May 24, 2013

Source: Stanford Daily

Annelise Barron, associate professor of bioengineering, has been charged with felony parent abduction after being arrested in Hawaii on Dec. 24, 2012, and extradited to California about two weeks later. She is currently out on bail.

According to authorities, Barron, her three children and their nanny left for the Hawaiian island of Kauai on Dec. 17 without notifying the children’s fathers. Due to the trip, Barron missed a court date with Judson Butler, the father of their infant son, on Dec. 17 and a family court appearance on Dec. 18 with Theodore Jardetzky ’82, professor of structural biology and Barron’s estranged husband.

“Given that [Barron]… completely stopped using [her] cellphone… we strongly believed that Barron’s intention was to flee with the kids and shut off all possible contact with Jardetzky and Butler,” wrote Detective Anjanette Holler of the Palo Alto Police Department in a report.

Barron’s live-in nanny, Sonia Audino, faces three counts of depriving a lawful custodian of right to custody and one count of child abduction. Bail was originally set at $500,000 but Barron’s was dropped to $100,000 and Audino’s to $55,000.

“I’m a tenured professor– I love my job, and I find it amazing that anyone would think I’d run away and not think I’d be detected,” Barron told the Palo Alto Weekly.

Barron has yet to enter a plea.

Authorities believe Barron intended to flee to Kauai in part because of alleged moving activity out of her Palo Alto apartment on Dec. 17. At an All Aboard Mini Storage site, an employee reported seeing a woman matching Barron’s description acting “frantic and hurried.”

University spokeswoman Lisa Lapin declined to comment on specific personnel matters.

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May 25 , 2013

International Missing Children’s Day on May 25

To commemorate International Missing Children’s Day, law enforcement and non-governmental organisations across four continents are holding events to raise awareness about the need for collaboration and a coordinated response to help protect children from abduction and going missing.

They are part of the Global Missing Children’s Network – a program of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) – which helps bring attention to the vulnerability of children who are missing and abducted.

It’s a problem facing every country and it needs the attention of law enforcement and government officials around the world.  It is estimated that at least 8 million children worldwide go missing each year or 22,000 a day. Unfortunately, many countries do not view it as a priority and thus don’t have appropriate mechanisms in place to recover missing children who are at high risk of being exploited into trafficking and prostitution. Every country should implement policies and legislation to tackle the issue and protect children’s right to grow up in a safe environment. This will require coordinated efforts between all sectors from law enforcement agencies, government, and non-governmental agencies to private industry.

It is also important to teach children how to stay safe and inform them of risks they may encounter. To achieve this, adults should take the time to provide children with the tools they need to recognise danger and to talk with them about specific ways to stay safe. ICMEC, through the Global Network, has developed prevention tips to help parents, guardians and other adults discuss safety with children. These tips are available in 10 different languages.

Each year, since 1983, May 25 has been commemorated to remember children who are still missing, children who have been reunited with their families, and to help bring this global issue to the attention of government and society.

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May 27, 2013

Source: Boston Herald

On International Missing Children’s Day, marked May 25th, we remembered the thousands of missing children and the parents who grieve and plead for help. Since 2008, more than 7,000 American children have been abducted to a foreign country — not by a stranger, but by their other parent.

Such children are at risk of serious emotional and psychological problems and may experience anxiety, eating problems, nightmares, mood swings, sleep disturbances, aggressive behavior, resentment, guilt and fearfulness.

Members of Congress have seen the lopsided battles our constituents face to bring their children home from a foreign jurisdiction. Michael Elias, a combat-injured Iraqi veteran from New Jersey, has not held his children since 2008, when his ex-wife used her Japanese consulate connections to abduct Jade and Michael Jr. in violation of New Jersey court orders. Japan has refused to return the children or prosecute the abductor.

Elias told Congress, “All my hopes and dreams for their future now lie in the hands of others. … I am begging our government to help not only my family, but hundreds of other heartbroken families as well, to demand the return of our American children who are being held in Japan.”

Colin Bower’s children, Noor and Ramsay, were abducted from their home in Boston to Egypt nearly four years ago by their mother — who had lost custody because of her drug use and psychological problems. The Egyptian government facilitated the abduction by issuing fraudulent Egyptian passports, providing passage on the government-owned airline, and by shielding the mother, who comes from a well-connected family, from any accountability or responsibility.

At a recent hearing Bower noted the billions of dollars in U.S. assistance to Egypt and observed, “Regardless of whatever moral, fiscal, or political balance you use, providing uninterrupted aid to a partner that acts this way is quite simply wrong. If this is American foreign policy, it’s flawed and it isn’t working. We aren’t getting what we pay for.”

Tragically, the Obama administration has limited itself to diplomatic requests for the return of the children. In the words of Bernard Aronson, former assistant secretary of state of inter-American affairs, “a diplomatic request for which there is no real consequence for refusal is simply a sophisticated form of begging.”

It is time for a new approach. That is why we have introduced H.R. 1951, the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2013, which will give the president powerful tools to motivate a country’s quick response for the return of abducted children.

If a country has 10 or more cases not being resolved in a timely manner, or the judiciary, or law enforcement, or other responsible entity is persistently failing to fulfill their obligations, the president can take action to aggressively advocate for our children’s return — such as denying certain assistance, canceling cultural exchanges, opposing international loans, or extraditing the abductor.

This bill creates the expectation of action — not just words — to bring every American child home. In the words of then-Senator and now Secretary of State John Kerry at the 2012 passage of a Senate resolution calling for the return of the Bower children, we must “remain focused like a laser beam until this father is reunited with his two boys,” and every other abducted American child comes home. We can, and must, do more than talk.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R) represents New Jersey’s 4th District.

