Arrests after wild boars released

28 April 2014 Last updated at 13:09 Farmer Greg Davies said 42 wild boars were still unaccounted for Six people have been arrested after wild boars were released during a burglary at a farm in Bridgend county.

More than 40 of the animals could be roaming the area after they were released from their pen following a break-in at Llangynwyd, near Maesteg, at 12:30 BST on Sunday.

Farmer Greg Davies holds a dangerous animals licence and had fencing to prevent escapes, said police.

Anyone who sees the boars is advised not to approach them, but to call 101.

The break-in at the farm took place at 12:30 BST on Sunday Wild boars are usually nocturnal and can travel up to 30 miles a day searching for food

South Wales Police said although the animals are not an immediate threat to the public, they may charge anyone who tries to approach them as they will be disorientated and are not used to being out of their pens.

Wild boars are usually nocturnal and can travel up to 30 miles a day searching for food in the early morning or late afternoon and evening.

Inspector Paul Thomas said: "These animals are recognised as posing a potential threat. People should take as much care as possible.

"We are investigating the criminal damage and the release of dangerous wild animals, which can carry a sentence in prison."

Farmer Greg Davies said the wild boars escaped after their fences were cut

Mr Davies said he had recaptured some of the animals but there were still 42 unaccounted for.

"We had a break-in at the farm building where we keep all the materials and all the machinery," he told BBC Wales.

"During that break-in, the people that came in actually cut the fences to get access to the building via the animal pens. Thus doing so, they released about 80 wild boar adults and young out into the wild.

"We managed to collect approximately 40 or 45 of them on Sunday morning and one or two have wandered back.

Scott Passmore, co-founder of the UK Wild Boar Association, explains what you should do if you meet a wild boar

"When we did a full head count last night, we narrowed it down to 23 adult wild boar still unaccounted for and 19 young ones that have just vanished as well."

Naturalist and broadcaster Iolo Williams, the patron of the Wild Boar Trust said he has tracked wild boar in the Forest of Dean.

"They're fantastic animals, fascinating things. It's important I think that we remember they are a native animal. The Welsh princes used to hunt them so they're part of our heritage really," Mr Williams told BBC Radio Wales.

He said people in and around Maesteg have nothing to worry about with the released boars on the loose.

Continue reading the main story They were hunted to extinction in the wild in Britain in the 1600sThey made a comeback when they escaped from farms where they were bred for meatAn adult boar weighs three times the average weight of a manThey have four continually growing tusks which are used for fightingWallowing in mud and water protects them from sunburn and biting insectsSource: BBC Wildlife"They have a bad reputation and I don't understand why," said Mr Williams. "They are very secretive, they are very shy and probably the first thing they'll do is they'll head for woodland cover.

"There's quite a bit of woodland up above and at the back of Maesteg there - forestry plantation and I'm pretty sure that's where people will find most of them."

He added: "They're fascinating animals and an important part of the woodland ecology as well. They turf up the woodland floor which helps new plants and flowers grow, which helps insects which helps birds."

Asked whether the wild boar can be a problem if they turn up in a garden, Mr Williams added: "All you have to do is just open the door and off they go immediately. They do not want that contact with people."

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Mexico arrests top cartel suspect

6 October 2011 Last updated at 02:44 Police say Noel Salgueiro Nevarez was taken in a carefully planned operation Mexican forces have arrested a man they say is a key figure in the country's most powerful drugs cartel.

Noel Salgueiro Nevarez is accused of running the Sinaloa cartel's operations in the northern state of Chihuahua, where drug violence is rampant.

Defence officials said his arrest would seriously weaken the cartel in Mexico and abroad.

The arrest was made on the same day as that of Martin Rosales Magana, who is accused of leading the La Familia gang.

The army said Mr Salgueiro Nevarez was seized in a carefully planned military operation, without a shot being fired.

Defence Ministry spokesman Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Noel Salgueiro Nevarez was behind much of the extreme violence which has plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's murder capital.

He said the suspect, also known as El Flaco (The Skinny One), led a gang of hitmen who extorted local businessmen, kidnapped for ransom, and tortured and killed members of a rival gang, the Juarez cartel.

'Criminal career'

Continue reading the main story Ignacio de los Reyes BBC Mundo, Mexico City

The Sinaloa Cartel controls the production of large quantities of heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine (in the US) and boasts an extensive network of associates to facilitate its US trafficking operations, US officials say.

On Saturday, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he would even consider sending US troops into Mexico to combat drug-related violence and "keep the cartels off the border".

