Showing posts with label Arrests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arrests. Show all posts

Monday, October 14, 2013

Mexico arrests top 10 US fugitive

19 June 2013 Last updated at 14:52 GMT Walter Lee Williams in a 2011 picture provided by the FBI Walter Lee Williams was arrested in Playa del Carmen, Mexico Mexican officials have arrested a former US university professor who is on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.

Walter Lee Williams, 64, is facing charges of sexual exploitation of children and travelling to the Philippines to engage in sexual activity with minors.

He was arrested in the beach resort of Playa del Carmen, on Mexico's Caribbean coast.

He taught gender studies at the University of Southern California.

Local prosecutor Armando Garcia said police had detained Walter Lee Williams in a cafe in Playa del Carmen, 70km (43 miles) south of the town of Cancun.

On Monday, Walter Lee Williams had become the 500th fugitive to be named to the FBI's 10 most wanted list.

According to the FBI, the list has been key in galvanising public support to catch many of the people it deems "the nation's worst offenders".

The Bureau says that of the 500 fugitives who have been named to the list since it was first created 63 years ago, 469 have been apprehended or located.

"This has been a tremendously successful program, but one that is dependent on the willingness of concerned citizens with information to come forward and offer us their assistance," Ron Hosko of the FBI's criminal investigative division said.

The FBI had offered a reward of up to $100,000 (£64,000) for information leading directly to the arrest of Walter Lee Williams.

The Mexican authorities did not say how they had located Walter Lee Williams or if the reward would be paid out.


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Friday, May 17, 2013

Arrests over $50m diamond heist

8 May 2013 Last updated at 10:37 GMT Burnt out van The wrecked van used by the gang was found near the scene Police in Belgium, Switzerland and France have arrested 31 people in connection with one of the world's largest robberies of diamonds.

Belgian prosecutors say they have recovered large sums of money and some of the diamonds that were taken in a raid at Brussels airport in February.

A gang cut through the airport's perimeter fence and broke into the cargo hold of a Swiss aeroplane as it waited for take off.

They took $50m (£32m) of diamonds.

The diamonds were "rough stones" being transported from Antwerp to Zurich.

Prosecutors described the thieves as "professionals".

They had dressed as police, wore masks and were well armed.

They forced their way through security barriers and drove towards the Helvetic Airways plane, forcing open the cargo hold to reach gems that had already been loaded.

They snatched 120 packages before escaping through the same hole in the fence.

Prosecutors said the whole operation took only about five minutes, no shots were fired and no-one was hurt.

One suspect was arrested in France and six in Switzerland on Tuesday, Belgian prosecutors said.

The other 24 were rounded up near Brussels early on Wednesday.

Graphic

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