Latest news with #drugsmuggling
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Six-year-old British boy is arrested on suspicion of DRUG SMUGGLING in Mauritius 'after £1.6million of cannabis is found in his luggage'
Airport officials swooped on a six-year-old British boy after £1.6million of cannabis was found in his luggage after arriving in Mauritius. The youngster was arrested alongside six other British citizens who had travelled to the tropical Indian Ocean island on Sunday. Customs officials at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport were stunned to discover 14 kilos of cannabis concealed in the young boy's bag and 17 kilos in luggage belonging to another individual. They have condemned the use of the child as a drugs mule as 'inhumane', according to The Sun. Altogether, 161 kilos of the drug were found hidden throughout several other suitcases. Eleven numbered Apple AirTags were also discovered, suggesting the operation may have been linked to an organised crime gang responsible for smuggling drugs from Europe to Mauritius. The six arrested British adults - all from Cambridgeshire - included Laura Kappen, 28, a bar worker from Orton Goldhay, Shannon Holness, 29, a caterer, from Bretton, Shona Campbell, 33, a cleaner from Standground, Lily Watson, a caterer from Peterborough and window fitter Patrick Wilsdon, 21, also from Peterborough. Romanian national, Florian Lisman, 38, a machine operator living in Huntingdon, was additionally arrested. The youngster has since returned to the UK with his father, who flew out to Mauritius to collect him. On Monday, the seven arrested men and women appeared in court in Mahébourg and remain in custody. The drugs were discovered as part of a joint operation between the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section (CANS) and the Anti-Drug & Smuggling Unit (ADSU) at the airport. Shocked relatives have said they 'can't believe what's happened' after being alerted to the arrests. Carly Wilsdon, mother of Patrick Wilsdon, said her son was 'vulnerable' and had only been abroad once before. It is believed he was offered a 'free holiday' to Mauritius. She said: 'He wouldn't have known what he was doing because he wouldn't get involved in drugs. 'The person who told them about this free holiday is one of his circle of friends but now he has disappeared.' The incident is the latest in a spate of British citizens arrested abroad accused of smuggling drugs, including former air stewardess Charlotte Lee, who was arrested in May in Sri Lanka, after £1.15million worth of cannabis was allegedly found in her luggage, and Bella May Culley, 18, who was intercepted by police in Georgia for allegedly smuggling cannabis. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: 'We are supporting several British nationals who are detained in Mauritius and are in contact with the local authorities.'
Arab News
12 hours ago
- Arab News
10 arrested by Border Guard in Jazan for smuggling qat
JAZAN: Land patrols of the Saudi Border Guard in the Al-Dayer area of Jazan Province have arrested 10 Ethiopian violators of the law for smuggling 200 kg of the narcotic plant qat. Initial legal procedures have been completed against the offenders. Authorities also foiled the smuggling of 11 kg of hashish in Al-Aridhah Governorate in Jazan. The confiscated items were handed over to the competent authority. Elsewhere, authorities in Eastern Province arrested a resident of Egyptian nationality for promoting hashish. He was detained, legal procedures taken against him, and he was referred to the competent authority. Security authorities urge citizens and residents to report any information related to drug smuggling or trafficking activities by calling 911 in the regions of Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, and the Eastern Province, and 999 in the rest of the Kingdom's regions, or by contacting the General Directorate of Narcotics Control on 995, or via email.
