Gang murdered drug dealer then blew up his house

Wednesday 29 February 2012

 

Drugs gang executed one of their dealer's and then blew up his house to cover-up the murder, a court heard this afternoon. Colliston Edwards, 38, of no fixed address and Andre Johnson, 25, also of no fixed address are accused of shooting Leroy Burnett, 43, after he kept back some of their money from drugs deals. Max Walter, 21, of no fixed address was then recruited by the pair to blow-up his house in Crichton Road, Battersea the Old Bailey heard. Mr Burnett was allegedly a low level drug supplier, who dealt drugs in Wandsworth Road and the Nine Elms area on behalf of Edwards. Edwards, whose street name is Lousy, was allegedly a drug dealer who commuted between Doncaster and South London and worked in a team with Johnson, known as Tallman. The court heard that Lousy had two mobile phones and gave out the numbers to his customers, travelling to their homes to sell the drugs. He allegedly expected Mr Burnett to carry out sales and look after his phones whilst he was away in Doncaster, but problems arose when Mr Burnett started miscounting money owed to him. Prosecuting, Aftab Jaffbrjee said: "There was simply no reason other than this pernicious deed of drugs supply to cost Leroy his life. Ads by Google Build Eco Friendly Visit us Today for Carbon Reduction Eco Tips for Construction Industry! www.CutCarbon.info Election Boundary Changes Constituencies are changing. Have your say on our report, Autumn 2013 independent.gov.uk/boundarychanges "He was executed in his home having been shot in the head at point blank range. There was nothing else that accounted in his life for such a brutal attack. "Walter then blew up the entire house causing destruction to the building and the street." Edwards and Johnson are both on trial for joint enterprise of murder and intending to pervert the course of justice. They deny having anything to do with the murder or the cover-up. Walter has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and arson, but denies being reckless as to whether life was endangered. The trial which opened this afternoon is expected to last six weeks.

READ MORE - Gang murdered drug dealer then blew up his house

Cruise Ship Cocaine Bust

Friday 17 February 2012

 

An "altercation" brought a New Zealand couple to the attention of US law enforcement officials investigating the discovery of cocaine on a cruise ship docked in San Francisco. New Zealanders Tony Earl Wilkinson, 42, and Kirsty Harris, 25, were passengers on the P&O cruise ship Aurora when they were arrested in San Francisco on January 25 after 5.8kg of cocaine was allegedly found in their cabin. Before their cabin was searched, officials had already searched the cabin of another passenger, Australian Ahmed Rachid, 27. He was also arrested after 7.9kg cocaine was allegedly found in his cabin. Homeland Security Investigations special agent Craig Hyatt said in an affidavit that after the seizure of cocaine from Rachid, agents had learned he had a possible association with Wilkinson and Harris. "Officers and agents learned from ship personnel that Rachid recently had an altercation with another passenger onboard who was later determined to be Harris," agent Hyatt said. Rachid also told agents that while he was sightseeing in Curacao on January 16, he had been approached by a Hispanic male, with whom he had arranged to transport cocaine to Australia. Rachid had said that he had arranged that, on his arrival in Sydney, he would be paid for transporting the cocaine after contacting an associate of the Hispanic male. He told agents he had smuggled seven bundles of cocaine to his cabin without any incident. In his cabin he had placed all the seven bundles in his suitcase, which he locked. Hyatt said that when officers and agents went to the cabin on the Aurora where Wilkinson and Harris were staying, they had been met by Wilkinson who appeared to be holding drug paraphernalia. "Wilkinson then attempted to shut the cabin door on the officers while simultaneously opening the cabin bathroom door, temporarily blocking the main cabin door," Hyatt said. "Agents heard the bathroom faucet turn on and observed Wilkinson rinsing what appeared to be drug paraphernalia in the sink." During a search of the cabin a set of keys was found concealed in a light fixture. The keys opened a black case, inside which agents found several packages of a substance which later tested positive for cocaine, with an aggregate weight of 5.8kg. The earlier search of Rachid's cabin was carried out after a conversation he had with a border protection officer during a routine passport control check, Hyatt said. Brick packages, weighing a total of 7.9kg, were found inside locked luggage in Rachid's room. The packages tested positive for cocaine. Ad Feedback Wilkinson, Harris and Rachid were charged with possession with intent to distribute more than 5kg of cocaine.

READ MORE - Cruise Ship Cocaine Bust

Investigators found shotguns and machine guns, inch-wide metal bars guarding doors and windows, the secret room under the floor, and a hidden elevator that led to an underground bunker and an unfinished tunnel.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Eugene Paull heard the beep.

