Fugitive Paul James Bennett destroyed his passport to avoid deportation

A notorious Kiwi fugitive awaiting deportation from Australia once destroyed his passport to thwart attempts to have him sent home from South Africa.

Paul James Bennett and his partner Simone Wright are wanted on several charges in New Zealand.

The incident involving Paul James Bennett unfolded in 1991 and formed part of a landmark case where police in South Africa and the United Kingdom were accused of colluding to arrest him.

Bennett, 53, and his long-term partner, Simone Wright, 39, are among New Zealand's most wanted and have eluded authorities here for many years.

Bennett, who was born in Waikato, was arrested in Australia last year and is being held at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre awaiting deportation. It is not the first time a country has wanted to get rid of him. A court judgment reveals South African authorities tried to deport Bennett in 1991 because he was an illegal immigrant.

There were no direct routes to New Zealand at the time so they tried to send him home via Taiwan. During the flight Bennett destroyed his passport and he was sent back to South Africa, the judgment says.

South African authorities then tried to deport Bennett again, but via London — apparently because the Taiwan route was no longer available.

He was arrested by a detective when he arrived at Heathrow Airport, but was released when a court ruled authorities had colluded to have Bennett brought to the United Kingdom in what is regarded as a landmark case, the judgment says. "It is ironic that such a conspicuous lawbreaker should have given his name to the leading authority on the court's power to ensure that executive action is exercised responsibly."

According to the judgment, Bennett also challenged a warrant that was granted for his arrest on two fraud charges in Scotland, but failed. He skipped bail and left the United Kingdom before he could stand trial.

Bennett went to Australia, where he was again arrested and charged with six counts of fraud. However, he managed to elude authorities and disappeared. Bennett and Wright are wanted in New Zealand on fraud and sex charges dating back to 1998.

The couple were arrested aboard a 14-metre yacht in Sydney in February last year.They had sailed from New Zealand on the cruising cutter, which was stolen from the Bay of Islands.Bennett was taken into custody on historic charges. Wright, an Australian citizen, was freed by police because there were no outstanding warrants for her arrest.

Earlier this month in a Sydney court, Bennett admitted forging payslips stating he earned $120,000 a year as Hollywood actor Russell Crowe's helicopter pilot. Bennett, who piloted Crowe only a few times and was never the actor's full-time employee, was arrested and charged in 2001, but vanished while on bail later that year.

After he was sentenced to a jail term that was similar to the time he had been held in custody, Bennett was taken to the immigration detention centre where he is awaiting deportation. New Zealand police said they were ready for his arrival, although it was unclear when that would be.

They were working through a process to have Wright extradited.

Police previously said Bennett and Wright used fake passports and different aliases to avoid arrest in New Zealand. A Stuff investigation found police had come face to face with the couple several times while they were on the run.

On one occasion, Bennett was pulled over for a roadside breath-test in Tauranga but slipped through undetected, a source said.

Thailand revokes passport of fugitive Red Bull heir

Travel document is cancelled for Vorayuth Yoovidhya, who fled before arrest warrant was issued for killing policeman.

Vorayuth Yoovidhya faces up to 10 years in prison [File: Matt Dunham/AP]

Thailand has revoked the passport of the fugitive heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortunes after he left the kingdom and ducked an arrest warrant over a deadly 2012 hit-and-run.

The travel document of Vorayuth Yoovidhya, known as Boss, was cancelled on "Friday afternoon", Busadee Santipitaks, spokeswoman for Thailand's foreign ministry, told the AFP news agency.

The ministry said Vorayuth will no longer be able to enter other countries on that passport, while his immigration status in whatever country he is in is now invalid. It also said he was now subject to penalties under his host country's laws.

Vorayuth fled to Singapore on his private jet days before a warrant was issued belatedly for his arrest last week, nearly five years after he allegedly drove off after knocking down and killing a policeman with his Ferrari in the centre of the capital, Bangkok.

The 32-year-old billionaire has become an emblem for the impunity enjoyed by the rich and connected in Thailand. Several charges against Vorayuth have expired during the lapse between the car crash and his arrest warrant, a period that saw the heir continue to lead a lavish, jet-setting lifestyle with frequent stops in the kingdom.

But he still faces up to 10 years in prison for reckless driving that resulted in death, an offence that will be valid until 2027. Vorayuth's billionaire clan has inherited the fortune built up by his grandfather Chaleo Yoovidhya, who cofounded the Red Bull brand with Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz in the 1980s.

Chaleo passed away in March 2012, leaving his family some $22bn and control of more than 50 percent of the energy drink empire, according to Bloomberg media network.

Spain remains global crime hub and haven for fugitives

Drugs, guns, explosives dominate scene in which ‘new life can be invented with ease

Members of the Spanish Special Group Against Organised Crime engaged in a drugs investigation aboard a catamaran in the harbour of La Coruna

Spain has long been characterised as a refuge for criminals fleeing the law enforcement agencies of their own countries, a place where fugitives could relax in the sun, safe in the knowledge that the local authorities would not bother them.

