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Tim Gilchrist, a 56-year-old former company director from Mavis Bank, Newrath, County Waterford, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for flying €8.4m (£7.1m) worth of cocaine from France into the Republic of Ireland. On 4 August 2022, Gilchrist was arrested with 120kg of cocaine in his car after landing a Cessna light aircraft at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome in County Longford.

Gilchrist, a father of one, claimed that he used the aircraft for “leisure flying” and had smuggled the drugs under duress after two men threatened to harm his daughter. He alleged that a month before the incident, two men came to his house, threatened him, and demanded that he smuggle the drugs. Gilchrist said that when he told them he was going to inform the police, they warned him he “would have another problem” and threatened his daughter. Under these threats, he claimed he felt he had no choice but to comply, buying a mobile phone and flying to France.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that the court heard there were no customs officers at either the Dieppe aerodrome in France or at Abbeyshrule in Longford. Defence counsel Michael O’Higgins argued that it was “a complete open corridor” for smuggling, which Judge Keenan Johnson described as “extraordinary.” Judge Johnson called for significant security upgrades, including 24-hour checks, stating that the country was “unacceptably exposed” to the importation of large quantities of drugs.

The court was told that Gilchrist flew to France on 3 August 2022, returning to Longford the following day at 17:25 local time with the cocaine. He drove off with the drugs in an Alfa Romeo but was stopped by Garda (Irish police) officers at Lough Owel near Mullingar, following surveillance. The officers searched the car and found 120kg of cocaine separated into five black holdalls and a suitcase.

Det Sgt Ciaran Cummins testified that when interviewed, Gilchrist claimed he had been coerced by threats to his daughter. However, the gardaí checked out his story, which did not stand up. The court also heard that Gilchrist had two mobile phones, one of which he had bought two months before the arrest and used solely for the smuggling operation. He sent and received messages from contacts, including a man named Sam, who warned him: “A lot of guys around, be careful.”

Mr Justice Johnson concluded that Gilchrist was willingly involved in drug trafficking for financial gain and the court was obliged to impose a significant sentence. He noted that Gilchrist offered limited assistance to the investigation after being caught red-handed. Although Gilchrist did not provide material assistance regarding the “masterminds” behind the importation, Mr Justice Johnson said his “omerta” was not surprising. The judge also dismissed the duress claim, adding that it was clear Gilchrist was aware of what he was doing.

Gilchrist was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison, with the final six months suspended to allow for rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

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A man in his 30s was killed, and several others were wounded in a shooting at a Turkish wedding in north-east France, police reported. French media indicate that three armed, masked men arrived at the reception in Thionville late on Saturday night and began firing at the guests. According to Le Figaro newspaper, citing police sources, the incident occurred at 1:15 AM local time and was linked to a conflict between well-known gangs in Moselle.

Among the wounded was a pregnant woman, and three of the injured are in critical condition at Bel-Air hospital. Approximately 100 people were celebrating at Eden Palace when the gunmen, who arrived in a 4×4 vehicle, opened fire.

A police source told AFP that a group had gone outside to smoke when three heavily armed men started shooting in their direction with automatic weapons and shotguns. Nancy prosecutor Francois Capin-Dulhoste stated that the attackers fired “several dozen times,” injuring four people aged between 25 and 50.

The attackers fled the scene before emergency services arrived. Local newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain reported that police are investigating if the attackers’ vehicle came from Germany or Luxembourg, which are about 15 km away. The Lorraine border region has a history of violent incidents linked to drug trafficking, and according to Le Parisien, the victims were known to authorities for drug-related cases. In May 2023, a shooting between rival gangs in the nearby town of Villerupt injured five people.

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Marco Raduano, a notorious Italian mafia boss who successfully escaped from a high-security prison in Sardinia last year by ingeniously using bed sheets, has been recaptured in Corsica, France. Europol had listed Raduano among Europe’s most wanted criminals, and his capture represents a significant success for Italian and French authorities. The 40-year-old mafia leader was serving a lengthy 24-year sentence for his involvement in drug trafficking and other criminal activities.

The daring escape took place in February the previous year when Raduano scaled down the prison walls using knotted bed sheets. Footage of the escape showed him gripping the dangling sheets against the prison wall before swiftly descending to the ground and making a quick getaway. This escape had heightened concerns about the capabilities of organized crime figures to evade justice and raised questions about the effectiveness of high-security prison systems.

In a coordinated effort between Italian and French authorities, Raduano was arrested in Aleria, Corsica, where he was found dining in a restaurant with a young woman. The successful capture was a blow to the Foggia crime syndicate, of which Raduano is considered a prominent figure. Often referred to as Italy’s fourth mafia, the Foggia syndicate operates in the shadows alongside more widely recognized criminal organizations in Sicily, Calabria, and Naples.

Alongside Raduano’s arrest, his close associate Gianluigi Troiano was also detained near Granada in southern Spain. The capture of these two dangerous fugitives has been hailed by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi as another major setback for organized crime. The collaboration between law enforcement agencies across borders highlights the ongoing efforts to tackle and dismantle criminal networks that operate on an international scale.

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Italian police have busted a huge drug trafficking network run for a terrorist group, Islamic State.

Around 14 tonnes of amphetamines have been seized by the police.

As per a latest report, about 84 million counterfeit Captagon pills worth an estimated €1bn were found in containers at the port of Salerno.

According to the report, they were hidden inside large drums of paper and gear wheels.

An investigation is on. It remains unclear whether an local criminal gang has involvement in the criminal act or whether any gang has links with the terrorist organisation.

Captagon is a brand name for the synthetic stimulant fenethylline. It was originally used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy, but many countries banned it during the 1980s because of its addictive properties.

It is a well known fact that the IS uses the drug trafficking racket to fund their criminal activities across the world.

It is high time to launch a global operation against the drug trafficking business run by the terrorist organisation.

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