Canadians charged after 95 kilograms of cocaine found on cruise ship - Update II

Karim Abu Aichi

Karim Abu Aichi, 31, launched a short lived 'Go Fund Me' page for the defense of Isabelle Lagace and Melina Roberce. The page has been pulled. He was arrested in 2011 with 24 others in connection with operation Carcan, an operation targeting the Hells Angels on the South Shore of Montreal. He was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to two years in prison for conspiracy, drug trafficking and gangsterism.

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Melina Roberge, 22, and Isabelle Lagacé, 28, are from Quebec.

In 2011, the Sûreté du Québec noted for the first time that Canadian and Quebec-based cocaine traffickers had an interest in Australia, during an investigation targeting individuals linked to the Hells Angels and an Irish organized crime group in Montreal. During a bail hearing in May 2015, a Sûreté du Québec investigator explained that in this region of the world, a kilogram of cocaine cost three times as much as in Canada “because of the difficulty of getting it in.”

Melina Roberge - Estimated cost of the Princess cruise was $ 20,000 per ticket.

Quebec drug fugitive Frédéric Lavoie was found dismembered in Colombia

The investigator noted that in their probe, one of the members, Frederic Lavoie, who has since been killed, exchanged encrypted text messages with an individual who asked if he had any drug mules available to send to Australia. It was reported each kilogram of cocaine could be worth $160,000 in Australia.

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Police in Sydney have arrested three Canadian cruise ship passengers on charges of drug smuggling. Authorities found $31 million worth of cocaine in the passengers' luggage -- representing the largest seizure in Australia of narcotics carried by passengers of a cruise ship or airliner. Andre Tamine, 63, Isabelle Lagace, 28 and Melina Roberce, 22 were arrested Sunday after the M-S Sea Princess berthed in Sydney.

The Sea Princess is part of the Princess Cruises fleet which had started its journey in Southampton, England. Police believe it's a case of an organized crime syndicate attempting to supply large quantities of cocaine to Australia. Officers initially searched one cabin where they found a suitcase containing about 35 kilograms of cocaine in numerous packages and then searched another cabin where they found suitcases containing a further 60 kilograms of the drug. The trio will remain in custody until their next appearance on October 26. The maximum penalty for drug importation in Australia is life imprisonment.

Hells Angel Neil 'Nitro' Cantrill busted again

Neil Patrick Cantrill, who goes by 'Nitro' in the Hells Angels Nomad Chapter, has been charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and extortion in connection with an incident in Hope in early August. Stephan Neil Cantrill and Robert Gordon Lowry are also charged. The three men face one count each of aggravated assault, kidnapping without the use of a firearm, unlawful confinement, extortion and attempting to choke to overcome resistance.

There is a publication ban in effect.

Nine years ago, Neil Patrick Cantrill was accused of large-scale production and distribution of methamphetamine in Alberta, supplying the White Boy Possee. He is a former Rebel, whose last pinch was for illegal possession of live rattlesnakes. He was charged with robbery, extortion, forcible confinement, aggravated assault, uttering death threats and two counts of assault with a weapon, along with Deveron McKay, the founder of the Edmonton Hells Angels chapter, and Allen Farago, a Hells Angel from Saskatoon, after a May 1998 complaint by a man who claimed three men, one in Angels colours, stormed his home and forced him to surrender property to pay a debt. In 2003, he faced weapons and drug charges that were later dropped due to an invalid warrant. During the early-morning raid, police seized an RCMP uniform shirt, a Taser, four bulletproof vests, a switch-blade knife, a loaded .380-calibre semi-automatic pistol, a loaded 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, three grams of methamphetamine and $1,700 cash in a safe.

That same year his robbery and extortion charges from 1998 were stayed. Mounties say current membership of the HA in B.C. is around 120 full patch in nine chapters. The Cantrills and Lowry are next due in Chilliwack provincial court Sept. 26.

Carfentanil, new player in the opioid war: Elephant tranquilizer

A 10 milligram dose of the animal tranquilizer carfentanil is powerful enough to sedate, even kill, a 15,000-pound African elephant. If diluted sufficiently, a dose of the same size — the fraction of the weight of a paper clip — could also send 500 humans to the morgue. A dose as small as 20 micrograms would be fatal to humans. Carfentanil is an analog of fentanyl. It is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 5000 times more potent than pharmaceutical grade (100% pure) heroin, making it one of the most potent known and the most potent commercially used opioid. Carfentanil was first synthesized in 1974. Heroin cut with carfentanil offers a harder-hitting, longer-lasting high and allows dealers a very cheap shortcut to increase their supplies.

