Paraguay Arrests 18 Police over Brazilian Inmates' Escape

Also, 18-y/o girl smuggled into prison and murdered

Corruption is Everywhere - definitely in Paraguayan prisons

By Renzo Pipoli

Authorities said two Brazilian inmates escaped from a Paraguay prison on Sunday.

File Photo by f11photo/Shutterstock/UPI

(UPI) -- Paraguay officials detained 18 police guards and placed them under investigation after an escape Sunday of two Brazilian inmates from a high-security prison.

Paraguay's internal security vice minister said inmates Thiago Ximenes, identified as a criminal band leader, and Reinaldo Araujo, identified as a hitman, escaped without a shot being fired from the Agrupamiento Especializado prison in Asuncion.

"Evidently there was police complicity in the escape of two members of the Fist Commando Capital," Paraguayan President Mario Abdo said Monday, reported 45 Ultima Hora.

He said 18 police officers, including two higher ranking officials, are under investigation for potential complicity.

The first stage of the escape, that involved cutting iron bars, occurred in a prison section where the guard in charge had requested permission to leave for family reasons, but superiors did not replace him. Security cameras in other areas that could have foiled the escape were damaged.

The detentions occur within of a month of a deadly incident in the same jail that sparked replacements of Paraguay's top police officials. In November, a Brazilian leader of the Comando Vermelho bank, Marcelo Pinheiro, was able to get an 18-year old girl inside his cell.

The incident became known after the girl was killed. Authorities said Pinheiro may have killed her to avoid extradition to Brazil, possibly because he has privileges in Paraguay he wouldn't have in Brazil.

Instead of being retained in Paraguay for a murder trial, he was immediately expelled by the Paraguayan government, which had already prepared his extradition.

An investigation by Paraguayan newspaper ABC cited a police source that said Paraguay criminals can pay up to $1,600 to arrange for illegal visiting privileges in high-security prisons.

Jail guards are also involved in selling weapons to inmates, it added. Weapons are sold "in parts" and assembled inside jails, the report said. Police uniforms have also been sold to Brazilian criminals who planned to use them to escape, it added.

The border between Brazil and Paraguay is a point from which drugs and weapons are smuggled into Brazil. They end up in the poorest neighborhoods of Brazil's biggest cities, which are plagued by drug related violence, according to Brazilian authorities. Brazilian police have cracked down on such organizations in recent months.

Disguised in a Burka, Hitman Points His Gun at Hells Angel's Head - Gun Misfires

Knowah Ferguson was 18 when he tried to kill Damion Ryan,

a full-patch Hells Angels member

Rhianna Schmunk · CBC News 

Knowah Ferguson thought he stood to make a "quick and easy" $200,000.

All he had to do was shoot Damion Ryan — a full-patch member of the Hells Angels gang twice his size — in the food court at Vancouver International Airport at lunchtime on a Friday afternoon, according to evidence at Ferguson's attempted murder trial.

Ferguson — an 18-year-old from Ontario with no previous criminal record — nearly succeeded, but his gun jammed when it was against the back of Ryan's head on April 10, 2015.

Both men ran away and Ferguson was later sent to prison for attempted murder.

Security footage obtained by CBC News on Thursday shows the failed hit as it played out in real time — from a disguised Ferguson arriving at the airport on a Canada Line train to both men escaping on the same train, riding in separate cars metres apart.

Failed hit

Ferguson had just turned 18 when he took a bus from Hamilton, Ont., to Vancouver to do criminal work, court heard.

He planned to shoot Ryan in the food court as the target sat next to a member of the United Nations criminal gang, who had arranged the hit on Ryan. He has not been identified.

Video footage shown to the CBC but not cleared for publication shows Ferguson arrived at the airport by Canada Line at 1:08 p.m. 

He wore a black burka, which was too short for him, leaving his black, high-top sneakers visible at the bottom. 

The gun — which, court heard, Ferguson had tested beforehand in preparation — was hidden in a black purse hanging from his right arm.

Seemingly calm and seldom looking around, Ferguson can be seen walking to the food court near the international check-in counter and sitting down to wait.

After 15 minutes, Ryan arrives and takes a seat across from the UN member — half a dozen tables away from Ferguson and surrounded by dozens of bystanders eating lunch.

Ferguson appears to spot Ryan, makes a trip to the bathroom and returns to a table closer to his target.

Another seven minutes pass and the three men sit, the hitman and target with their backs to each other.

At 1:54 p.m., Ferguson scans the room, stands, peeks inside the purse one more time and tucks the gun up his sleeve. 

He walks past five tables before stopping directly behind Ryan.

Ferguson lifts the gun to the back of the target's head and the UN member leans away — but nothing fires.

Ryan can be seen swinging his right arm up behind his head to swat the gun away.

In less than a second, the Hells Angel is up and sprinting out of the food court. Ferguson follows close behind, and the UN member walks off in another direction.

