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hardynwa · 3 months

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Navy destroys illegal oil refining sites in Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo

The Nigerian Navy has set ablaze four illegal oil refining sites in Rivers, Bayelsa and Ondo States between Saturday and Sunday. The Nigerian Navy, in a series of posts on its social media handles Monday said the clampdown on oil thieves in the Niger Delta was part of the Operation Delta Sanity. The Navy said its Ship Pathfinder, “discovered and deactivated a wooden boat conveying about 4,500 litres of illegally refined diesel along Bakama axis in Rivers State on Sunday”. Same day, the Navy disclosed that its Forward Operating Base Formoso, discovered and destroyed an illegal refining site with a large oven of about 40,000 litres of suspected stolen crude oil at Brass River and Akansa general area in Bayelsa State. Similarly, the troops discovered and set fire on another illegal refining site laden with equipment, drums and pits with a storage capacity of about 30,000 litres of crude oil at Okrika in Rivers State on Sunday. It was added further that “Nigerian Navy Ship Soroh discovered, deactivated and destroyed an illegal refining tite laden with equipment, speedboats and drums at Gbaram and Agbura communities in Bayelsa State” on March 2. In Ondo State, Forward Operating Base, Igbokoda, was said to have uncovered and deactivated an illegal refining site laden with pits, ovens and storage tanks of about 30,000 litres of crude oil at Ilaje Local Government Area of the State on Friday, saaying the products were handled in accordance with extant directives.” The Nigerian Navy Ship Beecroft had reportedly arrested a Ghana-owned motor tanker, Sweet Miri, involved in suspected crude oil theft. The vessel was arrested 174 nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria, approximately 320 kilometres, heading to Benin Republic. According to a statement by the NNS Base Information Officer, Lieutenant H. Ibrahim, the motor vessel had 13 crew: one Ghanaian and 12 Nigerians, onboard at the time of arrest. The Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral MB Hassan, was quoted in the statement, as saying that the vessel was carrying about two million litres of the suspected product without approval and had switched off its Automatic Identification System to avoid detection. Oil theft has been identified as one of the factors responsible for the inability of Nigeria to increase its daily oil production. Perpetrators of the act appear not to be backing down despite efforts by the government to stem the tide. Read the full article

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crimechannels · 9 months

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By • Olalekan Fagbade DHQ, Nigerian police turn heat on oil thieves, economic saboteurs The pressure piled on oil thieves, economic saboteurs and bandits by the military and the police have started yielding results. The nation’s security has raised the tempo of their battle against those they described as enemies of the government’s plan to improve the economy. The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) and the police yesterday gave insights into the results of their declaration of war on the criminals. Acting Inspector – General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun and Director of Defence Media Operations Maj-Gen. Edward Buba spoke at different events. They warned that there would be no hiding place for anyone whose goal is to thwart the nation’s renewed drive for economic recovery. Oil theft, which slowed down the country’s ability to meet its oil quota allocated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been curtailed by improved security activities. Gen. Buba said troops recovered 1,205,950 tonnes of stolen crude in one week in the Southsouth. Egbetokun said the Police would deal decisively with any one that plans ” to sabotage the economic revival that our country is about to witness.” The IG also banned the production and sales of illegal firearms. The Defence spokesman also said that troops of Operation Delta Safe recovered 452,910 litres of illegally refined diesel, 22,650 litres of petrol and 3,000 litres of kerosene in the Southsouth in the past one week. The troops, he added, destroyed 89 illegal refining sites, 21 dugout pits, 56 boats, 138 storage tanks. They also arrested 59 suspected oil thiefs and other criminals. In the Northeast, troops of Operation Hadin Kai killed 44 terror suspects, arrested one terrorist’s logistics supplier and 21 other criminals. Four kidnapped hostages were rescued by them, said Gen. Buba. The Defence spokesperson explained that men of Operation Safe Heaven and Operation Whirl Stroke in the Northcentral killed 31 terror suspects, arrested 22 others and rescued two kidnap victims. In the Northwest, 35 terror suspects were killed and eight arrested by troops who also rescued 17 kidnapped persons. Gen. Buba said: “ Troops of Operation Hardin Daji neutralised 18 terrorists, arrested five terrorists and rescued 10 kidnapped hostages. “In addition, troops of Operation Whirl Punch eliminated 17 terrorists, arrested three suspected terrorists and rescued seven kidnapped hostages. “Troops also recovered 34 assorted weapons, 399 Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonator primers, one vehicle and two motorcycles.” The Defence spokesperson added that operatives also recorded some successes in the Southeast . “In the conduct of operations, troops of Operation Udoka neutralised 17 terrorists, arrested 11 suspected criminals and rescued two kidnapped hostages,” he said. Gen Buba said that a large cache of arms and ammunition were seized during the different operations across the country in the past two weeks. “All recovered items, arrested suspects and rescued hostages were handed over to the relevant authority for further action,” he said. IGP Egbetokun directed all Police commissioners and tactical commanders to deal decisively with any ”attempt by unscrupulous person(s) to sabotage the economic revival” policies of President Bola Tinubu. Egbetokun told them to emplace "adequate security" in their operational areas/commands to ensure that such persons did not succeed. He also ordered a clampdown on firearms fabricators, unauthorised sellers and users. Egbetokun spoke at a meeting with senior officers where he highlighted policies and achievements of the Police under his leadership in the last five weeks. The IG announced that 288 armed robbery suspects were arrested and 127 firearms recovered during the period (five weeks). He added that the Force recorded fewer violent crimes/ major offences across the country.

