Armed gangs stormed several tourist sites and hotels and killed at least 78 people in a series of attacks.

Armed gangs stormed several tourist sites and hotels and killed at least 78 people in a series of attacks. Chaos and fear gripped the streets of Mumbai on Wednesday as gunmen started targeting American and British nationals. According to Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, no Canadians have been injured or killed in the attacks. But that doesn't mean Calgarians with family members in the area aren't fearful for their loved one's safety. The Garrisons have a daughter and grandchildren in Mumbai. In fact, they live two streets from where Wednesday's attacks began. At around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the Garrisons received a phone call from their daughter Averil. "She was saying there was shooting and some bombs had gone off nearby in the Taj Hotel and that she was at home with the children and they were safe and not to worry," says Derrick Harrison. The upper floors of the five-star Taj Mahal hotel burst into flames and thick smoke poured out of balconies. Screams and gunfire could be heard into the night. Alex Chamberlain, who was dining at the Oberoi, told Sky News TV that a gunman in his early 20s stormed into the dining area looking for people with U.S. or British passports. "They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: 'Where are you from?" and he said he's from Italy and they said 'fine' and they left him alone. And I thought: 'Fine, they're going to shoot me if they ask me anything -- and thank God they didn't," he said. Chamberlain said he snuck away as the gunmen forced the restaurant's patrons to walk up a flight of stairs. It appeared that the group was being taken hostage, he added. Indian police officials said that four of the alleged gunmen were killed as they fled in a car. Home Minister R.R. Patil added that nine more suspects were taken into custody. An obscure group called the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attacks Wednesday

Read more...

Canadien mafia don Xie Jing Feng caught red handed on Vadodara-Mumbai highway

Xie Jing Feng alias Richard, 50, the drug mafia don from Canada caught red handed on Vadodara-Mumbai highway on Friday.According to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials, the arrest of the leader got them to bust the first-ever methamphetamine producing unit near Vadodara on Friday. The officials have also arrested two Malay citizens in the case.Ayush Mani Tiwari, zonal director of NCB, Ahmedabad, told TOI that methamphetamine is a very popular drug in South-East Asian countries, Japan and United States. "The drug comes under amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) that contains methamphetamine, amphetamine and Ecstacy. In early 70s, the drug was banned but it resurfaced in a big way in late 90s and since then, the drug is very popular in party circuits," he said.Though there were no reported incidents of methamphetamine usage in India, NCB sleuths have time and again got tip-off of its production and despatch to consumer countries. NCB has conducted raids in the past in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Gurgaon in the last five years."In this case, Richard used to come frequently to India where he visited Mumbai and Vadodara. In special meetings, Malaysians were also present. In the initial questioning, we have come to know that they made drug substances from freely-available chemicals with an alternate formula. They then used human carriers to send it outside the Indian boundaries," said Tiwari.NCB officials said that as drugs have an international market and very less investment, many youths were lured in the business. "If one is given up to Rs 40,000 just to deliver a packet from one country to another, who would not be tempted? We had recently nabbed a Taiwan citizen from Delhi airport who was found in possession of contraband. We are working on the leads in this case," said an NCB official.

Read more...