Tag Archives: Arrest

South African twins planned attacks on U.S. Embassy, Jewish buildings

U.S. Embassy in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African twins arrested over the weekend were planning attacks on the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Pretoria, as well as on buildings owned by Jewish people, police said on Monday.

Four South Africans, including the twins, Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie, faced charges in court ranging from conspiracy to firearms offences, the spokesman for the elite police unit Hawks, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, said.

The four, arrested in Johannesburg on Sunday, will be detained in custody until July 19, when their case will be heard, Mulaudzi said.

Quoting the charge sheet, the News24 news organization said the twins had been attempting to fly to Syria. Security officials say there are no known militant groups operating in South Africa, but Britain and the United States warned in June of a high threat of attacks against foreigners in the country’s shopping malls.

Mulaudzi named the other two siblings as Fatima and Ibrahim Mohammed Patel.

“The indictment does talk to issues of terror plots that they were planning against the U.S. Embassy as well as Jewish Buildings in the country,” he said, referring to the twins.

“The twins have been charged with conspiracy,” Mulaudzi added. “The Patel siblings have been charged with the violation of the Firearms Control Act for now.”

The twins’ preliminary charge sheet states that their conspiracy occurred between October 2015 and July 8 this year, local newspaper the Times said on its online service.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a daily news briefing that the United States applauded Hawks for making the arrests and had “full confidence in the South African judicial system to handle this case according to internationally accepted best practices”.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham in Washington, writing by James Macharia; editing by Ralph Boulton and Cynthia Osterman)

Danish court finds pizzeria owner guilty of fighting for Islamic State

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A Copenhagen court found a Danish pizzeria owner guilty on Wednesday of joining Islamic State (IS) to fight in Syria, the first such case in the Nordic country.

The verdict comes amid concerns of increased radicalization among Muslims in Europe and deadly attacks claimed by Islamic State militants in Paris and Brussels.

The court found the 24-year-old defendant, who holds both Danish and Turkish passports, guilty of allowing himself to be recruited in 2013 by IS in order to commit terrorist acts in Syria.

The man, who was arrested in March 2015, had denied fighting for IS, but admitted to having worked as a baker for the group in Syria.

He is expected to be sentenced later on Wednesday.

Danish authorities have been on high alert since two people were killed in shooting attacks at a free speech event and at a synagogue in Copenhagen in February 2015.

In April Danish police arrested four other people suspected of having been recruited by IS to commit terrorist acts and two others of breaking Danish weapons law.

More than 125 people from Denmark are believed to have joined IS after going to Syria and Iraq, the intelligence service said in October, adding that at least 27 of them had died there.

(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard; Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Gareth Jones)

U.S. arrests Indiana man it says planned to join Islamic State

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An 18-year-old man who authorities said planned to fly to Morocco and travel to Islamic State-controlled territory to join the group was arrested in Indiana on Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department said.

FBI agents arrested Akram Musleh, of Brownsburg, Indiana, as he was attempting to board a bus from Indianapolis to New York, from where he planned to fly to Morocco, the department said in a statement.

“The criminal complaint alleges that he planned to provide personnel (himself) to ISIL,” the statement added, referring to the militant Islamist group.

If convicted, Musleh faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, the statement said.

(Reprting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)

Three arrested at New York-New Jersey tunnel with weapons cache

Holland Tunnel

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Three people were arrested on Tuesday morning with an arsenal of weapons, including a military-style assault rifle, after police stopped them near the Holland Tunnel, a major crossing that connects New Jersey and New York City.

Police pulled over a vehicle for a cracked windshield at a toll plaza on the New Jersey side around 7:40 a.m. ET (1140 GMT) and found several guns inside, according to a spokesman for the Port Authority Police Department, which patrols the tunnel.

Police recovered five pistols, an AR-15 assault rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun, as well as a small amount of marijuana and a marijuana pipe, according to the Port Authority. Some of the guns were loaded.

John Cramsey, 50, Dean Smith, 53, and Kimberly Arendt, 29, all from Pennsylvania, were charged with weapons possession and drug paraphernalia charges.

“At this time, the investigation is continuing, but the agency does not believe the incident is terrorism-related,” said the Port Authority spokesman, Joseph Pentangelo.

Local news outlets, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Cramsey told police he was driving to New York City to rescue a young girl from a drug den.

Police also recovered several knives, extra ammunition, body armor and a camouflage helmet from the vehicle, local media reported.

U.S. law enforcement, including New York City’s massive counter-terrorism apparatus, has been on high alert since a gunman killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub on June 12 in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

New York has some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, including a ban on military-style assault weapons that on Monday survived a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.

Those weapons have sometimes been used in mass shootings, including in Orlando and in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre that killed 20 children and six adults.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Dan Grebler)

Zambia police arrest four suspects for ritual murders that sparked riots

Zambia ritual murders

LUSAKA (Reuters) – Zambia police said on Tuesday four suspects have been arrested in connection with a string of grisly ritual murders in the southern African nation’s capital that triggered anti-foreign riots targeting mostly Rwandan migrants in April.

The arrested suspects are two army soldiers, a civilian employee of the Zambian Air Force and a traditional doctor, police said. They were to appear in court Tuesday afternoon charged with seven counts of murder.

“All the murders which the accused have been charged with were committed in a similar manner by crushing the left side of the head, removing body parts and later dumping the deceased near their homes,” police said in a statement.

Police said in April that the victims had ears, hearts and genitals removed, raising suspicion of ritual killings.

Human body parts are sometimes used in traditional remedies and concoctions in southern Africa. The practice is linked to witchcraft beliefs.

