Thats A Lot of Bananas
Posted: 17 Jun 2008 02:46 AM CDT
Two men caught with $372,000 in cash near the Costa Rica-Panama border told police that they just wanted to buy some bananas.
Police said the two appeared to be nervous after their car was stopped over the weekend. Officials searched the vehicle and found the cash in a briefcase.
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Washington D.C. Increases Surveillance
Posted: 17 Jun 2008 02:36 AM CDT
From a dimly lit room in a secure command center, 21 streaming video feeds from 4,775 surveillance cameras around the nation’s capital are projected across three screens and monitored at all hours. Every few seconds, footage from a different location pops up — a busy road, a picnic bench, the entrance to the new baseball stadium.
Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is trying to set up one of the most comprehensive centrally controlled visual surveillance systems in the world. In the nerve center, which opened last month, the city’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency can monitor video from four city agencies covering streets, schools, housing projects, parks and roads for threats and other nefarious activities.
For those who have accepted the city’s fate as a prime terrorist target, this may be cause for relief. But to the many civil liberties groups headquartered in Washington, the move undermines privacy, encourages abuse and represents the first step toward a surveillance system like London’s, where a person’s every public move can be tracked on about 10,000 government-funded cameras that have been dubbed a “ring of steel.”
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UK Raises Terror Threat Level For United Arabs Emirates ‘UAE’
Posted: 17 Jun 2008 02:22 AM CDT
The UK has raised its assessment of the risk of terrorist attack in the United Arab Emirates to reflect a “high level of known terrorist activity” in the business and tourism hub of the oil-rich Gulf Arab states.
Security analysts say the foreign office’s decision to raise the UAE’s terrorism risk to high comes amid increasing intelligence surrounding a potential strike on one of the many western interests in the UAE, from the oil infrastructure to Dubai’s tourist playground.
For years, there have been concerns that this strong US ally could become a target for Islamist extremists, but no attacks of significance have taken place in the UAE, in spite of the arrest of several alleged al-Qaeda operatives.
“We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE,” the updated foreign office travel advice says. “We continue to advise a high level of security awareness in public places, but we are not advising a change to travel plans,” an embassy spokesman said. Changes to travel advice are made according to intelligence, local knowledge and input from diplomats.
The US embassy in Abu Dhabi said it was aware of the UK warning and was monitoring the security situation but had no new advice for its citizens.
Raising the assessment from general to high puts the UAE in the same risk band as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both of which have been subject to serious campaigns of terrorist violence.
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Government Plays Down Threat of Terror Attack At Hong Kong Olympics Equestrian Event
Posted: 17 Jun 2008 02:06 AM CDT
A warning of a terror attack during the Olympic events in Hong Kong from the citys immigration chief was played down by the government last night.
The terrorist threat level remains moderate, a government spokesman said, but police will maintain close liaison with mainland authorities and overseas law enforcement agencies to ensure timely exchanges of intelligence.
The governments response followed comments earlier yesterday by Director of Immigration Simon Peh Yun-lu that the department has received intelligence the equestrian events are under threat of attack.
Speaking at his first media reception since assuming office in April, Peh said intelligence said some people are plotting to sabotage the Olympic Games, including the equestrian events.
Of course this kind of intelligence will continually change right now the main individuals who might sabotage the event are terrorists, Peh added, without giving any specifics on the terrorists. If we know some are plotting to sabotage the Games, or to damage the solemnity of the events or disrupt the smooth processing of the events, we will ban their entrance.
Lawmaker James To Kun-sun, deputy chairman of the Legislative Councils security panel, said it was unusual for a director of immigration to reveal intelligence on a potential threat of terrorist action.
He said it was possible Peh was laying the groundwork with which to ban peaceful demonstrations during the Games or to prevent people from entering the city.
In his briefing, Peh refused to be specific about the intelligence his department had received.
The department estimates 42,000 visitors will arrive in Hong Kong to see the equestrian events as well as 3,000 athletes.
In addition to maintaining close liaison with mainland authorities, police will step up security measures at strategic locations, in particular the airport, the public transport system and other critical infrastructures.
The Standard - Hong Kong’s First FREE English Newspaper
Background
Security concerns over a possible terrorist attack during the Beijing Olympics spread to Hong Kong on Monday, with a top immigration official warning the city’s hosting of Olympics equestrian events could be targeted.
“Intelligence reports suggest to us that there are some people who will come to sabotage Olympics events including equestrian events,” said Simon Peh, Hong Kong’s director of immigration, in an interview to a select group of local media.
“Of course this kind of intelligence will continually change … right now the main individuals who might sabotage the event are terrorists,” Peh added, without giving any specifics on where these terrorists might come from or their affiliation.
The head of Interpol, Ronald Noble, said in April there was a “real possibility” that the Beijing Olympics would be targeted by terrorists, but this was the first time that specific intelligence had suggested a possible security threat involving Hong Kong.
The former British colony will have a fringe Olympics role this August, hosting equestrian events on behalf of Beijing after the capital city failed to set up a disease-free zone for horses.
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