DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ More than 700 firearms seized in UK in Anglo-Spanish operation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - More than 700 firearms have been seized in a five-year operation by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and Spain's Guardia Civil to prevent replica guns that can easily be converted into lethal weapons from entering Britain, the NCA said on Sunday. The operation, which also involved international law enforcement and gun retailers, targeted forward-venting blank firearms (FVBF), which resemble guns such as Glocks. The weapons are traded lawfully in some parts of mainland Europe but are illegal to possess or import into Britain. Since 2019, the NCA and Guardia Civil - which has jurisdiction in Spain for the national control of firearms- have been jointly working on Project Vizardlike to combat the threat. The operation has so far resulted in the seizure of 703 firearms, 74 arrests and 50 convictions, the NCA said.

Persons: Paul Sandle, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Crime Agency, Britain, NCA, Guardia Civil, Thomson Locations: Guardia, Britain, Europe, Spain

MUMBAI, July 7 (Reuters) - India's federal police have arrested three railway employees on Friday in connection with the country's deadliest train crash in two decades that killed 292 people last month, the crime agency said in a statement. It is India's worst train crash in more than two decades. The accident happened when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, jumped off the tracks and hit another passenger train coming from the opposite direction. Reuters reported earlier this week that workers repairing a rail-road barrier had made faulty connections in the automated signalling system on the network. The malfunctioning system directed the passenger train onto the path of the freight train, it said.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Krishn Kaushik, Jatindra, Shivam Patel, YP Rajesh, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, Reuters, of Railway Safety, CRS, Local, Indian Railways, Railway Board, Railways Ministry, YP, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Bahanaga Bazar, Odisha

The two pilots, however, would allow extensive information sharing between banks on large-scale financial crime, expand public-private data sharing initiatives and set up a similar platform to Britain's national fraud database for serious economic crime. The pilots could be formally launched by October when Britain's economic crime and corporate transparency bill, currently on its way through parliament, is expected to become law. This legislation aims to protect regulated firms from confidentiality rules if they share information to tackle economic crime, giving them the leeway to ramp up data sharing. One financial crime investigations lawyer, who declined to be named because of client sensitivities, said that information-sharing needed appropriate safeguards. The NCA told Reuters it was discussing the data sharing pilot with a number of banks to try and identify "actionable intelligence".

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Banks, Simon Fell, Iain Withers, Kirstin Ridley, Sinead Cruise, Jane Merriman Organizations: U.S, REUTERS, Lloyds, NatWest, Reuters, HSBC, Barclays, Crime Agency, UK Finance, Home Office, NCA, Thomson Locations: Russia, Britain, Ukraine

An appellate authority at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued the so-called show cause notices under India's foreign exchange laws for alleged illegal remittances of 55.51 billion rupees ($673.2 million). India alleges Xiaomi's local unit made illegal remittances to foreign entities by passing them off as royalty payments. The notices were issued to Xiaomi and officials including the chief financial officer of its India unit, the ED said in a statement. The banks received notices because they allegedly allowed foreign remittances described as royalty payments without conducting due diligence and obtaining necessary documentation, the agency added. Court documents show Xiaomi's frozen assets are spread across accounts at various banks including Deutsche, Citi and HSBC.

Persons: Xiaomi, Aditya Kalra, Shubhendu Deshmukh, Shounak Dasgupta, Jamie Freed Organizations: HK, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Citigroup, Reuters, Deutsche, Citi, Samsung Electronics, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Zelenskiy in Germany after meeting pope
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