He said: “We are all aware of recent government efforts towards economic recovery and growth through local and international engagements with investors and technocrats, the Nigeria Police Force is poised to support the efforts of government by providing the needed security and enabling environment for all legitimate businesses and other economic activities. “We are not leaving any stone unturned and will continue to be on our toes in ensuring that we play our role well in the efforts towards achieving economic recovery, growth, as well as social and political development of our nation. “A total of 127 firearms of different calibres, 612 assorted ammunition, and 89 stolen vehicles were recovered nationwide while 71 kidnap victims were rescued unhurt and subsequently reunited with their families and loved ones within the same period of five weeks.” The IG enjoined all individuals in possession of illegal firearms and light weapons to submit them at police stations nearest to them to avoid sanction. He said: “All state Police commissioners and supervising Assistant Inspectors – General of Police in charge of Zonal commands, as well as tactical commanders are by this announcement mandated to immediately commence a total clampdown on the illegal fabrication, sales, possession and use of prohibited firearms. “All Nigerians are hereby urged to report all suspicious firearms related activities to their local police stations. They can also report through the various NPF social media platforms for prompt response and action.”. On the Central Motor Registry (CMR) which was recently automated and rolled out, the police boss said the development has revolutionised police response to the challenge of stolen vehicles . The platform, according to him, affords Nigerians the opportunity to register their vehicles online for safety. Egbetokun said that in the period under review, 1,244 vehicles had been registered on the paltform, of which 234 were found to have been reported stolen. Eighty nine of the stolen vehicles were recovered in the last five weeks. The IGP “encourage members of the public to access the platform at cmris.npf.gov.ng and register their vehicles.” Egbotokun also revealed that through the deployment of the Nigeria Police Force – National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC), 10 notorious cybercriminals were arrested in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) within four days last month. He said: “Building on the initiative (NPF-NCCC), a well-coordinated, intelligence-led operation was initiated, resulting in the apprehension of 10 notorious cybercriminals. “This operation conducted from August 16th to 20th, 2023, was in direct response to the emergence of a novel cyber threat characterised by the creation of cloned banking websites facilitating high-yield investment scams and money laundering. “The arrested suspects, all male residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have provided confessions regarding their varying degrees of involvement in these criminal activities.” Following the completion of the investigation, they have been charged to court accordingly.” The meeting also availed the officers the opportunity to enumerate some operational plans towards policing the off-season gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states in November.

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newsbites · 1 year

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News from NL, Canada, 8 June

Convicted killer Brian Doyle has been granted more freedom by the National Parole Board despite concerns over his evasive answers during the hearing.

Doyle had previously allowed an innocent man to go to jail for his crime and had broken release conditions on his first attempt at parole.

The victim's son expressed concern for the community where Doyle may end up and believes he should be under stricter watch.

2. The skyline in Placentia Bay, NL looks a little different these days following the completion of the slip form operation on the West White Rose project.

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This added 92.35 metres to the existing project structure, bringing it to a height of 139.2 metres. The slip form took 69 days, working 24/7, and used 8,000 cubic metres of concrete – the equivalent of three Olympic sized swimming pools!

3. Three individuals have been arrested and charged in connection with seven break-ins in St. Anthony.

The trio was identified by the public and alleged to have been involved in five break-ins in a week.

Dominick Igloliorte faces multiple charges including break and enter, theft, and mischief, while the other two face charges of break and enter and breach of probation, and theft and mischief.

4. Water bomber pilots in Newfoundland and Labrador are facing a staffing crunch with the lowest staffing levels in the province's history.

The shortage of pilots is having far-reaching impacts as neighbouring provinces rely on their assistance during disasters.

Despite government accolades, the pilots are urging politicians to address the staffing issue, as they currently only have enough pilots to operate on a full-time basis with just three pilots.

5. The regulated price of gas has decreased by up to 5.2 cents a litre and there is a break on diesel, furnace oil, and propane in Newfoundland.

6. The Bank of Canada has raised its key lending rate by 0.25 percentage points.

7. Smoke from wildfires in Canada has caused air quality alerts across multiple US states, highlighting the threat of harmful microscopic particles to people's health even hundreds of miles away from fire sites.

Western Canada's dozens of fires have prompted some oil production to be curtailed, impacting the region's economy.

8. The Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp. has issued a request for proposals for the creation of new affordable homes in the province’s rental market.

9. The Folk Arts Society has announced the lineup for this year's Music @ Concert Series in St. John's, featuring 16 concerts across three venues over three months.

