Abstracts: June 2003 (Page Two)
June 12, 2003
Identity of arrested lap dancer unclear
Irish Independent
Brian McDonald
According to this article:
The true identity of the young Nigerian woman arrested in Galway during Operation Quest has not been established by the gardai.
Ese Osahon appeared at Tuam court. She was charged with failing to produce a valid passport or identity papers and was remanded in custody to Mountjoy prison and appeared again at Galway District Court on June 11.
Her solicitor, Joan O'Brien, told the court that her client was very distressed and terrified. Inspector Noel Kelly said that gardai had been unable to properly establish the identity of the accused. Judge O'Neill
said the evidence was that she had not co-operated and had offered a number of identities to the gardai. He said that if she wanted to relieve her distress she should co-operate. He remanded her in custody to appear at Galway District Court on June 25.
June 12, 2003
Nigerian at lap-dancing club 'feared for her life'
Irish Times
According to this article:
Ese Osahon (20), a Nigerian woman in custody since her arrest at Angels, a Galway lap-dancing club said she feared for her life if she co-operated with a Garda investigation.
Gardai are still attempting to establish her true identity.
She is charged with failing to produce a valid passport or identity papers, contrary to Section 6 of the Aliens Act 1935 as amended by the Immigration Act of 1999. She appeared before Galway District
Court on June 11. Her solicitor, Ms Joan O'Brien, said her client had left Nigeria because she was in fear of her life.
Insp Noel Kelly objected to a bail application on the grounds that gardai had been unable to properly establish the identity of the accused. He said she had failed to co-operate in any way.
Garda Liam Creaven told Judge John O'Neill that she had given three different names since her arrest. The woman told gardai she arrived in Ireland on a direct flight from Lagos, but no such flight existed. She also said that she came into Ireland on a passport held by a man but she would not reveal his identity.
Ms O'Brien said "My client is a victim of circumstances and simply a pawn in a much bigger picture. Her passport had been taken from her by somebody working in this business.
'Judge O'Neill said if the defendant wanted to relieve her distress at being held in custody, she should co-operate with the Garda. He remanded her to appear at Galway District Court on June 25th.
June 13, 2003
MSP in move to stop sex slaves invasion
Scottish Daily Record
According to this article:
It is feared that sex slave gangs could move to Scotland after the Operation Quest crackdown in Ireland. More than 100 people were arrested in the operation which targeted lap-dancing clubs. More than 70 of the women were illegal immigrants believed to have been taken to Ireland by organised gangs.
Police seized around pounds 70,000 and a quantity of cannabis and cocaine in the raids.
MSP Sandra White has tabled a motion in Parliament calling on the Executive to investigate the operation of lap- dancing clubs in Scotland. She said " I have been concerned about the operation of these type of clubs for some
time. "My real fear is that if these gangs are being chased out of Ireland, they could easily attempt to move their operations to Scotland. "I have been told that they are already trying to slip over the border into Northern Ireland.
"My main concern is that this trafficking will result in the women caught up in it being used as sex slaves. "The experience in Ireland shows how easily this can happen and I think we have to tighten things up. "We have to be seriously concerned for the women caught up in this kind of thing - many of whom cannot speak English and are trapped in this kind of racket."
June 14, 2003
Boss: Sex is not for sale here
Mirror
Abstract to follow.
June 15, 2003
Ulster terror gangs link up with mafia
Loyalists and republicans in global counterfeit scams
Tony Thompson, crime correspondent
The Observer
According to this article:
Loyalist and republican terror gangs have linked up with the likes of the Russian and Italian mafia and the Chinese triads and are
running a sophisticated, multi-million pound counterfeiting and smuggling operation. Up to 100 criminal gangs are operating in Ulster and at least two-thirds are linked to the Provisional IRA, the Ulster Defence Association and other paramilitary organisations.
Counterfeit goods are believed to have earned the gangs more than £150m last year. Law enforcement agencies in Northern Ireland believe they stop only 5 per cent of the total market. The most popular goods include clothes, computer games, DVDs, CDs and videos.' Counterfeit currency printed in Northern Ireland has been discovered all over the world. In addition to copies of sterling - complete with watermarks and foil strips that only experts can tell from the real thing - the gangs are also producing dollars and euros. Counterfeit cigarettes - made in factories in the Far East with only a minimal amount of tobacco and harmful fillers. Fake vodka made from watered-down industrial alcohol has also been found. Illicit fuel is smuggled across the border or 'laundered' from tax-free agricultural stocks. Customs officials estimate two-thirds of filling stations in the province sell some illicit fuel.
