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BAD NEWS: Brazil shuts down Lava Jato task force UPDATED

Bad-bad news:
Brazil Shuts Down Successful Corruption-Fighting Task Force

Brazil’s Federal Police announced this week that it would shut down a crusading anticorruption task force, drawing a rebuke from prosecutors who warned the move could throttle investigations that have exposed systemic corruption among the country’s political and business elites.

The decision comes as President Michel Temer, who is among the politicians facing criminal charges stemming from the unit’s work, is scrambling to shore up support among lawmakers to avoid trial over bribery allegations.

Never mind that; the excuse is “to increase efficiency,”

The Federal Police, which announced the shift on Thursday, characterized it as a bureaucratic reshuffling of personnel and resources that would increase efficiency. In a statement, it said that members of the team known as the Lava Jato, or Car Wash, task force would be absorbed into the organization’s main anticorruption division to more effectively “fight against corruption and money laundering and facilitate the exchange of information.”

Task force members, Brazil’s national association of prosecutors and the federation of Federal Police call it “a clear setback,” which is quite the understatement when you consider that Lava Jato investigators have recovered more than US$3 billion so far, and they were not done.

This will have very negative effects on the economy. Prof. Steve Hanke tweeted,

In more bad news, Venezuelan drug lords are using the port of Santos, Brazil, to ship meth and cocaine to Europe via Guinea Bissau, Nigeria and Ivory Coast in Africa.

UPDATE
Lula got a 10-year prison sentence. Will he do time in jail?

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Terrorist Al-Qaeda follower Abdulmutallab has “no formal connections”

t1larg.us.airline.suspect.cnn

Device was on fire in terror suspect’s lap, plane passenger says

The initial impression is that the suspect was acting alone and did not have any formal connections to organized terrorist groups, said the official, who is familiar with the investigation.

Obviously he forgot to wear his al-Qaeda credentials with photo ID with bold lettering saying, “OFFICIAL MEMBER OF AL-QAEDA SINCE 2001” on a lanyard on his neck.

Security check in Amsterdam? Nope:

He did not undergo secondary security screening in Amsterdam, an administration official said.

Acting alone? Don’t think so:

British counterterrorism police officers were searching houses Saturday in central London in relation to the airline incident, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman told CNN.

The heroes of Christmas days are the people who stopped him, particularly Jasper Schuringa and the cabin crew”

“Everybody got a little bit startled,” he said. “After a few seconds or so … there was … kind of a flamish light and there was fire” and people around the immediate area began to panic.

Schuringa said he heard a big bang that sounded like a firecracker going off. He told CNN that he was the one who was able to subdue Abdulmutallab. CNN was not able to independently confirm Schuringa’s account.

Schuringa said someone started yelling: “Fire! Fire!”

Then there was smoke. That’s when Schuringa said he knew something was terribly wrong.

When he noticed that Abdulmutallab was not moving, he grew suspect. He jumped over the passenger next to him and lunged over Abdulmutallab’s seat.

Schuringa said he saw that Abdulmutallab had his pants open and he was holding a burning object between his legs.

“I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away,” Schuringa said.

He said he managed to pull an object tucked between Abdulmutallab’s legs.

“Water! Water,” Schuringa screamed. He heard fire extinguishers as he pulled Abdulmutallab out of his seat and dragged him to the front of the plane.

Schuringa said Abdulmutallab seemed dazed. “He was staring into nothing.”

Schuringa said he stripped off Abdulmutallab’s clothes to make sure he did not have other explosives on his body. A crew member helped handcuff him.

He said other passengers applauded as he walked back to his own seat.

“My hands are pretty burned. I am fine,” he said. “I am shaken up. I am happy to be here.”

Thanks to them, 278 people are alive today.

Meet the Northwest flight 253 hero, Jasper Schuringa. Here is his Facebook page.

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It didn’t take long for conspiracy theories to pop up. A commenter at my prior post came up with this beaut:

Something is wrong here..An intelligence officer sitting nearby, a white powder, a black man a muslim name,= a set up! i wonder now whay amerikkka will ask from Nigeria for his release..OIL

Ridiculous.

UPDATE:
the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN, a compound related to nitro-glycerin used by the military. They were sewn in his underwear.

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Nigerian working for Al-Qaeda tried to blow up plane that landed in Detroit

OB-FD955_plane1_F_20091225183357

White House: Failed Airline Bombing Was Attempted Act of Terrorism

U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of Al Qaeda when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit.

One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it.

Like the shoebomber, he tried to ignite a bomb:

“He appears to have had some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite,” said one of the U.S. officials.

Authorities initially believed the passenger had set off firecrackers that caused some minor injuries.

Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Susan Elliott said the passenger was subdued immediately. She had no details on the injuries. Delta and Northwest have merged.

Again, the passengers rose to halt him:

Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident happened during the plane’s descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smoke smell. Then, he said, “a young man behind me jumped on him.”

“Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic,” he said.

Fox News reports right now that the explosive device was put together with elements that originated in Yemen.

At the WSJ: Midair Bomb Attempt Fails
Man on Flight to Detroit Claims Al Qaeda Ties; Obama Tightens Security

The man, who has not been publicly identified by officials, told investigators that he was given the device by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, where he was also given instructions on how to detonate it, the official said. The Associated Press reported that Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) has identified the man as a Nigerian named Abdul Mudallad.
…
The explosive, which was apparently carried onto the flight from its originating airport in Amsterdam, was originally believed to be a small firecracker, but the U.S. official said the device was “more complicated than gunpowder firecracker” and caught fire as the man tried to set it off.

Washington Post: White House: Failed plane attack an attempted act of terrorism

NY Times: Airline Incident Was Terrorism Attempt, White House Says

Richard Fernandez posts,

ABC News now says the suspect was on a “no fly list” and that the powder he was trying to ignite was concealed taped to his leg. A syringe of chemicals was said to have been added to the mixture.

Richard also has a diagram of where the fuel tanks are located in that particular aircraft relative to where the terrorist was sitting.

Islamic terrorism doesn’t give up.

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