10. NL Pet Expo is taking place in Mount Pearl this weekend.

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plentyreviewsonline · 1 year

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January 17, 2023 - A several month investigation into the alleged theft of a large quantity of fuel from a service station in Shelby County has resulted in the arrest of one individual by Shelby County Constables. The investigation culminated on Friday, January 13, 2023, in the arrest of an as yet unnamed individual who was allegedly stealing fuel from the Quick Stop in Timpson. Leading the investigation is Josh Tipton, Constable Precinct 5, who states the Quick Stop reported three to four months ago almost 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel having been stolen. Security video was able to provide officers with a suspect at that time. Two months later, Quick Stop reported a similar theft of around 900 gallons of diesel fuel and security footage confirmed the same vehicle involved in the previous theft. Constable Tipton says law enforcement then contacted Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), Texas Criminal Intelligence Center, and Harris County Constables in Houston who advised they have been dealing with a lot of the same thing, and according to Harris County this has turned into a $300 million black market industry. Shelby County law enforcement has remained in contact with those agencies since the initial contact. Surveillance of the Quick Stop was initiated and on January 13 the suspect returned. Constable Tipton was in an unmarked vehicle and Taylor Fanguy, Constable Precinct 4, was nearby in a clearly marked patrol vehicle. Constable Tipton states he was observing the subject from the unmarked vehicle until other law enforcement in the county could arrive. (at United States) https://www.instagram.com/p/CniZsu1u29U/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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4rtheyenews · 2 years

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डीजल चोरी के आरोप में दो गिरफ्तार, 70 लीटर डीजल सहित मोटरसाइकिल जब्त

डीजल चोरी के आरोप में दो गिरफ्तार, 70 लीटर डीजल सहित मोटरसाइकिल जब्त #AtrangiReStreamingNow #TitanSmartLaunch #XmasWithSevillaValvoline #harbhajansingh #BhartiyaMallOfBengaluru

कोरबा। थाना कुसमुंडा क्षेत्र अंतर्गत पुलिस सहायता केन्द्र सर्वमंगला में 2 डीजल चोरों को गिरफ्तार कर 2 जरीकेन में 70 लीटर डीजल सहित 1 मोटर सायकल जब्त किया गया है । पुलिस ने गश्त दौरान कुसमुंडा खदान की ओर से आते हुए एक मोटर साइकिल को रोक कर चेक किया गया जिसमें आरोपी ऋषि कुमार और भरत कैवर्त 2 जरीकेन में डीजल रखे हुए थे जिनसे एक मोटरसायकिल सहित 2 जरीकेन में कुल 70 लीटर डीजल जब्त कर आरोपियो को…

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#70 liters of diesel #motorcycle seized #Two arrested for diesel theft

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college-girl199328 · 2 years

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Francis Mella cheated his company's finances for seven years. In the years between 2008 and 2014, Mella transferred $2.7 million from Dave's Diesel Repair — in Parkland County, west of Edmonton — to his own accounts, pretending to be close friends with the owner at all times.

"I trusted the guy with everything," Dave Szybunka said. "Because I trusted him, I gave him authority." Mella, 61, was convicted in October of fraud and theft by the Edmonton Court of Queen's Bench. Mella received a 10 year sentence last week from Graesser.

Based on a number of factors, including the time already served, the sentence was reduced to six years, 10 months. Even though it's been a long and tortuous journey, Szybunka feels vindicated.

"Well, he got what he deserved, isn't it?" Szybunka said. "But it's over now. He was charged. He was convicted. It doesn't matter what the sentence is." The two men were strangers in 2008 when Szybunka hired Mella as a part-time bookkeeper and accountant. Mella had almost total control over financial management since Szybunka had little interest in it.

Mella began siphoning funds almost immediately. He set up four fake electronic payees with linked credit cards and a Telpay account with a linked bank account. At first, the transfers were relatively small, but as he continued to evade detection, they became larger and more frequent.

There were 352 illegal transfers made by Mella between 2008 and 2014. His 2013 theft was $784,117.05. The business was facing financial difficulty by 2014.

Mr. Szybunka cashed in RRSPs and injected cash into the business when the business appeared to be failing, Graesser wrote. It was also stolen by Nick.

A judge noted that Mr. Mella's greed and contempt for Mr. Szybunka were the most telling aspects of the case. Using forensic accountants to review company books and bank statements, Szybunka determined there was no motive other than greed.

The four fake accounts were immediately identified by the electronic transfers. The accounts were deleted by Mella himself before Szybunka could shut them down. A civil action was filed against Mella. At the end of the case, Mella agreed to repay $2.3 million, but by that time, Mella said he had little left of the embezzled funds because of his extravagant lifestyle.

Szybunka said, "He had a penthouse that I was paying for. He had a BMW. He had several businesses. He lost everything." Szybunka ultimately reported the crimes to the police. Mella was scheduled to go to trial in April 2019, but he fled to Belize in late 2018 or early 2019.

While in Belize, Mella threatened to publish information about Szybunka on a website in order to extort $350,000 from him. The threat was ignored. Mella was eventually deported to Canada, where he was arrested when he landed there in May 2020.

During the trial last October, Mella testified on his own behalf. It was done so that Szybunka could pay his ex-wife less in a divorce settlement, he told the judge. However, the judge rejected his explanation.

"Mr. Mella was neither believable nor reliable," wrote Graesser. Graesser ordered Mella to pay Dave's Diesel Repair $2.5 million in restitution after determining the debt may never be repaid.

Graesser wrote, "The rest of his life should be spent working hard to pack back the debt." "The man has shown no remorse and accepted no responsibility yet. He has not accounted for the stolen funds except in a general way. He may have squirrelled away some of the money."

Once Mella is released from prison, he will have 10 years to pay a $125K fine as a substitute for forfeiture. His business has survived thanks to Szybunka, 60. Because of the financial hole, he bitterly suggested working until he was 80.

