Startech Safety And Security News Blog

Western Cape police believe they have thwarted a syndicate in that province, which was responsible for the hijacking of Uber and metered taxis.                                     Western Cape police believe they have thwarted a syndicate in that province, which was responsible for the hijacking of Uber and metered taxis. A series of arrests have since been made, in connection with the crimes, this week. There is still no clarity on just how long this syndicate has been operating, but there has certainly been a dramatic escalation in the number of metered taxi hijackings since October 2017. “The bulk of the incidents were reported in the Blue Downs cluster of police stations, namely Kuils River, Kleinvlei, and Mfuleni. Incidents also occurred in the Brackenfell police precinct, in Stellenbosch, Macassar and in Somerset West,” read a statement by Western Cape police on Saturday. So, what was the modus operandi of this syndicate and how did it manage to operate for so long?

Police investigate possible murder-suicide involving 22-year-old who was discovered in an apartment near the body of mam A British woman and a Nepalese man found dead in an inner  Sydney  apartment in a suspected murder-suicide have been named. The bodies of Amelia Blake, 22, and Brazil Gurung, who is believed to have been her boyfriend and was in his 30s, were discovered at a flat in King Street, Newtown, on Friday afternoon after concerns were raised for the pair’s welfare. Blake had been in Australia for eight months. She spent most of her time in Australia working on a farm in Victoria and had planned to head to Tasmania after a trip to Vietnam, News Corp Australia reported. The bodies were discovered by the flat’s landlord, who had come to pick up his mail. Friends in the UK have written on social media after learning of Blake’s death. “We couldn’t believe the news ... absolutely devastating and just can’t get our head around it,” Ellie Mackness wrote on Facebook on

National Spokesperson for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, refused to apologise for the trashing of an H&M store in Gauteng on Saturday. National Spokesperson for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, refused to apologise for the trashing of an H&M store in Gauteng on Saturday, adding that the oppression of black people would not be tolerated anymore. Supporters of the EFF wreaked havoc at H&M stores at Sandton City and Menlyn Malls, forcing the retailer to close all of its stores around the country – to protect its staff. This was part of a nationwide protest, by the EFF, against a racist sweater advert by the retailer. The sentiment in the EFF is that racism needs to be physically confronted. “We will never apologize for fighting against any usage of the color of our skin as a means of our oppression, exclusion, humiliation and denigration,” said Ndlozi. “#EFFProtest against H&M is not only the implementation of a hi

Harare - A South African woman appeared in the Harare Magistrate's Court on charges relating to cocaine possession worth over $430 000 (about R5 268 820). Thandeka Jack, 34, from Springs, in Johannesburg, appeared in court on Tuesday before Magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa facing a charge of possession of dangerous drugs. She was denied bail and remanded to February 6 for trial. The prosecution, led by Sebastian Mutizirwa, told the court that at around 3pm on December 31, an Angolan flight landed and during the clearing of passengers, Jack’s red suitcase passed through a scan and was tagged for physical examination. The court heard that detectives from the Drugs and Narcotics section stationed at Robert Mugabe International Airport were on duty together with Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and other State security agents. Mutizirwa alleged that Jack proceeded to the green route as though she had nothing to declare, but was stopped by Zimra officials, who aler

                     At least five people have died and one was seriously injured after a helicopter crashed in northern New Mexico.   Elizabeth Armijo of the New Mexico State Police says six people were aboard the helicopter on Wednesday evening when it went down in a mountainous area but that no additional information was immediately available about the victims or circumstances of the crash.   The helicopter crashed about 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of the small city of Raton (rah-TOHNE’) near the Colorado state line. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the helicopter was a Huey UH-1. He says information on its registration isn’t available.  Raton is 175 miles (282 kilometers) northeast of Albuquerque.

Sayfullo Saipov,  the suspect in New York City's deadliest terror attack since 9/11 has offered to plead guilty in order to avoid the death penalty, according to a new court filing from the suspect's defense attorneys.   Saipov has been charged with killing eight people and injuring a dozen others after he drove a pickup truck down a bicycle path near the World Trade Center on October 31, 2017. Saipov faces a 22-count indictment, which includes murder and terror-related charges. He has pleaded not guilty. In the filing, Saipov's attorneys say that with the amount of discovery the government has already produced in the case and the procedural requirements associated with pursuing a death penalty charge, the case could stretch on for years. His attorneys write,  "The most straightforward way to achieve closure would be for the government to accept a plea of guilty and a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole." Saipov's a

