Latest news with #crimewave
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Car vandalism spree across Minneapolis
By Thieving vandals have turned Minnesota's capital into a dystopian hellscape by indiscriminately smashing hundreds of car windows, leaving a trail of broken glass across the Democrat-run city. Residents in recent weeks have gone to their vehicles to find windows broken and in some cases personal items swiped. 'It can't get any worse than this,' one observer said in a social media clip featuring rows of parked cars with their windows based in. Another resident took to Reddit to post a video of their street in the Uptown neighborhood showing dozens of cars that suffered the same fate. 'I woke up to find this on my street today,' the person wrote. 'This is very disappointing to see.' Despite the widespread destruction, no arrests have been made. 'Investigators are working diligently to collect information about the incidents and to locate and identify suspects,' the Minneapolis Police Department told the Daily Mail in a statement. Police are trying to determine if the break-ins this weekend were connected to ones from the previous weekend. Teacher Rachel Linnemann discovered her window was busted after her boyfriend told her around 6:15am on Monday, she told the Star Tribune. Her car was sitting outside her home on James Avenue home and camping equipment had been stolen. 'It looks like at least 15 cars,' she told the outlet, noting that cars on James and Lake streets and Lagoon Avenue were targeted. The attacks happened sometime between 10:30pm and 6:15am, as she had walked her dog the night before and saw that her vehicle was fine. Police also said around 25 cars were vandalized near Central Avenue the same night. Linnemann, who is on summer vacation from school, didn't have to commute to work that morning - but many in her neighborhood did. Residents were spotted sweeping up glass from the street and inside cars before leaving for work. Joel Van Horn just moved to the area west of the Uptown neighborhood a month ago and was looking forward to taking walks with his dog, he told KARE 11 . 'I mean, I knew it was going to happen if I didn't get a parking garage. I didn't act fast enough, you know,' said Van Horn, who paid $350to replace a truck window. 'You just factor that into the cost of living, unfortunately.' Robin Slaman, who has been living on Lyndale Avenue for 20 years, said she has noticed an uptick in crime in the city. 'I'm not shocked, but I haven't quite seen that before,' she told KARE 11. 'Needles on everyone's property, they leave trash everywhere, and if you leave anything sitting out on your property, it will be gone like that.'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE London's mugging hotspots revealed: Interactive map shows where you're most likely to be targeted by thieves in the Sadiq Khan's lawless city
The places where you are most likely to be mugged in London can today be revealed as a crime wave continues to grip Sadiq Khan 's lawless capital city. Unsuspecting tourists and locals alike are being targeted by gangs of thieves grabbing expensive watches off people's wrists. Yobs on e-bikes have been also caught on camera violently snatching phones out of people's hands as they walk down the capital's streets. Some of the recent victims of muggings in London include Bridgerton 's Genevieve Chenneour, Loose Women 's Christine Lampard and Jenson Button's wife Brittny. Now, MailOnline can reveal that London's most exclusive postcodes make up the worst hotspots for muggings. As shown in the interactive map below, Fitzrovia West and Soho in central London has seen some of the highest rates of robberies of individuals in the past year. In one area that covers both Oxford Street and Shaftesbury Avenue, a total of 508 muggings were reported to police in the year to June 2025. Another 499 robberies of individuals were recorded in the area including Regent Street, New Bond Street and sections of Oxford Street in the same time period. The areas around the Strand, Leicester Square, St James and Mayfair also saw very high levels of violent thefts, according to the data released by the Met Police. One zone, which includes popular tourist hotspots Leicester Square and Covent Garden, saw 370 muggings between last June and this summer. Another in the area around Buckingham Palace, the Mall and Picadilly Circus saw 251 violent thefts, police have said. It comes as a number of celebrities have revealed they have fallen victim to prolific thieves and muggers causing terror across the capital. Bridgerton star Genevieve Chenneour, 27, was targeted by a prolific teenage criminal who grabbed her phone in a Joe & The Juice in Kensington in February. Zacariah Boulares, 18, was jailed for just 22 months after snuck up behind actress but she bravely fought back, dragging him to the floor with the help of her boyfriend. She said she thought she was going to die after the thug threatened to stab her. Moreover 18 months before the attack, Boulares had targeted another celebrity victim. The then 16-year-old threatened to behead Aled Jones with a 20in machete as he stole his £17,000 Rolex Daytona in Chiswick, west London. The thief was locked up for the attack but only served 14 months of his 24-month sentence before being released back onto the streets. There was also outrage earlier this year after veteran broadcaster Selina Scott, 74, revealed she was viciously attacked and robbed in broad daylight in Piccadilly. The stalwart of British TV was leaving a Waterstones shop on June 17 when she was struck on the back of her right knee, leaving her feeling as if she had been 'stabbed'. She was set upon by a gang who attempted to grab her backpack. Fighting back, she kept hold of the bag – but one of the thieves unzipped it and took her purse before running off. Ms Scott lost her bank cards, driving licence and cash in the robbery. Furthermore in June, three 'Rolex rippers' who beat up their victims in central London before grabbing expensive watches were jailed for a total of 30 years. Tedros Haile, 35, Mahad