Begynder
Antal indlæg:
|
'First legal wiretap' busts Bangkok-based heroin ring
New York (Agencies)
Thailand's first court-ordered wiretap was the key to breaking up a worldwide heroin smuggling gang, according to testimony in a New York court. "Operation Ivory Triangle" resulted in the extradition of three men from Thailand to the United States.
An international heroin trafficking organisation that processed drugs from Pakistan and Afghanistan through a storefront in Thailand has been busted with help from the first wiretap recordings to be authorised by Thailand judicial authorities, prosecutors say.
The extraditions, as prosecutors said in court papers and a release, resulted from Operation Ivory Triangle, an investigation of drug networks in Bangkok, New York and Lagos, Nigeria.
Two of three men from Thailand extradited to the United States to face drug charges made initial appearances in US District Court in Manhattan, where they were ordered held without bail Thursday in a case authorities said processed more than $30 million in drug money.
If convicted as leaders of the drug organisation, which was headquartered in Bangkok, the men each could face at least 10 years in prison and up to life in prison. The indictments also seek forfeiture of more than $30 million in narcotics proceeds produced by the drug trafficking operations.
Federal indictments name Yaya Yahayai, Henry Sichone and Andrew Sarpong, charging they participated in conspiracies to distribute heroin from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Burma and northern Thailand throughout the world, including the United States, Europe, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
DEA Special Agent in Charge John Gilbride said, "Operation Ivory Triangle led us on a trail throughout the world from the Bronx to West Africa to Bangkok, Thailand. Today, this world-wide heroin trafficking enterprise is out of business."
An indictment in the case said government evidence against the men included recordings captured by the first wiretap judicially authorised by the Supreme Court of Thailand. US Attorney Michael Garcia credited the Royal Thai Police law enforcement officers as playing a key role in the probe.
In September, Thailand's prime minister was ousted in a bloodless coup by the military, and an interim government was set up to rule the country. Garcia's spokeswoman Rebekah Carmichael said prosecutors could not comment on the extent of help from Thailand authorities in the probe and whether the cooperation was enhanced or harmed by the coup.
Sarpong is said to have recruited a courier to travel with the heroin to the US from Thailand. In May 2006, a co-conspirator of Sarpong was arrested in Manhattan as she attempted to deliver 640 grammes of heroin to a customer in the Bronx.
The court papers say Sarpong supplied 10 passports, including US passports, to a confidential informant, intending they be used by couriers to illegally bring the heroin into the country.
Prosecutors said the networks distributed heroin received from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Burma and northern Thailand throughout the world, including the United States, Europe, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Court papers say Yahayai and Sichone operated a heroin business primarily from a storefront in Thailand from August 2004 to December 2005.
Members of the organisation transported the heroin through human couriers, mail and cargo shipments. The human couriers either swallowed the heroin or carried it in concealed compartments inside suitcases. They paid $3,500 to $6,000 a kilogramme and then sold the heroin around the world for $100,000 a kilogramme.
To get to New York, the drugs sometimes went through Pakistan, Europe, Cuba, Mexico and Miami, prosecutors said.
http://www.bangko...?id=116138
|
Nyheder
Se indlæg
. Det er fanme alverdens ting man kan få lavet nu om dage. 
