Scottish couple who went on the run in Spain to escape fraud charges are to have almost £1m seized under proceeds of crime legislation.

 

 Anthony Kearney, 46, and 44-year-old Donna McCafferty admitted claiming housing benefit when they had more than £330,000 in offshore accounts. Kearney was jailed for two years in 2008 and McCafferty was given 250 hours community service. At Glasgow Sheriff Court, confiscation orders totalling £943,366 were granted. Kearney and McCafferty were tracked down in the Costa Blanca town of Benissa in November 2008 after being featured in a Crimestoppers appeal to catch on-the-run British suspects. Fraud probe Kearney was later jailed for two years and McCafferty was given 250 hours community service. The couple, who have a son together, admitted committing benefit fraud by claiming housing benefit when they had more than £330,000 in offshore accounts. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote This case should also be a warning to those who think that targeting public funds...is an easy way to make money” Lesley Thomson QC Solicitor General Kearney also claimed for almost £23,000 in income support and pocketed more than £10,000 from credit card frauds. They went on the run after a money laundering investigation was launched against them in May 2004. At Glasgow Sheriff Court, a confiscation order for £930,362 was made against Kearney, and a confiscation order for £13,003 was made against McCafferty. Solicitor General, Lesley Thomson QC, said: "Anthony Kearney and Donna McCafferty lied about their circumstances to rob the public purse of thousands of pounds in benefit fraud before fleeing to Spain to try and escape justice. "They were arrested on an international warrant within 24 hours of a Crimestoppers' appeal - which featured them on a "most-wanted" list - and extradited back to Scotland. "This case should also be a warning to those who think that targeting public funds through criminal enterprise is an easy way to make money, and a reminder that the proceeds of crime legislation covers a wide range of offences where there has been financial benefit." Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud said benefit thieves were costing the taxpayer almost £1bn per year. "This money should be going to the people who need it most and not lining the pockets of criminals sunning themselves overseas," he said. "In addition to the sentence imposed by the court, the department always seeks to recover the money falsely obtained, to ensure that cheats do not benefit from their criminal activities."

900 kilos of hashish recovered on the Costa del Sol

 

organised crime and drugs unit, UDYCO of the National Police on the Costa del Sol has found 900 kilos of hashish on a yacht and hidden in a house in Cártama. At least eight people have been arrested, three Moroccans and five Spaniards. La Opinión de Málaga reports that the investigation started in Madrid, and a police operation last week which observed how the yacht left Morocco last week destination Spain. The vessel was intercepted and then escorted into Málaga port where 600 kilos of hashish was found. The police say the owner of the yacht is already well known to them for his alleged links to hashish trafficking across the Strait. The second part of the operation came in Cártama where a home was found to contain 300 kilos of hashish, 2.5 kilos of cocaine, some 150 marihuana plants and about 70,000 € in cash. A man and woman arrested there were finally released. It’s believed the house was used to store the drugs before they were distributed across Europe.

Mexican forces have arrested a man they say is a key figure in the country's most powerful drugs cartel.

 

Noel Salgueiro Nevarez is accused of running the Sinaloa cartel's operations in the northern state of Chihuahua, where drug violence is rampant.

Defence officials said his arrest would seriously weaken the cartel in Mexico and abroad.

The arrest was made on the same day as that of Martin Rosales Magana, who is accused of leading the La Familia gang.

The army said Mr Salgueiro Nevarez was seized in a carefully planned military operation, without a shot being fired.

Defence Ministry spokesman Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Noel Salgueiro Nevarez was behind much of the extreme violence which has plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's murder capital.

He said the suspect, also known as El Flaco (The Skinny One), led a gang of hitmen who extorted local businessmen, kidnapped for ransom, and tortured and killed members of a rival gang, the Juarez cartel.

'Criminal career'

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Ignacio de los ReyesBBC Mundo, Mexico City

The Sinaloa Cartel controls the production of large quantities of heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine (in the US) and boasts an extensive network of associates to facilitate its US trafficking operations, US officials say.

On Saturday, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he would even consider sending US troops into Mexico to combat drug-related violence and "keep the cartels off the border".

This is why the arrest of "The Skinny One" could be a severe blow to the Sinaloa cartel activity both sides of the fence.

It is also a public relations boost for Mexican President Felipe Calderon at home and in the US, amid growing criticism of his government's strategy to fight criminals and the drug trafficking.