Jammeh, 24, and Christian Whittingham, 27, carried out a series of attacks on the streets of Mayfair and the West End on June 25 last year. The trio targeted Michail Rivas outside the Rolls Royce showroom in Stratton Street as they surrounded him after jumping out of a white BMW wearing face coverings. They grabbed Mr Rivas' Mido Baroncelli Moonphase Chronograph worth £1,000 and quickly made off in the getaway car. Later that night the thieves targeted Mark Jackson and Oliver Wragg in Brewer Street. Both were wearing short sleeved tops and expensive looking watches after a night out watching football. Mr Jackson felt a hard object hit him behind his head then was hit with multiple full force fist punches. Statistics published by MailOnline last year revealed that muggings in London's West End tripled in just 24 months. Figures show the number of thefts from a person in the area around Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square increased to 2,806 in 2023, compared to 796 in 2021. On Tuesday, Sir Sadiq Khan announced policing blitz on London's 20 most troubled town centres, specifically for shoplifting, robbery, knife crime and anti-social behaviour. His Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Kaya Comer-Schwartz, said: 'The safety of our town centres is more than just policing – it's about building stronger, more connected communities where everyone feels secure. 'Across our city there will be partnership led operations to tackle shoplifting and clear, visible neighbourhood officers out on patrol, keeping our communities safe and working to build safer town centres and a safer London for everyone'. Moped and e-bike gangs have been identified as prolific culprits. It comes as MailOnline last week also revealed the worst streets for mobile phone theft in London's West End. Nearly 18 devices are being snatched on Oxford Street each day - with a total 6,539 reports of devices being stolen last year. Shaftsbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road in the theatre district were third and fourth with 1,032 and 946 respectively between January and December 2024. Completing the top ten were Wardour Street on 929, Greek Street on 623, Piccadilly on 591, Old Compton Street on 507, Strand on 494 and Leicester Square on 455. Phone theft has become an epidemic in London, hitting a record level last year – with the number of devices snatched more than tripling in four years. Some 70,137 phones were reported stolen to the Met in the capital in 2024, up by nearly 40 per cent from 52,428 in 2023. As recently as 2020, the figure was 20,000. Susan Hall AM, leader of the City Hall Conservative Group, told MailOnline: '6,539 thefts on Oxford Street alone is obscene. 'With the prospect of pedestrianisation looming, I've spoken to residents in Westminster who are horrified at how police cuts and pedestrianisation will only exacerbate this. 'For God's sake, Sadiq - get a grip on this and actually put the welfare of the public first. His inaction is rapidly making the West End more and more lawless.' Her Tory colleague Neil Garratt, who wrote the Tackling London's Theft Epidemic report earlier this year, added: 'These figures are shocking but not surprising. 'In February, my report into London's spiralling phone theft epidemic showed exactly how the Mayor can get a grip, but he refuses. 'Instead, he sits back blaming the phone companies while Londoners and visitors to our great city fear to take out their phone. This problem is solvable, so I am urging him, again, to take action now.'
CNN
2 days ago
- CNN
Ecuador's most notorious drug kingpin has been extradited to the US
Ecuador's most notorious drug kingpin has been extradited to the United States, a month after he was recaptured following a prison escape that sparked a wave of violence across the country. Jose Adolfo Macias, better known as 'Fito,' was transferred Sunday from a maximum-security prison in the port city of Guayaquil to the city's airport, where he was handed over to US officials who arrived earlier to carry out the extradition process, according to Ecuadorian prison authorities. A US Department of Justice plane arrived in Guayaquil around 12:45 p.m., local time, and departed with the gang leader after 2 p.m., according to the city's aviation agency. A photograph released by Ecuadorian prison authorities Sunday showed Macias wearing shorts, a t-shirt, a helmet, and a bulletproof vest as he was escorted by several heavily armed National Police agents. Since at least 2020, Macias has led the powerful Los Choneros criminal organization, which the US has accused of shipping and distributing multiple tons of cocaine from Ecuador to other countries. Macias was indicted in a Brooklyn federal court in April on seven counts of drug trafficking and gun smuggling. In January 2024, Macias escaped from a prison in Guayaquil, where he was serving a 34-year sentence for homicide and narcotics trafficking. His escape unleashed a wave of violence in Ecuador, including a live takeover from gangs who stormed a popular TV station and held the crew hostage while on the air. Soon after, President Daniel Noboa declared an internal armed conflict and designated Los Choneros and 21 other criminal groups operating in the country as terror organizations. He was captured last month by Ecuadorian authorities after over a year in hiding. Authorities found him in an underground bunker by a mansion in Manabí province. The villa was equipped with a home gym, marble walls, and a game room, among other amenities. In a court document filed in the Eastern District of New York on Sunday, prosecutors requested that Macias be detained until his trial, citing the threat he poses to the public and the likelihood of a flight risk. The same document stated that Macias was extradited to the US 'for the sole purpose of facing prosecution.' Macias' lawyer in the US, Alexei Schacht, told CNN that his client will be in Brooklyn Federal Court on Monday, without specifying the time of the hearing. If convicted, Macias faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to life behind bars.