According to CBC News, "My life is very difficult." It will be too late to buy and pay for but he is OK with that.

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wazafam · 3 years

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With actors having such busy lives, as they go from film sets to jet-setting around the world for press junkets, it seems like they barely get a minute to themselves. However, of the little spare time they do get, there are a surprising amount of actors who choose to use that time playing World of Warcraft, Halo, or any other first-person shooter or sports game.

RELATED: 5 NES Games That Stood The Test Of Time (& 5 That Didn't)

Some actors will even go to extreme lengths in order to play their favorite games. Whether it’s disappearing off the face of the Earth and moving to South Africa or starting a gaming podcast, these actors will do just about anything so they can be left alone and pick up the DualShock.

10 Matthew Perry

With Matthew Perry throwing himself into the role of Chandler in Friends, the two are very much the same, as they have both shown a passion for video games in the past.

Perry’s favorite games are the Fallout series, as he’s said that he once got carpal tunnel from playing it so much, and when he appeared on Ellen 11 years, ago he presented the talk show host with her own copy of one of the games. And there are even images out there of him and Snoop Dogg playing games together.

9 Will Arnett

Will Arnett has said himself that he’s a gamer at heart, and he loves the communal experience of it more than anything, as he’s often playing multiplayer games online on Xbox Live.

The Arrested Development actor plays mostly sports games and first-person shooters, as he’s a big fan of the FIFA series and Call of Duty. Being such a fan of video-games, Arnett actually had his own podcast called Game Chat, in which he invited other famous gamers as guests on the show.

8 Vin Diesel

Not only does the Fast & Furious series have a video-game series of its own, but Vin Diesel got his very own video game in 2009. Wheelman was marketed almost as if it was a movie. Diesel's name is on the box and the big selling point was how action movie-like the game played.

RELATED: 10 Video Game Adaptations Of Movies That Were Released Decades Later

He wasn’t so invested in the game just because it was another money maker, but because the actor actually has an adoration for video games. But more than any racing game, shoot-em-up, or even any console game for that matter, Vin Diesel is more of a tabletop gamer, as he loves Dungeons and Dragons.

7 Jamie Lee Curtis

Being possibly the biggest gamer of the lot, Jamie Lee Curtis has been extremely active in the gaming community ever since her son introduced her to Street Fighter. The actress famous for Halloween, Trading Places, and True Lies is obsessed with League of Legends and loves the fan worship aspect of it all.

She has also been known to cosplay as her favorite video-game characters and has even auctions off props from her movies to raise money for Twin Galaxies - her company that is attempting to legitimize eSports.

6 Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson has loved video-games for a good few decades. On many occasions, he’s mentioned how much he loves Pong and has an obsession with sports games too (although the latter might a joke).

Jackson is more involved in the video-game world than just playing them, as he’s one of the famous people who voiced a character in Grand Theft Auto: corrupt cop Officer Frank Tenpenny. On top of that, his likeness is even an unlockable skin in Fortnite and he hosted the E3 gaming convention in 2019, and the VGAs on several occasions too.

5 Daniel Craig

It’s hard to believe that Daniel Craig is a big gamer, considering how serious and mannered he comes across both in movies and in everyday life. However, not only has he lent his likeness and voice to a couple of them, but he loves playing them too.

Craig has said that if he wasn’t so busy, he would waste his life away playing video games noted that his favorite ones are those with detailed storylines. In an alternate reality, he would have made a great Nathan Drake in the Uncharted adaptation or even a great Sully.

4 Megan Fox

It’s no secret how much of a gamer Megan Fox is, as she’s always been excited to chat about her love of playing Halo: Reach online. And she told Collider, other gamers online would make fun of her username without actually knowing that it was her behind the controller.

RELATED: The 10 First-Ever Video Game Movies, Ranked (According To IMDb)

She even expressed not just interest but demanded that she play Kitana if there was ever a Mortal Kombat reboot back in 2016. And with the reboot getting released later this year, Fox is unfortunately absent. However, it’s clear that only Martial arts experts were cast.

3 Michael Fassbender

With so many Assassin’s Creed games that revolve around a rich concept with some spectacularly cinematic locations, it was only a matter of time until the hugely popular game series was adapted for the big screen.

In it, Michael Fassbender plays the main role, and though he has admitted to never having played the series before being cast in the movie, the actor confessed to being a huge gamer.

Though he has calmed down in recent years, as he said that he found himself up at 8:30am still playing, Fassbender was always into racing games. However, after being cast in Assassin’s Creed, he has since become a fan of the games.

2 Dave Chapelle

After Chappelle’s Show came to an abrupt end, the actor and comedian reportedly dealt with the grieving process by playing a ton of World of Warcraft. The actor even left LA and moved to a remote location in South Africa so he could play it in peace.

And though it’s a far cry from World of Warcraft, the comedian was even in talks to write the Grand Theft Auto-clone Saints Row for THQ. The developer wanted to take a “Dave Chappelle approach,” but when in talks with him, Chappelle apparently wanted too much control over the final product.

1 Mila Kunis

Besides starring in so many romantic comedies, Mila Kunis has revealed that is a massive gamer. The Family Guy star was introduced to the video-game world by her former boyfriend, Macaulay Caulkin.

