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British teens recruited to world's most feared mafia - the Black Axe gang

British teens recruited to world's most feared mafia - the Black Axe gang

Metro4 days ago
British teenagers are being lured into joining a Nigerian gang that forces recruits to drink blood to prove their loyalty.
Law enforcement agencies warn that the Black Axe gang is preying upon debt-ridden students and professionals working at large organisations, offering them an opportunity to make fast cash.
Some are used as 'money mules' who facilitate the transfer of fraudulent money through their bank accounts.
Multinational gangs including Black Axe are now responsible for a majority of the world's cyberfraud, according to Interpol.
Recruits, who are often male, are first required to undergo an 'initiation' ceremony which involves being stripped, tortured and made to drink blood, before they become 'Axemen'.
Not only does the gang target well-healed professionals, many of its recruiters often hold jobs in the IT industry.
Detectives say the gang uses Snapchat to distribute registration forms, taking advantage of instantly disappearing 'snap' messages to cover up their fraudulent activities, the Irish Times reported.
However, the social network's parent company Snap Inc. insisted content suspected to be illegal is saved and reported to authorities.
Black Axe, which operates as a mafia-style organisation, has an estimated 30,000 members across dozens of countries worldwide. More Trending
It is thought to take as much as £3.8billion from victims each year through its scams, which also include romance and inheritance frauds as well as phishing and ransomware.
Among the recruits of the scheme was 26-year-old university graduate Funmi Abimbola, who was jailed for three years last October for laundering money.
The bank worker was said to have had 'many good qualities', but was lured into the crime group, for which he provided bank accounts for the transfer of money.
Ireland's Operation Skein has so far identified 1,400 individuals connected to Black Axe.
It has prosecuted more than 300 affiliated people, cautioned 39 juveniles, and identified more than 1,000 money mules during the investigation.
'Individuals need to realise that if they act as a money mule, they are interacting with vicious transnational organised criminals', said Garda Detective Inspector Michael Cryan.
He added that the gang 'controls' its recruits, demanding that they hand themselves over in the event money is stopped or frozen by their bank.
'People who get involved in this are destroying their own futures because they could go to jail, end up with a criminal record and be prevented from getting jobs.'
Forces from 196 countries are also able to draw on data from Interpol, which has created an intelligence database on the gang.
Interpol dealt a 'major blow' to the gang after coordinating a huge operation which saw more than 300 people linked to Black Axe and affiliated groups arrested worldwide, including in the UK and Ireland.
The probe, codenamed Operation Jackal III, recovered £2.24million in stolen assets including luxury items and cryptocurrencies, and saw more than 700 bank accounts frozen.
It also uncovered large transactions to Nigerian bank accounts.
A senior official for the multinational crime organisation said that Black Axe were 'early adopters' in money transfer technology. More Trending
Tomonobu Kaya said that the rise of fintech banks, which operate digitally and have little to no physical presence, have helped facilitate the quick and seamless transfer of money around the world.
In another operation, three members of the same family in the UK were jailed for more than 16 years after being found to have worked with Black Axe's alleged leader.
The Nakpodia siblings laundered more than £1million through email and phone scams between 2007 and 2015 for their Nigerian-based brother-in-law Augustus Bemigho-Eyeoyibo.
A BBC investigation into the Nigerian gang also found evidence of severe torture and brutality from pictures of dead bodies shared on social media.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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Heartache for Bayesian yacht victim Mike Lynch's family – estate faces bankruptcy after court demands it hand over £700M
Heartache for Bayesian yacht victim Mike Lynch's family – estate faces bankruptcy after court demands it hand over £700M

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Heartache for Bayesian yacht victim Mike Lynch's family – estate faces bankruptcy after court demands it hand over £700M

