil war. “The Taliban know they can’t take over the country. They would be presiding over a country with persistent and perennial poverty and civil war. So they would like to negotiate,” said one diplomat involved in discussions about Afghanistan.

…Many analysts say talks would need to involve Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar — condemned in the West for his refusal to hand over al Qaeda leaders after the September 11, 2001 attacks. ..And the price for a settlement could be high as far as the west is concerned — for example the rehabilitation of Mullah Omar as supreme leader of Afghanistan — even if not directly running the government.The Taliban for their part are expected to come under pressure from Pakistan to negotiate to try to end a war which has increasingly spilled over from Afghanistan. …Washington says many Taliban leaders including Mullah Omar are based in Pakistan. And while Pakistan has far less leverage over the Taliban than it had when it nurtured them in the 1990s, it could still make life hard for them if they refused to talk.Rather like the secret talks between then U.S. National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and the North Vietnamese which tried, and ultimately failed, to secure an honorable exit from Vietnam, any negotiations would be long and easily derailed. They would also be fraught with risk for both the United States and the Taliban. Any hint of compromise could unleash a public backlash in the United States, as well as alienate the Taliban’s own fighters and supporters…. U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke said Sunday there had been no direct, secret contacts with the Taliban, but said Washington recognized the importance of reconciliation.

more @ reuters

5. oh ho HO, pakistan capture top Taliban with info provided by Mullah Omar’s second in command

Netting another big catch, Pakistan’s security agencies have captured a top Afghan Taliban leader following information provided by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Mullah Omar’s second in command.

Mulvi Kabir, former Taliban governor in Afghanistan’s Nangahar Province, and a key figure in the Taliban regime was recently captured in Pakistan, Fox News reported. The arrest is one of the few big catches after Baradar, who is Taliban’s number two leader. Considered to be among the top 10 most wanted Taliban leaders, Kabir was apprehended in Nawshera district of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province by Pakistani police forces in recent days, the Fox news said.

A senior US military official called it a significant detention, it said, adding that the arrest of Kabir is based on the intelligence gathered from Baradar. Besides Kabir, two other top Taliban leaders have been arrested in recent days. Pakistani agencies arrested Mullah Salam of Afghanistan’s Kunduz province and Mullah Mohammad, who reportedly controlled the Baghlan province recently. The two are considered to be among the most important captures Pakistan has made in relation to the Taliban in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.

mid-day

6. US supporting Afghan warlord

Kalagush—The United States is helping an Afghan warlord and former enemy to take control of a district bordering Pakistan, military officers and independent experts say. The strategy to back Mullah Sadiq as effective ruler of Kamdesh district in eastern Nuristan province is part of a wider attempt to bring stability to the country so international forces can leave. Sadiq is a former commander of the militant Hizb-e-Islami group, responsible for years of attacks on coalition and Afghan troops, as well as civilians. US support for Sadiq — who has said he wants to ally with President Hamid Karzai’s government against the Taliban — is causing friction between US foreign policy staff in Afghanistan and the military.

Senior officers said Sadiq could swing Nuristani people behind Karzai and provide a prototype breakthrough in the battle against the Taliban insurgency. But US state department officials and independent experts fear Sadiq wants a temporary alliance with US troops to defeat local Taliban factions before taking over the mountainous border province as a personal fiefdom.

Commander Russell McCormack, military head of Nuristan’s Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), said the US must work with Sadiq. “He is influential, intelligent and he uses diplomacy and true Islam — rather than the barbaric form that the Taliban professes,” McCormack told AFP at Kalagush, the only US base in Nuristan. …The plan is part of a new counter-insurgency strategy to instil public confidence in Karzai’s government and bring an end to the war.

…With the US withdrawal to begin in July 2011, Karzai last month launched a bid for “reconciliation” with mainstream insurgents. The tactic is also being tested further south in Helmand province where 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan troops are on the offensive in Marjah, a region controlled for years by Taliban and drug traffickers.

more @ pak observer

active narratives round-up

Feb 18

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Banks, Corruption & Crime, Drug Trafficking, Economy, Greece, India, Lebanon, Minerals, Nigeria, Palestinians, Russia, Terrorism | No Comments

1. world government: our masters in Brussels will use the Greek crisis to try to impose a single government across Europe

Now the Greeks cannot afford to stay in the euro and the Germans and French (and indeed to a lesser extent we British) cannot afford to see the Greek economy collapse.

For our masters in Brussels, this is a moment of great danger and of great opportunity. Their solution is simple. Not just a single currency and a single central bank, but a single finance minister administering a single tax and spending system, and a single government across the EU. Without that, either the Eurozone will shrink to a hard core of states around Germany and the Deutschmark will be reborn under the name of the euro, or the euro will cease to be.

more @ telegraph

2. justifying the need to control the internet: malicious software infects corporate computers

A malicious software program has infected the computers of more than 2,500 corporations around the world, according to NetWitness, a computer network security firm.

The malicious program, or botnet, can commandeer the operating systems of both residential and corporate computing systems via the Internet. Such botnets are used by computer criminals for a range of illicit activities, including sending e-mail spam, and stealing digital documents and passwords from infected computers. In many cases they install so-called “keystroke loggers” to capture personal information.

…“These large-scale compromises of enterprise networks have reached epidemic levels,” said Amit Yoran, chief executive of NetWitness and former director of the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security. “Cyber criminal elements, like the Kneber crew, quietly and diligently target and compromise thousands of government and commercial organizations across the globe.”

The company, which is based in Herndon, Va., noted that the new botnet makes sophisticated use of a well-known Trojan Horse - a backdoor entryway to attack - that the computer security community had previously identified as ZeuS.

more @ nyt

3. al qaeda in the palestinian camps in lebanon: 11 aq suspects charged with spying

A Lebanese military judge charged 11 suspected members of an al-Qaida inspired group with forming an armed gang and spying on the army and U.N. peacekeepers, a judicial source said. “Judge Samih al-Hajj charged 11 suspected members of Fatah al-Islam with forming an armed gang, spying on the army and UNIFIL troops (in southern Lebanon), and forging ID papers,” the source said, requesting anonymity.

If convicted, they could face the death penalty. Among those charged — several of them in absentia — are Abdul Rahman Awad and Abdul Ghani Jawhar, two Fatah al-Islam members accused of a deadly 2008 bus bombing in the northern city of Tripoli.

Fatah al-Islam, an obscure al-Qaida inspired group, fought deadly battles against the Lebanese army in the summer of 2007 in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared near Tripoli. …There have been widespread fears since the Nahr al-Bared battle that the group has switched its base to the highly volatile Palestinian camp of Ain el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese officials suspect that Awad, who is dubbed the “prince of Fatah al-Islam,” is holed up in Ain el-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian camps. By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the camps, leaving security inside to Palestinian factions.(AFP)

more @ naharnet

4. escalating drug lords in Mexico: Russia ready to sell weapons to Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Mexico is interested in buying equipment and weapons from his country to combat drug trafficking and organized crime. At a joint press conference with Mexican counterpart Patricia Espinosa, Lavrov said that his country is expanding its weapons sales abroad and has increased the number of supply contracts it has in all regions of the world, a move that is “a purely economic question, not political.”

Regarding the volume of its arms sales, Russia is still “behind the United States, but we’re seeing certain rather serious progress,” Lavrov said. The Mexican government is interested in acquiring different types of weapons, “including helicopters for coastal monitoring,” and other equipment “to fight drug trafficking and organized crime, that I hope will help our Mexican friends to combat this scourge,” the Russian official said.

The United States is already supplying Mexico with arms and equipment for the drug war.

more @ la herald tribune

5. get the minerals in Africa, especially West Africa: African Minerals on track in Sierra Leone as 9.7 billion tonnes of iron ore discovered — largest deposit in the world. shorter: how lucky is Frank Timis?

Somewhere in London, deliberating on his success and probably a glass of ice-rock vodka in his hands, Frank Timis must be filled with excitement and accomplishment as his venture in Sierra Leone has started to yield results. Timis has invested faith and trust in his sense of discernment and has allowed his instinct which has proven time and again to be right, to take on a venture in a small West African country rich in minerals, that has become a second home for him. Timis has employed right judgement and his confidence in the mineral wealth of Sierra Leone may have finally paid off. It is also a vindication for the country’s President Ernest Bai Koroma whose unwavering belief in African Minerals’ potential has not been disappointing. I wonder what is going through Frank Timis’ mind as he reflects back on how risk can sometimes become your best financial asset. But it all comes down to how risk is managed through effective implementation of business acumen that has been tried and trusted. Frank Timis must be a master in risk management that ensures successful outcome. The success of African Minerals in Sierra Leone can only go to open new frontiers for the company in other mineral resource potential areas across Africa. And his success in Sierra Leone will also provide a model for other African Governments to use in order to open their doors to a man whose name has become synonymous with prosperity and mineral wealth.

more @ newstime africa

6. Niger & Nigeria, falling apart or being dismantled: gunfire erupts in Niger capital

NIAMEY (Niger) - MACHINE gun and heavy weapons fire erupted in Niger’s capital, Niamey, on Thursday and smoke was seen rising from the presidential palace, witnesses said, in what appeared to be an attempted coup.

There was no indication of who was involved, the witnesses said, though political tensions have risen in the uranium exporting nation in recent months over President Mamadou Tandja’s extension of his rule. An intelligence officer, who asked not to be named, said the violence was a coup attempt that the presidential guard was trying to put down. A member of Tandja’s entourage in the palace said that ‘for now everything is alright.’

The shooting started around 1200 GMT, witnesses said. A Reuters witness said soldiers were blocking the road near the Prime Minister’s office. Tandja drew widespread criticism and international sanctions after dissolving parliament and orchestrating a constitutional reform that gave him added powers and extended his term beyond his second five-year mandate, which expired in December.

