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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2005/20051003_2915.html
Coalition, Iraqi Forces Net Numerous Suspects, Weapons Caches
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2005 – A physics professor, allegedly working as a terror cell leader in west Baghdad, was one of seven suspected terrorists detained during an early-morning raid Oct. 2, military officials in Iraq reported.
A Task Force Baghdad soldier inventories the contents of a weapons cache found in north Baghdad, among numerous caches discovered in recent days. U.S. Army photo
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, found bomb-making materials and various chemicals and detained seven men in two separate locations in Saydiyah. The men were suspected of using the materials and chemicals to make lethal roadside bombs to target coalition Iraqi security forces.
Other items found during the raid included electronic circuit boards, circuit testers, wireless car alarms, spools of wire, a computer central processing unit, a loaded AK-47 assault rifle and a pistol.
In separate action, Iraqi army and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers, working together and independently, seized six suspected roadside-bomb emplacers, detained two car bombing suspects, and unearthed three weapons caches during combat operations Oct. 2.
Five terror suspects were captured in two early-morning raids conducted by Iraqi and U.S. forces in west Baghdad.
At 2:30 a.m., soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Iraqi Army Brigade, teamed up with 1st Battalion, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, to search an apartment complex. In less than 90 minutes, the soldiers captured three suspected terrorists believed to be responsible for placing roadside bombs in the area.
The second Iraqi-U.S. operation netted two more terror suspects in west Baghdad just before 4 a.m. The suspects are thought to be involved in a car-bombing cell.
At 8:10 a.m., Task Force Baghdad soldiers patrolling in southwest Baghdad struck a roadside bomb. No one was injured, and the patrol caught two suspicious-acting men. The patrol then searched two houses 100 yards from the scene of the attack and found bomb-making materials, including batteries, wires, timers and radio detonation devices. The soldiers also found two AK-47 assault rifles and two sniper rifles in the houses.
Task Force Baghdad soldiers, acting on an Iraqi citizen's tip, nabbed the sixth suspected roadside bomber just before 3 p.m. in north Baghdad.
All eight terror suspects were taken into custody for questioning.
In other Oct. 2 combat operations, Iraqi and coalition forces found three weapons caches in west Baghdad.
One cache was discovered lying out in the open in burlap bags, indicating the weapons were either about to buried or were being recovered for a possible terrorist attack.
The cache contained two machine guns with 150 links of ammunition, six AK-47s with 16 full magazines, and eight hand grenades.
The second cache consisted of 76 artillery rounds; one missile; one rocket; 10 mortar rounds; and a mortar tube, base plate and bipod for firing the munitions.
Task Force Baghdad soldiers also found 10 mortar rounds, four rockets, five grenades, five AK-47s and ammunition and three bullet-proof vests in a third weapons cache. The third cache also contained fake license plates and nearly 20 bombs.
Officials also reported that Iraqi army troops and coalition forces detained 10 suspects in joint operations conducted Oct. 2 near Baqubah.
No injuries or damages were reported, and the suspects are being held for further questioning by authorities.
In other action, coalition forces detained numerous terror suspects and seized multiple weapons caches in operations conducted between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1.
During a series of combat operations conducted throughout Baghdad beginning Oct. 1, U.S. forces detained 14 suspected terrorists, found six weapons caches, and seized terrorist propaganda materials.
The largest operations of the day were a pair of late-night raids resulting in the capture of 10 terror suspects in south Baghdad. One raid, which netted four suspects, was carried out after an Iraqi citizen provided a tip to coalition forces about terrorist activity taking place in his neighborhood.
Just before dawn, Task Force Baghdad soldiers acting on another tip from an Iraqi citizen, conducted a cordon-and-search operation in north Baghdad. In one hour, the soldiers searched four safe houses in the area and captured two terror suspects.
Later, around 8 a.m., a Task Force Baghdad patrol found a weapons cache while working in southwest Baghdad. The cache contained 22 mortar rounds wired with detonation cord, three artillery rounds, two hand grenades and some assault rifle ammunition.
Task Force Baghdad soldiers made their largest find of the day just before 10 a.m. After discovering 25 mortar rounds hidden in west Baghdad, the patrol fanned out to search the entire area.
A half hour later the soldiers found a second cache 150 yards away and then a third cache between the first two. The soldiers discovered two more caches during the search.
The five caches consisted of 64 mortar rounds, two mortar tubes, three rockets, three bombs, 20 rocket-propelled grenades, 12 hand grenades and numerous handguns.
U.S. soldiers also detained a suspected bomb maker at a house in north Baghdad at 10:30 p.m. Also, Task Force Baghdad soldiers detained another terror suspect and seized terrorist propaganda while searching three more houses in north Baghdad.
Elsewhere in Iraq, Task Force Baghdad soldiers apprehended two men northwest of the capital Sept. 29 who violated curfew and possessed a loaded rifle.
Soldiers of 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, heard gunshots and observed two men in a car on a highway after curfew. Upon stopping the vehicle, the soldiers discovered a loaded AK-47 assault rifle in the passenger's lap.
In Sadr City, Task Force Baghdad soldiers detained 12 Iraqis on Sept. 29 for suspected involvement in illegal punishment committee activities.
Punishment committees are often associated with executions of persons believed to have violated Islamic law.
Around 11:30 p.m., coalition forces stopped the vehicles containing 12 individuals at a checkpoint east of Sadr City in Baghdad.
Inside the vehicle, the soldiers found punishment committee and Mahdi Militia propaganda. The dozen Iraqis were questioned at the scene. One person possessed a card identifying him as a Sharia - or Islamic law - court judge of the Sadr Bureau's Punishment Committee.
