Portugal intercepts a semi-submersible vessel loaded with cocaine
LISBON, Portugal — Portuguese police have seized a semi-submersible vessel transporting 6.5 tons of cocaine destined for Europe, authorities in Lisbon said Tuesday.
Portuguese officials said that they arrested five crew members after intercepting the vessel in the Atlantic Ocean around 500 nautical miles south of the Azores. The operation also included the Portuguese Air Force and Navy and Spain's Civil Guard, along with assistance from the United States' DEA and British authorities.
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Couple awarded £300k in damages after suing gossip website
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Yahoo
an hour ago
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Thieves jailed over £4.75m gold lavatory raid
Two men have been jailed for their roles in the theft of a £4.75 million gold lavatory from Blenheim Palace. A gang of thieves smashed their way in to the palace and ripped out the fully functioning 18-carat gold lavatory during a raid in 2019. James Sheen, 40, and Michael Jones, 39, were part of the gang who planned and carried out the burglary of the Oxfordshire stately home. The lavatory was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was a star attraction in an exhibition at Blenheim Palace – the birthplace of Winston Churchill. The heist took place hours after a glamorous launch party, and the distinctive loo was split up or melted down and sold soon after it was stolen and has never been recovered. The lavatory was stolen during a five-minute raid by sledgehammer-wielding thieves, Oxford Crown Court heard. They drove through locked wooden gates into the grounds of the palace in two stolen vehicles before breaking in through a window. Entitled America, the lavatory weighed about 216lb, was insured for $6 million (£4.75 million) and was made from gold, which was itself worth about £2.8 million. Sheen, of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, had previously admitted burglary, conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property. Jones, of Oxford, was found guilty of burglary following a trial. Passing sentence, Judge Ian Pringle KC said: 'This bold and brazen heist took no more than five-and-a-half minutes to complete. 'America has never been seen again.' Sheen was jailed for four years and his sentence will run consecutively to the 19 years and four-month sentence he is currently serving for attacks on cash machines, a museum burglary and fraud. 'You were part of the gang of five men who smashed their way into Blenheim Palace that night and stole the hugely valuable golden toilet,' the judge said. 'You were almost certainly the figure that carried the sledgehammer on which your DNA was found and which was used to sever the functioning toilet from its connecting pipes. 'I say straight away I have no doubt at all that the sentence I pass must be consecutive to the sentence you are currently serving. Not to do so would be to send out a message that you did this without any penalty at all.' Judge Pringle jailed Jones for 27 months after concluding he could not be sure he was part of the gang that carried out the burglary. 'You paid visits on two occasions to Blenheim Palace in the days leading up to the burglary,' he said. 'That your role was to carry out a reconnaissance of the museum, to know exactly where the golden toilet was situated and to work out the quickest route in and out of the palace, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever. 'Although you have no witnesses to where you were on the night in question, I cannot be sure that you were part of the group of burglars who broke into the palace that night.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Men who stole $6 million golden toilet from English mansion sentenced to prison terms
LONDON (AP) — Two burglars who plotted the heist of a $6.4 million golden toilet, a fully-functional 18-carat piece of contemporary art that was ripped from the plumbing of an English mansion, were sentenced Friday to more than two years in a British prison. The satirical commentary on consumer culture, titled 'America,' by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, had only been on display for a couple days when five burglars swiped it from Blenheim Palace — the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born — in September 2019. The purloined potty was never recovered and was believed to have been chopped up and sold. 'This bold and brazen heist took no more than 5 1/2 minutes to complete,' Judge Ian Pringle said in Oxford Crown Court. 'America has never been seen again.' James Sheen, 40, a roofer who pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy and transferring criminal property, was sentenced to four years in prison. Michael Jones, 39, who worked for Sheen and was convicted of burglary at trial, was sentenced to two years and three months. The toilet weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms) and was worth more than its weight in gold. The value of the bullion at the time was 2.8 million pounds ($3.5 million), but it was insured for 4.7 million pounds (more than $6 million). The piece by Cattelan, whose work of a banana duct-taped to a wall was sold in 2024 for $6.2 million at auction in New York, poked fun at excessive wealth. It had previously been on display at The Guggenheim Museum in New York. When U.S. President Donald Trump asked the museum to loan him a Van Gogh painting during his first term in office, the Guggenheim cheekily offered the toilet instead. The White House did not accept the offer. The toilet had just gone on display when Jones visited the museum twice, booking a viewing the day before the theft to take photos, check out the lock and have his own private session on the golden throne. He deemed the experience 'splendid' during his testimony. The next morning before dawn the gang of thieves crashed through the wooden gates of the palace in two stolen vehicles and tore across well-tended lawns. They pulled up to the estate's courtyard and smashed a window that Jones had photographed the day before. The thieves used sledgehammers and a crowbar to wrench the toilet from its foundation, causing considerable damage to the 18th-century property, a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with valuable art and furniture that draws thousands of visitors each year. Surveillance footage showed one of the men, whose face was hidden in a black mask, walking from the palace with a golden toilet seat in his hand. Two other men appeared to lift something golden into the trunk of a waiting car and the suspension sagged under the weight. Sheen's DNA was found on a sledgehammer left behind at the scene of the crime indicating he was among the burglars. Investigators also found hundreds of gold fragments on a pair of sweatpants at his home, which had come from cutting up the spoils of the caper. Sheen had sent a relative a photo of 520,000 pounds in cash, which a prosecutor said was for the sale of about a fifth of the gold. None of the gold or money has ever been recovered and no one else was charged with the burglary. Another convict, Frederick Doe, 37, also known as Frederick Sines, who tried to help Sheen find a buyer for the gold was spared a jail term when Pringle sentenced him last month to a suspended sentence for conspiracy to transfer criminal property. Pringle said the thieves had taken advantage of him. Both Sheen and Jones had lengthy criminal records, prosecutor Julian Christopher said. At the time of the burglary, Sheen was on parole for a firearms conviction that involved a running gun battle with another car that injured passengers in a third vehicle. He was arrested for additional crimes while on release and has since been sentenced to serve more than 19 years in prison. Jones had a record dating back to the age of 13 that included burglary, several car thefts and robbery. Almost six years ago, on the eve of the heist, Jones did his reconnaissance work testing out the toilet. It was a Friday the 13th, a day many consider unlucky. For several years it appeared the burglars appeared to have gotten away with their crime. They avoided charges for more than four years and several culprits were not caught. But Sheen and Jones ultimately paid a price for their roles — on Friday the 13th.
