Charles Shaw,Kelly A. Grasty were charged with delivery of a controlled substance, drug possession

Charles Shaw , 32, and Kelly A. Grasty, 29, were charged with delivery of a controlled substance, drug possession and related charges in the drug deal at a K-Mart parking lot on Route 309, police said.The arrests were made as part of a continuing crackdown on drug dealers by Quakertown police and the state police at Bethlehem vice unit.Police said Shaw and Grasty met an undercover state trooper and police informant at the parking lot Friday and Shaw sold 215 bags of heroin to the informant.Police also found cocaine in the vehicle in which Shaw and Grasy were traveling, police said.Both were arraigned before District Justice Charles Baum in Perkasie and sent to Bucks County Prison under $100,000 bail.

Mokbel's alleged $4.2 million amphetamines network, dubbed The Company.

THE insider who helped police nab fugitive drug chief Tony Mokbel has denied turning him in for a $1 million reward.The informer (known as 3030) yesterday began giving evidence against those accused of being part of Mokbel's alleged $4.2 million amphetamines network, dubbed The Company. Police allege Mokbel ran the drug business from his Greek hideaway using mobile phones and had more than $400,000 in cash wired to him up to his arrest in June last year. Documents tendered to Melbourne Magistrates' Court alleged that: MOKBEL and The Company hatched a plan to free his sister-in-law, Renate Mokbel, from jail by presenting $1 million in laundered drug money to the Supreme Court; A MAJOR drug import involving a mid-sea transfer of drugs was being organised; MEMBERS of the Mokbel family, including his mother and son, regularly spoke to him while he was on the run;
MOKBEL laughed and joked with associates about media reports he was hiding in Lebanon; and THE court heard 3030 helped Mokbel organise a false passport.
The informer told the court he got involved with The Company when a friend, Bart Rizzo, asked if he could use his spare room for mixing amphetamines in December 2005. He said he handed his current and expired passports to Mr Rizzo last April and was quizzed on personal details by a man who relayed the information to Mokbel by phone.
3030 said he learned of the $1 million reward for information leading to Mokbel's capture around that time but had not put in a claim.
"My motivation was simply to keep myself from going to jail," he said.
He denied money was the real reason, but did not rule out seeking part of the reward after the case was over. He admitted helping transfer money that he believed was going to Mokbel, including paying a "travel agent" who was arranging the drug trafficker's escape from Australia.
The preliminary hearing for Mr Rizzo, 29, of Box Hill, and four others on drug-related charges is continuing.

Shequalah Hatchett,conspiracy to deliver crack cocaine

Shequalah Hatchett, 21, of Madison, was convicted by a Monroe jury of one count of felony conspiracy to deliver crack cocaine and one count of felony maintaining a drug trafficking place for activity that took place from March 2005 through June 2006.This was the fifth jury trial resulting from a lengthy, multi-jurisdictional drug investigation that culminated in several arrests on June 29, 2006, said Monroe County District Attorney Dan Cary.“The extraordinary efforts of all law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation resulted in Hatchett being successfully prosecuted for her criminal conduct,” Cary said.Cary also noted that the investigation involved a cooperation effort between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.Presiding Judge Michael McAlpine ordered that a pre-sentence investigation report be prepared, and will schedule sentencing for a later date. As a result of her convictions, Hatchett faces a potential maximum sentence of over $100,000 in fines and imprisonment of more than 43 years.
Hatchett had previously been appointed by Gov. Jim Doyle as a youth representative to the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Commission in 2004.

Andrew Terence Wilkes,Susan Khadeja Creaser received 14 and 4 year jail terms respectively after being convicted of multiple drugs offences