The actress has confessed to being a huge fan of both Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, as she was a member of a ton of different WoW guilds. However, she has since given up talking to other gamers as one of them recognized her voice.

NEXT: FPS: 15 Best First-Person Shooters With No Multiplayer Mode

10 Actors You Didn't Know Are Massive Gamers | ScreenRant from https://ift.tt/3wyvDoV

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hardynwa · 3 months

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Navy destroys illegal oil refining sites in Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo

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morrislotto · 3 years

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2 suspects nabbed for stealing diesel worth R142K at Mpumalanga mine

Two suspects have been arrested for diesel theft at Clenco Mine in Ogies, Mpumalanga on Wednesday night, Hawks’ Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DCPI) confirmed. According to Hawks spokesperson Captain Dineo Sekgotodi, the suspects – aged 33 and 42 – were allegedly caught red-handed while stealing diesel from the pipelines by Protea Coin security guards. “It is alleged that an…

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#Clenco Mine #Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DCPI)#Hawks #Mpumalanga #Ogies #Ogies Magistrates Court

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publicnews · 4 years

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Five held for fuel theft in Chennai

A total of 400 litres of diesel, in two barrels and two tanker lorries, were seized

The Civil Supplies-CID (CS-CID) police have arrested five persons, including oil tanker drivers, for stealing fuel while transporting it from Ennore to various petrol bunks and selling it to scrap shops in Ponneri and surrounding areas, on Tuesday.

According to police, the CS-CID, Chennai team received…

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#diesel #fuel #lorry #oil #petrol #tanker #truck

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acharya123himal · 4 years

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Two arrested for stealing petrol and diesel from parking in Dhangarhi

[ad_1] Dhangarhi: Two people have been arrested for stealing petrol and diesel from parking in Dhangarhi. Spokesperson of the District Police Office, Kailali, Deputy Superintendent of Police Prateek Bissa said that two persons have been arrested for theft of petroleum products in Chatkapur, Boradandi and Rajpur areas of Dhangarhi sub-metropolis.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Bista said that…

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bigyack-com · 4 years

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DealBook: A Peek Inside YouTube’s Money Machine

Good morning. Silicon Valley is buzzing over Sheryl Sandberg’s engagement, nearly five years after the death of her husband, Dave Goldberg. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

Alphabet draws back a curtain on YouTube’s billions

The tech giant surprised Wall Street yesterday when it offered some financial information about YouTube, long a closely guarded secret. But the new information was part of a quarterly report from Alphabet, the parent company, that didn’t meet investor expectations.YouTube collected over $15 billion in revenue last year, which Rob Copeland of the WSJ says was on the “lower end of projections.” It suggests that YouTube took in less than $8 a year from each of its two billion users.• YouTube’s revenue figure is higher than Viacom’s for its 2019 fiscal year, our colleague Kevin Roose points out.• But Alphabet didn’t say how much profit YouTube earned.• And our colleague Shira Ovide notes that YouTube reported “gross” revenue — which includes the money that the service pays out to content creators and is not the whole financial picture.Investors weren’t impressed, and Alphabet shares fell 2.7 percent in after-hours trading. The company’s overall revenue growth was less than expected, while its losses from its “moonshot” projects increased 53 percent.Still, the limited disclosure introduces some transparency to tech giant financials, Ms. Ovide adds. What if Alphabet’s move successfully puts pressure on Microsoft to break out its Azure cloud sales, or on Facebook to disclose Instagram’s revenue?____________________________Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced in London.____________________________

We still don’t have an Iowa caucus winner

Blame new reporting results, a faulty app or some other factor, but as of this moment there are still no results from the Iowa Democratic caucuses.The official line: “A spokeswoman for the state party said there was no issue with the integrity of the vote but it was taking longer than anticipated to collect and check the reported data for irregularities,” Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin of the NYT write.One potential culprit is a new app being used to report caucus results. It was created by Shadow, a tech company affiliated with a prominent Democratic nonprofit, Acronym. (Our colleague Sheera Frenkel says poor training on how to use the app, not a hack, appears to be at fault.)What we are watching for:• Whether Bernie Sanders, who has been surging in the polls, will officially become the front-runner for the Democratic Party nomination.• How Democratic business leaders will respond. If Joe Biden underperforms in Iowa, will they flock to, say, Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg or Amy Klobuchar?An event to watch: Top Wall Street executives are planning a fund-raiser for Mr. Biden in New York on Feb. 13, with entry at $2,800 a head, according to an invitation we have seen. Organizers include Roger Altman of Evercore; Blair Effron of Centerview Partners; Marc Lasry of Avenue Capital; and Faiza Saeed and Christine Varney of Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

OPEC weighs effects of coronavirus on oil prices

The group is meeting today and tomorrow to figure out a response to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, which has pushed down oil prices, Stanley Reed of the NYT reports.• The epidemic has reduced demand from China and affected other big consumers of oil, like airlines.• OPEC is expected to discuss whether to cut production by up to a million barrels a day, Mr. Reed adds.• It may also push an emergency minister-level meeting to this month, several weeks ahead of schedule.The group is moving because oil prices keep dropping. The price of Brent crude has fallen about 19 percent over the past month to less than $55 a barrel, erasing the effects of a production cut announced in December.But there’s not much OPEC can do. One oil trader estimated that Chinese oil demand over the last two weeks has fallen about 2.5 million barrels a day, or close to 20 percent compared with the previous year. And China has cut the size of its March orders from Saudi Arabia.More: The outbreak is likely to delay China’s ability to meet targets in the recent trade deal with the U.S. And the Chinese authorities’ efforts to halt the disease’s spread have turned neighbor against neighbor.

