Brazilian woman tries "Weekend at Bernie's" trick to get bank loan

Walt loves stories about stupid criminals, and this is the best one I've heard in a looooong time. Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes, a resident of a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, has been arrested after she brought her uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga into a bank to co-sign for a loan. Unfortunately, Mr Braga, who was brought in in a wheelchair, was determined to be dead.

The Rio newspaper O Dia reports that, in a CCTV video, Ms Nunes is heard calling Braga her uncle as she speaks to the body and props up his head. "Uncle, are you listening?" she says. "You need to sign [the contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, because I can’t sign for you."

She then grabs a pen and forces it into the hands of the corpse, saying, "Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore." According to the video, she replies "He doesn't say anything, that's just how he is," before turning to the dead body and adding: "If you're not okay, I'm going to take you to the hospital." 

Bank staff soon became suspicious as the man's head kept falling back so they called the police who arrested Ms Nunes. The cops allege that Mr Nunes, who was 68, had died just hours before, while ly ing down. "She knew he was dead," said the investigating officer. "He had been dead for at least two hours."

Ms Nunes now faces charges of violating a corpse and attempted theft through fraud. Her lawyer says that Mr Braga was alive when he entered the bank. "The facts did not occur as has been narrated. Paulo was alive when he arrived at the bank. All of this will be cleared up. We believe in Érika’s innocence."

"Project 24K" proves Greater Toronto a really multicultural city

Today, 17 April 2024, is the first anniversary of the Great YYZ Gold Heist. (Regular readers will know that YYZ is the airport code for Toronto's Pearson airport.) This was the largest theft of gold in Canadian history, and possibly the sixth-largest in the history of the world. Here's a CCTV image of (police say) the robbery in progress.

According to the Peel Regional Police, the take was 6,600 gold bars, valued at over C$20 million ($14.5 million in real money) and roughlyC$2.5 million in folding money. The gold and currency was ordered from a refinery in Zurich, Switzerland, then transported in a container through an Air Canada flight that landed at YYZ at 1556.EDT.

The cargo was then offloaded to an Air Canada cargo facility, where, a couple of hours later, a suspect arrived at the facility with a "fraudulent airway bill...for a legitimate shipment of seafood that was picked up the day before." A police spokesthingy told the meeja today, "This duplicate airway bill was printed off from a printer within an Air Canada cargo facility." 

Shortly thereafter, a forklift arrived with a container of gold and foreign currency and was loaded into the rear of the suspect’s truck. He then hauled ass with the haul. [You're not quoting the copper, right? Ed.] Almost six hours after the plane landed, Brink’s Canada employees arrived at the Air Canada cargo site to collect up the shipment of gold and currency, only to be told it had already been picked up. Everyone had a good think overnight, and called the cops the next morning.

An investigation dubbed "Project 24K" was launched right away... kind of... and has now identified nine suspects, who have been arrested, charged or had Canada-wide warrants issued against them. Let's see who they are.

Durante King-Mclean, a 25-year-old resident of Brampton ON, has been identified as the driver who allegedly stole the cargo from the airport. It was his bad luck to be stopped last September by a Pennsylvania state trooper, who found dozens of illegal firearms inside his rented car. 

Police say the driver ran away but was arrested shortly after. He appeared to be illegally in the United States, and when they checked him on the police database, it flagged him as wanted by Peel police. 

When troopers opened the Nissan’s trunk, they didn’t find gold bars, but 65 guns instead, that were destined to be smuggled into Canada, according to an indictment filed in the US of A. Besides the guns, American investigators found messages between King-Mclean and Prasath Paramalingam, 35, another Bramptonian. Paramalingam sent King-Mclean a photograph of large amounts of Canadian currency wrapped in stacks with rubber bands. 

Paramalingam and another unnamed person from Toronto flew from Toronto to New York City to deliver money to King-Mclean. Five days later, Paramalingam flew back to Toronto via Miami. King-Mclean stayed in Fort Lauderdale, where he allegedly took several photos of guns and large amounts of real money. He left Florida in August 2023 in a rental vehicle and drove north. That's when he was stopped just outside Washington DC by Pennsylvania state troopers. 