IT was a tragedy that claimed the lives of a ­billionaire father and his daughter, drowned in a storm at sea. British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch was out celebrating his acquittal from US fraud charges when his £38million yacht ­Bayesian was knocked sideways by a sudden 80mph gust and started taking in water. 6 Mike Lynch and daughter Hannah drowned at sea while out on his £38million yacht Bayesian Credit: PA 6 Mike's wife Angela Bacares was pulled to safety by a crew member 6 The Bayesian disaster claimed the lives of seven people last August Credit: PA As the boat sank rapidly, his wife Angela Bacares was pulled to safety by a crew member — but Lynch, their 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others on board never made it out. Now, as the one-year anniversary approaches next month, 58-year-old businesswoman Angela is facing a financial battle. There is the potential of court action by the families of the victims who died on the yacht — and earlier this week, the UK's High Court ruled that her husband's estate owes US tech giant Hewlett-Packard more than £700million relating to fraud claims. The case was brought six years ago by HP after they acquired his company Autonomy in 2011. The firm claimed Lynch and the former chief financial officer had fraudulently inflated its value. While Lynch was facing court action in America, HP was already chasing him through the civil courts in Britain — leading to this week's damages ruling. The High Court ruled that HP had paid a lot more than it would have done 'had Autonomy's true financial ­position been correctly presented' during the sale. If his estate — which goes to Angela and her remaining daughter Esme, 22 — ends up having to pay, it will almost certainly be bankrupted, ­leaving no inheritance for the family. It is believed Lynch shielded his wife's ­personal fortune from the messy court cases. She owned millions of pounds worth of shares held in her name in other family firms. I found doomed Bayesian I saw still haunts me And she made more than £15million from the sale of her shares when Autonomy was taken over. One pal told us: 'Mike wasn't ­perfect but he wasn't a ­criminal in any way, shape or form. He had asked various Cabinet ministers and Prime Ministers, including Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson, to help him. 'Rishi and Johnson were more interested in making post-Brexit trade deals than making any trouble on Mike's behalf. 'Rishi and Johnson were more interested in making post-Brexit trade deals than making any trouble on Mike's behalf. 'These cases hung over him for years and he ended up under house arrest in San Francisco unable to leave for months, facing charges that he was ­ultimately cleared of. 'He helped a lot of people make a lot of money but they assumed he was guilty as charged and then ran a ­million miles. 'He was abandoned by his peer group and by his government then, when he won his US case, everyone wanted to be his friend again. 'The irony is he had gone out on the Bayesian to celebrate the US court outcome. "It's been one tragedy after another for his family.' The latest damages ruling had been delayed until this week because of the ­circumstances surrounding the yachting ­disaster on August 19 last year. The judge expressed his 'sorrow at the devastating turn of events' at sea and offered ­'sympathy and deepest condolences'. 'STILL GRIEVING' He even said that he 'admired' Lynch, despite ruling against him. Insiders have told The Sun that the family want to appeal the High Court decision. Our source said: 'It's not just about money, it's about restoring Mike's ­reputation. 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In 2018, Lynch and Autonomy's ­former vice-president of finance Stephen Chamberlain were charged with fraud in the US and accused of making false and misleading ­statements about their company. But both were acquitted following a sensational three-month trial in San Francisco, where Lynch had been extradited to in 2023. If Lynch had been found guilty, he would have faced up to 25 years in prison. 6 Hannah was just 18 when she tragically died on the Bayesian Credit: Darren Fletcher He told reporters last year that given his poor health, he would have almost certainly died in jail. The pair were still celebrating their win when Chamberlain, 52, died after being hit by a car while out ­running near his home in Cambridgeshire. Two days later, the Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily, claiming the lives of Lynch, Hannah, the vessel's cook Recaldo Thomas, high-profile US lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda and British banking couple Jonathan and Judy Bloomer. 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'I truly believe that Mike would have looked at the UK ruling as a good day. "Although the numbers are crazy, even the judge has found that Hewlett-Packard had overstated its claim. 'Mike would have continued to fight this. "He always argued that a law that allows America to extradite British ­citizens and not have a return agreement was really flawed. 'It's been the case for 15 years and he was going to have that fight too. 'The legal issues weighed heavily on him but he never let it affect his ­family. 'I never saw him sitting around self-pitying. He wanted to clear his name. 'The loss of Mike is an ­incalculable loss for technology. 'He was utterly devoted to its growth in Britain.' 6 Divers at the wreck of the yacht Credit: ugpix 6 The interior of the Bayesian Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.