Despite political turmoil and occasional Tuareg rebellions, Niger has attracted billions of dollars in investment from major international firms seeking to tap its vast mineral wealth, including France’s Areva and Canada’s Cameco. — REUTERS

straits times

7. terrorism and sports: police confirm terror threat to India-SA Jaipur stadium match

JAIPUR: Police have confirmed a terror threat to the first ODI match between India and South Africa to be played at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur on February 21, following which security has been tightened. B.L. Soni, inspector general of Rajasthan police, said his force had intelligence inputs of the threat. “We have terror inputs of the threat and beefed up security at Sawai Mansingh Stadium (the match venue),” he said.

Intelligence agencies had earlier warned about terror strikes during various sporting events to be held in the country this year including the Hockey World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. However, Home Minister P Chidambaram has assured all the visiting countries of foolproof security for the upcoming sporting events.

source

latin america news

Feb 11

Posted by A. Peasant in Big Pharma, Brazil, CIA, Central America, Children, Colombia, Corruption & Crime, Diplomats, Drug Trafficking, Haiti, Human Trafficking, Identities, Military, NWO, Oil, Psychopaths | No Comments

1. charity vaccine clinic chief bagged in trafficking Haitian children — not many degrees of separation between “legitimate” and “criminal”

Admin boss Yis Jean Guerson is responsible for providing medical aid to victims of the January 12 disaster with respected local aid group AST (Association de la Santé Pour Tous - “health for all”).

But, unknown to dedicated colleagues, Guerson secretly heads a child trafficking ring and exploits his position of trust scouring camps for a stock of orphaned, lost and homeless youngsters.

Shockingly Guerson, 31, is also a TEACHER at a local school responsible for guiding and protecting children from the age of three.

But last week - as he gave our undercover reporters a tour of the devastated captal Port-au-Prince with the stench of decaying bodies still hanging in the air - Guerson told us: “Just tell me how many kids you need and what ages you want, boys or girls, and I’ll get them for you no problem.

…

On Wednesday he lined up eight youngsters ranging from a three-month-old baby to a 13-year old girl for our reporters to choose from. Not once in all our dealings did Guerson ask WHO we were or WHERE the children would end up. In fact he was eager to boost the price to £5,000 EACH by offering his gang’s services in SMUGGLING the kids out of the country. Warning of the danger of trying to do it without his help, Guerson said: “The big problem is you need papers.

…

We were given Guerson’s name by a guard at a legitimate orphanage called Foundation Blessing Hands in the village of Cotart, 11 miles outside Port-au-Prince. The security man told us: “This place has strict rules for adoption, but there is a man locally who has children that you can take.

…

After being told we were interested in getting five children and taking them abroad, grasping Guerson quickly abandoned the £65-a-head price tag and demanded $40,000 (£26,000) all in.

When we said that was too much he immediately replied: “I can give you a discount, make it $30,000.” Balding Guerson explained that would include the cost of smuggling them across the border and paperwork appearing to show we had legitimately adopted the children.

...Guerson apologised that he had only managed to find three children to inspect because the rest were at a clinic being immunised. It was then he revealed his job with the AST charity which runs a vaccination programme for youngsters.

more @ news of the world

2. Spain, US want Latin America to assume ‘global role’

MADRID – Spain and the United States agreed Monday on the need for Latin America to assume a role of “global interlocutor” to participate in overcoming problems like the economic crisis and confronting challenges like climate change.

The Spanish secretary of state for Ibero-America, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia and Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela met in Madrid.

The two officials particularly discussed issues like the humanitarian situation in earthquake-stricken Haiti and the political crisis in Honduras, as well as cooperation between the United States and the European Union on Latin America.

more @ latin american herald tribune

3. four human heads found in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – The heads of four people were found in Mexico, but the bodies have not been recovered yet, state officials said.

Three of the heads were found in the northwestern state of Sinaloa and the fourth turned up in the southern state of Guerrero.

Three of the heads were discovered Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. in front of a restaurant and a school in Palmillas, a town in Sinaloa, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office told Efe.

Initial indications are that the victims were three unidentified young men, the AG’s office spokesman said.

The killers only left behind the heads, shocking the town, a Palmillas police department spokesman told Efe.

…The head belonged to “a person of the masculine gender, with a dark complexion, whose hair was shaved off and his facial skin removed, and a piece of cardboard with a message was left,” the Guerrero Public Safety Secretariat said. The body has not yet been recovered and authorities have not released the contents of the message.

…Mexico has been plagued in recent years by drug-related violence blamed on powerful cartels that are battling for turf and control of the smuggling routes into the United States. Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking organizations, according to experts, are the Sinaloa, Tijuana, Gulf, Juarez and Beltran Leyva cartels, and La Familia Michoacana. Los Zetas, a group of army special forces veterans and deserters who initially worked as hitmen for the Gulf cartel, may now be operating as a cartel, some experts say.

…
The state is currently the scene of a bloody turf war between Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman and the Beltran Leyva cartel, whose leaders broke off from his Sinaloa cartel.

The Sinaloa organization, sometimes referred to by officials as the Pacific cartel, is the oldest drug cartel in Mexico and Guzman, considered extremely violent, is one of the most-wanted criminals in Mexico and the United States, where the Drug Enforcement Administration has offered a reward of $5 million for him. President Felipe Calderon, who took office in December 2006, has deployed 50,000 soldiers and 20,000 federal police nationwide to combat drug cartels and other criminal organizations. The anti-drug operation, however, has failed to put a dent in the violence due, according to experts, to drug cartels’ ability to buy off the police and even high-ranking officials. EFE

source: latin american herald tribune

Mumbai terrorists: unrecognizable faces

also see my post: unclaimed property for additional context

also see this long post by C. Story, which contains information allegedly given to Bob Chapman by a former, high-ranking member of the CIA, retired, which describes, among many other things, that peeling faces off of people is a calling card of certain intelligence operatives. scroll down to: THE CATASTROPHE, COURTESY OF THE CORRUPTION OF TENET, CHENEY AND BUSH

4. Colombian authorities nab 10 FARC rebels near Venezuelan border

BOGOTA – Colombian authorities captured 10 FARC guerrillas in several operations in Norte de Santander province, which borders on Venezuela, the Colombian government said Tuesday….All the people captured are accused of belonging to the financial and military network of the FARC and they will be turned over to the appropriate authorities to define their legal situation with an eye toward future prosecution or adjudication.

more @ latin american herald tribune

5. date unknown, maybe 2007: the mystery of Eugene Island 330 and self-renewing oil supplies

Look what i found on the Net about Self Renewing Oil Supplies Field. Quite an interesting articles and please share your thought.

Eugene Island is an oil field in the gulf of Mexico, 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana. It was discovered in 1973 and began producing 15,000 barrels of oil a day which then slowed to about 4,000 barrels in 1989.

But then for no logical reason whatsoever, production spiked back up to 13,000 barrels a day.

What the researchers found when they analyzed the oil field with time lapse 3-D seismic imaging is that there was an unexplained deep fault in the bottom corner of the computer scan, which showed oil gushing in from a previously unknown deep source and migrating up through the rock to replenish the existing supply.

Furthermore, the analysis of the oil now being produced at Eugene Island shows that its age is geologically different from the oil produced there after the refinery first opened. Suggesting strongly that it is now emerging from a different, unexplained source.

The last estimates of probable reserves shot up from 60 million barrels to 400 million barrels.

Both the scientists and geologists from the big oil companies have seen the evidence and admitted that the Eugene Island oil field is refilling itself.

Odd Reservoir Off Louisiana Prods Oil Experts to Seek a Deeper Meaning
By CHRISTOPHER COOPER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

This completely contradicts peak oil theory and with technology improving at an accelerating pace it seems obvious that there are more Eugene Islands out there waiting to be discovered. So the scientific community needs to embrace these possibilities and lobby for funding into finding more of these deep source replenishing oilfields.

The existence of self-renewing oil fields shatters the peak oil myth. If oil is a naturally replenishing inorganic substance then how can it possibly run out?

source: offshoreman

terrorist activity news: some narratives progress, others trail off

Feb 9

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Corruption & Crime, Drug Trafficking, Gatekeeping, Identities, India, Media, Pakistan, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Terrorism, The West | No Comments

Narrative progresses in Southeast Asia, West Africa, Pakistan: drug trafficking, Abu Sayyaf, JI, al qaeda, attacks on Westerners…

1. JI terrorist Dulmatin resurfaces on Jolo, Philippines - Abu Sayyaf — same area that US forces use wo/oversight

MANILA - AN ISLAMIST militant accused of being behind the deadly 2002 Bali bombings is alive and hiding in the southern Philippines despite earlier reports of his death, a senior military official said on Tuesday.

Dulmatin, leader of the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), was not killed in a clash in 2008 as the military initially believed, said Major General Juancho Sabban, the head of the Philippine Marines.

‘I believe, from what my sources say, he is still in Sulu,’ Maj. Gen. Sabban told reporters, referring to the southern chain of islands in the south including Jolo, a hotbed of Islamist militants.

He also said that another JI militant, Umar Patek, is also believed to be hiding in the Sulu islands and is being sheltered by the Abu Sayyaf, a local Muslim extremist group linked by intelligence agencies to the Al-Qaeda network.

Dulmatin, accused of helping the JI plan and carry out the Bali bombings that killed 202 people in the Indonesian resort island, was initially believed to have been killed by the military in the southern Philippines in January 2008. However DNA tests of the body of the slain man raised doubts that it was Dulmatin.

