Marseilles drug police scandal has echoes of ‘French Connection' era
The US Drug Enforcement Administration had told them that buried in a container of bananas arriving from Cartagena, Colombia, there was a massive shipment of cocaine. It had been ordered by Mohamed Djeha, alias Mimo, the feared boss of Marseilles' Castellane clan.
The Marseilles bureau of Ofast, the police agency created in 2020 to spearhead President Macron's war on drugs, had spent weeks setting up Operation Trident with gang informers and infiltration by undercover officers.
The plan quickly unravelled. Tipped off, Mimo's men stayed away and the police found themselves guardians of 400kg of cocaine stashed in a heavily surveilled Mercedes truck in an open lorry park.
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Reuters
8 minutes ago
- Reuters
Two-year-old among 28 dead in Thursday's Russian attack on Kyiv
KYIV, Aug 1 (Reuters) - A two-year-old child was found dead in the rubble after Thursday's sweeping Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine's prime minister said on Friday, taking the death toll to 28, with over 150 wounded. The toddler was the third child to have died in the attack, in which Russia launched more than 300 drones and eight missiles in the early hours of Thursday morning. The other two underage victims were six and 17 years old, the head of Ukrainian presidential office Andriy Yermak said. The rescue service said 16 of the injured were children, the largest number of children hurt in a single attack on Ukraine's capital since Russia started its full-scale invasion almost 3-1/2 years ago. City authorities declared Friday a day of mourning as rescue operations continued. "This morning, the body of a 2-year-old child was pulled from the rubble, bringing the total dead to 28, of which 3 are children," Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X, adding that over 150 people had been wounded. "The world possesses every instrument required to ensure Russia is brought to justice. What is lacking is not power — but will," Svyrydenko said. U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, sharply criticized Russia's "disgusting" behavior against Ukraine but said he was not sure whether sanctions would deter Russia. He has given Russian President Vladimir Putin until August 8 to make a deal or else he will respond with economic pressure.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
When Partick Thistle signed Pogba: Unfortunately it wasn't world-beater Paul... but the big brother who ended up in jail for trying to extort money from his famous sibling
Scottish football has long been in the grip of what we might call Prestwick Airport Syndrome. Elvis Presley touched down there for roughly 90 minutes back in March 1960, but that hasn't stopped the airport erecting several plaques and dedicating a themed restaurant to the King of Rock and Roll. Similarly, our football clubs have always been keen to grasp at any possible connection to greatness, no matter how tenuous. See Diego Maradona Junior's unsuccessful trial spell at Dunfermline in 2004, or Rodney Sneijder — younger brother of Wesley — playing one solitary game for Dundee United in 2015. With the benefit of hindsight, though, there is one entry in this particular chapter of Scottish transfer oddities that leaps off the page more than any other. Ten years ago this month, Partick Thistle swooped for Mathias Pogba, brother of World Cup winner and one-time most expensive player in the world Paul. Nowadays, Mathias is best known for his involvement in a bizarre attempt to extort money from his younger and more successful sibling. He was convicted along with five others last December and sentenced to three years in prison, two of them suspended (although he was permitted to serve the remainder on house arrest). When he arrived at Firhill aged 24, he was a Guinean international striker who had played Serie B football with Pescara and proved himself competent and moderately prolific at English lower-league level with both Wrexham and Crewe Alexandra. While the Jags undoubtedly thought there might be some benefits publicity-wise from his signing — with Paul fresh from participating in the Champions League final for Juventus in 2015 and being named best young player at the World Cup in 2014 — there was also some logic underpinning manager Alan Archibald's move for the older Pogba. At the time, Thistle were two years into a five-year stint in the Premiership, striving to put down roots yet constantly undermined by a chronic lack of goals. Jags fan and podcaster David Forrest recalls: 'The club felt like the most professional it had been in years, and we had a settled core of players who could be relied on, so there was a genuine feeling that we could consolidate our position in the Premiership and become a club like Kilmarnock or St Johnstone. 'This was also the same time as the Kingsford Capital Management deal so, in the space of a few weeks, a Californian investor had poured six figures into the club, then our mascot Jaggy MacBee was being replaced by a sun deity [Kingsley] straight out of an HP Lovecraft story, and now we were signing Paul Pogba's brother! 'It was a whirlwind time, but it was exciting. You'd go into work and people who never usually gave us the time of day were asking you about the latest mad Thistle development.' Given the chance, Mathias might just have wanted to talk about the natural splendour of Ruchill Park, or how excited he was to be teaming up with Stuart 'Banzo' Bannigan. But, from the off, it was clear that his famous brother would be dominating most of his conversations with the media. 'Everyone has been talking about my brother,' sighed Thistle's new No 99 in one of his first interviews. 'But it would be nice to say Mathias Pogba is here.' Forrest adds: 'For many Thistle fans, the first thing that sprung to mind was Jorge Cadete. He had signed with us in the early 2000s, straight out of Portuguese Big Brother, and we got a lot of press coverage about it. Not only did he never score for us, Thistle didn't score once when Cadete was on the field. It was a total disaster. 