This is why the arrest of "The Skinny One" could be a severe blow to the Sinaloa cartel activity both sides of the fence.

It is also a public relations boost for Mexican President Felipe Calderon at home and in the US, amid growing criticism of his government's strategy to fight criminals and the drug trafficking.

Yet, the Sinaloa Cartel leader is still free. Joaquin "The Shorty" Guzman escaped from a maximum security prison in 2001, embarrassing the Mexican government.

Since then, he's become the number one target with a $3m reward for his capture.

The security forces say the bitter war between the two gangs was the trigger for most of the 3,000 killings in Ciudad Juarez last year.

Prosecutors said Mr Salgueiro Nevarez started his criminal career 15 years ago, producing marijuana for the Sinaloa cartel.

They said his gang had been exporting up to 15 tonnes of marijuana and two tonnes of cocaine per month to the United States.

The government had offered a three-million-peso ($220,000; £130,000) reward for information leading to his capture.

Security officials said his arrest, in the city of Culiacan in northwestern Sinaloa state, was a major blow to the Sinaloa cartel and its leader, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.

Mr Guzman, 54, is Mexico's most wanted man and thought to be one of the country's richest.

Two years ago, he made Forbes magazine's list of the 67 World's Most Powerful People. At number 41, he was just below Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Crumbling cartel

Mr Salgueiro Nevarez's arrest was announced at the same time as that of another top figure in the Mexican drugs trade.

Police say Martin Rosales Magana lead the remnants of the La Familia cartel

Martin Rosales Magana, 47, was seized in Mexico state on Tuesday. Police say he is one of the founders of the once-powerful La Familia cartel.

Until the beginning of this year, La Familia ran much of the methamphetamine trade in Mexico.

It claimed to protect local communities and promote family values, but also engaged in gruesome violence.

The security forces say it has been almost entirely dismantled, with its top leaders either in jail or dead.

They say Mr Rosales Magana lead a number of small cells still loyal to the cartel, which had holed themselves up in a rural area between Michoacan and Mexico state.

At a news conference, federal police counter-narcotics chief Ramon Pequeno described how La Familia splintered after the security forces killed the cartel's then-leader Nazario Moreno in December 2010.

He said part of the gang set up a rival cartel, which they named Knights Templar, and which quickly took over many of the methamphetamine labs in the west and south-west of the country.

Mr Pequeno said Mr Rosales Magana and those loyal to him tried to regain control of the drugs trade in Michoacan state by forging an alliance with their long-time rivals, the Zetas cartel.

He told reporters how "they met with the Zetas to ask for operational assistance, weapons and salaries [for gunmen] and expenses money, in order to recoup important cities held by the Knights Templar".

However, according to police, the alliance soon faltered because Mr Rosales Magane no longer had access to the precursor chemicals needed to make methamphetamine, their main source of income.

Mr Pequeno said with La Familia severely weakened, police would now focus their attention on taking down the Knights Templar.

Terror arrests near to Sellafield

3 May 2011 Last updated at 19:30 The Sellafield site handles nuclear material and is carefully guarded Five men are being held under the Terrorism Act after being arrested close to the Sellafield nuclear site.

The men, who are all from London and aged in their 20s, were arrested on Monday shortly after 1630 BST.

The arrests were made after Civil Nuclear Constabulary officers conducted a stop check on a vehicle close to the Sellafield site, in Cumbria.

The BBC understands the men were taking photographs and are all believed to be Bangladeshi.

The arrests are not thought to have been intelligence-led.

The men were held in Carlisle overnight and then moved to Manchester.

Four houses in east London were raided by counter-terror detectives as part of the investigation.

Scotland Yard said a small container was removed at one of the addresses.

The container is being examined. Explosives officers attended as a precaution, although the container is now not thought to have had explosives or hazardous material in it.

The North West Counter Terrorism Unit is leading the investigation.

Heavy security

The arrests were made within hours of the news breaking that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan, and members of the public have been warned to remain vigilant amid fears of reprisals from groups sympathetic to al-Qaeda.

In a statement, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: "At this stage we are not aware of any connection to recent events in Pakistan."

A GMP spokesman said the investigation is in its early stages and no further information will be released yet.

A police officer can arrest anyone they "reasonably suspect" of being a terrorist, under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The Sellafield site is responsible for decommissioning and reprocessing nuclear waste and fuel manufacturing on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The site, which has operated since the 1940s, is heavily protected by both private security and officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

Sellafield has a bunker that stores about 100 tonnes of plutonium, which experts say is enough to manufacture thousands of nuclear weapons.

 

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