20140208
DANGEROUS BLACK ICE
But in hindsight it makes a certain sense. The Whittington's have long been among South Florida's most storied 'pirates.'
And the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is to American general aviation what Sodom and Gomorrah were to the Bible...
http://www.madcowprod.com/2014/02/06/dangerous-black-ice/#more-5438
20140120
ICE Investigation Targeting Drug Planes Plagued by Scandal, Court Records Show
The ICE undercover operation, dubbed Mayan Jaguar, came to a screeching halt when one of the aircraft in its sights, a Gulfstream II corporate jet, crashed on Sept. 24, 2007, in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula with nearly 4 tons of cocaine onboard. Also on that jet at the time, according to recently discovered pleadings filed in US District Court in Florida, was an ICE transponder, which was being used as a tracking device.
The court pleadings are part of a case currently pending against a Brazilian national named Joao Luiz Malago, who is facing narco-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracy charges related to an indictment filed originally in January 2012.
The presence of the tracking device on the ill-fated Gulfstream II, the court records allege, alerted Mexican authorities to the fact that the cocaine jet was on some kind of US government-sponsored mission prior to its demise. Also pointing to that fact was the Gulfstream jet’s tail number, N987SA, which past press reports have linked to CIA use — several flights between 2003 and 2005 to Guantanamo Bay, home to the infamous “terrorist” prison camp...
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2014/01/ice-investigation-targeting-drug-planes-plagued-scandal-court-records-s
20140107
DEA Case Threatens to Expose US Government-Sanctioned Drug-Running
Federal agents this past November raided the offices of an aircraft brokerage and leasing company called World Jet Inc., based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The raid, spearheaded by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, was launched on the heels of a DEA affidavit for a search warrant, which was filed in late October last year in federal court in Colorado as part of a case that is now sealed. The search-warrant affidavit was made available on the Internet after being obtained by a reporter for the Durango Herald newspaper.
The affidavit outlines allegations against several individuals accused by the DEA of participating in a narco-trafficking conspiracy. But that is not the big story here.
Instead, the real news is buried deep in the DEA court pleadings and confirms the existence of a US undercover operation that Narco News reported previously had allowed tons of cocaine to be flown from Latin America into the states absent proper controls or the knowledge of the affected Latin
American nations...
20110303
ICE Intel Chief Suspended in Fraud Probe
EL PASO, Texas -- A top U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement intelligence officer has been suspended amid allegations he helped a subordinate file bogus travel expense reports and took some of the cash they generated, an FBI agent testified in a Texas courtroom Wednesday.
James M. Woosley was ICE's deputy director of intelligence at headquarters in Washington until he was placed on administrative leave Feb. 4. His suspension came the same day the FBI raided the El Paso home of Ahmed Adil Abdallat, a supervisory ICE intelligence analyst, and seized at least 29 boxes of evidence.
Abdallat is accused of using a diplomatic passport to make eight personal trips to Jordan since October 2007, and receiving about $123,000 in reimbursements from phony travel expenses. He is also the subject of a larger money laundering investigation after he made three wire transfers worth a combined $570,000 to Jordan over a six month period, according to the FBI. Authorities also linked Abdallat to an additional $1.2 million in Jordanian bank accounts.
Abdallat, 63, is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Jordan. He appeared at a federal detention hearing in El Paso that stretched well into the evening. Magistrate Judge David C. Guaderrama did not immediately rule late Wednesday on whether he would be eligible for bail.
During the hearing, FBI Special Agent Shannon N. Enochs said determining how Abdallat obtained the money in Jordan is "a priority," saying "the only thing we're sure of is there is more than $1 million waiting for him in Amman," that country's capital.
"We have no idea how he got that much money," said Enochs, though he noted that Abdallat had until recently been receiving an annual salary of over $100,000 at ICE.
Enochs testified that Woosley approved Abdallat's phony travel expenses and that he and another federal official who worked for Woosley were paid about $58,000 as part of the scheme. He said Woosley was Abdallat's supervisor for "over 10 years." He said Abdallat mailed Woosley checks, wired him money, paid his utility and mortgage bills, and sometimes even traveled to Washington to leave his boss cash in drawers.
The FBI agent said scrutiny of Abdallat's personal e-mails revealed evidence that Woosley tried to arrange for an official trip to Jordan for Abdallat "around 2009," after Abdallat's mother died. That trip was not approved, and Abdallat ended up paying his own way.
Abdallat's attorney, Mary Stillinger, said after the hearing that her client was facing "worst case scenario, a couple years in prison." She said he had cooperated fully during interviews with FBI investigators -- most of which focused on Woosley. She said there has been no discussion about lessening the punishment Abdallat might face for cooperating in any larger investigation.
Abdallat was issued a diplomatic passport between 2005 and 2007 after being detailed to the ICE attachDe at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, Enochs said. About 10 FBI agents raiding his home found 31 stamps in a diplomatic passport that was still valid, and Enochs said that while he didn't know how many of those stamps might have represented authorized travel, Abdallat never got clearance to travel to Jordan on official business.
Authorities also seized a personal U.S. passport that had no entry stamps or visas in it, and two expired Jordanian passports, Enochs said.
Enochs said Abdallat admitted to investigators that he had produced fake receipts as part of the expense-report scheme. But he also said Abdallat became "very evasive" when investigators asked about national security concerns that sending so much money abroad might raise.
Abdallat had secret security clearance but had been denied past requests for additional access because ICE authorities determined he had made misstatements during past routine background checks, including about how he ended his service in the Jordanian Air Force, Enochs said.