The gangs have become involved in prostitution, with hundreds of women being brought in from eastern Europe on the promise of jobs and then being forced to work in the sex industry.
Britain's first conference on organised crime was hosted last week in Belfast. Security Minister Jane Kennedy said: 'Paramilitary groups are involved in about two-thirds of the crime groups that have been identified. It is completely unacceptable that those who were once seen as defenders of their communities have increasingly turned to organised crime, selfishly maintaining an affluent lifestyle at the expense of those who work hard to earn their living.'
Money which previously went towards the purchase of weapons is now being spent on fancy houses and flashy cars for the gang leaders. This has led to tensions in the community and resulted in turf wars as rival gangs battle for supremacy.
Professor Ronald Goldstock, a former head of the New York Organised Crime Task Force and now a government adviser on crime in Northern Ireland said the paramilitary gangs are able to take advantage of a pre-existing financial and organisational structure. He said 'The groups start off with a bad reputation and there's enormous value in that. They are known and feared. In some ways communities have been made to believe they have to rely on them for protection. Witness protection proved effective against the mafia in New York, but doesn't work so well here. Bosses of the gangs often live on the same estates that they prey on, so many victims feel there is no escape.' Extortion remains the cornerstone of fundraising, with 65 per cent of victims asking the police to take no action.
Thompson, Tony. "Ulster terror gangs link up with mafia"
The Observer June 15, 2003.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/
Story/0,2763,977879,00.html
June 17, 2003
Pimp was a Provo
Former Provo leader had vice links
Dublin Daily
John Mooney
Lapdancing: Operation Quest is biggest security operation ever
"The former leader of the Provisional IRA in Dublin has been linked to vice and prostitution by Operation Quest, the major garda inquiry into lapdancing. The disclosure is deeply embarrassing for Sinn Fein. The IRA leader was central to Sinn Fein success in the last general election. He campaigned in working-class estates with Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. He also represented the IRA Dublin Brigade in the Peace Process negotiations.
Gardai believe the suspect is centrally involved in the running of a city-centre lapdancing club. He has traded on his republican connections to earn thousands of euros from vice.
The IRA dismissed the man for stealing funds and engaging in criminality in November. He was kidnapped by IRA activists from Armagh and taken to an unknown location where he was interrogated. He admitted to organising a series of hijackings and robberies in the city’s docklands for personal gain. An accomplice from Tallaght was also kidnapped but he was shot through the legs and dumped on a roadside in Armagh. Sinn Fein has distanced itself from the former republican. “He has nothing go to do with the party any more. He is no longer a member and is certainly nothing to do with our election team,” said a source. The IRA holds the man –who now works as a taxi-driver in the city – in contempt.
“He was up to no good for years and nothing was done about him. He was consorting with drug dealers and criminals. He was nothing more than a jumped-up thief, yet he was entertained by Adams and the rest of them,” said one IRA source. “He even conducted internal investigations for the IRA. He fooled them all,” added the source.
Operation Quest is one of the largest garda security operations in the history of the State. The investigation team had intelligence indicating the involvement of republicans in vice, but had not anticipated the involvement of PIRA republicans in vice. Operation Quest, headed by Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty, has turned into the biggest criminal investigation in modern times. The Criminal Assets Bureau is trawling through the republican’s accounts and is likely to tax him for profiteering from crime."
June 17, 2003
Lapland
Photographer Juliana Beasley documents the new art of lap-dancing.
Elisabeth Eaves
Elisabeth Eaves surveys the history of the lap dance, reviewing Lapdancer (powerHouse Books), by Juliana Beasley. Click
here to see a slide show. (Warning: The slide show contains explicit images and text.) Abstract to follow.
June 20, 2003
Lap dancer's assault ordeal
Wakefield Today
A lap dancer was subjected to a frightening attack by her Jekyll and Hyde lover after he became jealous of her job, a court heard.
Abstract to follow.
June 17, 2003
Lapdancing clubs in sex slave probe
The Mirror
Mark Smith
Abstract to follow.