May 14 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was in Germany early on Sunday as he seeks to shore up support from key allies against Russia's invasion of his country. FIGHTING* Ukrainian troops are advancing in two directions in the eastern city of Bakhmut, but the situation in the city centre is more complicated, deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said on Saturday. * Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian aircraft had struck two industrial sites in the Russian-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles supplied by Britain. * Germany on Saturday announced 2.7 billion euro ($3.0 billion) of military aid to Ukraine, its biggest such package since Russia's invasion, and pledged further support for Kyiv for as long as necessary. * The head of Russia's federal crime agency suggested on Saturday that key sectors of the economy should be returned to state ownership to support Moscow's war in Ukraine.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Ukraine's Zelenskiy meets the pope
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Ukrainian leader, on a visit to Rome, also met Italy's leaders, who promised full military and financial backing for Ukraine and reiterated support for its EU membership bid. * South Africa's presidential security advisor said on Saturday the country was "actively non-aligned" in Russia's war against Ukraine, after U.S. allegations that it had supplied weapons to Moscow led to a diplomatic crisis this week. * A draft communique from a meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs reiterated the group's condemnation of Russia's "illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression" against Ukraine. INSIDE RUSSIA* The head of Russia's federal crime agency suggested on Saturday that key sectors of the economy should be returned to state ownership to support Moscow's war in Ukraine. * Police in the Russian city of St. Petersburg said on Friday they have created an anti-drone unit to detect unmanned aerial vehicles following a purported drone attack on the Kremlin this month.

☆ Head of Russia's crime agency suggests nationalising key parts of economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 13 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's federal crime agency on Saturday suggested that key sectors of the economy should be returned to state ownership to support Moscow's war in Ukraine. "Let's go along the path of nationalising the main sectors of our economy." Russia's economy and government coffers rely heavily on production of oil, gas and metals. Gazprom (GAZP.MM), Russia's largest natural gas producer, is already controlled by the state. Its largest oil company, Rosneft (ROSN.MM), is not formally under government control but is headed by Igor Sechin, a long-standing ally of Putin.

☆ A pilot who tried to smuggle 4 people from Belgium to Britain in a private airplane was jailed for 7 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A pilot who tried to use a plane to smuggle four people from Belgium to Britain has been jailed. Styles was previously jailed for using a small plane to smuggle ecstasy and cannabis. A pilot once jailed for smuggling drugs in a light aircraft has been sentenced again – this time for trying to smuggling people. The plane used by Richard Styles to smuggle four people. Turchet was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, while Sivakumar was sentenced to four and a half years.

☆ India court rejects Xiaomi's challenge to $676 mln asset freeze - Live Law
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, April 21 (Reuters) - A court in India's Karnataka state has rejected China-based Xiaomi Corp's (1810.HK) petition challenging the seizure of 55.51 billion rupees ($676.35 million) by the Enforcement Directorate, news website Live Law reported on Friday. India's federal financial crime agency froze Xiaomi's assets last year, alleging the company had made illegal remittances to foreign entities by passing them off as royalty payments. The company denies any wrongdoing. ($1 = 82.0725 Indian rupees)Reporting by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - International law enforcement agencies have seized a sprawling dark web marketplace popular with cybercriminals, Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Wednesday, in a multinational crackdown dubbed 'Operation Cookie Monster'. A banner plastered across Genesis Market's site late on Tuesday said domains belonging to the organisation had been seized by the FBI. Logos of other European, Canadian, and Australian police organizations were also emblazoned across the site, along with that of cybersecurity firm Qintel. The NCA estimated that the service hosted about 80 million credentials and digital fingerprints stolen from more than two million people. The NCA said Genesis had operated by selling credentials from as little as $0.7 to hundreds of dollars depending on the stolen data available.

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - International law enforcement agencies have seized a dark web marketplace popular with cybercriminals, according to a notice posted to the site on Tuesday. A banner plastered across Genesis Market's site said domains belonging to the organization had been seized by the FBI. Britain's National Crime Agency - whose logo was also on the site - confirmed it was "participating in an international law enforcement operation targeting cyber criminals" but said it would not offer any further comment ahead of an announcement planned for Tuesday. Reuters could not immediately locate contact details for the Genesis Market's administrators. Reporting by James Pearson and Michael Holden; writing by Raphael Satter; editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

While Xiaomi remained focused on selling mobile phones under 10,000 rupees ($120), Indian consumers were willing to pay up for better looking models with richer features. According to Counterpoint, the market share of the sub-$120 phones in India fell to 26% in 2022 from 41% two years ago. And premium phones - priced above 30,000 ($360) - saw their share double to 11% in the same period. Xiaomi and Samsung both count India as a key growth market, with smartphones their top selling electronic device. And premium phones accounted for only 0%-1% of Xiaomi's total India phone shipments in the last two years, when Samsung's higher-end phones more than doubled their share to 13%, Counterpoint data showed.

