BRAZIL: Robbers Invade Viracopos International Airport And Take Off With $5 Million US Dollars

A group of thieves stole US$5mil in cash, which had been due to travel from Brazil to Switzerland aboard a Lufthansa jet, at a large freight airport near Sao Paulo, police said on Monday March 5.

The spectacular heist, which took place late Sunday, was completed in a matter of minutes, and authorities have yet to arrest a suspect.

The crooks entered Viracopos International Airport's freight terminal using a pickup on which they had placed stickers mimicking the runway security company's logo, federal police said in a statement.

Germany-based Lufthansa's plane had been travelling from Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo and was making a stop at Viracopos – Brazil's biggest freight terminal – with Zurich as its final destination.

The stolen money had been held under the auspices of secure transport provider Brinks.

Five men had threatened security agents on the runway before taking off with the cargo, in barely six minutes.

At least five men disarmed security guards and locked them up in their vehicles before making a quick getaway.

The brazen heist is reminiscent of the $5 million Lufthansa robbery at JFK airport in 1978, which is portrayed in the movie Goodfellas.

There was no immediate sign of injuries, the airport said.

Cargo theft is on the rise in Brazil, where most targets are semi-trucks, especially those serving Rio de Janeiro.



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SOUTH AFRICA: Underworld Activities Taking Place In Cape Town

Underworld turf war over club security in Cape Town, with exclusive footage revealing how the battle has spilled over into establishments.

In one case a group of men are filmed bashing their way into a full venue.

Several sources have warned that the violence may escalate much further if drastic action is not taken soon.

On Wednesday night two men were murdered in Pinelands by gunmen said to be dressed in black and wearing balaclavas.

The shooting, according to several sources, was linked to underworld ructions.

These sources, who have intimate knowledge of underworld happenings, said one of those murdered was the second-in-command to a 27s gang leader.

However, this was not officially confirmed.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said two suspects fled the scene in a white Hyundai Tucson.

They were yet to be arrested.

A multidisciplinary task team, including members of the national intervention unit from Gauteng, the Hawks and the liquor unit, have carried out at least two major raids in the city centre since May to try and stamp out the violence.

In one of the latest raids targeting underworld activities, two bouncers were arrested in Long Street on Tuesday night for allegedly not being registered as is required by law.

More intense raids may be conducted.

Over the months the turf battle has escalated.

Club turf war

Cape Town has so far been the epicentre of the underworld war for control over the lucrative nightclub security industry, as well as the drug and illicit tobacco trade.

Businessman Nafiz Modack is said to be heading a new underworld faction, which is effectively hijacking the control of club security from an older, more established grouping.

This has resulted in clashes and shootings.

Several sources with intimate knowledge of what has been happening said that under the older grouping, club security was more controlled.

The newer grouping was shaking things up in a way, they said, that was resulting in violence.

However, a source linked to the newer grouping has insisted the opposite was happening - that the newer grouping is settling the turbulent industry.

Both those in the older and newer grouping have said they are against drug smuggling.

Ructions in the underworld started at least three years ago, but the situation started getting much more volatile last year when the newer grouping started making its presence felt.

In the middle of last year, a gun was fired outside a club believed to be in the city centre.

It was not clear what had sparked this incident, but it is understood it may have had to do with a scuffle between patrons inside a venue.

Later last year, as the newer grouping was apparently preparing to move in on city clubs, a murder was carried out.

The killing happened in a Sea Point hotel on November 8, 2016.

Craig Mathieson, the night manager of Hotel 303, located in Sea Point and owned by businessman Mark Lifman, was gunned down inside it.

Lifman was previously involved in the nightclub security industry.

Nothing was stolen from the 44-year-old Mathieson or from the hotel, leaving some fearing he was the target of a hit.

No arrests appear to have been made for Mathieson’s murder.

Later that month that Mathieson was killed, a group of men, said to be from the new underworld faction, targeted a man, said to be a rival, inside a popular Cape Town establishment.

Footage of inside the establishment, dated November 27, 2016, shows a man being kicked and beaten.

It is understood the man is linked to the older underworld faction and had upset someone in the newer faction.

Previously witnessed members of the newer faction at a city centre club and then at a popular Cape Town strip club.

On April 17 the men, several of them armed, were seen storming the first club.

When they convened outside the strip club, police had intervened, searching them and confiscating firearms which were later returned to them.

In more exclusive footage, taken in a West Coast venue in April 2017, a man can be seen forcing his way into an establishment.

Patrons are at the bar and the door to the venue appears to be closed.