June 17, 2003
Lapdancing clubs face licensing crackdown
Irish Examiner
Cormac O’Keeffe
Abstract to follow.
June 21, 2003
Bring back the fig leaf and reclaim our decency
Limerick Leader
Patricia Feehily
Opinion
Abstract to follow.
June 22, 2003
Girls lured into 'happy corner' by easy money
Sunday Independent (Ireland)
Suzanne Morgan
Abstract to follow.
June 23, 2003
DIRTY OLD TOWN
Irish Mirror
Declan Fahy
Source: World Reporter
EXCLUSIVE Dublin closing on Amsterdam as the prostitution capital of Europe
('I go to see my usual Brazil girl. It costs EUR400. She lives in a really posh apartment' 'You can buy any sort of sex. Forty-odd escort agencies advertise)
Abstract to follow.
June 23, 2003 C
Confronting the sex industry
Irish Times
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Abstract to follow.
June 24, 2003
Cheeky Girls
City lapdancers get down to work with student dance visas
Dublin Daily
John Mooney
Abstract to follow.
June 25, 2003
Gardai Target 'Student' Dancers
(Crackdown on lap clubs)
Mirror
Joanne McElgunn
Abstract to follow.
June 27, 2003
Lapdancing club manager on tax charges
RTE A 55-year-old woman, who was arrested yesterday as part of an ongoing investigation into the lapdancing industry, has appeared at Dublin District Court charged with tax offences.
Mary Cullen was charged with failure to make tax returns for the year 2000 and 2001.
Abstract to follow.
June 27, 2003
Raunchy dance club row resumes
Protesters object to licence
Belfast Telegraph
Mary Fitzgerald
Abstract to follow.
June 27, 2003
Woman held and €500,000 seized in lap-dance raid
Irish Independent
Tom Brady
Abstract to follow.
June 27, 2003
City Lapdance Boss Snared with 750,000
Late Raid: Gardai swoop on Drumcondra home of 55-year-old Dublin woman
Irish Independent
John Mooney reports Special Investigations Editor
Tom Brady Security Editor
The manageress of a Dublin lapdancing club was this morning charged with tax offences at the Dublin District Court.
Mary Cullen was found with 500,000 in cash and 250,000 in bank drafts at her apartment in Drumcondra. She was taken to Store Street Station for questioning. The money was concealed in a briefcase, handbag and suitcase. It took officers over 10 hours to count the money. The anti-vice squad arrested her in a late night swoop.
Abstract to follow.
June 27, 2003
Court Takes Away Lapdance Boss's Passport
icDerry
The manageress of a lapdancing club was ordered to surrender her passport after being accused of not filing tax returns.
Mary Cullen, 55, transferred £95,000 (140,000 euro) to a bank account in Spain where she planned to set up a new business, a court heard. She was arrested at her south Dublin flat yesterday morning as part of a major investigation into lapdancing clubs in Ireland.
Abstract to follow.
June 27, 2003
Woman's arrest linked to club raids
Irish Times Abstract to follow.
June 27, 2003
Lapdance boss hit with charge over tax
Business World
The manager of a Dublin lapdancing club is to appear in Dublin court today charged with tax offences, according to reports this morning.
The 55-year-old woman is said to have been found with three quarters of a million euro and may have been preparing to leave the country. She has been arrested by gardai as part of their Operation Quest investigation into links between the lap dancing business and crime.
June 27, 2003
Lapdancing club manager on tax charges
RTE
A 55-year-old woman, who was arrested yesterday as part of an ongoing investigation into the lapdancing industry, has appeared at Dublin District Court charged with tax offences.
Mary Cullen was charged with failure to make tax returns for the year 2000 and 2001.
Abstract to follow.
June 28, 2003
Lap-dancing club manageress gets €100,000 bail on tax charges
Irish Times
The manageress of a Dublin lap-dancing club, Strings, was granted bail of €100,000 when she appeared in court yesterday charged with failing to make tax returns.
Ms Mary Cullen (55), Gracepark Hall, Gracepark Road, Drumcondra, faced two charges of failing to make returns in the prescribed manner contrary to Section 1078 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997. Abstract to follow.
June 29, 2003
Burglary revealed as secret raid by gardai
Sunday Independent
Jimmy Guerin
Abstract to follow.
June 29, 2003
Phoenix Nights
Business Post
Abstract to follow.
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