☆ India's financial crime agency searches Franklin Templeton execs, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

India's federal financial crime agency on Thursday conducted searches on Franklin Templeton India's former and current officers in Mumbai in relation to the closure of some funds in 2020, two sources told Reuters on Thursday. The searches are in connection with Franklin Templeton closing six debt schemes in April 2020, which it had blamed on the lack of liquidity due to Covid-19's impact on the markets. Vivek and Rupa Kudva were held guilty of withdrawing their own investments ahead of the winding of the schemes. A spokesperson for Franklin Templeton did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comments. Vivek and Rupa Kudva could not be immediately reached for comment.

☆ Top Delhi minister arrested in India liquor probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - India's federal investigating agency arrested a top local minister in the capital territory of New Delhi late on Sunday in connection with alleged irregularities in a liquor policy, the most high-profile arrest in the case so far. Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister in the Delhi government was arrested by India's federal crime agency, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) late Sunday night and will be produced in a local court on Monday. Sisodia was arrested in an ongoing investigation in "a case related to alleged irregularities in framing & implementation of the excise policy", the CBI said in a release. His arrest is dirty politics," Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi's chief minister and head of the Aam Aadmi Party said in a tweet hours after Sisodia's arrest. India's financial crime-fighting agency, the Enforcement Directorate is separately investigating French liquor major Pernod Ricard for allegedly violating the same liquor policy.

☆ Indian agency attaches Joyalukkas chairman's assets worth $37 mln
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Feb 24 (Reuters) - India's financial crime agency said on Friday it conducted searches and attached assets worth 3.06 billion rupees ($36.98 million) belonging to the chairman of jeweller Joyalukkas in a case related to alleged violation of foreign exchange laws. The Enforcement Directorate alleged a huge amount of cash was transferred to Dubai from India through so-called 'hawala' channels and then invested in Joy Alukkas Jewellery LLC, Dubai, which is fully owned by Alukkas Varghese Joy. The chairman could not be reached, while Joyalukkas did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. The agency said in a statement that it searched five premises of the jewellery group on Feb. 22, during which it found evidence of "active involvement" of Varghese Joy in those transactions. ($1 = 82.7500 Indian rupees)Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Summary Trickbot targeted hospitals during COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. saysSanctions could hit hackers' ability to move money-analystWASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The United States and Britain have imposed sanctions against seven leading members of a notorious Russian hacking gang known as Trickbot, officials announced on Friday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the United States and Britain were "committed to using all available authorities to defend against cyber threats." Both Trickbot and Conti were accused by U.S. and British authorities of having ties to the Russian intelligence services. Sanctions tend to be largely symbolic given that Russia is already heavily sanctioned and cybercriminals based there tend to steer clear of the United States or Britain. He said that U.S. officials had been lobbying to get other countries to impose sanctions on cybercriminals.

Downing Street referred requests for comment to the business ministry, which oversees Companies House, Britain’s public registry of companies. And, in most cases, if foreign companies purchased the property before 1999 or hold UK property in a trust they don’t need to publicly disclose the beneficial owners. The Cyprus-based company, A. Corp Trustee Limited, wasn’t listed on Britain’s new property register as of Tuesday morning. A listing on the UK’s new property register for Hanley Limited identifies the beneficial owner as a Swiss company called Pomerol Capital Sa. Ravellot also wasn’t on the new property register.

☆ Romanian police seize Andrew Tate's luxury cars and assets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Romanian authorities descended on a compound near Bucharest on Saturday to tow away a fleet of luxury cars and other assets worth an estimated $3.9 million in the case investigating Andrew Tate, the divisive social media personality who is detained in the country on charges of human trafficking. Romania’s National Agency for the Administration of Unavailable Assets said in a statement that it removed a total of 15 luxury cars, 14 designer watches and cash in several currencies. About a half-dozen masked law enforcement officers and other officials descended on the compound Saturday to take away the goods. A man waits to load onto a flatbed truck a luxury vehicle which was seized in a case against Andrew Tate, on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania on Saturday. A day later, Tate lost another appeal that challenged assets seized by prosecutors in the case so far.