Patek and Dulmatin, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, have been hiding out in the Philippine jungle with the Abu Sayyaf group since 2003, intelligence officials have said. The US State Department has offered a reward of US$10 million (S$14 million) for information leading to the arrest of Dulmatin, and $1 million for Patek. — AFP

source: straits times

2. 2 Malaysians abducted in Borneo, affirming warning given by US authorities last month

KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia) - MALAYSIAN police said on Monday that two men have been abducted by gunmen near a Borneo town which the United States warned last month was being targeted by criminal and terrorist groups.

Noor Rashid Ibrahim, police chief in Sabah state, said the maritime border with the Philippines, which lies to the north of Borneo, had been sealed off to prevent the gunmen from escaping.

He said that the two abducted men, Malaysians working at a seaweed farm near the fishing town of Semporna were seized in the early hours of Monday by five men armed with two rifles. ‘Based on police investigation, the group is believed to be comprised of foreigners and locals out to commit robbery,’ he told reporters.

Mr Noor Rashid declined to say which country they came from, and also sidestepped questions over whether they were from the Abu Sayyaf militant group which is active in the southern Philippines.

The US embassy in Kuala Lumpur had warned that there were indications of strikes being planned in isolated areas of eastern Sabah state, including the diving resort of Sipadan as well as the destinations of Semporna and Mabul.

Mr Noor Rashid said that the two kidnapped men were a 40-year-old manager and a 25-year-old farm supervisor. He said their abductors arrived in a narrow-hulled boat and were believed to still be in Malaysian waters. — AFP

source: straits times

3. Malians face cocaine charges in the US: drug trafficking, FARC, al qaeda, Europe, West Africa

Three men have been charged with plotting to transport tons of cocaine across Africa with the help of Al Qaeda. The three defendants all of them from Mali, were arrested in Ghana on Wednesday and flown to the United States on Thursday night. The men said that they were helping some people set up a trafficking network to move what they thought was FARC’s cocaine from Ghana to the deserts of North Africa to Spain.

The 3 whose names were given as Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman, were charged with conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorist groups: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the FARC.

According to the charges, the men were alleged to be members of a criminal organization operating in the West African countries of Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali and that they worked with Al Qaeda groups in the region which ultimately promised to provide security for the North African leg of the journey. According to the New York Times, the three men were charged under statutes passed in 2006 that gave federal drug agents the authority to pursue narcotics and terrorism crimes committed anywhere in the world if a link between a drug offense and a specified act of terrorism or terrorist group could be established.

source: Newstime Africa

4. Plot foiled to bomb Americans in Pakistan hotel — police get testy with reporters

LAHORE—Pakistan police claimed Monday to have arrested six suspects, including a would-be suicide bomber, who were plotting to attack a five-star hotel and kill Americans. Police recovered an explosive-laden suicide vest fitted with 26 hand grenades during the operation in Lahore, the country’s second-biggest city, senior police superintendent Zulfikar Hameed told a news conference.

Police in Pakistan, which is under huge US pressure to do more to root out Islamist militants, routinely claim to foil high-profile attacks, most often in Karachi, but rarely release any details of the alleged plots. It is not possible to confirm the alleged plots independently.

The six suspects were paraded at the news conference wearing black masks to hide their identity….

Police also recovered four kilograms (nine pounds) of hashish, he added.

But officers angrily called a swift end to the news conference after a television reporter snatched away a hood, unmasking one of the suspects.

“If you behave like this we will not invite media in the future,” one police inspector said.

more @ inquirer

5. India: asks officers to please not speak to reporters there are too many leaks!

CBI officials are not allowed to interact with the media under their service rules. Only the CBI director and the chief PRO is allowed to interact with reporters and share details of stories. Journalists are not allowed to carry mobile phones, camera, laptop and other electronic gadgets inside the CBI headquarters at the CGO complex in New Delhi.

A new circular issued by the top brass of the agency has asked the officers to refrain from speaking to the media.

The agency sleuths are anyway not supposed to talk to the press under the service rules laid down for them, so why the circular?”The directions are against any particular group of mediapersons or individuals. It is only meant to alert the officials from some fake journalists who can misuse the information imparted to them,” explained an official spokesperson for the top investigating agency.

CBI sources told MiD DAY that though no such journalist has been encountered by the agency, so far but the circular seems a clear effort to “safeguard the secrets better.” While contents of the circular, issued last week, is being guarded as a much-valued secret, sources said it is “very clear and categorical in nature.”

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, highly-placed officials in the CBI headquarters told the agency has already been under fire from various quarters for cases under its investigation, the word of caution would help the agency to stem bad publicity. They also pointed out that the notice is “actually about mediapersons who could be trying to do sting operations on cases being investigated by the CBI.”

“Recently, the agency came under public scrutiny after news reports related to Sant Singh Chatwal. Though public enjoy such investigative stories but sometimes the repercussions are very hard on the CBI officials related to that particular case. It is assumed that the story leaked from their end,” said a senior CBI official, requesting anonymity.

Sant Singh Chatwal whose name appeared in the latest list of Padma awardees was later discovered as a multiple offender who has been under CBI scanner for cases of fraud against him. Earlier the CBI had earned public ire for its probe into cases against Bofors kickbacks accused Ottavio Quattrocchi. “Of late the department became a subject of ridicule on issues like Bofors, Nithari, kidney transplant racket, Arushi double murder case and Ruchika Girhotra molestation case. It is assumed that officers connected to the cases leak information to the media and hence the notice,” the officer said.

source: mid-day

Narrative limps along slowly in Mexico shooting cases: drug trafficking, gunmen escape and reportedly go on to kill others, arrests of a few people around the edges. evidently some people are supposed to get away with murder.

1. a suspected lookout arrested in attack that killed 15 youth in Ciudad Juarez

Reporting from Mexico City — Authorities in the border city of Ciudad Juarez said on Tuesday night that they had arrested a man suspected of taking part in a shooting attack on a high-school party that killed at least 15 people early Sunday.

Officials summoned reporters to see the suspect, who said in their presence that the main Juarez-based drug cartel targeted the party because it had received reports that members of a rival trafficking group were in attendance.

The suspect, identified as Jose Dolores Arroyo Chavarria, said he acted as a lookout for the 24 or so gunmen he said took part. He said they were ordered to kill everyone inside.

Authorities said they arrested the suspect Monday afternoon after army troops interrupted the planned assassination of a drug rival. Killed during that gunfight was one of the men who allegedly supervised the assault on the party, in which dozens of young people packed a private home.

Officials said some of the same gunmen are believed to be responsible for the killings of four people Monday at a dance hall.

Authorities in the state of Chihuahua on Tuesday gave the number of dead as 15, though a day earlier they had said 16 died, a figure corroborated by local news reports.

Parents of the slain teens have denied that their children were involved in criminal activity.

source: la times

2. another arrest in the same case

Police have made a second arrest in connection with last weekend’s party massacre which left 15 people dead in the Colonia Salvarcar of Cuidad Juarez. Witnesses at the site of the massacre said they believed one of the “lookouts” for the group of armed men was driving a Jeep Cherokee.

Police said the witnesses gave police a description of the jeep and the license plate number. Police stopped the Jeep Cherokee and arrested the driver, Israel Arzate Melendez, who later confessed to taking part in the massacre. Juarez police say they now know the names of three other suspects.

http://www.foxrio2.com/2nd-shooting-suspect-arrested-in-cuidad-juarez/

3. Salvadore Cabanas case: just unconfirmed rumors (links removed)
Salvador Cabañas: Assailant Captured and Arrested in Sonora? True? Or Rumors?

Al Dia, Costa Rica newspaper, has reported that the Mexican newspaper, Diario Reforma, suggests that Jose Jorge Balderas (aka. JJ or el Modelo), Salvador Cabañas’ assailant, has been captured and arrested by Mexican authorities. Baldera was staying at a local hotel in the Municipality of Puerto Peñasco located in the State of Sonora.

According to Al Dia, it appears that media reports have been confirmed by the State Attorney General’s Office and Notimex, the official Mexican Government News Agency. However, no other governmental office has either confirmed or denied this rumor.

http://www.beautifulfootball.info/2010/02/salvador-caba%C3%B1as-assailant-captured-and-arrested-in-sonora-true-or-rumors.html

no mistake

Feb 2

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, Central America, Corruption & Crime, Drug Trafficking, Identities, Media, Military, Mind-fucking, Mossad, Psychopaths, Terrorism | No Comments

This is terrorism.

Just across the US border.
Young people celebrating a soccer championship and a birthday.
Killed at a house party.
By drug cartels.
Randomly.
And it must have been a misunderstanding…because these were good kids.

But there’s no mistake, no misunderstanding. This is the idea.

Drugs. Danger. Close. Youth. Sports……”Random.”

It’s NOT random. This is terrorism. Conditioning your mind. It’s all in the papers. You only have to look. They want you to know this, very much, that there’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing even that THEY can do, because they tried. See? It’s hopeless. You can do everything right, and the authorities can try to protect you, but the terrorists will still strike. You can put your children into sports and keep them away from drugs, and they can still be targeted. That’s the message coming through loud and clear in all the important papers. Do you get it?

Terrorism is organized crime. The only question we need to answer: Who organizes it? And we already know the answer to that question.

For example, plots in Turkey are being exposed day by day, where the fascist group Ergenekon, which is tied to Mossad and the CIA and corrupt elements of the Turkish military, has a 5,000 page document planning acts of terrorism, to be blamed on al qaeda, including killing 200-300 Turkish children on a field trip, with the express purpose of toppling the Turkish government (Erdogan & Gul), and ushering in a military dictatorship. Seriously. This is what we’re dealing with. Click through to aangirfan.

