Germany and Switzerland arrest 3 over suspected plans to send explosive parcels to Ukraine
BERLIN, May 14, (AP): Three Ukrainian nationals have been arrested in Germany and Switzerland on suspicion of agreeing to send parcels containing explosive or incendiary devices from Germany to Ukraine, apparently at the behest of people acting for Russia, German prosecutors said Wednesday. The men are suspected of acting as secret agents for the purpose of sabotage, as well as agreeing to commit arson and bring about an explosion, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
Two of the men - identified only as Vladyslav T. and Daniil B. in line with German privacy rules - were arrested in different parts of Germany on Friday and Saturday respectively. The third, identified as Yevhen B., was arrested in Tuesday in the northern Thurgau region of neighboring Switzerland. The suspects are accused of telling "one or more people suspected to be acting on behalf of Russian state agencies' around March that they were prepared to carry out attacks on freight transport in Germany, prosecutors said.
he alleged plan was for the men to send packages that would explode while being transported to Ukraine. One of the suspects, Vladyslav T., mailed two "test packages' in Cologne at the end of March that contained GPS trackers to scope out possible means of transport, according to prosecutors. He was allegedly tasked with doing so by Yevhen B., who is accused of providing the contents of the packages via Daniil B.
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Arab Times
2 hours ago
- Arab Times
Men who stole $6 million golden toilet sentenced to prison terms
LONDON, June 14, (AP): Two burglars who plotted the heist of a $6.4 million golden toilet, a fully-functional 18-karat 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 of 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 theft. Detective Superintendent Bruce Riddell of the Thames Valley Police said the investigation is ongoing and could include recovering luxury goods that were purchased with proceeds from the crime. He said investigators are confident they know at least two of the other culprits but don't have the evidence yet to charge them. 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 that fortune had favored the burglars. They avoided charges for more than four years, and several thieves have not been brought to justice. But Sheen and Jones ultimately paid a price for their roles - on Friday the 13th.
Arab Times
3 hours ago
- Arab Times
American man detained in Greece over suspected double killing of infant and woman in Rome
MILAN, June 14, (AP): Greek authorities detained an American man on Friday on the Greek island of Skiathos suspected of killing an infant found over the weekend in a Rome park and of having a role in the death of a woman believed to be the infant's mother, whose body was found nearby. The American, who wasn't identified, was detained on a European arrest warrant issued in Italy, citing "strong evidence' of his suspected involvement in the death of the baby girl, chief Rome prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi told a news conference in Rome. Italian investigators said that the cause of the woman's death wasn't known, "but there is a reasonable suspicion that it is a double murder,' deputy prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini said. The bodies of the baby girl and mother, also believed to be American, were found in Rome's Villa Pamphili park on Saturday. The mother's body was under a black bag, having been killed several days before the infant, who was found several hundred meters away in undergrowth. Both were naked, and without any identification, Lo Voi said. The suspect, who witnesses had seen in the presence of a woman and infant, fled Italy for Skiathos on Wednesday, Lo Voi said. He will be formally arrested when the warrant is forwarded to Greek officials, and will appear for an extradition hearing next week, Greek police told The Associated Press. "It is not exactly understandable that someone who was with a woman and a baby girl, once the woman and the girl died, whom he carried in his arms, would then leave the country without calling for help, without seeking assistance," Lo Voi said. "In itself, that doesn't look good.' The victims' relationship with the suspect wasn't immediately clear - but video surveillance and witness reports put them together on several occasions; witnesses heard them speaking in English. They had been traced to a shelter for the needy near the Vatican, where they appeared to be a nuclear family, Corriere della Sera reported. At one point, the pair had fought in the street, leading police to take his identity, which helped lead to him, investigators said. Authorities were able to track down the suspect thanks to fingerprints on the bag covering the woman and a scrap of a tent like ones provided to people without shelter, the newspaper said. He was located in Greece with cellphone data. According to the newspaper, the woman, who was around 30 years old, had a tattoo of a skeleton on a surfboard.
Arab Times
3 hours ago
- Arab Times
Several killed as separatists clash with Malian army, Russian allies in conflict-hit north
BAMAKO, Mali, June 14, (AP): Malian security forces clashed with members of an armed separatist group over two days, resulting in the deaths of 10 separatists, the Malian army said Friday. The Azawad separatists said it killed dozens of Malian soldiers and members of a Kremlin-controlled armed force. The clashes began with a military offensive in the northern Kidal region on Thursday, the Malian army said in a statement. On Friday, the Malian military's logistics convoy was ambushed before the attack was repelled, it added. The separatists reported they killed "dozens' of Malian soldiers and fighters with the Kremlin-controlled African Corps in the ambush. The Azawad separatist movement has been fighting for years to create the state of Azawad in northern Mali. They once drove security forces out of the region before a 2015 peace deal that has since collapsed was signed to pave the way for some ex-rebels to be integrated into the Malian military. "We recovered 12 trucks loaded with cereals, tankers full of diesel, one military pickup, and one armored vehicles from the 30 vehicles in the convoy,' Mohamed Maouloud Ramadan, spokesman for the Azawad separatists, said in a statement that acknowledged the death of three of their members. Viral videos shared by the separatists showed military trucks on fire in a large swathe of desert land amid gunfire as gun-wielding hooded young men posed in front of the trucks. The videos also showed bodies with uniforms that resemble those of the Malian army. The Associated Press could not independently verify the videos. The latest clashes show how difficult it is for security forces in Mali to operate in difficult terrains like Kidal, according to Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South think tank. "It's difficult to gather actionable intelligence to protect their convoys, and this gives a significant advantage to armed and jihadist groups', said Lyammouri. The latest attack occurred days after Russia's mercenary group Wagner - which for more than three years helped Malian security forces in the fight against armed groups - announced it was leaving the country. The Africa Corps, under the direct command of the Russian defense ministry, said it will remain in Mali. There are around 2,000 mercenaries in Mali, according to U.S. officials. It is unclear how many are with Wagner and how many are part of the Africa Corps.