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May 28, 2013

Source: ABP World Group Ltd.

Every year, at the start of the school semester, ABP World Group are contacted by frantic parents who have had their child or children abducted while on holiday. ABP World Group provides advice on what to do if your children are abducted.

“It is a great misconception that a child abducted by a parent is a safe child” – Martin Waage, ABP World Group Ltd.

Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) May 28, 2013

Very often there is a parent who has had children with someone of foreign origin and has allowed a holiday trip to that parent’s homeland. But it also happens that parents abduct the children when on holiday abroad as visitation sabotage.

Sometimes the abduction happens as quick as a lightning bolt and when the other parent returns home, the house is empty. All these forms are defined as international child abduction, and have a maximum penalty up to 3 years in prison.

Many parents ask us for advice on how to prevent one parent from taking the child abroad on holiday. However, this is very difficult to prevent when the courts in many countries often do not take parental concerns seriously.

Child abductors are not penalized in their homeland, since The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction is only a vehicle for the return of children and does not deal with punishment. As few as 3 out of 10 children abducted return.

What should you do if your child is abducted? 

• If you have evidence that the child has been abducted or held back after vacation, immediately contact a lawyer who has expertise in international child abduction.

•You can also get guidance by contacting ABP World Group.
•You must report the situation to both the police and the Ministry of Justice. (Ministry responsible for any claim for return under the Hague Convention).
•Time is of utmost importance, so you must work fast and focused. It is best if the police have initiated a quick inquiry before the abductor can leave the country with the child/children.
•It is also important to act quickly in terms of The Hague Convention.

Which parent abducts children?

Sociopath is an American term which is very close to what we define as antisocial personality disorder. These parents lack conscience, guilt and remorse, they are aggressive and have little respect for the norms, laws and regulations.

The U.S. study emphasizes sociopaths or antisocial personality disorder, but also parents with narcissistic, paranoid and borderline personality disorder are high risk for child abduction and visitation sabotage.

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Mai 28, 2013

Kilde: ABP World Group Ltd.

Sommarlov är härligt för barnen men är samtidigt högsäsong gällande barnbortföring.

Varje år, runt skolstart, får vi samtal från förtvivlade föräldrar som fått sina barn bortförda efter sommarlovet.
Ofta är det en svensk eller norsk medborgare som har barn med en person av utomnordisk härkomst, som tagit barnet/barnen till sitt hemland. Det har dock blivit allt vanligare med nordiska föräldrar som bortför barn i samband med semesterresa till utlandet enkom för att förhindra gemensam vårdnad.
Alla dessa övergrepp går in under internationell barnbortföring, och har ett straffrättsligt värde med upp till tre års fängelse.

Många gånger vänder sig oroliga föräldrar till oss för råd om hur de skall kunna förhindra att den andra föräldern tar med sig deras gemensamma barn på resor till deras ursprungsländer. Detta är emellertid extremt svårt att förhindra då svenska domstolar oftast inte tar detta problem på allvar.
Den förälder som bortför sitt barn bli sällan straffad i sitt ursprungsland då Haagkonventionen, som reglerar barnabortföring, bara är ett regelverk för tillbakaföring, det finns ingen rättsskipande del. Så få som 3 av 10 barn som blivit bortförda kommer tillbaka.

Vad kan du göra om ditt barn blivit bortfört?

 

Om du får en indikation på att ditt barn blivit bortfört, eller hålls kvar efter semesterresa, bör du omedelbart kontakta en advokat med specialitet på internationell barnbortföring.
Du kan få vägledning via ABP World Group eller Saknadebarn.org.

Anmäl omedelbart till polis och UD (KC) då tiden är av största vikt liksom att man jobbar på i snabb takt och fokuserat. Det bästa är om man omedelbart kan göra en ansökan om återförande enligt Haagkonventionen, förutsatt att personen befinner sig i ett land som undertecknat densamma.

Vem är det som bortför sitt barn?

Forskning har visat att det ofta är personer med psykiska störningar/personlighetsstörningar som bortför barn. USAs Justitiedepartement har utfört en studie som påvisat att föräldrar som bortför barn ofta är sociopater (Early Identification of Risk Factors for Parental Abduction ,årtal?) Sociopati är ett amerikanskt begrepp som ligger nära det vi definierar som psykopati eller “psykopatisk personlighetsstörning”. Detta är personer som har en avvikande syn på samvete och skuld och har ofta aggressiva tendenser tillsammans med avsaknad av respekt för regler och normer.

Den amerikanska studien lägger stor vikt på sociopati eller den specifika psykopatiska personlighetsstörningen, men också föräldrar med antisocial-, narcissistisk-, paranoid och/eller borderline personlighetsstörningar är högriskgrupper gällande bortföring av barn.

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May 31, 2013

Source: Jamaica-Gleaner.com

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago says it has acceded to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects on International Child Abduction.

The Convention, also known as The Hague Abduction Convention, is a multilateral treaty developed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law that provides an expeditious method to return a child internationally abducted by a parent from one member nation to another.

The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction seeks to combat parental child abduction by providing a system of co-operation between Central Authorities and a rapid procedure for the return of the child to the country of the child’s habitual residence. The Convention applies only to children under the age of 16.

“Although international child abduction is not a new problem, the incidence of such abductions continues to grow with the ease of international travel, the increase in bi-cultural marriages and the rise in the divorce rate. International child abductions have serious consequences for both the child and the left-behind parent,” according to a government statement issued here.