LA Times: Reporting from Mexico City - Authorities in Ciudad Juarez said Monday that they have no idea what motivated a weekend shooting attack against a group of young partygoers that killed at least 16 people in the border city.

The death toll rose from 14 after two more victims died Monday from wounds suffered during the assault, in which gunmen in seven vehicles sealed off the street and opened fire on a party packed with teenagers. More than a dozen people were wounded during the attack around midnight Saturday.

The majority of the dead were under 20, and most were high school or college students..

..”The violence has always been between the criminal groups, [but] in this case in particular — good kids, students, athletes — there is no apparent motive for these deeds, and that is what concerns Juarez residents most today,” Reyes said during a radio interview. “This case is very difficult for us.”

The International News: Ferriz also encouraged local citizens to give information and tips through a new anonymous system.

“To solve this all us citizens of Juarez should insist that this case is solved. We obviously require the participation of local citizens and it is important to encourage everyone to participate in the “crime stoppers” system. It’s an anonymous system that allows information to be truly confidential. Not even the authorities know the identity of those who give information,” he said….Violence is escalating even as federal police and soldiers patrol the streets. Some 2,650 people were killed in drug violence in Ciudad Juarez last year and cartel murders have jumped since the start of 2010.

NYT: Juárez has become ground zero in the government’s war against drug traffickers, as rival cartels use their enormous firepower to fight over drug distribution and routes across the border to Texas.

Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said Monday that investigators had no motive for the crime and that the victims were “innocent civilians.”…As they cowered in their houses, neighbors dialed emergency services, but soldiers and police officers did not arrive until after the shooting had stopped….A neighbor who gave his name only as Hector was quoted by The Associated Press as having said the students must have been attacked by mistake….Last month, the federal police said that 2,000 additional officers would be sent to the city to add to the soldiers and state police officers patrolling Ciudad Juárez. Five more people were killed in the Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa early Sunday when gunmen fired repeatedly on their car. Among the dead were a state police officer and a 16-year-old girl, state officials said.

Chinaview: Some 20 armed men entered the house and shot at them before escaping the crime scene in seven vehicles….Mexico is the key transit route for U.S.-bound cocaine from South America and the country itself is a top producer of marijuana and heroin.

Dallas News: Like most killings here, the motives remain unclear: Most of those interviewed said the teens had nothing to do with drugs. What’s troubling, though, is that the latest bloodbath marks a watershed moment for this city, as the victims – all students who grew up together – were not gathered at a bar or a rehab center but at a private home….It comes just weeks after President Felipe Calderon sent 2,000 U.S.-trained federal police officers to help restore order in this city. They joined about 7,000 soldiers and other local and state authorities to take on cartels in Juárez fighting to control drug distribution routes leading to the United States, the world’s largest drug consumer market. Juárez is across the Rio Grande from El Paso. For about two weeks, Calderon’s latest strategy seemed to be working as the killings fell dramatically. But it didn’t last. Since Thursday, at least 40 people had been killed, bringing the total for January to more than 220 people. In 2009, more than 2,700 people were killed, making Juárez the deadliest city in the Americas and one of the most violent in the world.

Others blamed the federal agents standing guard or federal investigators who were trying to piece together what had happened and why. They complained that the police and soldiers took too long to arrive after the emergency calls were made. And when they arrived, they wasted too much time before taking the victims to a nearby hospital. Some parents, out of frustration, said they took their children in their private vehicles. As two investigators walked by slowly, with notepads out, some of the relatives hissed at them and shook their heads in disgust. “Don’t waste your time or mine,” said one woman, who said her name was Teresa. Like most, she spoke on the condition of anonymity, explaining that she trusted no one in a country where more than 95 percent of all crimes remain unsolved. She answered a few questions and then buried her face in her hands and burst into tears. Two of the victims were her nephews. Both were baseball fanatics and had left their gloves in the front yard after playing a few hours before the massacre.

The victims’ final hours were replayed between family members as they looked for clues. The day they were killed, some studied or ran errands for their parents or played football or softball. By early evening, they washed up and prepared to celebrate their friend’s 19th birthday at a nearby home provided by a parent to keep the teens out of town where they feared the killings are more common. …“We did everything right,” Soto said. “We raised them to be good, educated people, to dream of a better future. Where did we go wrong?”

LA Times, Headline: As Mexican teens celebrate school soccer win, gunmen open fire…Last month, the Calderon administration took a new tack. Amid widespread complaints that soldiers were trampling people’s rights, the government decided to reduce the army’s profile by pulling troops off the streets and sent in 3,000 more federal police officers to carry out patrolling and investigative duties.

UK Press Association: Police officials said witnesses told them there were at least 15 attackers.

Violence also rocked the oceanside Mexican community of Lazaro Cardenas. Police in the south-western city say that, just after midnight on Saturday, about 20 heavily armed gunmen riding in trucks with tinted windows attacked a police station with grenades and assault rifles, killing a police officer and two civilians - a mother and her son who had come to pay a fine.

Also early on Sunday morning, three women and two men, all identified as Mexican citizens, were murdered while driving in their van with California number plates near the western Mexican city of Navolato. The bodies of the five victims, including a 16-year-old girl, were found riddled with bullets, said Martin Gastelum, attorney general for the state of Sinaloa, where Navolato is located. Authorities also found more than 60 spent shell casings from Kalashnikov assault rifles in the van, Gastelum said.

CNN: “There was no situation that provoked it,” Reyes said. “The people who died were young. They were good people. There was no association with any crime group.”

The attack occurred around 12:30 a.m. local time Sunday in southern Juarez, Municipal Police communications spokesman Jacinto Seguro said. “Witnesses said the gunmen arrived in seven cars, closing down the streets and blocking exits,” Seguro said. “They then stormed into the party and began shooting as the group was watching a soccer game,” he said, adding that windshields and windows on the cars were darkly tinted. Reyes said Monday there were at least four vehicles and up to seven. The number fluctuates, he said, depending on the survivors’ memories.

“Now, the danger is that they will come into anyone’s home and shoot anybody,” said Teresa Henriquez, an aunt of one of the victims, according to El Universal newspaper. “We have no one to protect us or defend us.” Despite thousands of troops being deployed to Juarez, the violence there is unabated.

trafficking news

Feb 1

Posted by A. Peasant in Children, Corruption & Crime, Drug Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Terrorism, UK | No Comments

1. Haiti holds 10 Americans suspected of trafficking children, as you’ve no doubt heard, since this one has made it to teevee. this might go one of two ways. it might be an attempt at damage control / limited hangout, to draw attention away from the larger problem and hold some people accountable while managing the narrative that it is merely an “adoption” ring, ie: not *that* bad. OR, if they are cleared and it turns out to all be a “misunderstanding” over “paperwork”, it might serve to debunk the concerns over child trafficking, and discredit the people who are claiming it’s a very huge problem, making them out to be hysterics. we’ll have to see if they expand the conversation to illegal organ trafficking, child sex trafficking, etc. i doubt it. instead i think we will see (continued) major gate keeping around this topic, as it vectors directly into The Pedophocracy.

Haitian police were holding 10 US citizens Saturday evening on suspicion they tried to slip out of the country with 31 Haitian children in a trafficking scheme, a government minister said.

Haitian Social Affairs Minister Yves Christallin said the police arrested five men and five women with US passports, and two Haitians, as they tried to cross into the Dominican Republic with the children Friday night. He said two pastors were also involved, one in Haiti and one in Atlanta, Georgia.

more @ inquirer

2. children in question very fearful of adults, most have families, people express shock. the picture shows clean, well kept children. why would people take these children when there were 300,000+ restavek (ie: slave) children in Haiti BEFORE the earthquake to choose from? if people want to traffic children, they have an ample supply of uncared for children to pick from. so looks like this might be building up for a combo misunderstanding /wrist-slapping resolution, and everyone will breathe a sigh of relief. Be More Careful Next Time! sure.

“The majority of these children have families. Some of the older ones said their parents are alive, and some gave an address and phone numbers,” said Vargas, a Costa Rican who is in charge of SOS Children’s operations in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

…Inside the SOS Village scores of volunteers from countries including Chile, Guatemala and Costa Rica do not hide the shock of the news.

“Even if we had … [suspected] that this was happening in Haiti after the earthquake, it is a shock,” said SOS spokesman Georg Willeit, an Austrian.

more @ telegraph

3. teacher to plead not guilty to abuse charges

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Colorado man is expected to plead not guilty to new charges that he sexually abused boys at a school he founded in Haiti.

A Colorado man is expected to plead not guilty to new charges that he sexually abused boys at a school he founded in Haiti. Douglas Perlitz is scheduled to appear Tuesday in federal court in New Haven. Perlitz was charged last year with sexually abusing nine boys. Prosecutors doubled the number of alleged victims to 18 with a new indictment announced Thursday. Perlitz pleaded not guilty last year to the original charges. His lawyer, William Dow III, said Thursday that he would also plead not guilty to the new counts.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=7249350

4. 9.5 MILLION people trafficked in Asia-Pacific since 2005.

MANILA, Philippines—An estimated 9.49 million people were in forced labor in the Asia-Pacific region as of 2005, with a significant number believed to be in the Mekong region, according to United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO).

Thus, officials from the six countries of South-East Asia’s Mekong region and observers from the United Nations and other stakeholders opened a two-day meeting in Myanmar Thursday to step up the war on human trafficking, including sexual slavery and labor exploitation.

The meeting brings together ministers from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, along with observers from the UN, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking of Persons Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and donors.

more @ global nation

5. in other trafficking news, Israel says that Hamas guy who got whacked? yeah, he was smuggling weapons to Hezbollah. other than that, we don’t know anything about it.

Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was slain in a Dubai hotel room, played a key role in smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, an Israeli army official said. “This guy was a middleman for smuggling weapons from Iran, not only to Gaza but to Hizbullah” in Lebanon, the official told The Los Angeles Times.Among other things, Mabhouh, believed to be about 50, was suspected of helping to route smuggled arms through Sudan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. One of the arms convoys was bombed in Sudan last year, reportedly by Israeli aircraft.

“Of course, the moment a guy like this is dead, there is always someone to replace him,” the military official said. “But information (about arms-smuggling routes) is usually kept very secret. You have to renew the connections, rebuild the trust. It takes some time to grow into his shoes. It shakes the whole system.”

Though Israel has not acknowledged any role in the killing of al-Mabhouh on Jan. 20, it was one of several mysterious deaths of Arab militants attributed to Israel’s Mossad spy agency over the years.

Relatives and Hamas officials said al-Mabhouh was electrocuted and poisoned, perhaps by having his face smothered with a poison-soaked cloth. Despite surviving what his family says were several earlier attempts on his life, he had traveled without bodyguards to avoid drawing attention.

source: naharnet

6. aq, jumping the shark: watch out for the latest new thing in the war on terror, terrorists who have their bombs surgically inserted in their bodies. so they inject themselves when they want to explode. yeah. that’s pretty normal. do you think they’d have to be under mind control? but nevermind that. do you see that you can NEVER EVER in a million years EVER be safe from these diabolical people, these al qaeda terrorists? that’s the point. you are powerless.

Britain is facing a new Al Qaeda terror threat from suicide ‘body bombers’ with explosives surgically inserted inside them.

Until now, terrorists have attacked airlines, Underground trains and buses by secreting bombs in bags, shoes or underwear to avoid detection. But an operation by MI5 has uncovered evidence that Al Qaeda is planning a new stage in its terror campaign by inserting ‘surgical bombs’ inside people for the first time. Security services believe the move has been prompted by the recent introduction at airports of body scanners, which are designed to catch terrorists before they board flights. It is understood MI5 became aware of the threat after observing increasingly vocal internet ‘chatter’ on Arab websites this year. [i love that... "it is understood"]

more @ daily mail

7. more terrorist creativity: Philippine senate to probe rice shipment from Vietnam

Senator Richard Gordon said Saturday the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will look into the discovery of sacks of a white substance which can be turned into either shabu or explosives that were found in a shipment of rice imported by the National Food Authority from Vietnam.

Gordon, who chairs the committee, said there was something highly suspicious in the discovery of N-methylephedrine, which was later said to be ammonium sulfate, in a shipment of 77,000 bags of NFA rice from Vietnam to Bacolod City as it could be a move to raise funds for the elections.

…The following day, the Bureau of Customs in Bacolod City issued a hold order on a Vietnam-registered vessel, MW Trai Thien 66, its crew and its cargo of 77,000 bags of rice consigned to the NFA in the wake of the discovery of the bags of white crystalline substance.

…Negros media were baffled by the fact that while PDEA officials on Thursday evening and Friday morning confirmed the seized substance to be N-methylephedrine, later in the day they were saying it was ammonium sulfate.

Paul Ledesma, head of the PDEA in Western Visayas, said the earlier findings of N-methylephedrine were based on a Philippine National Police laboratory test in Negros Occidental but a later test done by the PDEA in Manila showed it to be ammonium sulfate.

N-methylepehedrine can be processed into an ingredient in manufacturing shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride). Ammonium sulphate, on the other hand, is a fertilizer component but can also be used in producing explosives.

The rice from Vietnamese was part of the rice importation that the Department of Agriculture announced in December last year.

An announcement on Dec. 14, 2009 on the DA website said the NFA had given the notice of awards to four winning bidders to supply a total of 509,950 metric tons of well-milled long grain white rice to the Philippines .

The NFA awarded the rice importation to Vietnam Southern Food Corp., Louis Dreyfus Commodities Asia Pte. Ltd., Chairyaporn Rice Co., Ltd and Asia Golden Rice, it said.

A total of 300,000 metric tons of rice will be sourced from Vietnam. The balance of 209,950 tons will come from Thailand, the United States, China and Pakistan.

The whole shipment is scheduled to arrive within the first half of the year starting January until May, it added.

8. cocaine bricks wash up on Philippines shores

February 1, 2010

January 8, 2010

December 29, 2009

passenger of interest

Jan 26

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Angola, Drug Trafficking, Lebanon, Terrorism, UK | No Comments

According to reports*, one of the people killed in the Ethiopian plane crash off the coast of Lebanon was Hassan Tajideen, the administrator of Angolan-based food import company Arosfran.

A short report in PropertyWeek.com, (UK) 12/17/07:

Trocadero boss in $20m fraud suit
http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?storycode=3102458#ixzz0dll7KIat

In documents filed at the High Court, Golfrate’s new owners, Hassan Tajideen, his brother Kassim and Nasser Eid, allege that Aziz – whose company Criterion Capital is worth £620m – doctored accounts, invented false expenses claims and used company money to pay for luxury trips.

In 2003 Kassim Tajideen was arrested in Belgium in connection with fraud, money laundering and diamond smuggling, although he was never charged.

Aziz declined to comment, other than to say that he was fighting the case and would file a counter-claim.

Asif Aziz is the Chief Executive of Criterion Capital. From Criterion’s website:

Asif’s career began in 1992 at Morgan Grenfell Laurie, where he advised international clients on their real estate strategies. In 1995, he founded an FMCG distribution company and negotiated exclusive territory distribution agreements with Nestle, Unilever and Kraft. {See this post at aangirfan for recent activity regarding Kraft Foods. Kraft Foods is very pro-Israel.} This business was sold in 2005, allowing Asif to focus full time on his role as investment advisor.

A list of the ten wealthiest Muslims in the UK, dated 6/25/06, in the Islamic Times, included Asif Aziz and family:

7- Asif Aziz and Family - Born in Malawi - 39 year old Asif and his Golftrate Group bought the Trocadero in Piccadilly for 200 million pounds. The Golftrate group owns assets worth at least 620 million pounds, and with interests in Africa, the family is said to be worth many millions more. Asif himself, is said to be worth around 100 million pounds.

A Telegraph.co.uk story expanded on the allegations against Aziz, 12/16/07:

Asif Aziz, the property magnate who owns the Trocadero, is being sued for $20m over claims that he defrauded a Lebanese businessman once alleged to be involved with the trade in African “blood diamonds”. [ 4 years earlier -- he was not charged ]

Aziz is accused of illegally ramping the price of Golfrate Africa and Ovlas Trading, two Angolan food manufacturing businesses he sold in 2005, just before he bought the Trocadero, a vast building on London’s Piccadilly Circus that houses shops, restaurants, a cinema and Funland, an indoor fairground.

In documents filed at the High Court and obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, Golfrate’s new owners, Hassan Tajideen, his brother Kassim and Nasser Eid, allege that Aziz - whose company Criterion Capital is worth £620m - doctored accounts, invented false expenses claims and used company money to pay for luxury trips. In 2003 Kassim Tajideen was arrested in Belgium in connection with fraud, money laundering and diamond smuggling, although he was never charged.

Aziz declined to comment, other than to say that he was fighting the case and would file a counter-claim.

The Lebanese claim that Aziz, who is personally worth more than £100m, asked his company accountants to exaggerate the value of the companies, which package and distribute food in Angola.

The High Court claim form refers to a series of e-mails sent by Aziz to his chief accountant, Clifford Gundry.

In one e-mail Aziz allegedly asks: “Will they check each figure - can we not bullshit the numbers another way? Food for thought.”

In a further e-mail littered with spelling mistakes to another executive, Aziz allegedly says: “This morning I had a discussion with Clifford on BULSHITTING [sic] issue. There are following thing [sic] which could be maneuvered [sic] but possibilities are little. STOCK: Easiest thing to manipulate.”

The new owners also claim that Aziz falsified a series of expenses claims or spent money on expensive luxury clothes and trips just before selling the company on.

…The claim also details $51,200 spent on car hire, according to a voucher in the companies’ accounts.”Attached to the said voucher was a copy of a purported ‘agreement’ dated 1 May 2005 between Mr Aziz (purportedly signing in his capacity as “Honorary Consul of Malawi”), and Mr Rehman [another company executive], who signed on behalf of Golfrate. Under the terms of the ‘agreement’ Golfrate purportedly rented four vehicles at a rate of US$6,400 per month from the Malawi Consulate.”

Malawi-born Aziz was forced to abandon plans for a 503-bedroom hotel in the Trocadero last month when Westminster councillors criticised his redesign for the building. They branded as “hideous” a planned new glass façade that was to be lit up with different colours.

It was the second time Westminster Council had turned down Aziz’s redevelopment plans, which he can resubmit early next year.

^^^^^^^

On January 25, 2010, the BBC very helpfully reported on the history of the Lebanese in West Africa, so you would know these following important things:

The crash…has highlighted the strong ties between Lebanon and Africa.

Many passengers are believed to have been on their way to West Africa, where Lebanese are the biggest non-African migrant community.

…Nevertheless, the Lebanese community across West Africa, thought to be between 80,000 and 250,000 strong, has not only continued to do business but has thrived.

…The Lebanese in West Africa have always been merchants, using their connections abroad to source goods for import, and - like other migrant groups - they use their family networks to keep their costs down. As a result they have built a strong economic presence across the region.

Nowadays, the Lebanese community has interests in many areas and are the backbone of most markets - car importing, mining, oil services, defence contracts - and the more shadowy worlds of gun-running, diamond-smuggling and crude-oil theft.