Andrew Terence Wilkes, 49, and his partner Susan Khadeja Creaser, 46, of Jades Acre, St Leonards Avenue in Thrybergh received 14 and 4 year jail terms respectively after being convicted of multiple drugs offences including the supply of Heroin, Amphetamine and Cannabis, as well as the commercial production of Crack Cocaine.
The sentencing followed a two-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court and also included convictions for money laundering following the £70,000 purchase and renovation of local night-spot ‘Le Barge’.Detective Sergeant Paul Wilson, head of the Rotherham Drugs Unit that ran the investigation, said: "We are extremely pleased with the sentences imposed and the recovery of the assets. “This was a difficult enquiry due to the type of determined criminals we were dealing with who, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, still protested their innocence. Fortunately the jury were able to see the facts as they were and returned unanimous guilty verdicts.
“We now continue to target others who peddle drugs misery in order to line their own pockets and they too can expect to go to prison in due course."The operation mounted by the Drugs Unit took months of patient surveillance work in order to secure the convictions. Three other men pleaded guilty to drugs offences during court proceedings.
Richard Boreman, 30, from the Hull area has previously received three and half years imprisonment at Hull Crown Court for possession with intent to supply Heroin and Amphetamine bought from Andrew Wilkes.
Richard Morfitt, 28, also from the Hull area pleaded guilty for possession of Cannabis with intent to supply and is awaiting sentence at Sheffield Crown Court.
‘Le Barge’ has now been confiscated and is subject of asset recovery proceedings after the court found that half a kilogram of Herbal Cannabis had been supplied to Robert Taylor at the night-spot. Taylor, 50, of 26 Strauss Crescent, Maltby, is yet to be sentenced after pleading guilty to possession of Cannabis with intent to supply.
During the trial detectives managed to prove that the couple’s home address on St Leonards Avenue in Thrybergh had been used for the production of Crack Cocaine, which is a highly addictive drug.

Suspected cocaine with a street value of £400,000

Three men have been arrested in connection with the seizure.Suspected cocaine with a street value of £400,000 has been recovered after a vehicle was stopped by police on the motorway in Somerset. Police said the vehicle was stopped on the M5 between the Wellington and Taunton junctions and what is believed to be 9.5kg of cocaine was recovered. Officers searched the driver's home and found a small hydroponics factory and a quantity of pills and white powder.

Dean Miller, went into the Zavvi store, Queen Street, Cardiff, on February 26, and tried to steal DVDs by ripping off their security tags

Miller, 35, went into the Zavvi store, Queen Street, Cardiff, on February 26, and tried to steal DVDs by ripping off their security tags and shoving them into his trouser pockets. He was stopped by security staff.Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard Miller, of Pearl Street, Adamsdown, Cardiff, who has 27 previous convictions for theft, had traces of cocaine in his system on arrest.
Andrew Gooden, defending, said Miller had been involved with drugs, including cocaine and heroin, from a very young age, but had never been offered help by the courts to deal with his problems.
“He realises he’s slipping back into a criminal lifestyle. He wants to re-engage with the Big Issue. He doesn’t want to steal to fund his habit.”
Miller admitted theft, possessing heroin and failing to surrender to custody. He is due to be sentenced on March 25.
, 35, went into the Zavvi store, Queen Street, Cardiff, on February 26, and tried to steal DVDs by ripping off their security tags and shoving them into his trouser pockets. He was stopped by security staff.Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard Miller, of Pearl Street, Adamsdown, Cardiff, who has 27 previous convictions for theft, had traces of cocaine in his system on arrest.Andrew Gooden, defending, said Miller had been involved with drugs, including cocaine and heroin, from a very young age, but had never been offered help by the courts to deal with his problems.“He realises he’s slipping back into a criminal lifestyle. He wants to re-engage with the Big Issue. He doesn’t want to steal to fund his habit.”
Miller admitted theft, possessing heroin and failing to surrender to custody. He is due to be sentenced on March 25.

Manuel D. Taitano 42-year-old American civilian was in Okinawa police custody Saturday on suspicion of taking an illegal stimulant.

Manuel D. Taitano, who told police he is the husband of an Air Force enlisted member and lives and works on Kadena Air Base, was arrested about 2:30 a.m. at the prefectural police station in Naha after the drug was detected in a urine sample, according to a police spokeswoman. Taitano was at the home of a Japanese man in the Furugen district of Yomitan when police raided the home in a search for drugs, the spokeswoman said. The occupant of the home, Yuichi Mekaru, 29, who is unemployed, was arrested early Saturday for allegedly receiving the stimulant from another individual on a road near his home, according to the police report.The spokeswoman did not know the kind of drug involved.Police had been alerted to Mekaru by neighbors, who reported “suspicious looking individuals” frequented his home. Besides Mekaru and Taitano, another Okinawa man, Ryo Shinjo, 31, also was arrested.Taitano was asked to come to the police station in Naha for questioning and was arrested after his urine tested positive, the police spokeswoman said.
His arrest comes at a time when all Americans connected to the U.S. military on Okinawa are restricted to their bases and off-base homes for a “period of reflection” following several recent high-profile arrests by servicemembers that drew protests from anti-base activists and Okinawa and Japanese officials.