Two in five phones stolen across Europe taken in Britain
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Pregnant Brit ‘drug mule' Bella Culley facing 15 years in jail despite plea she was forced to smuggle £200k of cannabis
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Pregnant Brit ‘drug mule' Bella Culley facing 15 years in jail despite plea she was forced to smuggle £200k of cannabis

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TEENAGE drug mule suspect Bella Culley faces 15 years in jail despite her plea that she was forced to peddle drugs from Thailand, prosecutors revealed today. Bella, 19, was caught in the former Soviet state of Georgia in May with £200,000 worth of cannabis in her bags. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 A Georgian prosecutor told The Sun that they have evidence the Brit 'acted with prior intent' 6 Bella Culley seen in court at the beginning of July as her devastated family watched on Credit: Supplied 6 6 She is seeking a plea bargain deal, claiming she was burned with a hot iron and shown a beheading video by a Thai gang, which forced her to fly to Tbilisi.. But, speaking for the first time, Georgian prosecutor Vakhtang Tsaluqelashvili revealed that he plans to contest the pregnant teenager's claims. And he added that the state has found evidence which proves her smuggling crime was premeditated and coolly carried out. Mr Tsaluqelashvili told The Sun: 'We have evidence confirming that the defendant acted with prior intent. 'She passed through several airports, and at no stage did she display any such, let's say, position or behaviour that would make us think this was not an intentional crime. 'Among other things, at the moment of her arrest, she did not say anything of this kind to the Georgian customs officers either. 'Given the gravity of the offence committed, the minimum expected sentence is 15 years - even taking into account the mitigating circumstances.' Bella got pregnant after a fling with an unidentified British man on the first leg of her disastrous backpacking trip and revealed she was expecting a baby boy in court on Thursday. The naive youngster from Billingham, Teesside, said she was forced to board a plane and never saw the baggage containing 31lbs of cannabis and hashish until she was arrested. She also claimed she had no idea where Georgia was and tried to raise the alarm when she boarded a flight from Bangkok. New CCTV of Brit 'mule' Bella May Culley 'smuggling £200k of cannabis' released as cops slam her claims she was coerced But CCTV produced by Thai police does not show her attempting to alert officers at the airport. Mr Tsaluqelashvil said a plea bargain deal between the prosecution and defence was still possible - but may still result in jail time or a suspended sentence plus a fine. Her lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia said that a plea bargain for his client to return to Britain was "quite likely" adding the "opportunity has been mentioned several times". Mr Salakaia told Tbilisi City Court yesterday: 'Bella has an obvious health condition - she is soon to be a mother to a baby boy and I want her to experience it while free. 'It's a pivotal moment in one's life, especially one so young. She is only 19.' Mr Salakaia added: 'There was no malicious intent on Bella's part - she was pressured and forced and there is irrefutable evidence of that. 6 She was caught at Tblisi International Airport with 30 pounds of marijuana and hashish in her luggage on May 10 Credit: Prime Time 6 Bella's mum Lyanne Kennedy (centre) leaving court in Tbilisi on Thursday "Her testimony contains even the names and last names of the individuals who forced her to transport it, she was threatened, as well as her family, including her mother who is present today. 'I want to underline that she didn't hand in the baggage - all she knows is that there is this luggage and she will be met by certain individuals once she arrives. 'The bag wasn't even locked, and it went through three countries and two continents, while Bella to this day is unaware whether Tbilisi is a country or a city. 'Bella didn't commit this crime and there is no grounds to doubt her testimony. I hope you are convinced your honor and knowing your past practice. 'I am sure she won't be found guilty." Bella - who has been supported at hearings by her mum Lyanne Kennedy and oil rig worker dad Niel Culley - is due back in court in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on September 2.

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