…Many Africans say openly how much they hate the Lebanese in their respective countries. But the Lebanese tenacity, aptitude for business and drive to succeed mean they have been sown into the fabric of West African economics, politics and culture.

You may also recall that DEA director Jay Bergman recently said the following, as reported on 1/4/10 by Reuters:

“As suggested by the recent arrest of three alleged al Qaeda operatives, the expansion of cocaine trafficking through West Africa has provided the venue for an unholy alliance between South American narco-terrorists and Islamic extremists,” Bergman said in an interview over the weekend.

Several prominent people were asserting various connections between Venezuela, Iran, FARC, Hamas, Hezbollah, al qaeda, Europe, drugs, airports, etc. a few weeks back. Around the same time — a flurry of visitors to Lebanon, including David Johnson, assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs.

So we see the narrative setting up. First we heard that the drugs were coming from West Africa, and now we learn that the Lebanese are in West Africa, playing a long-standing dominant role.

And now someone has died in the plane crash, who, you will see, fits into this narrative.

^^^^^^^

On 5/27/09, the US Treasury issued a press release about Kassim Tajideen:
http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/tg149.htm

WASHINGTON- The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated Kassim Tajideen and Abd Al Menhem Qubaysi, two Africa-based supporters of the Hizballah terrorist organization, under E.O. 13224. E.O. 13224 targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism by freezing any assets the designees have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions with them.

“We will continue to take steps to protect the financial system from the threat posed by Hizballah and those who support it,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey. “Not only is Hizballah itself a terrorist organization with global reach, it also recently acknowledged publicly that it provides support to Hamas.”

Kassim Tajideen is an important financial contributor to Hizballah who operates a network of businesses in Lebanon and Africa. He has contributed tens of millions of dollars to Hizballah and has sent funds to Hizballah through his brother, a Hizballah commander in Lebanon. In addition, Kassim Tajideen and his brothers run cover companies for Hizballah in Africa. In 2003, Tajideen was arrested in Belgium in connection with fraud, money laundering, and diamond smuggling. [Though he was never charged. !! They FORGOT to mention that. And they don't name his brother either.]

Abd Al Menhem Qubaysi is a Cote d’Ivoire-based Hizballah supporter and is the personal representative of Hizballah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. Qubaysi communicates with Hizballah leaders and has hosted senior Hizballah officials traveling to Cote d’Ivoire and other parts of Africa to raise money for Hizballah. Qubaysi plays a visible role in Hizballah activities in Cote d’Ivoire, including speaking at Hizballah fundraising events and sponsoring meetings with high-ranking members of the terrorist organization.

Qubaysi also helped establish an official Hizballah foundation in Cote d’Ivoire which has been used to recruit new members for Hizballah’s military ranks in Lebanon.

This information was then gleefully and promptly echoed through the echo chamber by chaps like Matthew Levitt at WINEP, etc.

Although it appears that nobody tracks down Kassim’s brother’s name. They just refer to him as “his brother, a Hizbollah commander in Lebanon.” What, no name?

So is Hassan Tajideen, who died in the plane crash, the brother of Kassim Tajideen, who the US Treasury has designated an “important financial contributor to Hizbullah?” It would seem so from the lawsuit against Asif Aziz.

But whether he was also a Hizbollah commander in Lebanon… ???

He must have had excellent time management skills.

Ovlas Trading SA

We are an import and export company with several branches, wholesales and supermarkets all over West and South Africa. Our operations are mainly in Angola “Grupo Arosfran” & “Golfrate Holdings”, D.R. Congo “Congo Futur” & “ATCOM”, Sierra Leone “Tajco” & “Tradex”, Ghana “Taj Investment” & “SRG Factories”, Gambia “Kairaba Supermarkets” & “HT Stores”, Mozambique and last but not least South Africa. With offices in Lebanon, China, Brazil and Belgium.

* attempts to confirm lead to dead ends

the flames burning all around

Jan 23

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, CIA, Central America, Corruption & Crime, Drug Trafficking, France, Identities, India, Iran, Israel, Nigeria, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Southeast Asia, Terrorism, UK | No Comments

Current interlinked narratives — apologies for the length:

1. UK raises the terror alert to “severe.” AS A RESULT of underpants bomber, the security services have tightened their vigilance.

Thus we shall be grateful for the crisis narrowly averted, hmm? It has borne the fruits of hyper-vigilance, a symptom, by the way, of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But who’s counting…

“We still face a real and serious threat to the U.K. from international terrorism, so I would urge the public to remain vigilant and carry on reporting suspicious events to the appropriate authorities and to support the police and security services in their continuing efforts to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity,” he said, adding that U.K. residents and travelers need to be “more aware.” — Home Secretary Alan Johnson, as reported in USA Today

This brings UK policies in line with US DHS policies. We are all on the same page now, hallelujah. A terrorist attack is “highly likely,” but there’s no “intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent.”

What is the “intelligence” “suggesting?”

1. The increased concern followed intelligence analysis. Communications and activities of terror suspects were being monitored. The new “severe” threat is the second highest possible.

2. ‘We have a very adept and very focused counter-terrorism facility, people should be reassured by that.’ He said that moving to the different threat level meant people had to be more alert.

3. The danger assessment was made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which constantly reviews the situation. It looks at the intent and capabilities of terror groups. Although it means an attack is now believed to be almost certain, Mr Johnson stressed it was not expected in the very near future.

So the attack is “almost certain,” but not in the “very near future.” The “intelligence” “suggests” people need to be more “alert,” and more “concerned,” and to “carry on reporting suspicious events” to the “appropriate authorities” and “to support the police and security services” in their efforts to “discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity.” Roger that.

Note that all such vigilant efforts can be tied back to patsy underpants, who, by almost taking down that commercial airliner over Detroit, alerted us once again to the ever-present menace of international terrorism. SO he did us a favor in a way. See? He justified the increased vigilance, which now pays off. We Hope. Because, of course, we know the terrorists are so very wily, and they seem magically able to outwit even our best, most vigilant efforts. Let’s hope we don’t have any more of that unfortunate bugaboo: Human Error.

2. The tie to Africa and the Caribbean.

The UK terror alert measures followed a Tuesday meeting between Brown and President Obama. Brown said Britain and other countries face a “sharply growing threat” from al qaeda linked terrorists in Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia.

On Thursday Newtime Africa reported that the Jamaican cleric Abdullah al-Faisal had finally been deported, on the second attempt, from Kenya back to Jamaica. He was due in court. He left Kenya on a private chartered Gulfstream jet, last week.

Nairobi - Kenya has sent controversial Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Faisal back to his homeland, a state prosecutor said Thursday, days after protests demanding his release turned deadly. Edward Okello told a Nairobi court where al-Faisal was due to appear that the cleric had been put on a private jet to Jamaica. Al-Faisal, who has served time in the UK for inciting racial hatred and is on international terrorist watch list, arrived in Kenya from Tanzania in late December, and was arrested around a week later. Kenya tried to deport him to The Gambia earlier this month, but he was sent back. Police on Friday broke up a demonstration in support of al-Faisal, firing bullets and tear gas into the crowd. Five protesters died from bullet wounds. The 45-year-old cleric was sentenced to four years imprisonment in Britain in 2003 after he called on his followers to kill Jews and Hindus. He was deported upon his release in 2007. Born Trevor William Forrest in St James, Jamaica, he went to Saudi Arabia aged 16 and converted to Islam.

Yes, he seems to get around, that notorious terrorist hater. He must have connections. But now, and I tell you this with a straight face, his whereabouts are not exactly known. Because, evidently, of the many righteous people in positions of authority, who have declined to issue him a transit visa, lest he pollute their pristine airspace with his terrorist fumes…or something….I guess it’s not exactly Human Error, or maybe it is but it is Well Intentioned. In any event it seems EXCEEDINGLY OBTUSE AND LEGALISTIC CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES for people who claim to be serious about fighting terrorism twenty four seven.

Their first effort stalled after several countries denied him an intransit visa and airlines that fly to friendly countries refused to transport him….Al Faisal’s exact location was not immediately clear. Officials say he had already left Kenya on a privately-chartered Gulfstream jet. But leader of the Kenya Muslim Rights Forum Al-Amin Kimathi, told the media the preacher was still at Nairobi airport. However sources at the airport later confirmed the plane had left, but not until several hours after he had been due in court.

Another source: First Tanzania refused him entry, and then on his way to the Gambia, an airline refused to take him beyond Nigeria because he is on several international terror watchlists.…“We wanted to be furnished with documents to show which anti-terrorism police unit officers followed him, who is the pilot, which plane, and such other documents,’ Harun Ndubi said.

Another source: In Nairobi, Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’ appealed to Britain and the United States governments to allow a-Faisal to transit through their countries. He said the government was stuck with the preacher because all routes to Jamaica must connect through either Britain or America.

The minister said if al-Faisal was to be flown out of the country by the national carrier, Kenya Airways, the connection would be at Gatwick in Britain then to Kingston, Jamaica. However Britain has been adamantly opposed to allow al-Faisal to transit through London. The preacher once served a four-year jail term in that country for hate speech.

The other option available to Kenya, according to Mr Kajwang’ said, was an offer by the Qatar government allowing al-Faisal to transit through its capital Doha. However, the flight must connect through Miami in Florida, USA.

South Africa had also accepted to allow the preacher to pass through its airport en route to Brazil who have no problem either. But the flight has to go through Havana, Cuba, where authorities have declined the arrangement.

As such, Mr Kajwang’ said, Kenya was left “with the last option of hiring a plane but it must connect through somewhere to fuel and again we do not have the money.” Al-Faisal was expected in Kingston on Wednesday, the Jamaican newspaper reported.