'That said, Pogba was a Guinean international, and we've had strikers with far more dubious goal records. We were so reliant on Kris Doolan up front at the time that we were crying out for someone to pick up the slack. We all knew we couldn't depend on Doolan forever, and if Pogba could be a quarter of what his brother was, it would work for us…' To put you out your suspense, it didn't. Mathias certainly spent a lot more time on the pitch at Firhill than poor old Rodney Sneijder did up at Tannadice the same season. Deemed worthy of 30 appearances in all competitions, it's clear that Archibald didn't consider him completely useless. In fact, there was even a period when Pogba seemed to have permanently ousted club legend Doolan from the lone striker role in Archibald's preferred formation, making six starts from eight league games during the spring. The goals wouldn't come, however. Pobga managed a total of two that term, both against Hamilton Accies — just to prove that the South Lanarkshire outfit had the same cursed energy back then as they do now. 'He was very good against Accies, every time we played away at Hamilton he would give them hell and score as well,' remembers Forrest. 'He clearly had something about him. But ultimately, he was one of many underfiring strikers we had around that time, alongside Ade Azeez, Nathan Eccleston, Ryan Stevenson, etc. They all blend into one a bit, but Pogba stands out because it was so odd that he was there in the first place.' And what about Paul? Mathias made the following claim during his early days Firhill: 'Of course Paul is a Partick Thistle supporter now, and he follows our results closely from Italy.' As pleasant as it might have been for Thistle fans to entertain daydreams of the former Ballon d'Or contender swinging by Munn's Bar or Maryhill Lidl, actual spottings were rare. 'Paul was definitely about once or twice to watch us get absolutely hammered by Celtic at Parkhead, it was a big talking point,' laughs Forrest. Mathias' final four appearances in a Thistle jersey took place in the group stage of the Betfred Cup the following summer. His third and final goal on Scottish soil (an impressive diving header from a Callum Booth cross) was scored at Ochilview in a 4-1 hosing of Stenhousemuir. Having hit the threshold of 25 appearances during the 2015-16 campaign, the striker actually triggered a contract extension. Nonetheless, when transfer deadline day came, he was off, having somehow parlayed himself into an eye-catching move to Eredivisie outfit Sparta Rotterdam. Of course, the reason Mathias' name is still never far from the lips of Thistle fans like Forrest to this day is nothing to do with the four goals he mustered in the Dutch top flight, or indeed anything that happened at clubs like Manchego Ciudad Real or Tabor Sezana during a subsequent nomadic period. 'People definitely kept up with him when he went to Rotterdam, then ended up being rejected by [German third-tier side] KFC Uerdingen for being overweight,' adds Forrest. 'He then went on a proper journeyman phase, touring about Spanish non-league before ending up in Slovenia of all places. Certainly, it was fun trying to figure out where he'd end up next. 'His, shall we say, 'family quarrel' was big news, as you'd expect. Even though he was away from us for years, the second we heard about it (his attempt to extort money from his brother), people thought: 'This is so Thistle'. You're never getting an ex-Hearts or Aberdeen player doing that!' Two years on from Mathias' abrupt departure, and partly due to the Jags' ongoing failure to find a reliable goalscorer not named Kris Doolan, Thistle were relegated, and are yet to return to the top flight. Veteran midfielder Stevie Lawless is now the only player from that era still on the books. Mathias Pogba was convicted in a Paris criminal court and sentenced to three years in prison As for their former No 99? The latest news is that he has rocked up at Belgian minor league outfit Sint-Niklaas, for whom the 34-year-old scored a late match-winning double on his debut in March. Wherever Mathias winds up next, he can be sure that a small community of football trainspotters scattered around northwest Glasgow will be watching with interest. 'I don't know if everyone is watching him as closely as me, although I am very much in the top percentile of Mathias Pogba enthusiasts amongst the Thistle support,' admits Forrest. 'I would certainly say he is somewhat fondly remembered. 'He wasn't very good, but was at the very least quite amusing. Non-Thistle fans still bring him up to this day. 'If you can't be good, be funny, and Mathias nailed the brief on that one. If he ever fancies another run-out when Accies are back at New Douglas Park, I'll be the first in line to buy a ticket.'
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
RAF Croughton's 'golf ball' structure to be dismantled
Work to dismantle and remove a distinctive golf ball structure at a US Air Force base is due to building, used to house communication equipment at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, has already been base said there were no plans to replace it and, according to a letter to residents of nearby villages, the work was expected to last until follows safety work around the base last year after motorcyclist Harry Dunn was killed by a US citizen driving on the wrong side of the road. Anne Sacoolas was given a suspended sentence in 2022 after pleading guilty to causing death by careless base is currently a United States Air Force communications station and headquarters of the 422d Air Base the letter, Abigail Jeffs from the base said residents of villages in the area "may notice some increased noise levels and a slight rise in traffic".It said the base would do its best to minimise any added the majority of the contractors would use the main entrance on the B4031 but some large vehicles, such as cranes, would use the emergency exit on the A43. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