Yet, the Sinaloa Cartel leader is still free. Joaquin "The Shorty" Guzman escaped from a maximum security prison in 2001, embarrassing the Mexican government.

Since then, he's become the number one target with a $3m reward for his capture.

The security forces say the bitter war between the two gangs was the trigger for most of the 3,000 killings in Ciudad Juarez last year.

Prosecutors said Mr Salgueiro Nevarez started his criminal career 15 years ago, producing marijuana for the Sinaloa cartel.

They said his gang had been exporting up to 15 tonnes of marijuana and two tonnes of cocaine per month to the United States.

The government had offered a three-million-peso ($220,000; £130,000) reward for information leading to his capture.

Security officials said his arrest, in the city of Culiacan in northwestern Sinaloa state, was a major blow to the Sinaloa cartel and its leader, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.

Mr Guzman, 54, is Mexico's most wanted man and thought to be one of the country's richest.

Two years ago, he made Forbes magazine's list of the 67 World's Most Powerful People. At number 41, he was just below Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Crumbling cartel

Mr Salgueiro Nevarez's arrest was announced at the same time as that of another top figure in the Mexican drugs trade.

Police say Martin Rosales Magana lead the remnants of the La Familia cartel

Martin Rosales Magana, 47, was seized in Mexico state on Tuesday. Police say he is one of the founders of the once-powerful La Familia cartel.

Until the beginning of this year, La Familia ran much of the methamphetamine trade in Mexico.

It claimed to protect local communities and promote family values, but also engaged in gruesome violence.

The security forces say it has been almost entirely dismantled, with its top leaders either in jail or dead.

They say Mr Rosales Magana lead a number of small cells still loyal to the cartel, which had holed themselves up in a rural area between Michoacan and Mexico state.

At a news conference, federal police counter-narcotics chief Ramon Pequeno described how La Familia splintered after the security forces killed the cartel's then-leader Nazario Moreno in December 2010.

He said part of the gang set up a rival cartel, which they named Knights Templar, and which quickly took over many of the methamphetamine labs in the west and south-west of the country.

Mr Pequeno said Mr Rosales Magana and those loyal to him tried to regain control of the drugs trade in Michoacan state by forging an alliance with their long-time rivals, the Zetas cartel.

He told reporters how "they met with the Zetas to ask for operational assistance, weapons and salaries [for gunmen] and expenses money, in order to recoup important cities held by the Knights Templar".

However, according to police, the alliance soon faltered because Mr Rosales Magane no longer had access to the precursor chemicals needed to make methamphetamine, their main source of income.

Mr Pequeno said with La Familia severely weakened, police would now focus their attention on taking down the Knights Templar.

Mexico Arrests Key Member Of Sinaloa Drug Cartel

 

Mexican security forces have arrested one of the top figures of the Sinaloa drug cartel in an operation carried out in the country's north, officials said on Wednesday. They said Noel Salgueiro Nevarez was arrested on Tuesday in Culiacan, capital of the north-western state of Sinaloa, in a carefully planned operation. He was captured "without any shots being fired," they added. Nevarez, alias El Flaco or The Skinny One, was the leader of a gang of hit-men working for the Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman. He is accused of running the cartel's operations in the northern state of Chihuahua and involvement in kidnappings, torture, extortion and murders. Nevarez is said to be a close associate of Guzman. Mexican officials say his arrest was a major blow to Guzman and insist that it would weaken the operations of the cartel in Mexico and abroad. The Mexican government had offered a reward of about $220,000 for information leading to the capture of Nevarez. The Sinaloa cartel, based in Mexico's Pacific coast, is currently one of the most powerful organized criminal gangs in the Americas. Cartel leader Guzman has been on the run since he escaped from a Mexican prison ten years ago. The United States had declared a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. The Sinaloa cartel is presently engaged in a fierce turf battle with the Juarez cartel led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes for the control of lucrative smuggling routes to the U.S. The two cartels are blamed for most of the recent drug-related violence in Chihuahua and other northern states. The Mexican government says that more than 34,600 people have died in drug-related violence in the country since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug gangs after taking office in December 2006. Besides fighting drug cartels, Calderon has deployed thousands of troops across the country to check drug-related violence and launched a massive anti-corruption drive named 'Operation Clean-up' to identify and punish public servants having links with drug cartels.