Goldman’s latest bid for Main Street: Amazon loans

First Goldman Sachs partnered with Apple on a credit card. Now it may work with Amazon to lend to small businesses as it tries to become a more mainstream financial giant, writes Laura Noonan of the FT.• “Goldman has begun building technology to facilitate the offering of loans to small and medium-sized businesses over Amazon’s lending platform,” Ms. Noonan writes, citing unnamed sources.• Goldman has sought to push beyond M.&A. advice and trading into other businesses, like consumer banking, wealth management and lending.• Amazon would benefit, too: It could expand its services for merchants without having to take on additional risk.

Are regulators dashing start-ups’ dreams?

There’s potentially a lot at stake as the Federal Trade Commission sues to block the $1.4 billion sale of the upstart shaving brand Harry’s to Edgewell, the owner of Schick — including the fate of many start-ups.• The F.T.C. argues that the deal would “eliminate one of the most important competitive forces in the shaving industry.”• Over its nine years, Harry’s grew in popularity by selling sleekly styled razors online and in stores, chipping away at the market share of Gillette and Schick.• Harry’s “has forced its rivals to offer lower prices, and more options, to consumers across the country,” said Daniel Francis, the deputy director of the F.T.C.’s Bureau of Competition.Harry’s founders said they were disappointed by the move. They told Michael last year that they had considered going public and remaining independent, but decided that selling to Edgewell was the best way to keep growing.This could spell trouble for other start-ups. Many investors support them in the hope that they will either sell themselves or hold an I.P.O. Not all start-ups can go public, so preventing them from selling to bigger rivals could deter investors from backing them in the first place.

Bernie Ebbers, ex-WorldCom C.E.O., is dead

Mr. Ebbers, who built a telecom giant only to go to prison after its collapse after the dot-com boom and become a symbol of corporate greed, died on Sunday. He was 78.• He turned his small Mississippi company into WorldCom through more than 40 takeovers, including the $37 billion acquisition of MCI, Kit Seelye and Daniel Victor of the NYT write.• But WorldCom collapsed in 2002 — its bankruptcy was the biggest ever in the U.S. at that time — and Mr. Ebbers was later arrested on charges of corporate fraud.• “Former employees testified that Mr. Ebbers had urged them to inflate WorldCom’s financial results to make the company appear more profitable than it was.”• He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and came to be seen as a corporate villain alongside Jeff Skilling of Enron and Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco.• Mr. Ebbers was released from a federal prison in Texas in December after his lawyers and family members said his health was deteriorating.

The speed read

Deals• The financial services company Worldline agreed to buy Ingencio, a big maker of point-of-sale payment terminals, for $8.6 billion. (TechCrunch)• The bankrupt retailer Forever 21 agreed to sell itself to two major landlords and Authentic Brands for $81 million, subject to higher offers. (WSJ)• Asana, the productivity software company co-founded by a founder of Facebook, filed to go public through a direct listing of its shares. (TechCrunch)Politics and policy• The U.S. auto industry wanted more lenient emissions rules. Instead, it got chaos. (WSJ)• Britain plans to ban the sale of new gas- and diesel-powered cars by 2035. (BBC)• Washington is again abuzz with speculation over the identity of the anonymous Trump administration official who wrote an NYT Opinion piece and a book criticizing Mr. Trump. (Politico)Tech• Recent earnings reports show that the tech industry is increasingly divided between a few big giants and everyone else. (NYT)• Makan Delrahim, the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, is said to have recused himself from the department’s competition review of Google because of past work he did for the company. (NYT)• Drew Houston, the C.E.O. of Dropbox and a friend of Mark Zuckerberg’s, has joined Facebook’s board. (Business Insider)• Democrats may be taking shots at the tech industry, but Silicon Valley moguls are still among their biggest donors. (Recode)Best of the rest• Citigroup reportedly suspended a senior bond trader in London over accusations of theft from the office cafeteria. (FT)• The conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said he had advanced lung cancer. (NYT)• The Super Bowl broadcast on Fox drew 102 million viewers, up slightly from last year. (Bloomberg)Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected]. Read the full article

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newstfionline · 7 years

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In Mexico, an Epidemic of Fuel Thefts Becomes a Crisis

By Kirk Semple, NY Times, April 26, 2017

SAN SALVADOR HUIXCOLOTLA, Mexico--Some of the day’s first customers pull into the produce market at dawn, but not with fruit and vegetables on their minds. They’re looking for cheap, stolen gasoline.

On the edge of the market, dozens of vendors have set up shop, with stacks of five-gallon containers full of stolen fuel and rubber hoses to siphon it.

“How much, cousin?” the vendors holler as they swarm the hundreds of motorists who drive through every day. The price is less than half what customers would pay at nearby gas stations.

The brisk, open gas trade is one of the more obvious manifestations of Mexico’s national fuel-theft epidemic. Thieves are now siphoning gasoline and diesel fuel at record-high rates from the system--often by drilling taps into pipelines under cover of darkness--and are selling it on the black market around Mexico and perhaps even in the United States and Central America.