But the one man forces it in and appears to jump over something blocking his way.

He then appears to kick it.

Several men then stream into the venue.

Patrons inside do not appear to understand what is happening.

That same month, on April 17, two men were wounded in a shooting in Café Caprice in Camps Bay.

It is understood the two patrons were in the wrong place at the wrong time as they were caught up in a shooting believed to be linked to an underworld turf war.

Footage taken after the shooting shows panicked patrons rushing around the venue.

Several sources with ties to policing have said more clampdowns are planned to tackle underworld activities.

However, several other sources fear there will be more violence.

Two men thought to be gang leaders were killed within minutes of each other in separate shootings in Cape Town on Wednesday night.

Police said two men were shot dead in their vehicle in a parking area at Pinelands shopping centre. One of them is believed to have been Marwaan Desai, allegedly leader of The Nice Time Kids.

"Two men fled the scene in a white Hyundai Tucson," said police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut.

Five minutes earlier, a 23-year-old, thought to be the gang leader known as "Bassier", was killed in Bontheuwel, east of Pinelands.

A spate of recent shootings in Cape Town is thought to be related to a turf war being waged between drug dealers on the Cape Flats.

Reports last month said that security experts believed there was a link between increasing violence on the flats and competition for security contracts at nightclubs in the city.

Suspected gang boss Jerome "Donkie" Booysen was shot in the neck following two shooting incidents outside nightclubs in Camps Bay and the CBD.

On Friday last week a man believed to be 30-year-old Mario Swarts, was killed in Elsies River. Swarts had said that he was a member of The Bad Boys. He was said to be the gang's assassin.

CCTV footage from a shop near the suspected hideout of The Bad Boys gang, on Twelfth Avenue, Leonsdale, shows Swarts being shot repeatedly at point-blank range.

Sources say the police are on the alert for revenge attacks.


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PERU: 13 Injured In Extortion Gang’s Grenade Attack At Lima Circus

A grenade attack at the La Paisana Jacinta circus show injured at least 13 in Lima on Tuesday night.

Authorities believe an extortion gang detonated the grenade at the circus tent on Proceres de la Independencia avenue in Lima’s San Juan de Lurigancho district.

Peruvian actor Enrique Espejo, who portrays the “Yuca” character on the La Paisana Jacinta television show, suffered minor injuries. Three of the most seriously injured suffered shrapnel wounds to the limbs.

“Inside the circus there is a lobby which is part of the tent. It looks like the explosion occurred there and so it affected the people who were closer to this public entrance area,” said an official with the fire department.

A private security guard from the area found a letter near the site of the explosion. The message was attributed to the local extortion gang, Los Malditos de Bayovar. The letter demands $15,700 from show producers and comedians Jorge Benavides and Alfredo Benavides.

In an interview on Peruvian television show Amor, Amor Amor, Jorge Benavides denied having received demands for extortion payments before the explosion.

“We have analyzed the issue because normally when there is extortion, the first thing they do is call. But here there was none of that. There were no threatening letters, just that explosion that scared all of us,” Benavides said.

Police have attributed the murder of two high school security guards to Los Malditos de Bayovar. They say they have arrested 40% of its members in the last two months. But they say the gang directed from leaders currently in Lima prisons.

The letter left at the scene of the crime also mentioned San Juan de Lurigancho district mayor Juan Navarro, calling him a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

The security guards’ murder plus another in which a high school principal was killed prompted Navarro to request the Peruvian military patrol the streets of San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima’s most populous district with over 1 million residents. Other Lima district mayors, including Callao mayor Felix Moreno, also requested a military presence to combat the extortion epidemic.

Last month interior minister Jose Luis Perez announced new government measures to restrict cellular phone use to combat extortion. In calling an anonymous cell phone account a “fundamental tool” for criminal organizations, the new regulations require purchasers of SIM cards to show photo identification and biometric data such as a photo, iris scan or fingerprints.

Peru’s congress voted to give President Ollanta Humala’s government limited decree powers, in part to pass measures to combat rising crime in Peru and, more specifically, extortion gangs.

El Comercio reports that a grenade costs $47 in Lima’s illicit markets. An average of 16 are seized every month in Peru. In May a grenade was detonated outside a Miraflores bank, and in June two grenades were left undetonated inside a San Juan de Lurigancho school.

The La Paisana Jacinta circus, which opened last Thursday, is a franchise extension of Jorge Benavides’ controversial television show, which several social organizations including the United Nations have called racist for its portrayal of indigenous women.