Border agents had to don hazmat suits to deal with a one kilogram package of carfentanil

Two weeks ago, Mounties announced charges against Joshua Wrenn, 24, who was on the receiving end of a one kilogram package of carfentanil shipped from China. The Canadian Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they found the drug hidden in a box labeled as printer accessories. They charged Wrenn with one count of importing a controlled substance and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking. The package, authorities said, could have produced 50 million doses.

Joshua Wrenn

Authories display 1 Kg of salt to show how much carfentanil was seized.

Yesterday CNN reported a spike in overdoses in Cincinnati. In New Jersey 29 people overdosed between Tuesday and Thursday in Camden. In Indiana, 13 people overdosed Tuesday in Jennings County alone. In Kentucky 12 people overdosed Wednesday in Montgomery County. Heroin contaminated with carfentanil was also reported in Florida causing a massive spike in overdoses there.

Like fentanyl, carfentanil can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled, and contact with even a grain could be enough to require medical attention in humans. Carfentanil is readily available on-line from any number of Chinese suppliers.

Christopher Wayne Hudson - the "Ballroom Blitz"

March 18, 2006. Members of the Finks and Hells Angels clash at a kickboxing tournament. Dubbed the "Ballroom Blitz", the bloody incident was sparked by the defection of one-time Fink and soon-to-be convicted murderer Christopher Wayne Hudson to the Hells Angels in a move that angered his former gangmates. Hudson, a former Gold Coast nightclub bouncer, “patched over” to the Angels some time in late 2004.

Christopher Hudson under attack during the infamous brawl between Hells Angels and Finks

Hudson was shot in the back and jaw and other bikies were wounded during the brawl that involved fists, feet, bottles, chairs and weapons. Following the "Ballroom Blitz" Hudson became a heavy, daily user of amphetamines and crystal amphetamine. Hudson also started carrying a gun and admitted to paranoia thinking that someone was "coming to get him”.

Christopher Wayne Hudson

With a fearsome reputation, Hudson was afforded VIP status at strip clubs. He received free drinks and mingled with the girls privately. It was Sunday June 17, 2007 and Hudson was riding an amphetamine-fuelled flying carpet. He exploded into a rage, fuelled by a caustic mix of booze and drugs. Hudson pulled up his sleeves and pointed to his tattoos and said: ‘Do you know who I am? I’m a Hells Angel!’ In front of shocked witnesses, Hudson grabbed his girlfriend by her hair, punched her in the face and threw her to the ground. As the stunned victim struggled to her knees, Hudson kicked her in the face.

In a nearby underground carpark, Hudson forced another woman against a wall at gunpoint. 43-year-old father of three Brendan Keilar stopped to intervene while on his way to work. A passing Danish backpacker named Paul De Waard, 26, also stepped in to help. After emptying his gun into the men, Hudson fled. Keilar died while de Waard was very lucky to survive.

Police quickly established Hudson’s identity and launched a massive manhunt. Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon sent a public message to the Hells Angels: “I would hope they would hand him over. I think this person’s clearly out of control.” On June 20, the Victorian president of the Hells Angels walked Hudson into Wallan police station in semi-rural Victoria. Hudson had an injured wrist wrapped in a sock. His bikie brothers had used a blow torch to remove a Hells Angels tattoo from his arm. In May 2008, Hudson pleaded guilty to the murder of Brendan Keilar and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 35 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Hells Angels coming back to Thunder Bay

The Hells Angels Ontario logo appeared at a building on Simpson Street in Thunder Bay in January

Thunder Bay police say despite a raid about 10 years ago that shut down the local chapter, the Hells Angels continue to have a presence in the city. They say there are still members of the organization in town, but they're connected with the Hamilton chapter. The Thunder Bay chapter was effectively shut down in 2006 after a large-scale investigation led to multiple arrests and the seizure of the club house on Heron Street.

Simpson Street building, Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay police also raided a Simpson Street building in 2014 they claimed was a club house for the group. Police say the area is a lucrative market for the drug trade and this makes it attractive. Police said it's significant that the logo currently visible on Simpson Street says 'Hells Angels Ontario' instead of 'Hells Angels Thunder Bay.' The main difference is the local clubhouse is part of the Ontario chapter, meaning there are not enough members (6 required) to create a full-fledged Thunder Bay chapter.

Former Hells Angels clubhouse, at the corner of McKenzie and Heron Streets

Notorious Chinatown gangster 'Shrimp Boy' gets life in prison

Chow insisted he was innocent and simply a victim of lying prosecutors, a biased judge and incompetent defense attorneys.

Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow, 56, has been jailed for life for 162 charges including murder and racketeering, after a massive San Francisco Chinatown corruption case. The case against Chow, who was born in Hong Kong in 1960 before moving to the US as a teen, exposed the underworld in one of the nation's oldest Chinatowns. Chow ordered the slaying of the head of a Chinese organized crime organization which he then took over. The group had ties to drug trafficking, money laundering and the sale of stolen cigarettes and top-shelf liquor such as Johnny Walker Blue Label and Hennessey XO.