It’s a worsening crisis that is robbing the federal government of more than a billion dollars a year in stolen fuel and imperiling Mexico’s efforts to attract foreign investment in its energy industry as it ends more than seven decades of state monopoly.

And the government seems unable to stop it.

“The problem comes down to the fact that the rule of law is weak in Mexico,” said Dwight Dyer, an analyst of the Mexican energy sector. “This is a part of the market where the rule of law really needs to work for the private sector to say, ‘I really want to invest.’”

The relentless rise in thefts has been driven by the increasing involvement and sophistication of some of the nation’s largest, best organized and most ruthless criminal organizations, which have used bribery and violence to co-opt officials at all levels of government, including workers at Pemex, the state-owned energy company.

The criminal groups have also cultivated widespread support among local residents, some of whom have found lucrative employment with the gangs and many of whom are happy to pay the far lower prices for black-market fuel. In some places--particularly here in Puebla State, which has emerged as the epicenter of the crisis--the thieves are viewed as Robin Hood-style heroes who have changed the fortunes of once-impoverished towns overnight as proceeds from the trade flow into local economies.

More than 1.47 million gallons of fuel a day are stolen from throughout the system, from the refineries to the gas pump, federal officials said. From time to time, even tanker trucks are hijacked. While the amount taken is equivalent to 1 to 2 percent of the total volume transported every day, it has an outsize impact on the ability of the Mexican government to attract private investors.

For years a nagging but manageable issue for Pemex, gasoline theft began to worsen in the late 2000s amid an assault on organized crime led by Felipe Calderón, then the president. His strategy to dismantle transnational drug trafficking organizations created smaller subgroups that diversified their criminal enterprises, branching into gasoline theft.

With international gas prices soaring, fuel theft became particularly lucrative, officials said, and often much easier than trafficking drugs.

But the business could also be deadly, with illegal taps occasionally causing explosions. In 2010, at least 27 people were killed, scores injured and numerous homes destroyed when a pipeline blew up in San Martín Texmelucan de Labastida, a city in Puebla State.

Despite President Calderón’s vows to crush the fuel rings, they continued to grow.

“The truth is that Pemex didn’t give much importance to it,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a security consultant in Mexico City. “It was regarded as marginal losses.”

In 2009, the authorities discovered 462 illegal taps on the nation’s pipelines and estimated that fewer than 126,000 gallons a day were being lost. Last year they discovered 6,873 taps--a nearly 15-fold increase.

Gangs most often target the 5,600 miles of pipeline that snake throughout Mexico and often pass through sparsely inhabited rural regions, carrying gasoline from refineries to distribution points.

The pipelines are mostly buried but at a shallow depth, and they are easily uncovered with a shovel. The thieves perforate the pipelines with high-powered drills and install taps from which they draw the fuel. They have even dug tunnels to the pipelines and diverted fuel through rubber hoses to stolen tanker trucks far away.

The plunder is then sold in markets like the one in San Salvador Huixcolotla, on roadsides, door-to-door or to shady gas station owners who then resell it.

Some stolen gas has also found its way into the United States and south into Central America, officials and analysts said.

In Puebla, the authorities discovered more than 1,500 illegal taps on pipelines last year, nearly double the number found in 2015 and nearly a quarter of the national total, Pemex officials said.

The crime is concentrated in this region of the state, a cluster of rural municipalities known as the Triángulo Rojo, or Red Triangle, through which a major pipeline carries gasoline and diesel fuel to Mexico City from a refinery and a port in the adjoining state of Veracruz.

The surge in criminal employment and its proceeds has brought a sharp rise in income for many households in this impoverished region. Wages from farming, historically the main occupation here, cannot compete. Where a farmhand might earn $7 to $11 a day, residents said, a lookout for the fuel thieves can bring in upward of $54 a day.

On special occasions like Mother’s Day, the gangs will drive into villages in trucks loaded with gifts for townspeople, including televisions, blenders and other home appliances. The gangs have also started to pay for medical care and other community services.

A top municipal police official in the Red Triangle, requesting anonymity out of fear that he would be killed for speaking publicly about the issue, said that local loyalty to the thieves was so deep that his officers were often impeded from entering certain neighborhoods even when responding to problems that had nothing to do with fuel theft.

The crime has become such a central part of life in this region of Puebla that it has been celebrated in song, much as drug traffickers and their exploits have been lionized in narcocorridos.

Tamara Alcántara, a singer from the town of Tecamachalco in Puebla, has become a minor celebrity in the area for two recordings she posted on YouTube about gas thieves, known locally as “huachicoleros.”

In a recent interview, Ms. Alcántara sought to distance herself from gas thievery. Her music, she said, was simply trying to capture the cultural moment. “It’s where we live,” she said.

But the criminal groups’ main weapon is corruption. From Pemex workers tipping off criminals about the most opportune time to drill, to local police officers paid to look the other way, the gas thieves have built their operations with widespread bribery backed by violence.

The criminals’ offer is clear-cut, said a former municipal police official in the Red Triangle who requested anonymity: You either collaborate and take money, or you resist and take a bullet.