“ The child is removed, not only from contact with the other parent, but also from his or her home environment and transplanted to a culture with which he or she may have had no prior ties. International abductors move the child to another State with a different legal system, social structure, culture and, often, language. These differences, plus the physical distance generally involved, can make locating, recovering and returning internationally abducted children complex and problematic.”

The statement said that in keeping with the measures outlined in the convention, the Civil Child Abduction Authority has since been established “to deal with all matters relating to the civil aspects of international child abduction between Trinidad and Tobago and contracting territories”.

It said that so far Trinidad and Tobago has partnered with 48 countries.

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May 31, 2013

Source: nbcnews

MEXICO CITY — Eleven young people were brazenly kidnapped in broad daylight from a bar in Mexico City’s Zona Rosa, a normally calm district of offices, restaurants, drinking spots and dance clubs, anguished relatives said Thursday.

The apparent mass abduction purportedly happened sometime between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday just off the Paseo de la Reforma, the city’s main boulevard, near the Angel of Independence monument and less than two blocks from the U.S. Embassy.

The incident was the second recent high-publicity blemish for the city’s largely unregulated entertainment scene, coming 20 days after the grandson of American civil rights activist Malcolm X was beaten to death at another tough bar in the downtown area.

Calling for authorities to find their loved ones, family members marched Thursday morning from the Interior Department building to the Zocalo, the city’s main square. Later they protested outside the bar, which bears a sign that reads Bicentenario Restaurante-Bar, and demanded to see the bar’s surveillance video.

“How could so many people have disappeared, just like that, in broad daylight?” asked Josefina Garcia, mother of Said Sanchez Garcia, 19, her only son. “The police say they don’t have them, so what, the earth just opened up and swallowed them?”

She said her son wasn’t involved in any criminal activity, and worked at a market stall selling beauty products.

City prosecutors said they had received 11 missing-person reports, but Garcia said residents of the tough downtown neighborhood of Tepito where the victims live thought as many as 15 or 16 people could have been abducted.

The known missing include six men, most in their 20s, a 16-year-old boy and four young women.

While no clear motives had been revealed in the attack, residents of Tepito said there has been a wave of abductions of neighborhood young people in recent months that could be related to organized crime activities. Tepito is the center of black market activities in the city, where guns, drugs, stolen goods and contraband are widely sold.

Mass abductions have been rare in Mexico City, but are common in parts of the country where drug cartels operate and are fighting with rival gangs over territory.

Prosecutors slapped closure stickers on the front doors of the Mexico City bar Thursday, with inscriptions saying the city’s anti-kidnapping unit was investigating abductions at the site.

Late Thursday night, dozens of members of a special police intervention unit, many carrying automatic weapons and wearing helmets and bulletproof vests, blocked off the street in front of the bar and searched inside. Officers would not comment on what they were looking for.

Isabel Fonseca, whose brother is among those missing, said a man who escaped told her that masked men arrived in several white SUVs and took the group away. She said her brother, Eulogio Fonseca, is a street vendor who sells cellphone accessories.

“We want them alive,” Fonseca said. “They went out to have fun; they are not criminals.”

Mexico City’s chief prosecutor, Rodolfo Rios, said investigators had been able to glean little information on the disappearances.

Relatives believe the youths were at the club, which they know as “Heaven,” around midmorning Sunday, when waiters and bar employees herded them out to the street and armed men bundled them into waiting vehicles and spirited them away.

Rios said police had not located any employees of the bar and no other witnesses had presented themselves.

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June 1, 2013

Source: Daily Mail

Dept. of Homeland Security Forced to Release List of Keywords Used to Monitor Social Networking Sites.

• Department of Homeland Security forced to release list following freedom of information request
• Agency insists it only looks for evidence of genuine threats to the U.S. and not for signs of general dissent

The Department of Homeland Security has been forced to release a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor social networking sites and online media for signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S.

The intriguing the list includes obvious choices such as ‘attack’, ‘Al Qaeda’, ‘terrorism’ and ‘dirty bomb’ alongside dozens of seemingly innocent words like ‘pork’, ‘cloud’, ‘team’ and ‘Mexico’.

Released under a freedom of information request, the information sheds new light on how government analysts are instructed to patrol the internet searching for domestic and external threats.

The words are included in the department’s 2011 ’Analyst’s Desktop Binder‘ used by workers at their National Operations Center which instructs workers to identify ‘media reports that reflect adversely on DHS and response activities’.

Department chiefs were forced to release the manual following a House hearing over documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit which revealed how analysts monitor social networks and media organisations for comments that ‘reflect adversely’ on the government.

However they insisted the practice was aimed not at policing the internet for disparaging remarks about the government and signs of general dissent, but to provide awareness of any potential threats.

As well as terrorism, analysts are instructed to search for evidence of unfolding natural disasters, public health threats and serious crimes such as mall/school shootings, major drug busts, illegal immigrant busts.

The list has been posted online by the Electronic Privacy Information Center – a privacy watchdog group who filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act before suing to obtain the release of the documents.

In a letter to the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counter-terrorism and Intelligence, the centre described the choice of words as ‘broad, vague and ambiguous’.

Scroll down for full list

They point out that it includes ‘vast amounts of First Amendment protected speech that is entirely unrelated to the Department of Homeland Security mission to protect the public against terrorism and disasters.’

A senior Homeland Security official told the Huffington Post that the manual ‘is a starting point, not the endgame’ in maintaining situational awareness of natural and man-made threats and denied that the government was monitoring signs of dissent.

However the agency admitted that the language used was vague and in need of updating.

Spokesman Matthew Chandler told website: ‘To ensure clarity, as part of … routine compliance review, DHS will review the language contained in all materials to clearly and accurately convey the parameters and intention of the program.’

