Escaped Hashish Runner A Welcome Guest After Apologizing For '78 Film ISTANBUL--Billy Hayes didn't flinch when the two Turkish police officers approached him in the dining room of Istanbul's Conrad Hotel one recent morning. He smiled. "I wanted to thank you for what you did," said one of the officers, while the other nodded vigorously in assent. This sort of thing had been happening to Hayes all week, and he was finally getting used to it -- even if it was a little surreal. His last official contact with Turkish authorities, more than three decades ago, was anything but friendly. [continues 731 words]
A Rifle-Loving, Cop-Hating Killer Shoots Four R.C.M.P. Officers. Canada Mourns, And A Debate On Drug And Gun Laws Intensifies Nearly everyone in Mayerthorpe, Alta., a close-knit farming community of 1,600 people, agreed Jim Roszko was trouble. At 46, he owned a rap sheet with entries that ranged from sex offenses to unlawful imprisonment. He also had a fondness for guns and guard dogs, and a mean streak that frightened even family members. "He once put me in handcuffs. It was a goof-around thing, but I was scared," remembers a cousin, Lewis Lewchuck. Roszko's father Bill says he was a "wicked devil." [continues 940 words]
If you wanted to wreak havoc on your neighbours and undermine their security with a minimum of military force, how would you go about it? You wouldn't need terrorist cells, biological weapons, or even "dirty" bombs. All you'd need is opium. Exhibit A is Afghanistan. That tiny, much-abused country was the world's largest producer of opium in 2002 and looks likely to maintain its dubious title this year. About 3,400 tonnes of opium were produced in Afghanistan last year, roughly three-quarters of the world's production, according to the United Nations. Anyone who doubts that this is the most cost-efficient form of global "unconventional warfare" should look at the results. [continues 691 words]
Canada mellows on marijuana, irking the U.S. Is that such a bad thing? Corky and Pumpkin are not your typical drug mules. Actually, they're bears. U.S. customs agents grabbed the ursine duo on Jan. 27 at the Blaine, Washington, international border crossing with 70 kg of marijuana stashed behind the false wall of their trailer cage. They were promptly hustled off to a nearby wildlife center for a nice meal. A different fate awaited the bears' chauffeur. Duane Christopher Bradley, 23, an Abbotsford, B.C., animal trainer who was driving Corky and Pumpkin to a film shoot in Los Angeles, pled guilty to a drug-trafficking charge and now faces up to 10 years in jail. Give him, at least, points for ingenuity: the illicit marijuana trade between Canada and the U.S. is apparently stoking the entrepreneurial spirit. [continues 616 words]
An Ontario Court Ruling On Medicinal Pot Is A Case Of Cross-border Advocacy The fumes of a Canadian marijuana ruling reached a California courtroom this month and gave civil libertarians there a brief high. Defending a group of San Francisco-area doctors who prescribe pot for aids patients, attorney Graham Boyd cited a July 31 Ontario Court of Appeals judgment that accepted marijuana's medicinal benefits. "That judgment completely undercut the U.S. government's case against us," says Boyd, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's drug-policy unit. [continues 678 words]
Money Laundering A $870 Billion-A-Year International Business VIENNA - Kevin Ford, a former New York city deputy police commissioner, thought he knew everything there was to know about corrupt cops. He had struggled through some of New York's most embarrassing police corruption scandals before leaving in 1998 to work as an international investigator for a London-based firm. That's when he discovered the real world. "In some eastern European countries, criminal groups actually control the police," he said. "In Nigeria, if you need help from law enforcement, you better be prepared to send a taxi." [continues 923 words]
NEW YORK - Another Kosovo is getting ready to explode. Don't look for it on a map of the Balkans; this one is right on our doorstep. The anarchic narco-guerrilla war in Colombia is heading inexorably towards a conflict that could envelop the entire region. The first public sign of how deeply outside forces have become engaged in the long-running Colombian quagmire came last week when a plane crashed in a remote mountainside in southern Colombia. On board the plane were five American soldiers. [continues 720 words]
27 world leaders set to sign U.N. pledge next month UNITED NATIONS - The world is about to go to war against drugs. Again. After years of fighting a losing battle against the $400 billion (U.S.) global narcotics industry, the international community has come up with a strategy it thinks could finally make a difference. At least 27 leaders will sign a pledge in New York next month to dramatically reduce drug addiction in their countries over the next decade. [continues 940 words]
