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Police Among Three Nabbed For Robbing Drug Dealers

A police officer was one of three defendants arraigned last Friday in a violent drug robbery ring.

Officer Jorge Arbaje-Diaz pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to charges that he kidnapped, robbed, and tortured drug dealers for more than 1,600 pounds of cocaine and $4 million in cash.

Diaz, 30, was being held without bail Friday. He is assigned to the NYPD's Transit District 11 in the Bronx.

He is accused of using his uniform and his weapon in these attacks.

Prosecutors say the robberies happened up and down the East Coast, with the three suspects impersonating police to commit the alleged crimes.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said he wants justice to be served.

Bronx Food Pantry Faces Eviction

A Bronx food pantry that serves nearly 3,000 people every month is facing eviction.

Protesters picketed in front of the Highbridge Community Housing Development Corporation last Wednesday in hopes of keeping the pantry open.

Highbridge Voices and the Muslim Women's Institute are partners in keeping the pantry running. However, Highbridge Voices issued the eviction notice accusing the pantry of not following extermination procedures, something the pantry denies.

"One of the chief things that I was charged with dealing with was an immense rodent and roach problem," said Highbridge Voices executive director Bruno Casolari.

Green Card Lottery Underway

By Felicia Persaud
Immigrants are reminded that the applications for the 2010 Diversity Visa Lottery Program is now open and will run through December 1, 2008.

Entries for the DV-2010 Diversity Visa lottery must be submitted electronically at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in website delays. No entries will be accepted after noon, EST, on December 1, 2008.

The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants.”

The annual Diversity Visa program makes visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated, random lottery drawing chooses selectees for Diversity Visas.

The visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past five years. Within each region, no single country may receive more than seven per cent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

For DV-2010, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.

For detailed information about entry requirements, along with frequently asked questions about the DV lottery, see the instructions for the DV-2010 Diversity Visa lottery on the Department’s Consular Affairs at: travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ types/types_1318.html. -news@caribbeanworldnews.com

Released Prisoner Could Return To Jail

A man who had his murder conviction overturned could be heading back to prison. After serving 13 years, Kareem Bellamy had his conviction vacated back in August and remains free on $150,000 bail.

He was found guilty of stabbing a Queens man to death back in 1994.

A judge set him free after Bellamy's lawyers produced a tape of someone else confessing to the crime. But now the Queens district attorney said the tape was a fake and is calling for Bellamy to return to prison.

Jamaican Granny On Drug Charge

LONDON, England:
A 77-year old disabled Jamaican grandmother could face a long prison term in Britain for allegedly attempting to smuggle 1 million pounds worth of cocaine from Holland.

Ambrozine Heron and her daughter, Paulette Chambers, 49, were caught as they tried to drive through Dover Ferry Port in March.

The drugs were discovered in 40 tins of palm oil by sniffer dogs as Heron and Chambers drove their Nissan Pathfinder on to the ferry.

Customs officers became suspicious following 14 trips to Holland in six months. Chambers has already admitted her role in the smuggling operations.
-CaribWorldNews

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