In today's presser, Peel police named nine people identified and/or charged as a result of  Project 24K. Arrested in Canada were: 

Parmpal Sidhu, 54, of Brampton [Again? Ed.] who was named as an Air Canada employee. He is charged with theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence; 

Amit Jalota, 40, from Oakville, charged with possession of property obtained by crime, theft over $5,000, and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence; 

Ammad Chaudhary, 43, from Georgetown, charged with accessory after the fact; 

Ali Raza, a 37-year-old jewelry store owner from Toronto, charged with possession of property obtained by crime; and 

Prasath Paramalingam, charged with accessory after the fact.

Durante King-Mclean, the alleged getaway driver, is formally listed as wanted by Peel police, although he is in custody in the United States.

Peel police are also searching for:

Simran Preet Panesar, a 31-year-old Brampton man who was an Air Canada employee at the time of the theft but resigned after the heist. He is wanted for theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

Archit Grover, 36, from Brampton, pictured at right [Sorry, Walt, this is the only photo I could find. Ed.] is considered a fugitive in Canada and the United States. In Canada. He is wanted for theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. In the US. he is accused of helping King-Mclean after his roadside arrest and hindering the investigation, including removing possible evidence from the Floridea Airbnb where King-Mclean stayed, and arranging a $1000 payment to the car rental agency for an amended rental agreement. 

Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, from Mississauga, wanted for theft over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime and conspiracy to commit and indictable offence.

Reading through that list of names, Walt is struck by the apparent ethnicity of the suspects. Not an Irishman among them! With the exception of "Jimmy" Durante King-Mclean, they all appear to be... errr... south Asian. Paramalingam is a Lankan name. The rest are probably Indians, some of them Sikhs. By their turbans ye shall know them, and large numbers of them work in and around Pearson Airport.

I mention this because I'm reminded of Project Kraken, about which I wrote in "'Project Kraken' proves Greater Toronto a really multicultural city", WWW 29/6/19 -- one of our most-read articles. Project Kraken had to do with drugs and guns. I've asked Ed. to find out if any of the same names appear in the list of those charged in that case, but he hasn't got back to me yet. [Don't hold your breath. Our readers got the point already. Ed.]

The greatest evils...

Another stabbing in Sydney. Walt was right, this time!

We took quite a bit of flak over our post about the First Sydney Stabbing, which was the work of a demented "incel", not an Islamic terrorist. Ed. thought it better to remove a meme which was included in "'Allahu akbar!' in Sydney, Australia", WWW 13/4/24, and we did apologize for jumping to conclusions.

However, we didn't promise not to do it again. Good thing, because before the weekend was out, there was another stabbing in Sydney, when a man with a beard attacked Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Orthodox Church and stabbed him right in the middle of his homily! All this was captured on video. Click here to see the clip, which we posted yesterday.

At first, a spokesthingy (Constable Bruce Constable) told the meeja the motive for the attack on a Christian cleric was "unclear", but everyone jumped to the same conclusion anyway. We make no apology for running this meme again.

And so it was! And so it is, and (unless Santiago Matamoros intervenes) so shall it ever be!

Today, police arrested a 16-year-old boy who they allege (LOL) is the one shown in the video. Constable Constable's boss, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb, said the suspect’s comments pointed to a religious motive for the attack. She did not name the religion, but anyone who wants to bet (100-1) that it's not the Religion of Peace (TM) should just send me a cheque.

Said the boss cop, "We'll allege there’s a degree of premeditation on the basis that this person has travelled to that location, which is not near his residential address, he has travelled with a knife and subsequently the bishop and the priest have been stabbed... They’re lucky to be alive."

Commissioner Webb said the teenager was known to police but was not on a terror watch list. Notice the implicit bias there. He was only a kid, never known to be a terrorist, a good boy trying to turn his life around. Where have we heard that before?

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation's main domestic spy agency, and Australian Federal Police had joined state police in a counter-terrorism task force to investgate who else was potentially involved. ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said the investigation had yet to uncover any associated threats. "It does appear to be religiously motivated,: he said "but we continue our lines of investigation." 