☆ Seven of Andrew Tate's houses were searched by Romanian authorities amid rape and trafficking investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s anti-organized crime agency has carried out seven additional house searches in its investigation into divisive social media influencer Andrew Tate, an official said Thursday. His brother, Tristan, and two Romanian women were also arrested. On Tuesday, a court upheld a judge’s Dec. 30 move to extend their arrest from 24 hours to 30 days. More than 10 properties and land owned by companies registered to the Tate brothers have also been seized so far. DIICOT says it has identified six victims in the human trafficking case who were subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and were sexually exploited by the members of the alleged crime group.

☆ Ransomware group with links in Russia behind UK Royal Mail incident -Telegraph
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A cyber incident that led to severe disruption to Royal Mail's international export services was caused by Lockbit, a ransomware group which some cybersecurity experts say has members in Russia, Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported. To prevent a build-up of export items in its network, the British postal company, which is part of part of International Distributions Services (IDSI.L), has advised customers not to post international export items until further notice. Royal Mail, which declined to comment on the Telegraph report, earlier said it had engaged external experts and notified security authorities as it investigates the incident. Lockbit, which some cybersecurity experts say has members in Russia, also claimed to have attacked a French cosmetics firm called Nuxe, Le Parisien newspaper reported on Thursday. Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, additional reporting by Tassilo Hummel in Paris; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Royal Mail export services severely disrupted after 'cyber incident'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Sachin Ravikumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Britain's Royal Mail said on Wednesday it was facing severe disruption to its international export services following what it described as "a cyber incident". "We are temporarily unable to despatch items to overseas destinations," Royal Mail, one of the world's largest post and parcel firms, said in a service update on its website. It advised customers to temporarily hold any export mail items while it works to resolve the issue. The "cyber incident" is the latest in a growing list of high-profile cybersecurity events in Britain. Royal Mail said its import services remained operational, albeit with minor delays.

☆ Andrew Tate to remain detained in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

BUCHAREST, Romania — A court in Romania’s capital Bucharest has upheld the 30-day arrest of divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape, an official said late Tuesday. Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organized crime agency DIICOT, said the court rejected an appeal by Tate against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest from 24 hours to 30 days. Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 4.5 million followers on Twitter, was initially detained on Dec. 29 for 24 hours along with his brother Tristan, who was charged in the same case. The court late Tuesday rejected all four appeals against a judge’s Dec. 30 decision to grant prosecutors’ request to extend the arrest period. The week of his arrest, he traded insults on Twitter with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.

☆ Andrew Tate in Romanian court to appeal detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The divisive social media personality Andrew Tate arrived at a court in Romania in handcuffs on Tuesday morning to appeal against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest period from 24 hours to 30 days on charges of being part of an organized crime group, human trafficking and rape. All four of them immediately challenged the arrest extension that was granted to prosecutors on Dec. 30. If the court overturns the extension, the defendants could be put under house arrest or similar conditions such as being banned from leaving Romania. Since Tate’s arrest, a series of ambiguous posts have appeared on his Twitter account, each of which garners widespread media attention. One, posted on Sunday and accompanied by a local report suggesting he or his brother have required medical care since their detention, reads: “The Matrix has attacked me.

Twitter accounts that offer to trade or sell child sexual abuse material under thinly veiled terms and hashtags have remained online for months, even after CEO Elon Musk said he would combat child exploitation on the platform. The tweets reviewed by NBC News offer to sell or trade content that is commonly known as child pornography or child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The tweets do not show CSAM, and NBC News did not view any CSAM in the course of reporting this article. The problem has been pervasive enough to catch the attention of some Twitter users. In 25 tweets, users tagged Musk using at least one of the major hashtags to alert him to the content.

On Tuesday, Tate tweeted at Thunberg, referring to his “33 cars” and their “enormous emissions.”Thunberg responded on Wednesday, making a joke about Tate’s genitals. After Tate’s arrest, posts quickly went viral, speculating that the pizza boxes in the video had been an important factor in locating Tate. But Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for DIICOT, refuted that the pizza boxes had anything to do with Tate’s arrest. On Twitter, many responded to Tate’s days-old Twitter feud with Thunberg with jokes about the interaction and Tate’s arrest. In the video, Afualo said she saw the news about Tate’s arrest.

Search resuls for: "Crime Agency"

25 mentions found