Another source: Radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah El-Faisal is expected to arrive in Jamaica today. A Senior Officer in the Jamaica Constabulary Force told the Gleaner that El Faisal is to arrive at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston sometime this morning. The source also said the controversial cleric is to be placed under extra scrutiny by the police. However, the source declined to elaborate on the matter.

Despite international reports of the deportation, the Police High Command and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have both claimed ignorance of the exact date of arrival of El Faisal. They have also said that no extra security measures are to be implemented against the cleric despite the fact that he is on an international watch list of terrorists.

What a pain in the ass. Finally, it appears that he did indeed arrive safely in Jamaica! Phew! Traveling in style like a Rock Star.

JAMAICAN-BORN Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, was quizzed by Special Branch investigators for nearly an hour [hoo boy that sounds like a brutal interrogation! - ed.] when he returned to the island last night.

One investigator made it clear that al-Faisal had not broken any laws here, but said the police wanted to make sure they knew where and how to find him “because of the international attention he has received”.

“He is a very smart man. He can tell us he is going to be here or there, but we want to make sure,” said one investigator, who recorded the licence plate of the minibus that whisked al-Faisal from the Norman Manley International Airport. [GOOD IDEA! - ed.]

Confronted by reporters as he exited the airport, the controversial Muslim cleric said he was too tired to answer any questions after two days of flying.

He would not disclose the route his plane took, but said the flight had been paid for by a South African company.

Informed sources told The Gleaner that after leaving Kenya, al-Faisal’s plane made fuel stops in the West African country of Burkina Faso, the Republic of Cape Verde and Antigua.

One source said al-Faisal told investigators the trip cost US$500,000.

The controversial cleric was ordered deported by Kenyan officials who labelled him a security threat. However, since the deportation order, several countries, including the United States, have refused to allow planes carrying al-Faisal to fly over their air space or provide him with an in-transit visa.

(I can’t believe they made him carry his own bags!)

This is as good a time as any to point out that some people in Nigeria and some people in Jamaica find it grossly unfair to be associated in the public mind with patsy underpants and notorious criminal al-Faisal, seeing as both men were raised and educated elsewhere.

“This is just one instance of a Nigerian who, it is clearly established, has no link with any fundamentalist group or any interest group within Nigeria, not even with his parents….America should look inward and search their souls, there is something wrong with their system and they should not punish Nigerians who are very law-abiding and good international citizens for the failure and irresponsibility of American operatives, Nigeria will not take that.” - Nigerian Senate President David Mark

“Indeed, he is a citizen of Jamaica by birth and no one can deny him access. However, he was taught and trained in a foreign territory and not in Jamaica. For example, he was converted to Islam and completed eight years of studies at a university in Saudi Arabia. He resided in the United Kingdom for 26 years and was deported from that country on May 25, 2007 after spending time in prison for criminal offences…His only connection to Jamaica is by birth, and he did not relinquish his citizenship or ties with Jamaica. Therefore, Jamaica has to accommodate such an individual in a country that already has a tarnished image. Abdullah al-Faisal has created a bad image for himself and has cast a bad shadow on everybody living in Jamaica, especially the Muslim group whose members are law-abiding citizens. Upon his arrival, authorities will have their work cut out for them in order to monitor his whereabouts.” — letter to the editor, Jamaica Observer

Except that the authorities appear to be treating al-Faisal like a ROCK STAR after his half mil private chartered Gulfstream flight paid for by some South African company after the US and UK were prevented — by a fit of moral compunction — to facilitate the criminal’s extradition to a court of law.

Weird, huh? After all that talk about vigilance.

3. Meanwhile, Gates had barely left India for Pakistan when the terrorist threats began in earnest there.

http://cbs2.com/national/Britian.terror.threat.2.1443420.html

This move by British officials comes as Indian authorities issued a terrorism alert over chatter that al Qaeda operatives planned to hijack a plane. India has largely been free of terror attacks since 10 heavily armed militants affiliated with a Pakistan-based militant group rampaged through the commercial capital Mumbai for three days in November 2008, killing 166 people.

India issued a terror alert at all its airports Thursday after the government received warnings about a possible attack, aviation spokeswoman Moushumi Chakravarty said.

A report in The Indian Express newspaper, which Chakravarty confirmed, said intelligence officials had uncovered a plot by militants linked to al Qaeda and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group to hijack an Air India or Indian Airlines flight destined for an unspecified South Asian country. There were no indications that the United Kingdom was in any way related to the uncovered hijack plot.

I collected about twenty or so stories this week here and here to flesh this out. The overall arc is the US will give cover to India while Pakistan-linked terrorists attack India or another Southeast Asian country, involving India. The key point being, evidently, to justify a response from India.

Just like the patsy underpants attack justified a response from the US and the UK.

This post deals with the connections between India, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and terrorism.

4. Meanwhile, the Clash of Civilization fires burn brightly, and Nicholas Sarkozy has the gasoline ready just in case.

But the UK is in Europe. In order for terrorism to be an international menace, problems must be seeded all over the world. *YOU* may experience difficulty traveling, but unlike you, terrorists use their mysterious international connections to travel, so that they show up halfway around the world, dammit, to commit mayhem in The West, and nobody can understand anything except that they came from a Muslim country.

Nicholas Sarkozy seems to have a special skill for mind-fucking. Notice that he parrots, almost religiously, whatever position Tel Aviv favors. Notice at the same time, he plays kiss kiss hug hug with Lebanon. Israel wants to bomb Lebanon again, just as they did in 2006. Make no mistake about it. Whether it’s Ghajar, or the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, or an attack on UNIFIL — something will take place to justify attacking Lebanon. And Lebanon is connected to Hizbollah, and Hizbollah is connected to Iran, and so whatever happens it will progress like a lit fuse with Wile E. Coyote until it reaches Iran.

To that end, Sarkozy makes various inflammatory statements. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3838323,00.html

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Saturday that he is “convinced that Iran is pursuing a nuclear program and the Israel will not abide that,” the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported.

According to the report, Sarkozy, who met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Paris, said France has proof that Tehran is developing a nuclear bomb and that Israel may choose to take action to neutralize the threat.

Oh, well, PLEASE DO SHARE THE “PROOF!”

The paper also quoted Sarkozy as saying that if given a choice between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he would choose the latter.

The French president also spoke of the recent international sanctioned proposed against the Islamic Republic by the UN Security Council, saying such sanctions may soon become a reality.

Meanwhile, Sarkozy also announced that Paris was willing to supply Beirut with whatever military equipment it needed.

Talk about running both sides of the conflict. Even though France worries, they just worry half to death, that the weapons will end up in Hizbullah’s hands.But, at the same time, they don’t want to leave the Lebanese unprotected.

Sources close to the French president told al-Hayat that Sarkozy said his country “cannot support and protect Lebanon’s independence without giving its military the necessary means of defense.” France, he reportedly added, needs neither the US nor Israel’s permission to support Lebanon’s independence. Should Israel views the issue as problematic, he added, “We will reach an understanding with it on the matter.”

In any case, there’s nothing to worry about because France and Israel are friends, and the only danger to Lebanon comes from Hizbullah and Iran. !!

Kouchner said Lebanese’ mounting concerns amid Israeli threats of another war were “not justified.” “Israel is our friend, and if there was a threat to Lebanon, it will only come from a military adventure carried out by Hizbullah in the best interest of Iran,” Kouchner warned.

Un-flipping-believable. So while all that is going on, Sarkozy — big world leader — keeps Muslim women in his cross-hairs in France, making sure that the French people have an annoying distraction caused by Muslims, while spinning it all as a morality play, and being a big tease about the whole thing just to keep the tension simmering.

Mr Sarkozy last week reiterated his view that the full veil was not welcome in France “because it is contrary to our values and contrary to the ideals we have of a woman’s dignity”. But he stopped short of calling for a legal ban in all public places, as proposed by some members of his party.

Another source: In a country whose national emblem is Marianne, a bare-chested woman, there is deepening concern over the all-encompassing garb, often black or brown and worn with gloves, attire typical in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Here, it is widely viewed as a gateway to radical Islam, an attack on gender equality and other French values, and a gnawing away at the nation’s secular foundation.

And of course he faithfully channels whatever Bibi would say regarding Iran.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday called for “strong measures” by the United Nations Security Council against Iran, to exert pressure on Tehran to return to negotiations on its nuclear program. Speaking in Paris, Sarkozy said that the European Union should also “assume its responsibilities” in putting pressure on Iran to enter into talks.

Sarkozy warned that hesitation by the international community on the issue would carry “a great weight of responsibility”, reports Reuters. “Despite all our efforts, and a new engagement by the United States, and despite our ambitious proposals for cooperation, the Iranian authorities are blocked in a one-way street of proliferation and radicalism,” he said in an address to diplomats based in France.

“Today, they have added to that the brutal repression of their own people,” he added.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed that world powers would “not back down” in the face of Iran’s continued refusal to prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful. Iran has shunned a United Nations-brokered nuclear fuel deal, aimed at easing the standoff over its nuclear program. Tehran, which insists that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, has vowed to press forward with its uranium enrichment program, despite UN demands to halt such work.

They demand Iran prove a negative, and they offer NO PROOF of Iran’s supposed nuclear program. They have none. If France has some proof, show it to the world. There’s probably nothing there but another forged document.

Why does this next war need to happen? The nuclear program narrative justifies what they want to do — which is bomb various targets in Iran. Iran’s alleged nuclear program, for which no evidence has ever been provided, makes a good excuse to bomb Iran’s oil fields — to control Iran’s resources. Which must happen because the failing fiat currency, the US dollar, needs to be replaced, and they don’t want any Islamic non-usurious banking system luring their wage slaves away. Who controls the currency? The Rothschilds and the Rockefellers and the other banking families.