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June 1, 2013

Source: mid-day.com

In yet another incident of gangsters calling the shots from inside the jail, two unknown assailants, after allegedly receiving instructions from a gangster lodged in jail, fired at a city-based builder in Borivli (E) yesterday after he refused to bow down to the monetary demands.

A policeman inspects the bullet-riddled car. Four rounds were fired at 62-year-old developer Rajaram Manjawkar while he was on his way to work. He and his driver escaped unhurt. Pics/Nayan Shahane

The assailants fired four rounds at 62-year-old developer Rajaram Manjawkar while he was on his way to work, but he and his driver escaped unhurt. Police are treating the incident as an extortion case after the builder, who was implementing slum rehabilitation projects in the area, had received an extortion call from an unknown person wherein he stated he was calling on behalf of Yusuf Bachkana, an aide of Chhota Rajan, and threatened to kill him if he did not pay up.

Police officers conduct a panchnama at the turn where the incident occurred near Suvidya High School, Devi Pada in Borivli (E)

Bachkana, who was arrested in 1998 by DCP Ambadas Pote in a murder case, is presently lodged in a jail in Karnataka. According to Borivli police, the two assailants fired at the Manjawkar’s vehicle at 11 am near Suvidya High School, Devi Pada in Borivli (E). The incident took place just a stone’s throw (200 metres) from the builder’s apartment after he left his residence for his office. A resident of Sahyadri Complex, Manjawkar was travelling in a Skoda, driven by his driver Dinesh Mandarkar (39).

Warning shots?
Police said that when the vehicle was making a turn, the attackers who were waiting at the corner of the road showed up and sprayed bullets at the car. Two bullets hit the back windshield of the car, while there were two bullet holes on both sides of the vehicle’s back doors. Three spent shell casings and one cartridge were later found at the spot. “Based on the bullet shells, we believe that a pistol has been used in the attack. The assailants, however, managed to escape from the spot. And there is no CCTV coverage in the area,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Mahesh Patil.

SRA project
Police said Manjawkar has developed five buildings under the SRA scheme, and on May 20, he received a phone call asking to make a payment. Cops, however, refused to divulge how much money was demanded. Soon after the call, a terrified Manjawkar had approached the Kasturba Marg police with a written complaint. The police were probing the complaint but no case was registered at the time.

One of the suspects arrested by the Kasturba Marg police is Parshuram Nalavde, who was serving a murder sentence in Nashik jail, but had recently come out on parole. Nalavde’s parole was to end on May 31. Police said that they would also question Bachkana.

Sunil Deshmukh, assistant commissioner of police (Dahisar division), said, “We are in the process of recording the victim’s statement and ascertaining if he is involved in any property disputes. We have registered a case under Section 307 of the IPC and relevant section of the Arms Act. We are also checking call details from Manjawkar’s mobile phone.”

Sunil Paraskar, additional commissioner (north region), said, “We have arrested Parshuram Nalavde (26), who was in Nashik jail after being convicted in 2008 for a murder by the Kasturba Marg police. We believe he has conspired with others to carry out the attack, as he knew certain things the extortionists had mentioned on phone to Manjawkar. We are searching for his other three associates.”

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June 1, 2013

Source: Insightcrime.org

Brazil will install video surveillance cameras along the 17,000 kilometer border it shares with 10 other countries, as part of a national public security strategy aimed at combating organized crime along the frontier.

Brazil’s National Public Security Secretariat will provide $13.9 million (29.5 million Brazilian reales) to 60 municipalities in 11 states that border other countries, for the purchase and installation of at least 624 security cameras, Folha reported. Funds will also be used for the transmission systems, video surveillance reception, and the training of system operators. Muncipal, state and federal authorities will work together to review the images

The cameras will be particularly heavily clustered along the border with Paraguay, in the Mato Grosso do Sul, Parana, and Santa Catarina departments, according to Folha’s map.

InSight Crime Analysis

Installing security cameras is part of a wider initiative focusing on Brazil’s border security. Since the implementation of the “Strategic Border Plan” in August 2011, Brazil has reportedly broken up 65 criminal organizations operating along the frontier. Brazil has also signed cooperation agreements with a number of countries, most recently Bolivia, in an attempt to help further secure its borders.

As Latin America’s largest market for cocaine and a transhipment point for drugs going to Europe, border security is a major issue for Brazil. Bolivian and Peruvian cocaine is shipped from Bolivia or through Paraguay, along routes controlled by Brazilian gangs. Human trafficking is also a major problem, leading the government to recently invest in ten new control posts in border towns.

It is worth questioning whether the increased camera surveillance will significantly impact border crime, and whether the cost will be worth the investment. The US has had mixed results with its own expensive border strategy, which emphasized the use of technology. Geographical factors may make surveillance particularly difficult in some regions of Brazil, such as the Amazon. Moreover, evidence from the US has suggested that increased border security in certain zones simply shifts illegal crossings into different areas.

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June 1, 2013

Source: legalsl.com

The parental child abduction under the Italian Criminal Law

The child abduction is a crime under the Italian Criminal Law, even when it is committed by one of the parents.

Pursuant  to Article 570 of the Italian Penal Code, the person who subtracts to the parent or other guardian, a child under fourteen years of age or an unsound mind, or holds them against the will of the parent or other guardian, shall be punished with imprisonment from one to three years.

A complaint of the parent (or other guardians) is required in order to start a lawsuit against the abductor.

About the international parental child abduction, pursuant to Article 570-bis of Italian Penal Code, unless the fact constitutes a more serious offense, the person who subtracts a child to the parent or other guardian, leading or holding him abroad against the will of that parent or guardian, shall be punished with imprisonment from one to four years.