A Russian  Orthodox  priest and father of four has been found guilty of sexually abusing underage girls at Orthodox summer camps in Russia and Greece. A court in the Leningrad region found Gleb Grozovsky, 38, guilty of molesting three underage girls. An investigation found that Grozovsky had sexually abused a girl who was under 14 in 2011 at an Orthodox summer camp in Leningrad region. In 2013, he abused two girls in another Orthodox summer camp in Greece, the probe discovered. Russian priest and father of 4, handed 14-year prison term for molesting girls at summer camps Following the accusations, Grozovsky fled Russia in autumn 2013 and was charged in absentia. He was suspended from church service following the probe that year. Moscow also issued an international search warrant for him. The priest was finally detained in Israel, which extradited him to Russia in 2016. He was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security prison. It has been reported that the court included the

An thief lost his life after he was electrocuted while trying to steal from an electric pole in Bukuru, Jos, Plateau state. According to the reports, the body was hanging on the pole throughout the night and was only discovered by residents the next morning. The incident also caused total blackout in the area the whole night. It is also reported that people in the area have been victims of electric pole thieves who usually succeeded until now. More photos below

Members of a Vigilante group in Agbor, Delta state known as ‘Agbor Gha Ihun’ on Wednesday, nabbed two men for robbing a popular phone store in the town. It was learnt that the suspects, both indigenes of Latàn, Jos, Plateau State and work as security guards at private residences, were arrested for burglarizing the shop and buildings in Agbor. The operation was led by the new Chairman of Delta State Water Ways and Land Security, Mr Monday Kiyem (Maduma).

A man was charged on Thursday with resisting arrest and shooting a police officer on December 30, 2017. James Mwiti, 43, was charged in Meru with shooting constable Shamo Gufu at KCB's Makutano branch in Imenti North, Meru county. The prosecution said the accused attempted to unlawfully cause Gufu's death by shooting him in his right thigh with a Ceska pistol. The accused then resisted arrest contrary to Section 103 of National Police Service Act 2011. Mwiti was further accused of drawing his pistol, without warning, and shooting at the policeman as he manned the bank. The officer was rushed to Meru teaching and referral hospital. Mwiti denied the charge and was released on Sh100,000 cash bail or Sh200,000 bond. Meru senior principal magistrate Monica Maroro said the case will be m entioned on February 1 and heard on March 19.

Officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency LASEMA Response Unit today rescued a woman trapped in the mud under Third Mainland Bridge. See more photos below

A Kenyan family of five including a man, his wife and their three children were all burnt to death in the early hours of Tuesday Jan. 16th in Juja, Kiambu county. According to police reports, members of the public reported the fire incident at the home of one Patrick Nderitu Karuiru to the area chief in Kiambu county. When the area chief arrived at the scene, he found neighbours putting out the fire. After they manage to put out the fire, Nairobi News reported that they found one burned body of the middle-aged man laying at the veranda door with the other four bodies in the bedroom. All three bodies of children, aged below 10 years, had visible head injuries, same to the body of their mother, Rosemary Kaninia. The authorities in Kiambu county suspect the man murdered his wife and their three children before setting the house on fire.

No fewer than 12 traders have been killed and 50 others injured in a twin suicide bomb attacks that happened at the Muna garage in Maiduguri on Wednesday, January 17th. See more photos from the attack below...

Body of Celine Dookhran, 20, found inside a freezer in £1.5m London mansion Another woman was raped and had her throat cut but managed to survive Mujahid Arshid, 33, is charged with rape, murder, attempted murder and kidnap  His alleged accomplice Vincent Tappu, 28, was charged with the kidnap of both  A builder ordered his 20-year-old niece to get into a freezer as part of a plan to freeze her to death after raping her in the vacant £1.5m home of a client where he later slit her throat, a court heard today.   Mujahid Arshid, 33, planned to abduct and kill 'attractive' Celine Dookhran, 20, and another woman, 21, for weeks after becoming enraged they had boyfriends, the Old Bailey heard.  Opening his trial at the Old Bailey, prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said it was a 'simply horrific' case.  He said Arshid kidnapped the women from London on Wednesday 19 July and took them to a house in the boot of a pick up truck.  When he got there he allegedly

For some weeks now, disturbing reports on the stealing of items in some passengers’ luggage as their jets taxied to a stop on the runway of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) have been trending in the media. The first incident reported involved a Vista Jet 584, which    arrived Lagos from Istanbul on December 12, 2017. Items from the luggage of two crew members were said to have been stolen and the luggage hold found open. That report elicited both denials and a promise to investigate the incident by the police and the authorities of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). The apprehension that incident generated was yet to die down when another private jet conveying two of Nigeria’s foremost musicians from Uyo to Lagos on December 26 was reportedly also attacked.    Ayodeji Balogun aka Wizkid and Tiwa Savage said their luggage was tampered with, and some items removed, while the jet which flew them to Lagos taxied to a stop on the MMIA runway. Although FA