Zambia hosts thousands of refugees from neighboring countries, especially Rwanda and Burundi, but relations between the communities are usually peaceful.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)

Arrest made in killing of University of Texas student

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the killing of a University of Texas first-year dance student whose body was found on campus earlier this week, a local television station and Austin police said on Friday.

The arrest came the day after the victim was identified as Haruka Weiser, 18, of Oregon, who also was studying theater.

“A suspect is in custody,” the Austin Police Department said in a message on Twitter. Police did not provide details on the suspect, pending a news conference scheduled for Friday morning.

Austin television station KVUE, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, described the suspect as a 17-year-old boy and said firefighters provided an important tip that led helped police make the arrest.

Weiser was reported missing on Monday. Her body was found on Tuesday behind the university’s alumni center, near the main football stadium on the Austin campus, which is used by about 64,000 students, faculty and staff. Police have not released a cause of death.

Police had previously told reporters they had a person of interest in the death – a man seen in surveillance video on a bicycle near where the body was found.

Weiser left the drama building on Sunday night, likely headed for her dormitory, but never made it there, police said.

Her death sent shock waves through the university community, which held a vigil for Weiser on Thursday that was attended by hundreds of students, and it prompted a campus security review.

Gregory Fenves, president of the University of Texas at Austin, said in a statement on Friday that increased police patrols will continue on campus.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Bill Trott)

Jump in Border Crossings Reported by Border Patrol

The U.S. Border Patrol arrested nearly 10,000 unaccompanied immigrant children and families caught illegally crossing the border with Mexico in August. This is a 52 percent jump from August 2014, according to statistics published by the agency Monday afternoon. Many immigrants were actually looking for border control agents so that they could be arrested once they had crossed. An increase in the number of such crossings in August is unusual because it is the time of year when hot temperatures make it dangerous to try.  

The Border Patrol reported arresting 6,424 unaccompanied immigrant children and families in August 2014.

Since last October, border agents have arrested more than 35,000 children traveling alone and more than 34,500 people traveling as families, mostly mothers and children. The number of arrests for the year is down nearly 50 percent compared with a year ago, but border agents have reported a jump in arrests since July. Studies show that the children are attempting to cross multiple times.

The August increase comes a year after a surge of more than 68,000 unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many were trying to escape violence in Honduras, El Salvador or Guatemala. For much of the year, the number of illegal border crossings by families and children has been far lower than last year, before increasing in July and August

U.S. officials say there’s a notable increase in the number of unaccompanied minors and families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, presenting worries of a possible new refugee influx.

Second Arrest in Bangkok Shrine Bombing

The head of Thailand’s military government announced a second arrest in the bombing of a shrine that left 20 people dead.

After the arrest of the suspect at the Cambodian border, Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters the suspect is “a key perpetrator in this case.”  He said the suspect is also connected to a bombing at a Bangkok pier the day after the shrine attack.

Officials say that bomb making materials and forged passports were found at the home of the arrested man.

“At first we thought he is Turkish. But we just found out two Turkish passports he is holding are all fake,” Prawut told CNN.  “We also found many empty fake passports, also various kinds of evidence.”

Police also issued more arrest warrants for people they believe to be connected to the attack.  Seven people are now sought with most of them foreigners.  One, a Muslim woman named Wanna Suansan, is the only named suspect and is currently in Turkey.

Police would not say if either of the two men currently in custody is the man shown in closed circuit video dropping a backpack at the shrine location which is speculated to have contained the bomb.

Virginia Teen Jailed for Attempting to Help ISIS

A Virginia teenager will spend the next eleven years of his life in prison because he attempted to help Islamic terrorist group ISIS.

Ali Shukri Amin, 17, will also have a lifetime of probation and will have all of his online activity monitored for the rest of his life.

Amin had faced 15 years in prison.  His lawyer argued that because he had cooperated with federal authorities and didn’t try to radicalize anyone but his friend Reza Niknejad that he should only get six years in prison.

Family members and friends, including two imams, were in the courtroom when Amin received his sentence.

In addition to attempting to radicalize a friend, Amin operated a Twitter account where he had 4,000 followers to his ISIS propaganda.  He instructed people on how to make donations to ISIS via the computer currency Bitcoin.

Prosecutors called for the maximum sentence because of the “danger he will continue to pose to society” after his release.

British Teen Admits Role In Australian Terror Plot

A 15-year-old British man has admitted in a Manchester court that he was working on a plot via the Internet to behead, run over or shoot police officers in Australia.

The attack, inspired by the Islamic extremist group ISIS, was to take place on April 25th, the day Australia celebrates the service of their armed forces.

The unidentified youth pleaded guilty to inciting terrorism overseas and because he was 14 at the time of arrest, he became the youngest person in British history to be convicted of terrorism offenses.

Prosecutors showed the enthusiasm of the boy for the attack by entering into court thousands of instant messages with fellow terrorist Sevdet Besim in Australia over a 10 day period.

“Those messages reveal the intentions of the plotters and their targets, along with their motivation which may be summarised as support for Isis and their enthusiasm for the attack,” prosecutor Paul Greaney said according to the BBC.

“The messages also set out the plotters’ preparations for the attack. On 18 March 2015, as part of those preparations, the defendant sent Sevdet Besim a message that read, ‘suggest you break into someone’s house and get your first taste of beheading’.  Sevdet Besim responded to say that this seemed ‘a little risky’ and that aspect of the preparations appears then to have drifted away.”

The judge says because of the boy’s age it will be hard to find a sentence.  The formal sentencing is scheduled for March 3rd.