If the offense is committed against a child who has reached the age of fourteen and with his consent, the penalty of imprisonment will be from six months to three years.

If the crimes are committed by a parent, the sentence involves the suspension of the exercise of parental authority.

Italy is a member State of the 1980 Hague Convention on the civil aspects of international child abduction.

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Juni 1, 2013

Kilde: Dagbladet

Kripos om omreisende steinleggere: – Truer, presser kunder, holder slaver og driver organisert kriminalitet.

Både Arbeidstilsynet og Kripos forteller nå at de har informasjon om at asfaltbandene kidnapper mindreårige for å presse norske kunder. De forteller også om grov utnyttelse av ressursvake mennesker, som brukes som slaver i steinleggervirksomheten.

- Slik han opplevde det tok de sønnen til fange helt til han betalte pengene, forteller en inspektør i Arbeidstilsynet, som ønsker å være anonym.

- Han var veldig redd. De truet, forteller inspektøren.

- Vi har opplysninger i enkeltsaker om tvang og kidnapping av barn i 16-årsalderen, men dette har ikke blitt bevist eller bekreftet, sier Reif fra Kripos.

En tredje mann har fortalte Arbeidstilsynet at fire steinleggere kidnappet kona, mens en femte steinlegger ble med mannen til en minibank – hvor han ble truet til å betale enda mer.

June 2, 2013

Source: krmagazine.com

Dismantling the network and neutralizing key leaders of kidnap-for-ransom groups are key to ending abductions in Western Mindanao, security officials said

Forces intensify anti-kidnap drive

Sr. Supt. Edwin S. de Ocampo, chief of the city police, said his office has intensified its intelligence gathering drive in tracking down key leaders of kidnapping groups.

“There is a fusion of information from the police and military intelligence units to track down leaders of this KFR (kidnap-for-ransom) groups,” he told BusinessWorld yesterday.

On Sunday, four members of a kidnap-for-ransom group based in nearby Zamboanga Sibugay province were nabbed in a shopping mall in this city.

Mr. de Ocampo said the police are monitoring the movements of the group for weeks with the suspects having standing warrants of arrest.

On Wednesday, another suspect was also apprehended in the town of Naga in Zamboanga Sibugay.

“These people are plain bandits. They are not members of any known kidnap groups such as the Abu Sayyaf Group. Some are rogue members of insurgency groups,” said Mr. de Ocampo.

MILITARY OPTION
On a parallel effort, officials of the military’s Western Mindanao Command (WesMinCom) said continuing operations have been ordered to capture Abu Sayyaf leaders in the island-provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

“There will be no letup in our efforts to neutralize these lawless groups,” Rodrigo T. Gregorio, spokesman of the command, said in a separate interview.

Military operations have been intensified following the intense battle between soldiers and the Sawadjaan faction of the Abu Sayyaf last Saturday. At least seven soldiers, including an officer, were killed in the encounter.

Mr. Gregorio said bandit casualties have reached 13 based on intelligence as of Thursday.

He said “continuing” military operations will deter kidnapping.

The Abu Sayyaf is still holding Jordanian journalist Baker Atyani, European birdwatchers Ewold Horn and Lorenzo Vinciguerra, Filipino-Chinese Carlos Ty Tiam, Japanese Toshio Ito and an unnamed child.

For his part, WesMinCom chief Maj. Gen. Rey C. Ardo said the military is putting pressure on the bandits while making sure the kidnap victims are safe.

“The safety of the victim is our utmost priority,” he said.

On Wednesday, the US and the British embassies have issued separate travel advisories to their citizens to avoid Western Mindanao, including Zamboanga Peninsula, due to threats of kidnapping.

“We will not take it [advisories] for granted,” Mr. de Ocampo said, adding that authorities have laid out a new security plan.

Col. Andrelino G. Colina, commander of Task Force Zamboanga, said “proactive” measures are needed to stall kidnapping activities, including gathering of information from within the criminal groups.

Although most of the current victims are foreigners, kidnappers are no longer selective in the target victims to include teachers, aid workers and small-time businessmen.

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ABP World Group Risk Management

(646) 502-7443 United States

069 2547 2471 Germany

020 3239 0013 United Kingdom

01 442 9322 Ireland

June 2 , 2013

Source: The Tribune Review

Iraqi security forces broke up an al-Qaida plot to use chemical weapons, as well as to smuggle them to Europe and North America, the defense ministry announced on Saturday.

Five men were arrested after military intelligence monitored their activities for three months, Gen. Mohamed al-Askari said duringa news conference broadcast on television.

Three workshops for manufacturing sarin and mustard gas were uncovered, he said, and remote-controlled toy planes were seized.

Iraqi soldiers display containing chemical materials confiscated from four men accused of planning to make chemical weapons such as nerve and mustard gas.

Al-Askari said the group intended to put gas in the toy airplanes to attack Shiite Muslim pilgrims visiting the holy shrine of Kadhimiya in Baghdad, according to al-Mada Press.

Group members said they also intended to smuggle the weapons to a neighboring country and use them on targets in Europe and North America, al-Mada cited al-Askari as saying. Two chemical manufacturing sites were raided in Baghdad and another unidentified province in the country, the ministry said.

The terrorist cell planning to use the poison gas received instructions on how to make it from al-Qaida outside of Iraq, al-Mada reported.

Al-Qaida in Iraq is believed to be the only offshoot of the terrorist network to have used chemical weapons, the BBC reported. It detonated 16 crude chlorine bombs in Iraq between October 2006 and June 2007.

Chlorine inhalation made many hundreds of people sick, but no deaths resulting from exposure to the chemical were recorded, U.S. officials said at the time.