'I not apologize to the victims,' Chow, who used a translator during the trial, said in English. 'I feel sorry for them because they did not get the right guy. I'm not the man they're looking for. That is a total fail in the justice system.' Lead prosecutor William Frentzen stood just a few feet away from Chow, shaking his head. 'This is a man who is a parasite. He lived off of this organization and other people's criminal activities,' the prosecutor said during the sentencing hearing, pointing at Chow. Chow moved to the United States at age 16 and was reportedly nicknamed 'Shrimp Boy' by his grandmother due to his small stature. Chow - who stands at just 5ft 5in tall - became an enforcer for, and later leader of, the Hop Sing Boys.

The probe nailed former California state Senator Leland Yee

Asshole Josh Bowmar who used spear to kill black bear says people should be 'ashamed' - Update III

Josh Bowmar, Sarah Bowmar

Sportswear company Under Armour has said they will no longer support Sarah Bowmar who was a brand ambassador for the firm’s “first-ever women’s hunting campaign”. The company said it was not happy to be associated with Josh Bowmar’s method of hunting. In the video of the slaughter, both Bowmars are seen clad entirely in Under Armour clothing. The gruesome clip also features Bowmar lifting up the animal’s corpse while its intestines pour out of its stomach. Big game hunters and animal rights campaigners claim the bear's death could have lasted for up to 20 hours.

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Sarah Bowmar, Josh Bowmar

American sports giant Under Armour is a corporate sponsor of Josh Bowmar and his wife Sarah. NYSE: UA The Balitmore-based firm supplies the clothing seen on the video. Josh Bowmar is dressed head to toe in Under Armour clothing while Sarah sports sponsored gloves as she films the attack on the bear. Sarah is a member of the company’s “first-ever women’s hunting campaign”.

customerservice@underarmour.com

At one point she fist bumps her husband (on video with logo showing, naturally) in celebration. The company describes her as "revered fitness guru and bowhunter Sarah Bowmar" The outfitters, Jenn Rivet and John Rivet also appear to have corporate sponsorship from Under Armour with even their bloody children proudly wearing their clothing. http://www.livinthedreamproductions.com/

kplank@underarmour.com

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The American hunter who sparked global outrage after brutally spearing a black bear leaving it to die as he gloated has said people should be “ashamed” of their anger over its death. Fitness fanatic Josh Bowmar killed a curious bear baited with food by an outfitter in Alberta. “I just speared a bear. I’ve worked so hard. This is crazy. That was a huge bear. I can’t believe that just happened. He’s going down. I drilled him perfect,” trumpets the 26-year-old bodybuilder from Ohio after leaving the bear to flee wounded into the woods.

Josh Bowmar may feel brave, but he comes off as a sadistic buffoon, first for baiting the bear then by wasting time boasting about his awesomeness, instead of immediately putting the bruin out of its misery. It's believed the video was shot in May northeast of Edmonton.

“You all should be ashamed of yourselves for trying to kill a heritage that has existed for over a million years. Literally, since the dawn of man, the spear has been a vital role in survival.” Bowmar was accompanied by Swan Hills outfitters John and Jenn Rivet. (jrivet@live.ca) The hunting party left the area afterward, due to darkness and rain. The next morning they returned and found the bear dead, about 70 metres from where it had been hit. The Alberta government has condemned the 'hunt' and will introduce a ban on spear hunting this fall.

Humane Society International said: “Lured to a trash bin full of bait in the middle of a clearing the bear is searching for food, only to be heartlessly slaughtered for fun."

Jenn Rivet, John Rivet

Josh Bowmar (bowmarfitness@gmail.com)

Jen Rivet

We got the very long, very boring, very stupido 'canned' response from Mr. Josh Bowmar and it truly insults beyond words can say. Here's the very reader's digest version ... " I hope this helps you gain clarity from my side of the hunt, most people with either fear, reject, or dismiss things they don’t understand, I hope you all have a better grasp on this particular hunt now."

I will say to Mr. Josh Bowmar I grew up a hunter in Prince George, B.C. about 25 years before he was born and I "understand" more than he very insultingly supposes. Black bears will run from humans EVERY TIME. One NEVER leaves a wounded animal in the bush, in agony, without looking for it. You eat everything you shoot and I doubt he will eat this bear because of the potential for trichinosis. I believe he can't even export the hide. Big game hunters are as offended by this boy as everybody else. Killing for it's own sake is offensive in the extreme and this 'man' is a clown beyond any measure.