A US contracting company in Iraq is being sued in federal courts for alledgdly trafficking men from Nepal to work in warehouses.

From the Washington Post:

A Washington law firm filed a lawsuit yesterday against KBR, one of the largest U.S. contractors inIraq, alleging that the company and its Jordanian subcontractor engaged in the human trafficking of Nepali workers.

Agnieszka Fryszman, a partner at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, said 13 Nepali men, between the ages of 18 and 27, were recruited in Nepal to work as kitchen staff in hotels and restaurants in Amman, Jordan. But once the men arrived in Jordan, their passports were seized and they were told they were being sent to a military facility in Iraq, Fryszman said.

As the men were driven in cars to Iraq, they were stopped by insurgents. Twelve were kidnapped and later executed, Fryszman said. The thirteenth man survived and worked in a warehouse in Iraq for 15 months before returning to Nepal.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California on behalf of the workers’ families and the survivor, claims that the trafficking scheme was engineered by KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners, according to Fryszman.

The organized theft of small, but expensive retail goods is causing billions of dollars in losses for national retail chains. 

From the Miami Herald:

This case is but a part of a growing problem of organized retail crime, which represents as much as $30 billion in retail losses every year, according to the FBI. A National Retail Federation survey released in June found that 85 percent of retailers have been victimized by organized retail crime within the last year, compared to 79 percent in 2007. Florida is one of the most active states.

The prime target: drugstores and grocery stores. The Pharmacare case is one of several indictments handed down this year in similar cases around Florida and across the country involving theft of over-the-counter-medications and health and beauty aids. The players may be different, but the style of the crimes are almost identical.

The thieves steal small goods that are easy to hide but are of high value. 

The way these drugstore crime rings operate starts with a group of professional shoplifters known as ”boosters,” who steal with the intent to resell the merchandise. It’s not uncommon for these individuals to hit a dozen or more stores in the span of a day.

In as little as five minutes, they can sweep several shelves and walk out carrying a bag loaded with several thousand dollars in stolen merchandise. Their targets are typically small but expensive items like Prilosec, Oil of Olay, Braun toothbrush heads, Xantac, Claritin, diet pills and more.

They manage to pass undetected through store security because their bags are lined with special aluminum foil that keeps the alarm tags on the stolen merchandise from going off. Others push products out in the bottom of baby carriages or even in shopping carts, claiming that a friend is in line paying for it.

”These criminals make every effort to distract employees,” said Joseph LaRocca, vice president of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation. “Unless you’ve seen them do it, you’re not sure if they’ve paid for this or not.”

The boosters then sell their products for no more then 30 cents on a dollar or a flat $1 per piece rate to a ”fence.” Stolen merchandise is often passed from lower level fences to higher level fences who purchase larger quantities of products.

In its annual report on organized crime, German law enforcement highlighted the various threats and the illicit revenue generated. 

From Deutsche-Welle:

In its annual review on serious and organized crime in Germany, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) announced that new laws were needed to combat child pornography and organized crime.

 

 

The BKA’s annual report on organized crime, issued on Wednesday, Aug. 27, said criminals were increasingly using legitimate businesses to cover up their illegal activities and that new laws were needed to combat the booming online child pornography market.

Joerg Ziercke, the head of the BKA, said organized crime gangs were increasingly infiltrating legal industries to launder profits from the illegal drug trade and using businesses as front for criminal enterprises. The report showed that an estimated 481 million euros ($708 million) of ill-gotten gains were made behind the facade of legitimacy in Germany in 2007.

Germany is listed at number 6 on the Havocscope Black Market Countries Index. 

Source: “APEC loses over US$ 7 billion per year due to counterfeit trade“, Andina, August 22, 2008.

Source: “The unstoppable crop,” The Economist, June 21, 2008, page 50.

Source: “No quick fixes,” The Economist, June 21, 2008, page 54.

Source: “No quick fixes,” The Economist, June 21, 2008, page 54.

The $1.6 billion is out of a total $12 billion that is estimated to be smuggled over the border. 

Source: “The sheriffs stash,” The Economist, July 12, 2008, page. 42.

Source: “Thanks, me heartie,” The Economist, July 19, 2008, pg. 74.

The 121 tons is the equivalent of the tusks from 11,000 elephants. 

Source: “Round the horn,” The Economist, July 19, 2008, pg. 68.