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ABP World Group Risk Management

(646) 502-7443 United States

069 2547 2471 Germany

020 3239 0013 United Kingdom

01 442 9322 Ireland

June 2 , 2013

Source: ABP World Group and udeoghjemme.dk

The Faroe Islands, a black hole of parental child abduction

Children were considered “treasures” in some peaceful, primitive societies where parents would not punish them physically and would strive to keep the child sheltered from all threats. This natural instinct of protecting one’s child seems to have been weakened by the transformation in human societies like the Faroe Islands. The Faroe Islands refuse to respect any international laws, or to take any legal steps to stop the rapid growing child abduction wave to the islands.

The Faroe Islands, is one of the black holes of Parental Child Abduction, a real nightmare and a society that don`t respect anyone outside their community. We recommend people to not do any business with Faroe companies, or to go there on holidays until they stop breaking the human rights. Ban the islands until they start sending the abducted children back to their legal but devastated parents.

This is the latest Danish article about a child abducted from Denmark to The Faroe Islands:

Miriam bortført til Færøerne

 

Jani 4, 2013

Kilde: TV4 Fakta

Den Norske dokumentaren “Bortført” sendes på Svensk TV4 Fakta ikveld 4 Juni.

Dokumentaren omhandler hjemhentingen av Geir`s bortførte sønn fra Spania ved hjelp av ABP World Group.

Her forteller Geir om sitt livs største mareritt: Bortført.no

Dette skriver Norsk media om saken: Vil du ha noe gjort, må du gjøre det selv.

Geirs ti år gamle sønn har blitt bortført av sin mor og fraktet til Spania. På tross av langvarig samarbeid med spansk politi har ikke norske myndigheter kommet noe nærmere å få ham hjem til Norge, og i frykt for at sønnen skal ende opp i hendene på det spanske barnevernet kontakter den desperate faren ABP World Group.

ABP World Group er et norsk/Internasjonalt sikkerhetsselskap som har spesialisert seg på betente og politisk sensitive saker der bortførte barn skal hentes hjem til sine foreldre, og i dokumentarfilmen BORTFØRT følger vi både planleggingen og utførelsen av aksjonen fra innsiden.

INNLEID EKSPERTISE: Martin Waage, leder for sikkerhetsfirmaet ABP World Group, var selv med på Geirs aksjon.

BORTFØRT er en film om en verden og en situasjon få av oss noensinne vil ha befatning med, men som likevel er så altfor lett å sette seg inn i. Bortføring av norske barn er et stadig voksende problem, og i denne dokumentaren blir vi ikke bare vitne til en fars desperasjon, men også et saktmodig, ineffektivt byråkrati og en bransje som har spesialisert seg på å levere der myndighetene mislykkes.

Skeptisk

Den 34-årige alenefaren innrømmer at han var skeptisk til å få hjelp av profesjonelle spesialagenter – men har bare godord å si om ABP World Group.

“Jeg er imponert over hvor profesjonelle de var, og hvor godt håndlag de hadde med sønnen min. Det virker som de setter barnas beste høyest”,  Sier han.

.

Les: Her har spesialagenter akkurat hentet sønnen til Geir 

Barnets mor ble etter tiden dømt til fengsel for barnebortføring: Mor og bestemor i fengsel for barnebortføring

——Les også: Här brottas pappan ner av agenten og Hentet Bortført sønn (2) med makt

June 5 , 2013

Source: ABC News

Amnesty International: Kidnappings in Mexico a ‘Crisis’

The number of unsolved disappearances in Mexico constitutes a national scandal and a human rights crisis, Amnesty International said Tuesday, citing what it called a systematic failure by police and prosecutors to investigate thousands of cases that have piled up since 2006.

Rupert Knox, Amnesty’s Mexico investigator, said relatives are often forced to search for missing loved ones themselves, sometimes at considerable risk.

Adding insult to injury, Knox said police and prosecutors often don’t even bother to use the information that relatives dig up. Instead, police routinely assume that the missing are caught up in Mexico’s drug cartel conflicts.

“They are stigmatized, they are treated with disdain, and the typical thing is to say the victims were members of criminal gangs,” Knox said. “That is a demonstration of the negligence that has allowed this problem to grow into a national scandal and a human rights crisis.”

The federal government says some 26,000 people have been reported missing since the government launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006, though officials have said the true number is probably lower, because some people reported missing have since been found or accounted for but never taken off the list.

Brenda Rangel is the sister of Hector Rangel, who disappeared along with two friends in 2009 after being stopped by police for a traffic violation and was never seen again. She is sure her brother wasn’t involved in criminal activity. A young businessman, he had gone to the northern state of Coahuila, which is a hotbed of the Zetas drug gang, to collect a payment from a client.

Rangel says her brother last called to say he was in police custody, and she said the family has given authorities the number of the squad car, and even the names of the policemen involved in the detention. But she said prosecutors told her the officers were fired from the local police force in Monclova, Coahuila, and couldn’t be located. In Mexico, it is not uncommon for local policemen to work for drug gangs.

Nearing the fourth year in her brother’s disappearance, that kind of shrugging response is driving Rangel and her family to desperation, and into danger, since they can’t let it rest.

“We have received death threats,” she said, adding: “I have run risks, I have gone into safe houses, I have had to disguise myself in different ways to look for my brother.”

One by one, other parents and siblings of missing Mexicans stood up and recounted their horror stories: cases in which authorities themselves, police or the military, appear to have been involved in the disappearances.

Mexico’s government announced last week that it is creating a special unit to search for missing people. But the unit has only 12 federal investigators and a group of federal police agents to cover all the cases.

