Allowing for the hyperbole,this is a big hit. Waiting for more details of the organisation to emerge.

Gang about 12 strong and judge talks about the heirarchy in his summing up. Operated over a large area, stealing goods from lorries and stealing cars and vans to carry away the contents of the lorries.

Skunk smugglers near Swindon. End of their trial, subsequent to “Operation Scarlet”. odd that they were importing it. I thought most of this stuff now being grown locally. There’s a back story here, I suspect.

It is far too long since I spotted a piece by Yulia Latynina. The sting in this one is in the tail. None of the terrorists captured or killed in the Caucasus recently has been a Chechen or fighting for an independent Chechnya. They were fighting for the Caucasus Emirate. She has comments on the … BESLAN’S MAIN TERRORIST FINALLY CAUGHT

Bit of a surprise here, and probably with wider implications. Case against one defendant dismissed, but not against the other defendant. One MI5 agent ruled to have misbehaved, the other to have stayed in characted as an arms dealer. Judges final statement will be worth looking at as it will effectively lay down guidelines for … REAL IRA PLOT ACCUSED ENTRAPPED BY MI5, RULES JUDGE

Sleepwalking into the police state. I’m not really sure how far we have gone down this path in the UK and the EU, but we had all better pray that the new authoritarians dont win the next election…Oh, you say they already did?

23,000 people killed since late 2006 when the present campaign was launched, saya the Independent.

Article from Asia Times on why some buildings may have been torched by the Thai redshirts/blackshirts and not others. Terrorism, crime and the rich. Tell the Guardian its journalists have a lot to learn about how to analyse violence..

Moscow more unsafe for journalists than Chechnya.Report from the International Union of Journalists.

Story about ‘Ndrangheta moving into the area around Milan. Big trial about to open