However, while more recent action by both foreign and national police has begun eroding that image, Spain continues to be both a haven for fugitives and a major hub of international crime. About 500 criminal groups were dismantled in 2013, according to the interior ministry; more than 80 per cent of them had foreign members.

The country’s geographical position has been key in this respect. Relatively isolated from mainland Europe, Spain and its islands have 8,000km of coastline. The country borders Gibraltar and Andorra, both traditionally considered tax havens.

To the south, just 15km away at it closest point, is north Africa, with two Spanish enclaves on African soil, Ceuta and Melilla. Ricardo Magaz, a professor of criminal phenomenology at Uned-IUGM university, points to the rural region of Galicia, on Spain’s northwestern coast, as a magnet for Latin American drug traffickers.

“A large amount of drugs is shipped into that area by the cartels – they bring in hashish, but particularly cocaine to that zone,” he says. North Africa, he says, is another big entry point for drugs into Spain, although big ports such as Barcelona, Valencia and Málaga, are also frequently exploited.

Drugs dominate Spain’s international crime scene, with 400 tonnes of cocaine and hashish being seized last year alone.

Weapons and explosives though are also a fixture on the country’s black market, while people-trafficking has boomed in recent years, as increasing numbers of migrants from the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa attempt to use Spain as an entry point into Europe.Recently, there has been a spate of “express kidnappings” and even fake kidnappings (when money is extorted by criminals who pretend to have abducted a family member of the victims), both practices imported from Latin America.

Spain’s status as the world’s third most popular tourist destination – with 60 million annual visitors – adds to its attraction for foreign criminals.

“The fact that tourism is the country’s main industry allows fugitives to blend in and make themselves invisible,” says Magaz, who says Spain harbours the highest number of foreign fugitives in Europe.

Costa del Crime

The southern coast, dubbed the “Costa del Crime”, has long been associated with British and Irish ex-pats evading the law. However, the Costa del Sol, and indeed the rest of Spain, also host sizeable criminal communities from other parts, particularly Latin America, Russia and eastern Europe.

In the past, a lack of extradition agreements and the knowledge that their capture was not a priority for the Spanish authorities added to the sunshine, food and nightlife as draws for criminals seeking either a new base for operations or a place to hide out and enjoy retirement.

“There was a feeling in the past that the Spanish were not too bothered if, say, British criminals were fighting amongst themselves,” says Steve Reynolds, head of the international department at the UK’s National Crime Agency, which pursues British and Irish criminals abroad.

“But they certainly don’t take that stance now – it’s zero tolerance now.”

Reynolds points to the European arrest warrant, introduced in 2004, as key to clamping down on Spain’s foreign criminal element. He also highlights the development of “excellent co-operation” between British, Irish and Spanish law enforcement.

Since 2006, the National Crime Agency has tracked down a large number of British and Irish fugitives via Operation Captura, which appeals to holidaymakers and ex-pats in Spain for information about wanted individuals.

One campaign last summer, in which vans drove around the Costa del Sol with large photographs of fugitives on them, led to four arrests.Magaz says that the local authorities have also improved their own capabilities.

“Years ago, the Spanish police specialised in combating terrorism due to the existence of the [Basque] terrorist organisation Eta, ” he says. “Now, due to necessity, they have had to specialise in tracking down the fugitive criminals who come to Spain, whether it be to lie low or to carry out criminal activities here.”

Legal advice

Gary Newsham of Lawbird, a company based on the Costa del Sol which offers legal advice to foreigners, says the shift is noticeable. “The attractions in the past were that criminals weren’t able to be extradited, the climate was good – but things are changing,” he says.

In recent years, for example, the introduction of a number plate recognition system in Spain means police can instantly find out if the foreign vehicle they have pulled over has any legal glitches.

Meanwhile, Spain’s anti-terrorism department and the unit that fights organised crime have recently been merged, an acknowledgment that jihadist activity is frequently financed by crime, as was the case with the 2004 train bombings in Madrid, which killed 191 people.

With the increased pressure, Reynolds of the National Crime Agency says many of the Spain-based criminals tend to keep a low profile and often are involved in legitimate businesses, such as bars and nightclubs. The more prudent ones, he adds, find themselves confined to the insides of their luxury villas, due to fear of arrest.

However, as Berta González de Vega, a journalist for El Mundo newspaper who lives on the Costa del Sol, says, the attractions remain for those seeking to leave their past behind. “This place is the most fascinating social laboratory,” she says.

“I’m living among legitimate millionaires and drug-traffickers, but nobody here asks you anything – what your job is, anything like that.“ It’s very easy to invent a life for yourself here.”