Knox said such agencies have been tried before in Mexico but have accomplished little, in part because they have lacked the resources, manpower and authority to really perform their task.

“The authorities have always seen them (the special units) as a way to reduce public pressure and blow off steam,” Knox said.

While Rangel and the other victims’ families maintain faith that their loved ones are still alive, perhaps subjected to forced labor by the drug cartels, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission has received information on 15,921 unidentified bodies that have passed through morgues in Mexico, some of which could belong to the missing.

A recent case in Mexico City has highlighted the difficulties surrounded cases of suspected disappearances.

On May 26, a group of young people disappeared from a Mexico City after-hours bar just off the city’s main Reforma boulevard, a block and a half from the U.S. Embassy. Relatives had initially indicated 11 people were missing, but authorities raised the number of 12 Tuesday night.

 

The young people were from the rough-and-tumble Tepito neighborhood and their disappearance only came to light after their parents and other Tepito residents held a protest that blocked a major road. Media reports later said that the fathers of two of the missing young men were suspected former Tepito crime bosses currently doing time in prison.

A witness who said he escaped from the abduction said the young people were taken away by gunmen in masks after partying through the night at the bar. Prosecutors said Tuesday night that surveillance video was found showing the young people entering the bar, but wouldn’t say if there was footage showing them leaving or being abducted.

The witness who reported the kidnapping can no longer be found. The bar’s owner also is missing, but prosecutors said Tuesday night that two waiters and a woman had been detained in the case.

The families have put up missing-person posters with photos of their loved ones throughout the area, and say that almost 10 days later they still have not come home.

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ABP World Group Risk Management

(646) 502-7443 United States

069 2547 2471 Germany

020 3239 0013 United Kingdom

01 442 9322 Ireland

June 5 , 2013

Source: howstuffswork.com and crimedoctor.com

• Plan to “burglarize” yourself. You’ll discover any weaknesses in your security system that may have previously escaped your notice.
  
  
• Lock up your home, even if you go out only for a short time. Many burglars just walk in through an unlocked door or window. 
• Change all the locks and tumblers when you move into a new house. 
• For the most effective alarm system, conceal all wiring. A professional burglar looks for places where he or she can disconnect the security system. 
• Your house should appear occupied at all times. Use timers to switch lights and radios on and off when you’re not at home. 
• If you have a faulty alarm that frequently goes off, get it fixed immediately and tell your neighbors that it’s been repaired. Many people ignore an alarm that goes off periodically. 
• A spring-latch lock is easy prey for burglars who are “loiding” experts. Loiding is the method of slipping a plastic credit card against the latch tongue to depress it and unlock the door. A deadbolt defies any such attack. It is only vulnerable when there is enough space between the door and its frame to allow an intruder to use power tools or a hacksaw. 
• If you lose your keys, change the locks immediately. 

• Before turning your house key over to a professional house cleaner for several hours, make sure the person is honest and reputable as well as hardworking. Check all references thoroughly. If the house cleaner is from a firm, call your local Better Business Bureau to check on the firm’s reputation. 
• Instead of keeping a spare key in a mailbox, under the doormat, or on a nail behind the garage, wrap the key in foil — or put it in a 35mm film can — and bury it where you can easily find it if you need it. 
• Don’t leave notes for service people or family members on the door. These act as a welcome mat for a burglar. 
• If the entrances to your home are dark, consider installing lighting with an infrared detector. Most thieves don’t want to be observed trying to get in a door. 
• Talk to your neighbors about any suspicious people or strange cars you notice lurking about.
• To keep your tools from being stolen, paint the handles. Thieves avoid items that are easy to identify. 
• Trees located near windows or shrubbery that might shield a burglar from view can be major flaws in your home-protection plan. Consider your landscaping plan in light of your protection needs. 

• Avoid a room with a view. A view from the outside, that is.

  Stand outside your house and take notice of what you can see through the windows.

  Is your 62-inch television in plain sight from the sidewalk? Can you see your computer or other valuable electronics from the doorway?

  If you can see them, so can thieves. If possible, move valuables out of sight of the street. If you can’t, then make sure the windows are always covered.

  Ask for credentials from any sales-person who requests entry to your home. Ask that their ID be pushed under the door. Many professional burglars use this cover to check out homes. If you’re doubtful, check with the person’s office before letting him or her in.

   

• Do not list your full name on your mailbox or your entry in the telephone book. Use only your initial and your last name. 
• If someone comes to your door asking to use the phone to call a mechanic or the police, keep the door locked and make the call yourself. 
• Dogs are good deterrents to burglars. Even a small, noisy dog can be effective — burglars do not like to have attention drawn to their presence. Be aware, however, that trained guard dogs do not make good pets. Obedience training and attack training are entirely different, and only the former is appropriate for a house pet.

Securing Doors

• To help burglar-proof your home, install 1-inch throw deadbolt locks on all exterior doors. 
• A door with too much space between the door and the frame is an invitation for the burglar to use a jimmy. Reinforce the door with a panel of 3/4-inch plywood or a piece of sheet metal. 
• If there are door hinges on the outside of your house, take down the door and reset the hinges inside. Otherwise all a thief has to do to gain entry to your home is knock out the hinge pin. 
• You can burglar-proof your glass patio doors by setting a pipe or metal bar in the middle bottom track of the door slide. The pipe should be the same length as the track.
• It’s easy for a burglar to pry through rot. Replace rotted door frames with new, solid wood. 
• It’s simple for a thief to break glass panels and then reach in and open a doorknob from the inside. A door with glass panels should be either fortified, replaced, or secured with deadbolts that can only be opened with a key.