A Sharia judge reportedly provides the official sanction of capital punishment against violators of Sharia law. In Iraq, only the sovereign Iraqi government has the judicial authority to enforce laws, detain subjects or pass judgment.
All 12 individuals are being processed through the Iraqi judicial system. In other news from Iraq, coalition aircraft flew 36 close-air-support and armed-reconnaissance sorties Oct. 2 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. These missions included support to coalition troops, infrastructure protection, reconstruction activities, and operations to deter and disrupt terrorist activities.
U.S. Air Force F-15s performed a pre-planned strike against an improvised-explosive-device staging area in the vicinity of Balad, expending one GBU-38 bomb with good effects.
Other U.S. Air Force F-15s and F-16s and British Royal Air Force GR-4s provided close air support to coalition troops in the vicinities of Balad, Fallujah, and Jalula.
In addition, 10 U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft flew missions in support of operations in Iraq. Royal Air Force fighter aircraft also performed in a non-traditional ISR role with their electro-optical and infrared sensors.
(Compiled from Task Force Baghdad, U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward and Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)
Related Sites:
Multinational Force Iraq
Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq
U.S. Central Command Air Forces
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http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/051003national.htm
News Release
October 3, 2005
ACCUSED LEADER OF INTERNATIONAL COUNTERFEIT MOTION PICTURE NETWORK ARRESTED ON U.S. CHARGES AFTER EXPULSION FROM CHINA
-- Arrest & Charges in U.S. stem from first joint IPR investigation by ICE and Chinese authorities --
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi today announced that Randolph Hobson Guthrie III has been arrested in the United States pursuant to an 18-count indictment filed in the Southern District of Mississippi charging him with trafficking in counterfeit goods and money laundering.
ICE agents arrested Guthrie at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday after he was expelled from China and arrived on a flight from Shanghai, China. Guthrie is scheduled to have a bond hearing tomorrow in federal court in Los Angeles. Afterwards, he is expected to be transferred to Mississippi to face the federal charges against him there.
In April of this year, Guthrie and Abram Thrush, another U.S. citizen, were convicted in China as a result of the first joint Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) investigation by ICE agents and Chinese law enforcement. China’s Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court convicted Guthrie on criminal charges of illegally selling and distributing more than $840,000 worth of pirated motion picture DVDs via the Internet to buyers in more than 20 nations, including the United States. Chinese prosecutors maintained that, since October 2002, Guthrie had illegally sold some 180,000 pirated DVDs around the globe through eBay.com and a Russian based-website at www.threedollardvd.com.
The Chinese court sentenced Guthrie to a jail term of two years and six months in China, a fine of 500,000 Chinese Renminibi (RNB), and deportation from the country upon completion of his sentence. Thrush was sentenced to a jail term of one year in China, a fine of 10,000 RNB, and was returned to the United States in July 2005. Two Chinese accomplices were also convicted and sentenced in this case.
Guthrie now faces charges in the United States pursuant to a criminal indictment returned in the Southern District of Mississippi. Count 1 of the U.S. indictment charges Guthrie with conspiring to infringe copyrights for purposes of commercial advantage and private financial gain in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2319(a)(b)(1) and (c)(1) and Title 17, United States Code, Section 506(a)(1) and (a)(2); to traffic in goods and use counterfeit marks on and in connection with such goods in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2320(a); and to fraudulently and knowingly import unauthorized reproductions of U.S. copyrighted motion pictures stored on digital versatile discs into the United States contrary to law in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 545.
Counts 2 through 8 charge substantive violations of Section 545, that, in aggregate, allege that the defendant imported contrary to law more than 2,000 unauthorized DVDs containing copyrighted motion pictures. Count 9 charges the defendant with infringing a copyright for purposes of commercial advantage and private financial gain by reproducing or distributing, during a 180 day period, copyrighted works having a retail value in excess of $2,500.00 in violation of applicable law.
Count 10 through 16 charge substantive violations of section 2320, offenses that make it illegal for someone to intentionally traffic or attempt to traffic in pirated DVDs and using counterfeit marks in connection with such pirated materials. Count 17 charges a money laundering conspiracy in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h) and Count 18 seeks forfeiture of more than $1 million in U.S. currency which he is alleged to have made in committing the offenses.
The investigation that led to the charges against Guthrie in China and the United States began in September 2003 when undercover agents from the ICE Resident Agent in Charge office in Gulfport, Mississippi purchased counterfeit DVDs in September 2003 at a Mississippi flea market.
Ultimately, the investigation known as “Operation Spring” grew to include the ICE Attaché in Beijing, China, the ICE Special Agent-in-Charge office in Houston, and the National Intellectual Property Rights Center in Washington, D.C. Chinese law enforcement joined in the investigation, turning the case into the first joint undercover case conducted by Chinese and U.S. authorities.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) provided crucial assistance and background information to U.S. and Chinese law enforcement agencies in this case. The MPAA has closely tracked the negative economic effects on member studios caused by this counterfeiting network and other accused intellectual property rights violators worldwide. In total, the MPAA estimates that the U.S. motion picture industry loses more than $3.5 billion annually in potential worldwide revenue due to piracy.
This landmark case represents the latest success of ICE in targeting IPR violators around the globe. As the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE plays a leading role in targeting criminal organizations responsible for producing, smuggling, and distributing counterfeit products. In Fiscal Year 2004, ICE agents arrested 218 individuals and brought 140 indictments for IPR violations, roughly double the 132 arrests and 70 indictments brought by ICE the prior fiscal year.
At the same time, ICE agents and U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officers together made 7,255 seizures of counterfeit goods worth $138 million in FY 2004, up from the roughly 6,500 seizures worth $94 million the prior year. Together, ICE and CBP have seized more than $600 million worth of counterfeit goods from FY 1998 through FY 2004.
# ICE #