| Down Under |
| Australia: Police uncover 4.5 mln dollar 'jihadist' drug ring in prison |
| 2008-12-06 |
| (AKI) - Australian police claim to have uncovered a 4.5 million dollar drug ring allegedly run from a maximum security prison cell by a convicted murderer via his cell phone. The drug ring is allegedly led by Bassam Hamzy, the ringleader of the so-called "Super-Max jihadists". He is suing the state of New South Wales for keeping him in segregation in Lithgow prison, 150 kilometres west of Sydney, after an alleged attempt to break out of another top-security jail in the regional city of Goulburn. Hamzy is alleged to have made 19,000 calls in six weeks, an average of 460 a day. The 29-year-old convicted killer, will be brought out of the state's top-security jail within the next 48 hours to face 15 fresh criminal charges. He has not been outside a prison cell for almost a decade after the 1998 shooting murder outside the Mr Goodbar nightclub in the heart of Sydney. Hamzy, who fled to Lebanon, the United States, Belize and Colombia after killing Kris Toumazis and wounding another man, was recaptured and sentenced to spend 21 years in jail. On Thursday, his father Khaled Hamzy, his brother Ghassan Amoun, and his cousin Khaled Hamzy Jnr. were among the associates arrested in a major police operation across Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, and the neighbouring state of Victoria. Two others, Mohammad Abbas and Thomas Miholic were also arrested in police raids. It is alleged the group shipped about 162,000 dollars worth of drugs from Sydney to Melbourne each week. |
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| Down Under |
| "Free us or face bomb attacks" |
| 2003-07-17 |
| The letter is unsigned. It demands in the name of "Allah the most gracious, the most merciful" the release of all Muslim prisoners from NSW jails. The letter, addressed to the Corrective Services Commissioner, Ron Woodham, states that if the demand is not met "we will attack and bomb the people of Australia". Oh, thatâll go over well. Bilal Skaf, who is serving 40 years in jail as the leader of a gang who pack-raped young girls in Sydney in 2000, faced court yesterday accused of being the author of the threat. It was a Muslim gang practicing their religion. The letter, which also allegedly contained a white powder, was found in an internal prison mail box in the high security "Supermax" prison at Goulburn jail on December 4 last year. It was not until March that police charged 21-year-old Skaf with making the threats. But yesterday, magistrate Robert Rabbidge gave Skaf permission to have an unexpected day out of his sentence when he ordered that he be brought in person to the court in September for a one-day hearing of the threat case. The order was made when Skaf appeared before Mr Rabbidge via a video link from Goulburn jail to Goulburn court. The charge stated that Skafâs letter was intended to induce the false belief that the powder " was likely to be a danger to the safety of Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham and certain property". Ya think? The letter demanded that all Muslim prisoners be released from jail by January this year. Er, no! "Every inmate will be accounted by us. If you choose to follow instructions the people of Australia will be safe. If directions are failed to be complied with we will surely show yous [sic] an example," it said. "If you and the racists of Australia follow instructions given by us then surely there shall be no sorrow . . . we will attack and bomb the people of Australia if our directions are not complied with . . . the people of Sydney are not safe." Sounds like a threat to me. Skaf indicated through his solicitor David Tyler that he would plead not guilty. "Lies, all lies!" "Bilal, wait till we get into court, OK?" A request that the charge be dealt with in a one-day hearing before a magistrate on September 12, and not before a District Court jury, was granted. Skaf asked that he be aided at his defence by a fellow prisoner, Bassam Hamzy, 24. But Mr Rabbidge expressed doubts that Hamzy, sentenced in March last year to 21 years for the murder of a teenager at a city nightclub and for seeking to have a witness killed, would be allowed to represent Skaf. Why not, he seems to be qualified to me. A Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor, Brett Diggins, said the two inmates would "pose a massive security problem". Two inmates are a problem? Guess you donât get many big cases down there. He said prosecutors would call six witnesses, including two handwriting experts. Last September, Skafâs mother was banned from jail visits for two years after being caught trying to smuggle out a letter to her sonâs fiance and a drawing of his cell. Sheâs just trying to be a good mother. |
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