■UNITED STATES
FedEx plotters arrested
New York police on Friday announced the arrest of 12 men in plots to hijack Federal Express trucks, including one believed to be carrying millions of dollars in diamonds. The armed gang allegedly seized a truck believed to contain the gems last December after posing as police officers, but abandoned the vehicle after failing to get into the cargo. Police said they pounced on the alleged robbers late on Thursday as they gathered in Manhattan in preparation for a new FedEx truck heist. “The city of New York announced the arrests of 12 persons for conspiracy to hijack Federal Express tractor-trailer trucks which they believed contained high-value items, including millions of dollars worth of diamonds,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
■CANADA
Feet are matched
A coroner has matched a pair of dismembered female feet that mysteriously washed up on the shores of British Columbia. The British Columbia coroner said on Friday it had matched a female right foot discovered on the West coast last month with a left foot discovered in May. Both were encased in New Balance running shoes. They were among five feet that have mysteriously floated ashore along the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland since August last year. A sixth foot was found on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula about 48km west of Port Angeles in August. The peninsula is separated from BC’s Vancouver Island by the Strait of Juan de Fuca. All six feet were found in athletic shoes.
■MEXICO
Kidnap victim feared dead
The country’s best known kidnap victim, the teenage daughter of a former sports commissioner, has been murdered more than a year after she was abducted, the country’s top prosecutor said on Friday. Silvia Vargas was snatched on her way to college in September last year and became a symbol of the hundreds of people kidnapped every year. The office of Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said in a statement police were searching a house on the south side of Mexico City where “witnesses” said she had been killed. But the statement gave no further details, and did not say whether the young woman’s body was found. Her father Nelson Vargas, who was head of the federal sports commission during the previous government, said he was still waiting for proof of his daughter’s death. More than 750 people were kidnapped in the country last year.
RSS