The Border Patrol says a Mexican man has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 24 pounds of marijuana ashore on his surfboard off the San Diego County coast.
The man was spotted Sunday morning about 200 yards off Imperial Beach, near the Mexican border.
The Border Patrol says the man threw a blue duffel bag into the water when agents ordered him to come ashore. The man was arrested in the water.
Agents say the duffel bag later washed ashore, with five packages of marijuana worth about $74,400.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
From watching a string of action movies, many of us are familiar with what protects banks – cameras, silent alarms, automatic shutters slamming down and exploding capsules of ink in wads of money.
But the use of fogging devices is now an established tactic to protect not just banks, but a host of other businesses.
“It might be an ordinary house where you have somebody with a lot of valuables,” says Carl Gibbard, managing director of Concept Smoke Screen, “convenience stores, filling stations, jewellers, large factories, warehouses with items that stand a chance of being stolen where the thieves are relying on a smash and grab.”
These devices, typically linked to an alarm or a panic button, consist of a well of either glycol or glycerine mixed with water and a heater. In a split second, the liquid is pumped over the heater and out where it condenses on contact with cold air.
The intention is to disorientate the robber or burglar and cause them to abandon their efforts and flee.
“It’s the same principle as a kettle and steam,” says Mr Gibbard. A device might pump anything between 300 and 1,000 cubic metres of smoke into a room within 30 seconds.
Jewellers Goldsmiths and Watches of Switzerland have stopped seven attempted raids using the devices, Mr Gibbard says, and Boots and Tesco also have them installed.
Corey Gunz – 1668
Rival fogging device firm Smoke Cloak lists Barclays, Argos, Carphone Warehouse, PC World, and 150 schools among its clients, says managing director Paul Dards.
“Originally, they were mostly used in empty buildings for overnight protection, but as crime has become more violent, more places want to use them to protect their staff during working hours.”
But there are those who are slightly concerned about the idea of an already edgy armed robber being suddenly wreathed in smoke.
“Armed robbery is a high intensity situation,” says Roy Ramm, former head of the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Operations, as well as the Flying Squad. “What you really want is calm and for people not to be panicked. Most robbers are very susceptible [to panic].”
While fatal shootings during armed robberies are rare in the UK, many robbers who have shot people tend to reveal afterwards that they had not intended to fire, says Mr Ramm.
“In a situation where a room suddenly fills with fog, it gives somebody another reason to panic. You could quite easily end up with someone being shot.”
Criminologist Prof Roger Matthews, of London Southbank University, author of Armed Robbery, concurs.
“It sounds a little bit like a double-edged strategy. The last thing you want to do is panic and confuse an armed robber. The danger is that people start doing strange and undesirable things like shooting people.”
But the smoke screen manufacturers dismiss criticism.
“When we first introduced this product we got a knee jerk reaction, understandably, from people who were worried,” says Mr Dards. “We actually took out a £10m worldwide insurance policy to protect people in case anything bad happened, but we’ve never had to touch it. We haven’t had any incidents.
“The idea is not to trap people, but when the bad guy breaks into the buildings a wall of fog comes at him and drives him out.”
Of course even if you accept that the fogging devices are safe it’s not easy to assess just how effective they are at stopping crimes.
Many will be installed in businesses that already have excellent security precautions, says Prof Matthews.
“A lot of the places that use these kinds of devices are the better organised institutions, which are already very well protected.”
And in the case of high value targets like prestige jewellers a different kind of thief is in operation.
“At that end of the market, you are not talking about amateur people who thought about doing it in the morning and went in the afternoon. They will know there is a smoke device and they will find some way to deal with that.”
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Sixteen gunmen thought to be linked to drug cartels and two soldiers have been killed in clashes in the Mexican resort of Acapulco, officials say.
Several soldiers and bystanders were wounded in the two-hour battle, in an old area of the Pacific coast city.
Tourists were evacuated from several hotels in the neighbourhood.
The battle began on Saturday evening, when troops received a tip-off that the gunmen had occupied a house, an officer in charge of the operation told AP.
The gunmen threw grenades at the soldiers and crashed their car when trying to flee, he added. Others arrived as reinforcements but were killed in the fighting.
The BBC’s Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City says the fighting will be another deadly blow for Acapulco, whose tourist industry has recently been badly hit by the swine flu outbreak.
‘Rescue’
The officer says troops found four police officers when they entered the house, handcuffed and apparently held hostage.
“We found them like this, handcuffed, and they say they were kidnapped,” he said.
“So, if they were kidnapped, as they say, then we rescued them.”
Troops seized 36 rifles, 13 shotguns, two hand grenades, 13 fragmentation hand grenades, 3,525 cartridges, 180 magazines and eight vehicles in the operation, AFP news agency said.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a military campaign against drug cartels in 2006.
Tens of thousands of troops have since been deployed throughout the country to tackle drugs-related violence, which has claimed the lives of nearly 9,000 people in the last two years.
Acapulco has in the past been the scene of clashes between rival drug gangs but has been relatively free of violence in recent years, correspondents say.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Place Vendome is an elegant old square known for its luxury hotels, and is also home to numerous jewellery stores as well as the French justice ministry.
In December, armed robbers stole jewels worth at least 80m euros ($102m) from a store near the French capital’s famous Champs-Elysees avenue.
As many as four robbers, two disguised as women, raided the Harry Winston’s store and stole nearly all its valuables.
‘Like any other customer’
The Vendome robber struck just before 1500 (1300 GMT) on Saturday, at a time when, in good weather, the square is usually full of strollers.
“According to the first set of information we received, it was a man in his 50s, dressed in a chic costume and wearing a Borsalino [fedora] hat,” Olivier Lebon, a police union representative, told Reuters news agency.
“He came in like any other customer, pointed his gun at employees and asked for about 15 pieces.”
It was not immediately known if the robber had an accomplice waiting for him outside the store.
A sales assistant working in an adjacent jeweller’s store told AFP news agency she had heard and seen nothing. “We were working,” she added.
Late on Saturday afternoon, the store at No 1 Place Vendome stood closed behind iron shutters, an AFP correspondent reports.
Only some leather handbags could be seen in the window, and no trace of a robbery could be seen from the outside.
The French capital was basking in sunshine on Saturday, with temperatures rising to a summery 23C, AFP reports.
At least some of the capital’s beau monde would have been attending the French Open, one of the tennis world’s most prestigious events, at the city’s Roland Garros stadium.
Among Chopard’s commissions is the Golden Palm awarded at the Cannes festival.
Founded in 1860, the firm has branches in major cities across the world.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