The Sun
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Bombshell poll reveals MOST Brits think crime is out of control & don't trust cops or govt to keep them safe
CRIME is out of control, according to the majority of people quizzed in a survey. The damning poll, published today, lays bare a shocking lack of confidence in the Government and police to keep us safe. 5 5 The bombshell survey reveals Reform UK boss Nigel Farage is more trusted than the PM or Tory leader Kemi Badenoch on every single question about tackling crime. Voters think sky-high immigration and failure to integrate those coming here are fuelling the crimewave. The shocking findings will spark alarm in Sir Keir Starmer's team, which is under massive pressure to get a grip on law and order. Britain has been plagued by gangs of criminals on bikes snatching mobile phones, brazenly shoplifting, and stealing jewellery and watches. 'Lawless country' Earlier this month, 24-year-old Blue Stevens was stabbed to death in London as he tried to stop robbers taking his Rolex wristwatch. The Survation poll, for Friderichs Advisory Partners, found 49 per cent of people thought Britain was 'becoming a lawless country'. Just 35 per cent of the 2,000 adults quizzed disagreed. Meanwhile, 56 per cent said they believed that crime had risen over the past five years. Voters were asked about nine different crimes and whether they thought they were 'out of control'. Shockingly, a majority answered yes to all nine crimes. Inside UK's crime capital where residents fear for lives and lay out razor wire to stop thieves These were: violent crime, knife crime, burglary, theft, drugs, vandalism, cybercrime, sex offences and gangs. Some 74 per cent said knife crime was 'out of control' and 60 per cent said the same of violent crime. For theft it was 70 per cent, for drug-related crimes 69 per cent, and for burglary 55 per cent. Asked what caused the crimewave, immigration came out top, with 22 per cent blaming the migrant crisis. Next came 'economic inequality' at 20 per cent, then ' lenient sentencing ' at 17 per cent. Worryingly for the PM, the survey also revealed that people have lost faith in the state when it comes to maintaining law and order. Some 52 per cent do not think Starmer can fix things, saying that Labour was performing 'poorly' on tackling crime. 5 Similarly, some 57 per cent said they are 'not confident' the Government can tackle crime. Farage was seen as more trusted than Starmer or Badenoch when it came to fighting crime. Asked which political leader they trust most to maintain law and order, 27 per cent replied Farage. Starmer was next on 21 per cent and Badenoch was third on just 14 per cent. STABBER'S 59 CRIMES A CRIMINAL convicted of 59 offences was jailed for just 33 months after plunging a blade into the neck of a customer in a pharmacy. Alexander Davidson, 38, walked up to the man waiting for his prescription and stabbed him in a desperate craze for heroin and crack cocaine. Liverpool crown court heard he had previously assaulted someone with a dart and stabbed his father during a row over a mobile phone. The thug's 34 previous convictions date back to 2003 — including a suspended prison sentence for unlawful wounding in 2013, a 30-month stretch for assault causing actual bodily harm and five years for drug trafficking offences in 2007. Sentencing him, Recorder William Beardmore said: 'You could have easily severed the carotid artery or jugular vein. 'That would have killed him, and you would have been facing an allegation of murder. You should regard yourself as exceptionally lucky.' Farage also came up trumps on tackling migrant offenders. Some 37 per cent thought Farage was more likely to deport foreign criminals, while 17 per cent backed Starmer and 11 per cent Badenoch. Quizzed on which political leader they trusted to make Britain safer, Farage was again top on 29 per cent, Starmer second on 20 per cent, and Badenoch last again on 12 per cent. Worryingly, the poll also found that trust in the police's ability to catch criminals was at rock bottom. 5 5 One in five said they or a member of their family had been a victim of crime in the past year. But of these, 18 per cent did not bother to call the police because they had no faith they would catch the criminals or take the crimes seriously. The Labour Government made tackling crime one of its top five priorities when it was elected last year. 