Craig Ainslie,Asha Grey,Carl Dinnage.The trio were sentenced on Friday after admitting several offences including kidnap, grievous bodily harm

PR executive Nick Rappolt, 31, was stabbed in the back and arm with a combat knife as he told his wife on the phone that he was almost home. He nearly bled to death after the attack near his £1million house off Clapham Common, London. Mr Rappolt needed ten hours of emergency surgery and has lost most of the use in his left hand since the attack last September, the Evening Standard reported.
Details of the attack were revealed at Inner London crown court which heard that Mr Rappolt was the third victim that night of the gang - Craig Ainslie, 22, Asha Grey, 21, and Carl Dinnage, 17. The trio drank champagne and took cocaine as they celebrated Grey's birthday before driving around Wandsworth and Clapham in a stolen Ford Fiesta to pick out a victim at random. They first attacked pizza delivery driver Mohammed Dost, who was battered with his helmet and robbed. Then they pulled Neil Dyer into the back of the car and kicked his head 'like a football' after they tried to get money from his bank account. Then they targeted Mr Rappolt who was on his way home from a charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He said in an impact statement: 'I could feel my jeans becoming drenched in my own blood and began to realise I might die. 'Two days after the attack my wife found out she was pregnant. Regrettably she lost our baby six weeks later. I have no doubt the stress of this incident was a contributing factor in this.' The trio were sentenced on Friday after admitting several offences including kidnap, grievous bodily harm and robbery.
Grey of Balham, was told he would have to serve a minimum term of five years, Ainslie of Tooting Bec, was given four years. Dinnage was handed a two-year detention and training order.

Former minister for Aboriginal affairs Milton Orkopoulos provided heroin

Former minister for Aboriginal affairs Milton Orkopoulos provided heroin and held a Year 9 student's arm as the boy injected the drug for the first time, the alleged victim claimed yesterday.The alleged victim said he was about 15 when he first met Mr Orkopoulos at a Labor Party function, and the older man soon began providing him with cannabis and heroin and introduced him to sexual activities. The witness, who testified yesterday in the NSW District Court in Newcastle, is the last of Mr Orkopoulos's three alleged victims to give evidence. Mr Orkopoulos is facing 34 charges of sex with minors under 18, indecent assault and supplying cannabis and heroin. The witness said he was initially invited to Mr Orkopoulos's house for dinner as a Year 9 student in about 1995, and after dinner Mr Orkopoulos shared a cannabis cigarette with him in a shed. "I brought up that I'd been molested when I was a young boy," the alleged victim said, saying Mr Orkopoulos encouraged him to talk about it. The alleged victim, now 28, testified via closed circuit television. He told the court he was still in Year 9, or about 15, and that he had already had sexual encounters with Mr Orkopoulos when the older man took him to a park at night and provided heroin and injecting equipment including needles, spoons and swabs.
"I remember him getting it out and showing me how to go about it, I guess, mixing it up," the alleged victim said, adding that he had never injected anything before. Mr Orkopoulos then performed sexual acts on him, the court heard. Two former NSW parliamentarians told the court they had heard about serious allegations made against Mr Orkopoulos a year before his arrest in November 2006. Former MP Bryce Gaudry said he was telephoned in October 2005 by Mr Orkopoulos's electorate secretary, Gillian Sneddon, who told him of allegations "that involved threats or threats of violence towards a young man from Milton". Mr Gaudry and another former parliamentarian, Jan Burnswood, were told by Mr Orkopoulos that he had already advised the police about the matter, and yesterday Superintendent Michael Kenny told the court that in October 2005 he had been asked by Mr Orkopoulos to warn off a young man who had been harassing him