But wait, Mr Burgess had more to say. “Our job is to look at individuals connected with the attacker to assure ourselves that there is no-one else in the community with similar intent." Walt says, oh really? No-one else? This kid was the only jihadi wannabe imported into the woke land of Oz in the last few years because the Aussie politicians don't want to be labelled as Islamophobes?

Mr Burgess then contradicted himself by adding that the risk of a terrorist attack in Australia is rated at "possible" -- the second lowest level on the five-tier National Terrorism Threat Advisory System after "not expected". 

He didn't actually say "Don't worry. Be happy." What does Walt say to his Aussie readers and friends? "Don't be surprised!"

VIDEO: For real, this time: "Allahu akbar!" in Sydney

Walt has already apologized (see below) for suggesting that the late Joel Cauchi (note the initials) was a fanatical follower of the Religion of Peace (TM). Turns out he was merely an "incel". His father told the meeja he killed all those innocent people because he wanted a girlfriend. Seems like a funny way to go about getting one, but there ya go.

However, there's no mistake about this one. His Grace, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, was preaching the homily during the Sunday liturgy at Christ the Good Shepherd Assyrian Orthodox Church in the Sydney suburb of Wakely, when this happened.

  

 

Ahe man dressed in black -- so far unidentified -- approaches the bishop, and stabs  him repeatedly in the head and upper body. Members of the congregation, including a nun, can be seen screaming and rushing to the bishop's aid. Amidst the commotion, the assailant can be heard shouting "Allahu akbar!" as he is wrestled to the floor. The bishop and three congregants, including a priest, were injured.

Sydney police, who are got a lot of practice dealing with this kind of thing this weekend, arrested a suspect, whom they have so far declined to name. Don't be surprised if it's "Mohammed". They are also saying that his motive is "unclear". Well, some people can't recognize a blackberry in a saucer of milk.

An ironic sidelight to this story is that, according to AFP, the neighbourhood is a hub for Sydney's small Assyrian Christian community, many of whom have fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria. We know the religion of those who are fighting a civil war in the Middle East, don't we. The trouble is that the Muslim Civil War, and the Islamic jihad against "infidels", is being fought all over the world. No place, not even remote Australia, is safe.

When you're wrong, you're wrong. I admit it.

Following up yesterday's story, the BBC reports that the murderer was one Joel Cauchi (no, not "Mohammed" or "Abdul"), aged 40, whose home state was Queensland. He was "known to police" but never arrested or charged. Authorities have been unable to find any evidence of a terrorist motivation, and believe that the attacks were "related to the mental health of the individual."

Like millions of others, I jumped to the Muslim terrorist conclusion. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. This might have been avoided if the police had released the attacker's ID right away, instead of "waiting for verification." But it shows you the world we live in, doesn't it.

UPDATED! "Allahu akbar!" in Sydney, Australia

A meme has been removed from the original version of this post, and some text deleted. Ed. 14/4/24.

Let me remind those of you who think Israel is being a bit hard on the Hamas of the ideology underlying the jihadis' attacks on Jews and other non-Muslims. Militant Islamists are enjoined by their Religion of Peace (TM) to kill all infidels -- that means us, fellow Christians, as well as Jews -- "wherever they may be found."

Many infidels may be found in the AABC countries -- America, Britain, Canada, and... oh yeah... Australia. It was in the wonderful woke Land of Oz that a man fatally stabbed six people at a Sydney shopping centre. The dead included men and women, one of whom was the mother of a 9-month-old baby who has not yet died.

According to the BBC, the "suspect", who was known to police and shot dead by police, acted alone, so there's "no ongoing public risk". So that's OK then. In an unsurprising fit of political correctness, the Aussie authorities have refused to name the "suspect", because they are "waiting for formal identification.

The Aussie authorities also say it's "too early to speculate" about Mohammed's motives. Could be he was just exacting revenge for the Jews' killings of 33,000 (and counting) of his co-religionists. Or maybe he's just calling attention to the need for a "two-state solution" in Israel, so Muslims and Jews can live side-by-side, happy forever after. Yah. Sure.

UPATE ADDED at 0910: Suspicions confirmed! We now have a picture.

 Still waiting for the name so I can pay off/collect the bets. Lifetime pct .991.