MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti) - A 57-year-old Russian beekeeper who shot dead three people, including two police officers, to avenge the deaths of his children was handed a 23-year jail term in maximum security prison on Thursday.
Alexandrovskoe resident Alexander Taran, who has consistently denied the charges against him, took up arms after first his 20-year-old daughter died of a heroin overdose in 1994 and his 25-year-old son was beaten to death by unidentified assailants at a nightclub seven years later.
Taran then swore on the graves of children that he would find and punish those responsible for their deaths. In order to carry through his pledge, he acquired a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
His first victim was local businessman Magomed Erkenov. Taran was convinced that Erkenov's nephew was responsible for his son's death, and that the wealthy businessman had used his connections to get him off. Taran waited for Erkenaov, and shot him "at least 12 times" as he was coming out of his apartment.
He next turned his attention to the head of the local hospital. Taran believed that Sergei Gresyev could have saved his daughter's life and broke into his house, intending to murder him in cold blood. But he took mercy on the doctor, shooting him in the shoulder instead. Police were unable to link the earlier murder of Erkenov with the attack on Gresyev.
Taran then decided that the drug dealers who had got his daughter hooked were being protected by the police and shot dead 38-year-old officer Oleg Tanchik. Six months later he gunned down Alexandrovskoe police chief Vladimir Shtana, shooting him in the back.
2. Scotland: escaped murderer found dead in Africa
A convicted murderer who escaped from an open prison has been found dead in a West African holiday resort, it was revealed today. John Burt Brown, convicted of murder in 1976, absconded from Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee after he was let out on home leave. The 57-year-old's body was found in the Gambia on November 29. He was reportedly found hanging.
...Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken branded the open prison system "useless" and demanded an investigation into how Brown managed to leave the country. He said: "There are clearly questions which have to be asked, the most obvious one being how did this man get a passport when he had been in prison for many years? "Secondly, how was he able to fund this trip to the Gambia? I am also intrigued as to why he should have gone there of all places. "But once again this now rather tragic matter illustrates how useless our open prison estate is in actually keeping prisoners in jail."
read more @ independent3. Scotland: murder hunt after radio presenter is found dead in her home
Police launched a murder hunt last night after a radio presenter was found dead in her home. Nasim Jamil, 54, was discovered by family members at her flat in Glasgow's Byres Road on Wednesday evening. The widow was a voluntary presenter for Glasgow-based Asian radio station Awaz FM. Strathclyde Police last night confirmed they were treating her death as murder following the results of a post mortem examination. ...
Mrs Jamil presented a show which dealt with true stories and a variety of different subjects. She joined the growing station shortly after it first started broadcasting. In her station profile Mrs Jamil described herself as an 'emotional person who loves helping people'. She added: 'When I joined the radio station I wanted to do such a programme where I could reunite broken families.
4. Irish priest murdered in Kenya
Taoiseach Brian Cowen has called for a full investigation by the Kenyan authorities into the murder of an Irish priest in a robbery there in the early hours of this morning. Fr Jeremiah Roche (68) from Athea in west Limerick, was a member of the Kiltegan Fathers and had been based in Kenya for more than 40 years. He was murdered during the robbery at his home in Kericho at about 4am this morning. Fr Tom Kiggins of the Kiltegan Fathers in Co Wicklow said the news had come as a terrible shock. Fr Roche's family in Limerick were informed of the news by the Kiltegan Fathers at about 7am this morning. It is understood he has brothers and sisters in Ireland and also family in Chicago in the US....Speaking in Brussels shortly after the end of a meeting with fellow EU leaders, Mr Cowen offered sympathies to the family of the murdered priest.
5. Africa turns into cocaine paradise
The UN Security Council called for greater international cooperation in fighting drug trafficking on the African continent, since in the last few years the countries of Western and Eastern Africa have been serving as the largest terminal bases for illicit drugs. The drugs are mainly supplied from Latin America and Afghanistan. UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon admitted that governments of different countries keep losing the battle with illegal drug trafficking.
Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Antonio Maria Costa presented a special report at the meeting of UN Security Council. He warned that drug trafficking is turning the African continent into the center of world crime. He said that the money gained from selling huge amounts of heroin and cocaine goes to terrorists and anti-government forces, not only in Africa, but other countries as well. UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon mentioned that drug trafficking reduces the effectiveness of peace-keeping efforts in Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar, Columbia, and other hot spots.
The scale of African drug trafficking is impressive. In November, a Boeing 727 transporting 10 tons of cocaine from Venezuela crashed in Mali. African drug traffickers are working on a completely different level, often using planes instead of camels in the Sahara desert.
Drugs here are gradually becoming a new type of currency. "It is scary that this new example of the links between drugs, crime and terrorism was discovered by chance," Costa said.read more @ pravda
6. South Thailand & Malaysia trafficking
excerpt:
Clothing, rice, farm animals, fireworks, electronics, wildlife, gasoline, automobiles and narcotics are all smuggled across the border, often to avoid tariff payments. According to Malaysian statistics, in the first six months of 2009, the General Operations Force, a paramilitary branch of the Royal Malaysian Police, seized almost US$2.9 million worth of contraband in Kelantan state. The Marine Operations Force, Malaysia's marine police, seized some $1.38 million in smuggled goods last year.
Narcotics have become a major issue, with large amounts of amphetamine-type stimulants, mostly produced in Myanmar, passing across the border. Despite severe anti-narcotics laws that include death penalties, drug use among Malaysians, particularly young people, is growing rapidly and the country is increasingly becoming a transit country for trafficking across the region, according to the US's 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.
Malaysia was earlier this year placed on the US's human trafficking blacklist and was the subject of a report released by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April. Both reports alleged that Malaysian immigration and security forces were complicit with well-organized networks in human trafficking across the border with Thailand. Although the report focused largely on Malaysia, the cross-border nature of the networks suggests involvement by Thai security forces and officials as well.
read more @ asia times
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