'Lenient sentencing' But police chiefs have furiously accused the Government of failing to fund forces properly. A row exploded earlier this year when Chancellor Rachel Reeves agreed to hand police another £2billion a year. Top cops had been publicly demanding more, and the National Police Chief Council said the failure to stump up cash threw Labour's promises to hire another 13,000 neighbourhood officers into doubt. LABOUR IS FAILING COUNTRY By Nigel Farage, Reform Leader THIS new polling confirms what many of us already knew — Britain has become a lawless country. It lays bare the lack of faith the British people have in Labour to make our streets and communities safe. And it's not hard to understand the reasons why. Total crime is now 50 per cent higher than it was in the 1990s. Police no longer investigate or attend shoplifting or theft. Violent repeat offenders are released early and two-tier policing has completely eroded trust. People feel that Keir Starmer is not tough on crime and he goes easy on the criminals. As for Conservatives, they have broken Britain and their own brand is broken, too. They are no longer the party of law and order. The decline that we see today began during their 14 failed years in office. Successive Tory governments cut thousands of police officers but oversaw an explosion in the population. It is clear to me that they should be in hiding for the damage they have done and must simply never be forgiven. Reform UK will fix broken Britain and restore law and order in our country. The British people deserve nothing less. This is a topic you'll be hearing a lot more about from us over the next few days and weeks. Career criminals will be put on notice. This is a national emergency and, after years of complacency by the other parties, it's clear that lawless Britain needs Reform.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Daily Mail
Met Police put up message urging victims of phone thefts to CALL them to report the crime
The Met Police put out a message urging victims of phone thefts to call 999 to report the crime. The force has placed large electronic signs at theft hotspots across London, with one in Stratford reading: 'Just had your phone stolen? Call 999 now.' Beneath the message, further text reads: 'Look up. Look out. Thieves use distractions to take phones and valuables in this area. Don't let them spoil your night out'. But after members of the public pointed out that those who have just had their phone stolen cannot, in fact, call anyone, the Met has now been forced to change tack. Signs photographed in Stratford, east London on Friday now read: 'Contact police as soon as possible'. It comes amid a phone theft crimewave, with 81,000 devices snatched from unwitting victims in London alone in 2024. Recent figures show at least 100,000 devices were stolen last year across the UK, although the true number is feared to be far higher. There has been a 20 per cent year-on-year rise in phone thefts in London, with a total of 230,000 stolen over the past four years. Hotspots for thieves include busy streets and popular tourist destinations, including the West End, Camden Town, London Bridge and Waterloo. Other risky areas are Bloomsbury, Holborn, Covent Garden, Shoreditch, Borough, South Bank, Regent's Park and Stratford. The thefts are often carried out by a scourge criminal gangs using e-bikes and scooters to tot up high numbers of phones to sell abroad for parts. Devices can typically be traced to countries as far away as China and Nigeria after being snatched. It is thought phone snatching could cost consumers up to £70 million each year. In signage rolled out in theft hotspots, the Met is warning members of the public to ensure they have a strong passcode and prevent message previews from being seen. Signs read: 'Turn off message previews. Stop thieves seeing security messages. Choose a strong pin, passcode, or password.' Victims of the crime come from all walks of life, with celebrities including Lady Victoria Hervey and Kym Marsh revealing their handsets have previously been taken. Just this week, Australian model Emma Van Der Hoek revealed she had her phone stolen for the second time in three months while walking in north London. CCTV footage shows the influencer looking down at her phone along a straight path. A man dressed in black and wearing a face mask suddenly comes up behind her and snatches the mobile out her hand before sprinting round a corner. Ms Van Der Hoek bravely gives chase but cannot catch up with him. Another man also dressed in black appears to follow behind them both as they sprint out of view. Taking to Instagram to share the incident, Ms Van Der Hoek wrote: 'My phone got stolen yesterday in London!!! This is the second time in three months that this has happened - all within my so called 'safe' neighbourhood.' Other videos show how masked e-bike or moped riders mount the pavement to snatch phones out of people's hands before zooming back into the road and making their escape by weaving through traffic. Police say the surge is fuelled by international black markets, where stolen devices are either sold on or stripped for parts - an industry now worth over £50million a year. Officers are urging Londoners to stick to well-lit, busy areas, remain alert, and keep valuables out of sight to avoid falling prey to the increasingly brazen criminals. The Met Police has been contacted for comment.
