Body of missing Brit found abroad after he vanished on New Year's Day
The body of a Brit who vanished on New Year's Day during a hiking trip with his friend has been found.
Aziz Ziriat, 36, went missing alongside his friend Samuel Harris, 35, in the Italian Dolomites at the start of the year.
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Scottish Sun
9 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Scots thug ‘did a runner' after being accused of trying to smuggle drugs out Colombia
He previously boasted about beating the country's legal system UNDER INVESTIGATION Scots thug 'did a runner' after being accused of trying to smuggle drugs out Colombia A SCOTS thug did a runner after being accused of trying to smuggle drugs out of Colombia, prosecutors have claimed. Ricky Courage, 32, had faced up to 20 years in a hell-hole nick after allegedly being caught with almost 2kg of the drug in his luggage. Advertisement 2 Justice chiefs in South America have insisted Courage, from Aberdeen, remains under investigation Credit: TikTok But we told in April how he boasted about beating the country's legal system after returning to Scotland and gloating about his freedom in social media posts. Now justice chiefs in South America have insisted Courage, from Aberdeen, remains under investigation. And they claim he scarpered after being moved from a jail and put on house arrest due to a medical condition. Fiscal Karime Gonzalez Urina said: 'The investigation is active. On February 11, a hearing was held to replace the prison order with house arrest at his residence. Advertisement 'This measure was granted due to a serious illness, as certified by a psychologist.' We revealed that career criminal Courage, from Aberdeen, posted clips of himself about to down drinks on the plane as he headed to Colombia with pals last year. Two weeks later he was nicked at Rafael Nunez Airport in Cartagena as he was set to travel home. Prosecutors said sniffer dogs found six packages containing the drugs in his suitcase. Courage denied responsibility but was charged and appeared in the dock last September. Advertisement Legal experts warned he faced years of hell in San Sebastian Ternera Prison, which houses warring gang members. But in April we told how he had returned here — joking online that he had come back after growing tired of his jail diet of rice and beans. Brit 'drug mule' Charlotte May Lee, 21, tears up as cops wheel £1.2m kush haul into court she 'didn't know was in case' It is understood Scots cops are monitoring the situation and are in touch with international counterparts. Courage's rap sheet includes setting fire to a police station and breaking a neighbour's leg. Advertisement He refused to comment.
Daily Mirror
16 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Brit pensioner 'drug mule' claims gang promised him £3.7m to carry case
The 79-year-old was stopped by custom officers at Santiago International Airport after landing on a flight from Cancun, Mexico - police say claimed he had no idea how the crystal meth ended up in his luggage A British pensioner detained at a Chilean airport, alleged to have had £200,000 worth of high-grade crystal meth in his suitcase, claimed a Mexican gang promised him £3.7m to carry the case, according to police. The 79-year-old landed from Cancun, Mexico and was stopped by custom officers at Santiago International Airport. Police say the man claimed he had no idea how 5kg of methamphetamine up in the case, and produced a bizarre certificate with prize money pledged to him before being taken into custody and remanded in prison. New details about the arrest emerged today as Chilean police warned criminal gangs were targeting 'out-of-the-ordinary' drug mules. Police said initial findings suggest the unnamed Brit had conversations with suspected traffickers in Brazil and the States. Sergio Paredes, head of the Chilean PDI police force's Anti-Narcotics Division at Arturo Merino Benitez Airport which is Santiago's international airport, said: 'The elderly British man we arrested claimed he had no idea his suitcase contained drugs when he was intercepted after picking it up from the luggage carousel and trying to enter our country with it. We interviewed him in English because he didn't speak a word of Spanish and he alleged he had been deceived. 'He said he had received the suitcase from some Mexicans at the airport in Cancun before he boarded his flight and he claimed he had been promised a prize of $5million (£3.7m) for delivering the suitcase to its final destination. He was even carrying a rudimentary certificate alluding to the prize. 'He told us he was going to spend the night in Santiago and fly to Australia the next day but he didn't have a hotel or flight booking. Apart from the two or three bits of information he offered us about the supposed prize money and his accommodation and travel plans, he didn't say much. 'We believe he was a drug mule in the pay of a criminal gang and he's now in prison on remand while we work on gathering evidence against him and the criminal organisation that sent him ahead of probable charges and a trial. We've intercepted drug couriers who are paid anything from $1,000 to $15,000. There are a lot of variables. We're still looking into where the drugs came from and where they were going to end up.' Officers said they obtained court authorisation to look through the OAP's mobile and will continue working with police forces in Mexico, the US and the UK to identify the people who sent him to Chile. Sources say the British pensioner is being held in Santiago 1 Penitentiary where, for his own safety, he is being kept away from other convicts and is only with other remand prisoners who have been accused for the most part of non-violent offences. A judge has said he can be held in jail for 120 days, giving investigators just under four months to try to formally charge him. Although initial reports pointed to the OAP facing a possible 15-year prison sentence if convicted, Chilean legal experts insisted last night he would probably be looking at five years behind bars and could benefit from preferential treatment if he agreed to co-operate as part of a plea bargain deal. Mr Paredes said: 'This case has its peculiarities, a frail-looking, elderly person being caught with a large amount of methamphetamine who had recently been operated on and still had scars from that medical intervention and looked like a typical grandad if I'm going to be honest. 'But we've seen everything here at this airport and we know the criminal gangs are increasingly using mules they think will be less likely to attract attention. We've caught people in wheelchairs trying to leave Chile through this airport with drugs attached to their bodies. 'We believe he was going to receive further instructions on what to do with the suitcase and the drugs once he got through immigration and left the airport. What we have gathered so far is information pointing to him being directed from Brazil and the United States because off his own back he showed us his mobile with conversations with prefixes from those countries." Rodrigo Diaz, a regional Chilean customs director whose remit includes the airport, said: 'The scanner picked up something suspicious before this British OAP's luggage reached the carousel. We'd marked the suitcase using a technology that meant lights flashed when he came through an arch in the customs filter on his way out of the airport and then proceeded to check it in the pensioner's presence. 'Initially nothing was discovered after he took his clothes and other belongings from the suitcase. But the packets containing the amphetamine were found once a secret compartment in the case was broken open which was what the X-Ray scanner had detected as suspicious."