Dudley’s Bushey Fields Hospital are smuggling drink and drugs onto wards

Patients at Dudley’s Bushey Fields Hospital are smuggling drink and drugs onto wards, prompting police searches of the site, it has been revealed.Doctors have warned there is a “rising” number of patients at the mental health hospital sneaking in alcohol and drugs. They say it is making it increasingly difficult for staff to do their jobs and will present a report about the situation to Dudley Primary Care Trust’s (PCT) board at a meeting next week.In the report medical director at Dudley PCT, Dr William Conlon, a consultant at Bushey Fields, and acute services manager in charge of Bushey Fields, Mrs Wendy Pugh, say the problem is worsening.Dr Conlon describes the problem of drinks and drugs within Bushey Fields as “rising” and says it could have “a negative effect on people with mental health problems.”The report admits police have conducted searches.Dudley PCT spokesman, Laura Broster, said: “While we recognise the important nature of this issue we are committed to dealing with it in a sensitive but firm way.”Dudley PCT will hold its board meeting at St John’s House in Dudley on Thursday March 6

Ryan Ludlow sentenced to 11 years in prison after he was caught last August with 30 kilograms cocaine Ray O'Donovan received four years at the same

Police are investigating if travellers at Crays Hill were involved in a plot to flood the streets with nearly £3million of cocaine.Ryan Ludlow, 26, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he was caught last August with 30 kilograms of cocaine - worth £2.7million - in a car in a McDonald's car park in Harlow.Defending him at Basildon Crown Court on Wednesday, David Williams said he was talked into picking up the package by travellers at the Oak Lane site.Essex Police confirmed investigations are continuing. Helen Cook, Essex Police spokeswoman, said: "Enquiries are ongoing with regard to this case."Officers are looking at the implications of what may have gone on before the arrests and elsewhere."Because of this we cannot comment on any ongoing action at this time."The court was told Ludlow, of Clayburn Circle, Basildon, was seeing a girl from the site, but the travellers did not approve because he was not one of them and he agreed to do the job to "clear the debt".Ray O'Donovan, 27, from Wilsner, Pitsea, who was caught with him in the silver Ford Mondeo with 40 wraps of the drug, worth £10,000, received four years at the same hearing.The boarded up address in Mansfield
Judge Gareth Jones said he must have realised the job involved cocaine, because he admitted to seeing quantities of the drug when visiting the site.Officers from Essex Police's Serious and Organised Crime Directive were monitoring the vehicle before making the arrests.Why use UK gang's address? A LINK between travellers from Crays Hill and a business address run by a member of one of the UK's biggest international drug rings has been discovered. a number of travellers from the Oak Lane site have used the address, 138 Chesterfield Road North, Mansfield, to set up road surfacing businesses in France, register vehicles or give to police as an abode if questioned.The now boarded-up building was formerly antique importer and exporter Fair Deal Antiques, run by Arthur Dawes, 62, of Central Avenue, Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire, until 2005.Dawes was jailed for eight years in May 2005 for money laundering in connection with the drugs gang he was involved in.His son John, 39, of Tudor Street, Sutton-in-Ashfield, headed the gang.He got 24 years at the same trial.
Dawes junior was convicted for recruiting drug dealers and runners to buy and sell heroin and amphetamines, and also money laundering.The nine-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court heard the feared gang's reign of terror took place between 1997 and September 2003, moving more than £5m drugs money around the UK and abroad inside just one seven-month period.It is not know what, if any, connection the travellers had to Dawes, but many of them are known to trade in antiques and have long-standing links to Mansfield.Three of a kind this year latest convictions were the third in a series of cases involving large-scale dealing of cocaine connected to Crays Hill, since the beginning of the year.On January 25, Kevin McNess, 47, of Crays Hill Road, Crays Hill, was imprisoned for 26 years.He was convicted at Cardiff Crown Court of heading a gang which hid £4.5million of cocaine in lorry tyres to supply drugs to cities across the country.On February 22, Ronald Pyke, 56, of Coombe Rise, Stanford-le-Hope, pleaded guilty to being part of a conspiracy to supply the cocaine, after £700,000 worth of the drug was found at his home.He still awaits sentence with Robert Gregory, 56, of Oak Road, Crays Hill, who confessed to masterminding the supply of cocaine worth £500,000 across the Midlands last year, following his arrest at home in August.Kingston Crown Court was told surveillance of Gregory's home had been difficult, because it is directly opposite the entrance to the Oak Lane traveller site.