None of the bystanders appear to realize what's happened.

Escape by Canada Line

Canada Line is an elevated, rapid transit, train line from downtown Vancouver to the airport (YVR) on Sea Island.

Another angle of security footage shows Ryan running toward the international check-in desks to escape. Ferguson veers left, charging down a flight of stairs before slowing down and walking out of the airport to the parkade.

Ferguson disappears from view into a stairwell, emerging in a grey baseball cap, black hoodie and the same black sneakers. The black purse is stuffed in a blue plastic shopping bag.

Ferguson escaped the airport on a Canada Line train at 1:59 p.m., less than five minutes after the botched hit.

Ryan can be seen getting on a different car of the same train, 21 seconds after Ferguson boards near the front.

It's unclear if either man knew the other was on the train.

Arrest and conviction

Ferguson and two associates were arrested on firearms offences after a stolen truck they'd been using was spotted by its owner in Vancouver, two months after the attempted hit at the airport.

On Sept. 7, Ferguson, now 21, was sentenced to seven years for attempted murder and four years for conspiracy.

He received credit for time served, leaving him with a little more than six years to spend behind bars.

Court heard Damion Ryan did not co-operate with the investigation.

One of several good reasons for not allowing burqas in civilized countries.

Butcher of Pakistan: Austrian Police Arrest Hitman-Turned-Migrant-Trafficker Accused of Killing 70

FILE PHOTO © Antonio Bronic / Reuters

Vienna police have captured a 35-year-old man accused of killing 70 people in Pakistan. Atif Z. was arrested among a group of 42 illegal migrants in Hungary, local media have reported.

Atif Z. is on Pakistan’s Most Wanted list and was detained following a tip-off in an international police operation near Boly in southern Hungary, from where he reportedly operated a people-smuggling ring.

"This case once again shows the importance of international cooperation in combating crime. I can only congratulate the Austrian investigators on this success," said Austria’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka.

Austrian newspapers reported that the suspect was known as the Butcher of Pakistan, but added their country’s police had limited knowledge of the details of the crimes committed in his homeland.

Atif Z. now faces deportation to Pakistan. However, that process could be delayed as Vienna does not customarily return criminals who could face the death penalty in their home country, which is a distinct possibility in this case.

Perhaps Austria could make an exception for such a special person.

According to European Union’s border agency Frontex, the Western Balkan route – from Turkey, into Greece, former Yugoslavia, Hungary and onto Switzerland or Austria, then the rest of Europe – was the migrants’ preferred way of entering Europe in 2015, with over 760,000 new arrivals. After tighter policing controls were introduced at the end of that year, the numbers dropped sharply to about 120,000 in 2016.

The immigrant issue has nonetheless continued to dominate Austrian politics. Earlier this month, the conservative anti-migration politician, 31-year old Sebastian Kurz, was elected chancellor, paving the way for a ruling coalition between the center-right and the nationalist right parties.

Eleven Killed, 18 Injured in Shooting at Nigerian Church

At least eight people died and another 18 were injured in a shooting Sunday at a church in southern Nigeria. Photo courtesy Anambra State Police Command Awka/Facebook

By Allen Cone  

UPI -- At least eight people died in a shooting Sunday at a church in southern Nigeria apparently by a lone gunman, police said.

Another 18 worshipers were wounded in the attack at St. Philip's Catholic Church in Ozubulu near the city of Onitsha in the state of Anambra, the Police Command in Awka said in a post on Facebook.

Initially, witnesses said the attack was carried out by gunmen at 5:45 a.m., but police now say it likely was carried out by one man, the Premium Times in Nigeria reported.

Garba Umar, commissioner of police in the state, said they believe the attack was carried out by a native of the area.

Umar said the shooting related to an argument between Nigerians from Ozubulu who live abroad, including one who built the church in which the attack occurred.

"A gunman dressed in black attire covering his face with a cap entered the church and moved straight to a particular direction and opened fire," Umar said. "The man after shooting at his targeted victims still went on a shooting spree, killing and wounding other worshipers."

Umar said the attack was not linked to Boko Haram.

Boko Haram does not operate in southern Nigeria.

From Daily-Mail:

At least 11 killed in 'barbaric' Nigeria church shooting

At least 11 worshipers were shot dead at a church in southeast Nigeria on Sunday, with authorities suggesting the bloodshed was due to a local feud.

"The information at the disposal of the police is that the gunman had been hired to kill a particular family person believed to be among the worshipers," he said.

He said the governor of the state visited the scene and promised to pay the medical bills of the injured.

Local rights activist Emeka Umeagbalasi said his information about the motive largely concurred with that of the police version.

The gunmen had gone to kill the son of a local chief but failed to find him at his home, Umeagbalasi said.

The attackers then went to the church to hunt for him, but could not find the intended target and became angry, he said.

They opened "fire on parishioners and shot indiscriminately," he said, adding that the father of the intended target was shot and wounded.