Metro
16 hours ago
- Metro
'Frail' Brit, 79, faces time in Chile prison after crystal meth found in luggage
Police estimate the methamphetamine would have been worth around £200,000 on Chilean streets A British 'typical grandad' who allegedly attempted to smuggle five kilos of methamphetamine into Chile says he was promised a £3,000,000 reward. The unnamed 79-year-old flew in to Santiago from the Mexican city of Cancun, and was preparing to make his way to Australia. But he was detained after cops allegedly found him travelling with powerful crystal meth worth £200,000 in a hidden compartment. The pensioner has claimed he had no idea how the five kilos of methamphetamine ended up in his luggage. Speaking to authorities in English, the British tourist said he had been deceived and was handed the suitcase at Cancun airport. He claimed he was promised $5,000,000 (£3,714,600) to deliver the suitcase to its final destination. The Brit even produced a certificate with the prize money pledge before being remanded into custody. Sergio Paredes, head of the Chilean PDI police force's Anti-Narcotics Division at Santiago's international airport, said: 'This case has its peculiarities. 'A frail-looking, elderly person being caught with a large amount of methamphetamine who had recently been operated on and still had scars from that medical intervention and looked like a typical grandad if I'm going to be honest. 'I always say anyone could be a potential drug smuggler. That's the philosophy we work off here. 'The false bottom in the British pensioner's suitcase where the drugs had been hidden was filled full. It couldn't have held any more methamphetamine. 'We believe he was a drug mule in the pay of a criminal gang. Brits arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling Bella May Culley arrested in Georgia for allegedly smuggling 14kg of cannabis from Thailand after flying in on May 10 Charlotte May Lee arrested in Colombo two days later after police found 46 kilos of kush synthetic cannabis in her luggage Browne-Frater Chyna Ja arrested on May 18 in Ghana accused of attempting to bring up to 18kg of cannabis into UK Owusu Williams Christian arrested at same airport en-route to Dubai, allegedly with 92 slabs of drugs weighing 54kg in his bags Unnamed couple detained in Spain on May 5 after 32kg of cannabis was discovered in two suitcases Unnamed pensioner, 79, arrested in Chile after allegedly attempting to smuggle five kilos of methamphetamine 'We're still looking into where the drugs came from and where they were going to end up.' The man is being kept at Santiago 1 Penitentiary alongside mostly non-violent offenders. He can be held there for 120 days before he needs to be formally charged by investigators. Initial reports pointed to a possible 15-year prison sentence if convicted, but Chilean legal experts have said five years behind bars is more likely. The pensioner is far from the only British traveller allegedly caught up in a murky web of organised crime. Bella May Culley sparked a massive international search operation in early May after she was reported missing while she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand. Charlotte May Lee, a British former TUI cabin crew member who has been arrested in a Sri Lankan airport after police discovered 46 kilos of 'Kush' But it was later revealed that the 18-year-old from Billingham, Durham, had been arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia, allegedly carrying 14 kilos of cannabis. And recently 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, was arrested in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo after police discovered 46 kilos of 'Kush' – a synthetic strain of cannabis – in her suitcase. The former flight attendant, who faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, is claiming she had 'no idea' about the drugs and insisting they must have been planted in her luggage without her knowledge. Bella May Culley went missing in Thailand before it emerged that she had been arrested on suspicion of drug offences in Georgia (Picture: Facebook) Dr James Windle, of the Department of Sociology and Criminology, University College Cork, gave an insight into the ruthless tactics used by the traffickers to recruit mules. 'Larger, more sophisticated groups are very good at identifying people who might be open to exploitation,' he told Metro. 'At first it might be consensual, with the person targeted being offered something they value, be it money, a holiday or something connected to an addiction. 'There will very often be a grooming process where they might say a person has to go somewhere to pay for their holiday, with the flights paid for. 'If they try and back out then they might say, here's a photograph of someone you love or even something as subtle as, 'you know we're very dangerous — only joking.' 'Sometimes it takes the mules months, even years, to realise how they have been manipulated.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. Arrow MORE: Hooded men slash care workers' tyres and smash their windows in terrifying CCTV footage Arrow MORE: British man arrested in the US is accused of spying for China Arrow MORE: Two shot dead at popular Irish pub in Costa del Sol holiday resort