All the rest is psyops and profiteering and human sacrifice.

using drugs and planes, al qaeda will show up wherever needed. you watch.

Jan 15

Posted by A. Peasant in Afghanistan, Canada, Corruption & Crime, Drug Trafficking, Lebanon, Southeast Asia, Terrorism, UK | No Comments

1. terror warning on Borneo, Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR - THE United States embassy in Malaysia issued a warning on Friday that criminal and terrorist groups are planning attacks against foreigners in Sabah state on Borneo island. The embassy said there was ‘present concern’ over resorts in isolated areas in eastern Sabah including the diving island of Sipadan where foreign hostages were snatched in 2000. ‘There are indications that both criminal and terrorist groups are planning or intend acts of violence against foreigners in eastern Sabah,’ the embassy said in a warden notice posted on its website. ‘The Abu Sayyaf group, based in the southern Philippines, has kidnapped foreigners in eastern Sabah in the past,’ it said. The advisory identified the destinations of Semporna, Mabul and Sipadan and called on citizens to ‘please avoid or use extreme caution in connection with any travel in these areas or locations.’ The US travel advisory on Malaysia already warns of the threat of criminal and terrorist attacks in Sabah but the information in Friday’s statement was more specific on the areas being targeted. — AFP

source: straits times

2. lawyer’s office in Malaysia ‘Allah’ case ransacked

Burglars ransacked the offices of lawyers representing Christians fighting for the right to use the word “Allah” to refer to God in this Muslim-majority country, officials said Thursday. Lawyer S. Selvarajah said that staff arrived at work in the morning to find several locks and steel grill doors to enter the 2nd and 3rd floor offices cut, drawers ransacked and papers strewn on the floor. He said his partner’s laptop was missing. A mobile phone service provider’s shop and tuition center on the first floor were not broken into, he said. “Only our office has been targeted,” he said. “It looks like it is an intimidation tactic … We anticipated something will happen. We are definitely upset about this,” he told The Associated Press. The incident adds to the tension building up since attacks since Friday night on nine churches, one of which was partially gutted….Petaling Jaya police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed confirmed the break-in, saying police were investigating. He said it should not immediately be linked to recent church attacks. “It has nothing to do with the churches,” he said.

more @ taiwan news

3. $500 tip leads police to $66 million in fake bills

Malaysian police have arrested a Lebanese man allegedly carrying fake currency with a face value of $66 million after he tipped a hotel staff with a $500 note, news reports said Friday. The largest U.S. note currently in circulation is a $100 bill. But police found bundles of $1 million, $100,000 and $500 notes in the man’s hotel room in Kuala Lumpur, the New Straits Times and The Star newspapers reported….This is not the first time the man has been in trouble with the law in Malaysia, the reports said. A Malaysian court charged him last week with cheating over the sale of office supplies in 2005 in a separate case. Cheating, or fraud, carries a maximum penalty of five years.

more @ taiwan news

4. the drug link to al qaeda — planes, West Africa, South America, Europe….. Lebanon?? SE Asia??

TIMBUKTU (MALI) - A FLEET of rogue jet aircraft has been regularly criss-crossing the Atlantic Ocean between cocaine producing areas in the Andes and some of West Africa’s most unstable countries, according to a report submitted by a US Homeland Security official. But that 2008 report, a copy of which was recently obtained by Reuters, was ignored, [INCOMPETENCE MEME] and the problem has since escalated into what security officials in several countries describe as a global security threat. [NATURALLY] The clandestine fleet, which has since grown, is believed to be flying cocaine and possibly weapons to an area in Africa where factions of Al-Qaeda are allegedly facilitating European drug smuggling. [AND FROM EUROPE TO WHERE???]

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been held responsible for car and suicide bombings in Algeria and Mauritania. Gunmen and bandits with links to AQIM have also stepped up kidnappings of Europeans, who are then passed on to AQIM factions seeking ransom payments. The aircraft hopscotch across South American countries, picking up tonnes of cocaine and jet fuel, officials say. They then soar across the Atlantic to West Africa and the Sahel, where the drugs are funnelled across the Sahara Desert and into Europe. Officials in the United States and three West African nations say that at least 10 aircraft have been discovered using this air route since 2006, though they say the real number could be considerably higher.

source: straits times

5. Jordan jails Lebanese man for cocaine smuggling — linking South America and Lebanon now with drugs. this stuff happened last year, and these things happen all the time — small time stuff — and these stories help shape the narrative when discussed at the appropriate time.

A Jordanian military tribunal on Wednesday sentenced three people, including a 42-year-old Lebanese, to 15 years’ hard labor for smuggling 11 kilos of cocaine into the country. “Two men, a Jordanian, 25, and a 42-year-old Lebanese, as well as a Brazilian woman, 27, brought 11 kilos of cocaine from Brazil to Jordan in order to take it to Lebanon,” a court official told AFP. “They were arrested at Amman’s international airport in January last year.” The state security court acquitted another 25-year-old Brazilian woman because of lack of evidence, the official said. He gave no further details, but estimated the value of the drugs at around 11 million dinars (15.5 million dollars). The verdict can be appealed within 30 days. Last year, the same court jailed two Peruvian women for smuggling hundreds of cocaine capsules into Jordan in their stomachs.(Naharnet-AFP)

source: naharnet

6. because they distract from stuff like this: Oh OOPSIE! who is that helping to traffic drugs? GASP: the US, UK and Canada! but since an Iranian says so, this can be safely ignored by The West, even though the UN praises Iran’s work fighting drug trafficking

A senior Iranian anti-drug official has accused the US, Britain and Canada of playing a major role in Afghanistan’s lucrative drug trade. On the sidelines of an anti-drug conference in Tehran, deputy head of Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters Taha Taheri said that Western powers are aiding the drug trade in Afghanistan. “According to our indisputable information, the presence of the United States, Britain and Canada has not reduced the dug trade and the three countries have had major roles in the distribution of drugs,” IRIB quoted Taheri as saying on Thursday. Iranian officials have always criticized Western countries over their policies towards Afghanistan, where poppy cultivation has drastically increased since the US-led military occupation of the country in 2001. Taheri added that drug catalysts are being smuggled into Afghanistan through borders that are controlled by US, British and Canadian troops. Some 13,000 tones of drug catalysts are brought into Afghanistan every year as the war-torn country is the producer of 90 percent of the world’s opium. The UN office on drugs and crime said last month that the 2009 potential gross export value of opium from Afghanistan stood at $2.8 billion. Iranian police officials maintain that drug production in Afghanistan has had a 40-fold increase since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. “More than 340 tones of drugs have been seized all over Iran in the past nine months,” IRNA quoted the commander of the drug squad, General Hamid Reza Hossein-Abadi, as saying earlier this month. The UN has praised Tehran for its commitment to the fight against drug trafficking.

source: press tv

7. NATO forces discover weapons caches in South Afghanistan and drugs in Kandahar

KABUL, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) discovered six weapons caches in an operation in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, an ISAF press release said Friday. The weapons caches, discovered on Thursday, contained a large amount of weapons and IED making materials, including 340 pounds of home-made explosives, 17 hand grenades, an RPG launcher, and numerous small arms and ammunition, the press release added. Most of the materials were destroyed on site, it further said.

In another operation in of southern Kandahar province, Afghan National Police and ISAF forces seized 1,000 pounds of hashishm when searching a building in the province’s Arghandab district, ISAF press release said. The drugs were destroyed on site. The southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, the stronghold of Taliban militants, have been the scene of skirmishes and Taliban-led insurgency over the past several years.

source: chinaview

what else, besides poor people, was buried in the rubble in Haiti?

Jan 14

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Clinton, Drug Trafficking, Haiti, Terrorism, X Wars | 4 Comments

1. Hillary Clinton postpones her trip to Australia because of “biblical” destruction in Haiti

CANBERRA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) — U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton postponed her visit to Australia in order to deal with the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, Australian Associated Press reported on Thursday. This means an annual Australia-US ministerial dialogue on foreign affairs and defense (AUSMIN), to be held in Canberra on Monday, will be delayed. The earthquake decimated Port-au-Prince, the capital of the impoverished Caribbean nation, leaving schools, hotels, hospitals and the presidential palace in ruins. Hillary Clinton will return to Washington DC from Hawaii to lead relief efforts for Haiti, which is home to many US citizens. She called Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith to explain the decision, which was prompted by a disaster she described as of “biblical” proportions.

source: chinaview

2. pictures of the devastation in Haiti: places, people

3. horrible death toll expected as people from around the world pour in

A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday, badly hitting the South-West of Port-au-Prince and causing several thousands of deaths according to the Haitian authorities. One million of the 9 million Haitians live in the worst affected areas. No official death toll has been established yet, but the Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive fears that up to 100,000, or even more, could have been killed. International rescuers from the U.S., Venezuela, Spain, Japan, Belgium, Russia, China, Brazil, Germany, Dominican Republic, Panama, the U.K., etc have started arriving on the Island.

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fitting the facts around the new policy in Afghanistan: reconciliation with Taliban?

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terrorist activity news: some narratives progress, others trail off

Narrative progresses in Southeast Asia, West Africa, Pakistan: drug trafficking, Abu Sayyaf, JI, al qaeda, attacks on Westerners…

Narrative limps along slowly in Mexico shooting cases: drug trafficking, gunmen escape and reportedly go on to kill others, arrests of a few people around the edges. evidently some people are supposed to get away with murder.

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using drugs and planes, al qaeda will show up wherever needed. you watch.

what else, besides poor people, was buried in the rubble in Haiti?

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