In his three-story home east of Brooksville, Paull was lying on his bed that morning last March when the security system sounded. He rolled over and glanced at two nearby TVs wired to a dozen videocameras. Law enforcement officers swarmed across his property.

Seconds before the 66-year-old could slip into a secret room he had nicknamed the "worm hole," the SWAT team caught him.

Investigators found shotguns and machine guns, inch-wide metal bars guarding doors and windows, the secret room under the floor, and a hidden elevator that led to an underground bunker and an unfinished tunnel.

On Tuesday, Hernando County investigators released details of their stunning investigation for the first time. Paull, an international criminal on the run since 1973, had lived under a false identity for 33 years. He would later tell investigators he had come to Hernando because he felt safe and hidden and free to build his fortress.

Authorities believe he had amassed a fortune from trafficking drugs in Jamaica. But they could only prove that he and his girlfriend stole a pair of dead people's identities, the original tip from federal authorities that led to the raid. The couple avoided prison time because they forfeited most of their assets: two Hernando homes, three vehicles, two campers, a pair of custom motorcycles, a 47-foot yacht and nearly $20,000 in cash.

His girlfriend, Subrena Spence, was deported to her native Jamaica. Paull received two years of probation. He moved to Miami, but federal authorities say they recently caught him with explosives and about $90,000 in cash that was found stashed inside gas cans with false bottoms.

Tuesday morning, Hernando sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Kraft, who helped lead the investigation, stood at the escape tunnel's exit, shook his head and smiled.

"It's like nothing I've ever seen in all my years of law enforcement," Kraft said. "Ever."

• • •

Paull's career in crime began in 1968. Five years later, he was convicted on a drug charge, then released. He never showed up for the sentencing.

He fled to Jamaica, where investigators say the drug trafficking began. In 1978, he obtained a passport under the name of Robert Harris.

On the Caribbean island, he owned a hotel and supported youth boxing. He fell in love with a teenager, Subrena Spence. In 2000, she obtained a fake passport. Six years later, the couple moved to Hernando and bought the home near Brooksville for $350,000. They purchased another house in Brooksville for $114,900 four months later.

Detectives, who for 11 months have continued to investigate Paull's activities, believe he brought his drug fortune with him, and he needed a way to explain it. Spence bought a yacht, named Veteran, and claimed that he chartered trips on it. The boat still sits on stilts in his back yard. It never left the property.

He also created a charity that he claimed supported veterans. Paull, who served in Vietnam, was a patriot, or at least he wanted people to think so. His walls were covered in American flags and POW posters.

To support the charity, he bought a customized motorcycle, adorned with images of war, fake weapons and a sidecar that looked like the nose of a fighter jet.

He traveled to events around the country and asked for money. Signs in his garage indicated what he charged: $1 to photograph the bike, $5 to take a picture with it, $10 to take one sitting on it. "To help homeless veterans," the sign said, "with thanks."

In one year, Kraft said, Paull and Spence raised more than $100,000. Investigators could only confirm that the couple gave $1,300 to veterans.

After being arrested and forced to take on his real identity, Paull became eligible to receive veterans benefits.

• • •

Paull, detectives say, knew law enforcement would come for him one day. To prepare, he bought a home at the end of a single-lane dirt road in one of the most remote areas of Hernando. The house, from the outside, looked normal. It had a gate with a call box. A brick driveway surrounded a 6-foot-tall fountain. He housed Rottweilers and built an aviary for his birds.

Clues of Paull's intended seclusion appeared in the back yard. He had stacks of firewood, the makings of a garden and a pond that held catfish and tilapia.

Inside the home, guns were hidden everywhere: an antique Vickers machine gun in the garage, a shotgun in a living room cabinet, a revolver in an empty can of Bon Ami cleanser.

He put in an intricate security system and sealed off the bottom of a spiral staircase to create a secret room the size of a closet. In his bedroom, Paull installed a mechanical elevator that could lower him into a concrete bunker equipped with lights, electrical outlets and a pair of heavy metal doors with dead bolts, presumably to lock behind him as he fled.

The bunker led to a 4-foot-wide plastic tube that extended into the back yard. He didn't like the small tunnels in Vietnam, so he made the pipes spacious. When finished, investigators say, the tunnel would have extended about 200 yards into the woods.

Last fall, soon after Paull received probation and sheriff's officials prepared to seize the home, Kraft met him in his front driveway as he prepared to leave. Paull talked about writing a book and said his life would be made into a movie one day.

READ MORE - Investigators found shotguns and machine guns, inch-wide metal bars guarding doors and windows, the secret room under the floor, and a hidden elevator that led to an underground bunker and an unfinished tunnel.

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