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
Japan has no recorded case of fentanyl seized, finance minister says
TOKYO, June 27 (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said on Friday there have been no recorded cases of synthetic drug fentanyl being seized by the customs department, neither as illegal exports nor illegal imports, in six years through 2024. Kato made the comments at a regular news conference when asked about a Nikkei business daily report this week that a Chinese organisation allegedly used a base in Japan to smuggle chemicals to make fentanyl into the U.S. "Japan will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent the smuggling of illegal drugs," Kato said. A key figure in the group registered a company in the city of Nagoya and until at least July 2024 issued instructions from Japan on the delivery of the dangerous opioid and on the management of funds, the Nikkei reported.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Three men to front court after NSW Police foil alleged plot to import $485 million of cocaine
Three men have been charged over an alleged plot to smuggle more than a tonne of cocaine into New South Wales worth close to half a billion dollars. Police said the trio arrested on Thursday each stood to earn $3.4 million over their alleged roles in conspiring to import 1.5 tonnes of the drug into the state. The men, police alleged, conspired to act as a "catching crew" for shipments of drugs dumped offshore by a bigger cargo vessel. Police said the men from the Hunter region — aged 23, 24 and 34 — were originally on their radar for "behaving suspiciously" by using cash to buy two fishing boats. One of those boats, called Seas the Day, is now in possession of police who seized it from Lemon Tree Passage on Thursday. The Organised Crime Squad has spent years investigating drug shipments off the NSW east coast, which has become a popular route for crime gangs bringing cocaine into Sydney. According to recent calculations by the Australian Federal Police in an unrelated seizure, the haul of drugs had an estimated street value of $485 million. Dramatic vision released by police showed the moment officers in tactical gear cornered the car of one of the men on a suburban street in Eleebana, Lake Macquarie. In it, a number of officers and the dog squad can be seen pulling the 34-year-old man from a car before bringing him to the ground and handcuffing him about 5am on Thursday. That same day the 23-year-old was arrested at a worksite in Forster and the 24-year-old was arrested in Salamander Bay. All three have been charged with conspiracy to supply a commercial quantity of cocaine, which carries a maximum penalty of life in jail if convicted. The men were refused bail and are expected to front Parramatta Local Court on Friday.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Brit 'caught accepting half a pound of cocaine from a drug smuggler in police sting' faces 12 years in jail in Bali
An Argentine woman and a British man went on trial Thursday on charges of smuggling cocaine to the Indonesian tourist island of Bali. If convicted, they could face up to 12 years in prison. Prosecutors say Eleonora Gracia, 46, was arrested in March at Bali's airport with 244 grams (half a pound) of cocaine wrapped in a condom hidden in her vagina. Authorities alleged that she handed over the cocaine to Elliot James Shaw, 50, during a police sting operation at a hotel near a Bali beach. Prosecutors at the District Court in Denpasar, Bali's provincial capital, said they violated anti-narcotics laws that carry a penalty of up to 12 years in prison. After the charges against Gracia and Shaw were read out in the Bali court, a panel of three judges adjourned the trial until July 3. The court is expected to deliver its verdict next month. Gracia and Shaw wore face masks as they sat next to each other in court. Neither they nor their lawyers spoke in court or to reporters covering the trial. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population. Indonesian authorities on Monday arrested 285 people suspected of drug trafficking, including 29 women and seven foreigners, and seized over half a ton of narcotics during a two-month crackdown. About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections' data showed last month. Indonesia's last executions, of a citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016. It comes after it emerged three Britons held in Bali over an alleged cocaine smuggling plot will not face the death penalty, a major reprieve in a country with some of the world's toughest drug laws. Indonesian prosecutors said they were seeking 12 months in prison for the three British nationals, all from Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex, accused of drug offences on the resort island. Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 38, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 39, were arrested on February 1 after being stopped at Bali's international airport with 17 packages of cocaine that weighed nearly a kilogram, according to public court records. They appeared in court alongside Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, who was allegedly due to receive the packages and was arrested a few days later in February. '(Demanding the court) to sentence the defendants to one year in prison and to keep them in detention,' prosecutor Made Dipa Umbara told the district court in Bali's capital Denpasar. Umbara said that while the defendants were accused of breaking the law, they behaved well in court, acknowledged their wrongdoings, and pledged not to repeat their mistakes. The sentence call came as a surprise as convicted drug traffickers, especially those caught with large quantities, have in the past been executed by firing squad in Indonesia - including foreign nationals. If the quantity is large but not enough for the death penalty, life in prison is a common sentence. The country has upheld a moratorium on the death sentence since 2017. The British Foreign Office said it was in touch with local authorities about the case. 'We are providing consular support to three British Nationals detained in Indonesia,' a spokesperson said.