Securing Windows

• Protect your windows with one or more good locks, an alarm system, burglar-resistant glass, or many small panes instead of one large area of glass. 
• When installing a window lock, drip some solder on the screw heads. It will stop a burglar from unscrewing the lock after cutting a small hole in the windowpane.
  

Garage Security

Garages present special challenges for security. Here are some tips for keeping your garage secure.

• If you frost or cover your garage windows, burglars won’t be able to tell if your car is gone.

• Keep your garage door closed and locked even when your car is not in the garage. 
• Install a peephole in the door separating the house from the garage. If you hear suspicious sounds, you can check without opening the door. 
• Are you worried about someone entering your house through your attached garage? If the garage door lifts on a track, a C-clamp can provide extra security since the door cannot be opened if you tighten the C-clamp on the track next to the roller.

What else?

Alarms, etc.

Burglars can’t steal what they can’t see. This simple concept is the key to a burglary protection system.

Home Invasions

One of the more frightening and potentially dangerous crimes that can occur to a family is a home invasion robbery.

A home invasion is when robbers force their way into an occupied home, apartment or hotel room to commit a robbery or other crimes.  It is particularly frightening because it violates our private space and the one place that we think of as our sanctuary.

Home invasion is like the residential form of an automobile carjacking and it’s on the rise. Like the crime of carjacking, most police agencies don’t track home invasions as a separate crime. Most police agencies and the FBI will statistically record the crime as a residential burglary or a robbery. Without the ability to track the specific crime of home invasion, little can be done to alert the public as to the frequency of occurrence in their community or devise a law enforcement plan of action to control it.

Criminal Profile

Residential burglars work mostly during the day and when a residence is more likely to be unoccupied. Most burglars work alone and tend to probe a neighborhood looking for the right residence and the right opportunity. Alarm signs and decals, bars on windows, strong locks and doors, big dogs, and alert neighbors can sometimes deter burglars. Also, burglars will avoid a confrontation and will usually flee when approached. Most burglaries do not result in violence unless the criminal is cornered and uses force to escape.

Home invasion robbers, in contrast, work more often at night and on weekends when homes are more likely to be occupied. The home invader will sometimes target the resident as well as the dwelling. The selection process may include a woman living alone, a wealthy senior citizen or a known drug dealer, for example. It is not unheard of for a robber to follow you home based on the value of the car you are driving or the jewelry you are wearing. Some home invaders might have been in your home before as a delivery person, installer or repair vendor.  Home robbers rarely work alone and rely on an overwhelming physical confrontation to gain initial control and instill fear in you. The greatest violence usually occurs during the initial sixty seconds of the confrontation and home invaders often come prepared with handcuffs, rope, duct tape, and firearms. Some in-home robbers appear to enjoy the intimidation, domination, and violence and some even claim it’s a “rush.”

Dangerous Trends

The act of committing a home invasion is escalating much like carjacking. The reason for the increase seems to follow a similar pattern. Much like automobiles, the traditional commercial targets for robbers like convenience stores and fast-food restaurants have hardened themselves against criminal attack and have reduced available cash. Technology has allowed commercial establishments to install affordable video surveillance systems, silent alarms, and other anti-crime deterrent devices.  A residence, by comparison, is now a more attractive choice.

Home invaders know that they won’t have to overcome alarm systems when the home is occupied or be worried about video cameras and silent alarms. Unlike robbing a retail store, home invaders expect privacy once inside your home and won’t have to deal with the police suddenly driving up or customers walking in. Once the offenders take control of a residence they can force the occupants to open safes, locate hidden valuables, supply keys to the family car, and PIN numbers to their ATM cards. Home invaders will try to increase their escape time by disabling the phones and sometimes will leave their victims bound or incapacitated. It is not unheard of for robbers to load up the victim’s car with valuables and drive away without anyone in the neighborhood taking notice.

Method of Operation

The most common point of attack is through the front door or garage. Sometimes the home invader will simply kick open the door and confront everyone inside. More common is when the home invaders knock on the door first or ring the bell. The home invader hopes that the occupant will simply open the door, without question, in response to their knock. Unfortunately, many people do just that.

Home invaders will sometimes use a ruse or impersonation to get you to open the door. They have been known to pretend to be delivering a package, flowers or lie about an accident like hitting your parked car. Once the door is opened for them, the home invaders will use an explosive amount of force and threats to gain control of the home and produce fear in the victims. Once the occupants are under control the robbers will begin to collect your valuables.

Some home robbers have been known to spend hours ransacking a residence while the homeowners are bound nearby watching in terror. Some robbers have been known to eat meals, watch TV, or even take a nap. A major fear is that the robbers might commit more violence like sexual assault or even murder. Some robbers have kidnapped and forced a victim to withdraw cash from their ATM machine or take them to their small business to rob it as well.

Prevention Steps

The same tactics used to prevent daytime burglaries will go a long way to preventing forced entry home robberies. If you can delay a home invader at the point of entry then you have a chance of deterring them or have time to call the police. A solid core door, strong locks with reinforced strike plates, and reinforced window devices will stop most forced entries. See my web page on Home Security Tips for more information. Some homeowners build safe rooms inside their home to allow them to retreat or escape the violence while giving them valuable time to call the police.

The weakest home security link is the home occupant who fails to lock doors or windows or who will open the door without question at the sound of a knock. The best defense against home invasion is education and planning. Parents should hold a family meeting to discuss how to answer the door when someone knocks. Another important topic is how to act should your home or family be invaded. Once you know how home robbers work, you can effectively prevent most occurrences.

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ABP World Group Risk Management

(646) 502-7443 United States

069 2547 2471 Germany

020 3239 0013 United Kingdom

01 442 9322 Ireland