Last month, the mayor of the town of Atzitzintla was detained along with 86 other people in connection with the kidnapping and murder of three government investigators by a criminal group involved in gas theft. The regional press in Puebla has reported that several other mayors have been under investigation for possible links to gas theft.

In an acknowledgment that the local police were too compromised and overwhelmed to combat fuel theft effectively, the federal government deployed about 500 security personnel to the Red Triangle in recent weeks. Scores of arrests have followed, but the theft has not abated.

Mr. Guerrero, the security consultant, predicted that further pressure in the Red Triangle might eventually set off a social uprising, including strikes and blockades.

“With every passing day, more families, more people depend on this market,” he said. “Forget about it. It’s going to be a nightmare when the government tries to control the market.”

#Mexico #gasoline theft in Mexico #Pemex #Puebla

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itsfinancethings · 4 years

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New world news from Time: Mexico Arrests Gang Leader Known for Escalating Violence in the State of Guanajuato

(MEXICO CITY) — Mexican police and military forces on Sunday arrested the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima gang who spread violence through north-central Mexico and fought a years-long bloody turf battle with the Jalisco cartel.

The armed forces and officials in the state of Guanajuato said they had captured José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, better known by his nickname “El Marro,” which means “The Sledgehammer.”

Yépez Ortiz was unusual among gang leaders because he posted videos with emotional calls to his followers, including one in June showing him appearing to cry after several of his supporters and relatives were arrested. In another video around the same time, he threatened to join forces with the Sinaloa cartel to defeat Jalisco, Mexico’s fastest-rising drug cartel.

The turf battle with Jalisco turned the industrial hub of Guanajuato, with its foreign auto plants and parts suppliers, into the most violent state in Mexico, with 2,293 murders in the first six months of this year. The Santa Rosa gang has been blamed by some observers for the July attack on a drug rehabilitation center in the city of Irapuato in which 27 men were killed.

But Mexico’s top civilian security official, Alfonso Durazo, said Yépez Ortiz would be charged with organized crime and fuel theft, not murder.

Yépez Ortiz had been the subject of massive manhunts for years, and was caught along with five other suspects allegedly holding a kidnapped businesswoman. He was among Mexico’s most wanted suspects, trailing Jalisco cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera and Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

His Santa Rosa gang was not a drug cartel, but rather a powerful, violent gang that grew up in a farming hamlet of the same name in north-central Guanajuato state by stealing fuel from government pipelines and refineries and robbing freight from trains.

The Santa Rosa gang was also unusual in that it tried to build a support network among local residents by allowing them to take a minor share in the spoils of the robberies. But when authorities stepped up security around the trains and pipelines over the last two years, the gang turned to widespread extortion and kidnapping. The gang would move sector to sector, systematically demanding extortion payments from businesses like tortilla shops or car dealerships.

However, the gang’s reign never affected the major companies that have built dozens of plants in Guanajuato, attracted by investor-friendly policies and excellent rail and highway links.

True to his humbler circumstances, the short, round-faced Yépez Ortiz was shown wearing a gray hoodie, ripped jeans and construction boots in official photographs distributed by the Guanajuato state government.

A lot of mythology had grown up around “El Marro,” including the belief that he and a close band of supporters had been able to escape police for years by encouraging townspeople to throw up impromptu roadblocks to give him enough time to escape over dirt roads on ATVs.

Guanajuato state Security Commissioner Sofia Huett said earlier this year the gang may have called itself a cartel, but largely operated only in Guanajuato, jumping from one illegal activity to another.

“At one time they were gangs, not big cartels, that robbed trains,” Huett said.

After security forces cracked down on that, the gang started to drill illegal taps into fuel pipelines and allowed locals to fill plastic tanks with gasoline or diesel. Always known for a propensity for violence, the Santa Rosa de Lima gang started stealing fuel directly from government oil refineries by the truckload; the smaller-scale pipeline taps were largely a way to win support from the local population. But when the government began stepping up security, they turned to other crimes.

“With less access to gasoline, these groups migrated to other crimes, like street-level drug dealing and auto theft and extortion,” Huett said.

Santa Rosa de Lima was precisely the kind of local gang that the Jalisco cartel has deftly taken over in the past in its relentless expansion across Mexico, co-opting local gang members in a sort of franchise scheme.

There are reports that Oseguera sent a nephew to Guanajuato in 2017 to negotiate a deal with the Santa Rosa gang which would allow Jalisco to traffic drugs in the state while the local gang would keep the fuel theft business.

But the pugnacious Yépez Ortiz — his videos are punctuated by cursing — vowed never to let in the cartel from neighboring Jalisco state. A deadly feud ensued.

“They have very little capacity for constructing criminal alliances, and that gives rise to internal divisions and confrontations with outside groups that at one time sought to collaborate in criminal activities, but with who they could not reach a deal,” Huett said.

It was unclear if the arrest of Yépez Ortiz would mean that Jalisco may now be poised to roll into Guanajuato as it has in so many other states.

In July, the Jalisco cartel posted a video that Mexican defense officials said was apparently filmed near the border of Jalisco and Guanajuato states.

Officials said the video showed a column of about 75 Jalisco cartel gunmen dressed in military-style fatigues with a dozen homemade armored pickup trucks, an anti-aircraft gun, nine belt-fed machine guns, ten .50-caliber sniper rifles, six grenade launchers and 54 assault rifles.

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