How police tracked down one of Quebec's most wanted fugitives

As John Boulachanis piloted his small Cessna airplane in for a landing at an airport in southern Florida five years ago, he had no idea that when his wheels touched the ground, the massive lie he was living would come to an end. 

The Florida home where John Boulachanis was finally found in 2011. He had been a fugitive for years, wanted in connection with the killing of Robert Tanguay.

It was June 16, 2011, and waiting on the runway at North Perry Airport in Penbroke Pines, 35 kilometres north of Miami, were members of the U.S. Marshals Service eager to put a long search to an end. With nowhere left to run, Boulachanis would finally have to face allegations of killing 32-year-old Robert Tanguay in Rigaud, back in 1997.

Boulachanis’s first-degree murder trial began in October of this year. The jury began deliberating on Tuesday afternoon.

Boulachanis had managed to avoid capture by creating a series of fake identities. When police searched the apartment on a street lined with small palm trees in Hallandale Beach, Fla., where Boulachanis had been living with an Ontario woman named Amanda Jones, they uncovered a small workshop capable of producing fake identification and credit cards. 

ohn Boulachanis in a 2006 photo.SÛRETÉ DU QUÉBEC

A warrant for Boulachanis’s arrest for Tanguay’s murder was issued in 2001, shortly after Tanguay’s remains were found buried in a sandpit. On June 15, 2006, the Sûreté du Québec included Boulachanis as one of the most wanted men in the province when it launched a website listing Quebec’s top 10 fugitives. According to court records, by the time the website was launched, Boulachanis had already spent several months in Greece, around 1999, and had moved back to Canada where he lived in Southampton, Ont., for years under the uncreative alias John Smith. 

Court documents detail how Boulachanis lived with Jones for at least a few years before she disappeared in November 2009, following a couple of arguments with her father where police in Ontario were called in to intervene.

Boulachanis came very close to being caught that year, after putting out a distress call when the boat he and Jones were using off the shore of New Jersey had trouble. The U.S. Coast Guard towed it to land, and when the couple was asked for identification, Jones pulled out a Florida driver’s license identifying her as Diana Maiolo — this was her real name at the time; she had it legally changed in 2010. Boulachanis said his name was John Russo, but pulled out a Florida driver’s license identifying him as Konstantinos Georakopoulos (the name of Greece’s prime minister in 1958). 

Amanda Jones was also known as Diana Maiolo.COURT FILES

The Coast Guard members did database searches on both of the names Boulachanis provided and came up empty. The couple was photographed and Boulachanis was told to report to a police station to be fingerprinted. When he failed to show up for the appointment, police in New Jersey returned to where the boat had been docked and found it abandoned.

The authorities in New Jersey compared the Coast Guard’s photo with photos of Canadian fugitives posted on an Interpol website. That was the moment they realized a man wanted for murder in Canada had slipped through their fingers. But the link to Jones eventually gave the SQ a starting point. 

That lead opened the door to Boulachanis’s secret life as John Smith in Southampton. Jones’s relatives told police that, after 2009, they believed she had moved to Florida. Her father said she only called him a few times after disappearing and refused to say where she was. It appears that an extensive search of her financial records is what helped the U.S. Marshals Service track down Boulachanis in Florida.

A few years after Boulachanis was returned to Canada in 2011, the SQ learned he had spent several months on the lam in Greece in 1999, after having absconded from a heroin trafficking case while he was out on bail. Elias Aivaliotis, a man who used to date Boulachanis’s sister, said he met Boulachanis in Greece in 1999 and that he was involved with a Greek woman named Georgia Marinou. The following year, Aivaliotis was informed that Boulachanis had returned to Canada and was living in Toronto with Marinou.

According to Aivalotis, Boulachanis wanted to remain in Canada as a fugitive and be able to live with Marinou even though she was in Canada on a temporary tourist visa. Aivalotis said Boulachanis’s sister and mother arranged for him to marry Marinou illegally “and that all he had to do was to show up at the wedding and sign wherever he was told to.” On Dec. 22, 2000, Aivaliotis was brought to a courthouse in Toronto where Boulachanis and Marinou married while Boulachanis’s mother and sister looked on. After the wedding, Aivaliotis told the SQ, he never saw Marinou or John Boulachanis again. 

Canada deports hundreds to China each year with no treatment guarantee

The Canadian government is deporting hundreds of people to China each year without receiving any assurances that they will not be tortured or otherwise mistreated, statistics provided to The Globe and Mail reveal.

Lai Changxing is led away in handcuffs from an immigration hearing in Vancouver on July 11, 2011. The alleged smuggler's deportation back to China appears imminent as Canadian authorities recently placed him in custody. (Simon Hayter For The Globe and Mail)

Canada and China do not have a formal extradition treaty, and the Trudeau government has signalled that it may not complete such a deal out of concern about abuses in the Chinese justice system.

The lack of such a deal has not, however, stopped Canada from sending people back to China. The Canada Border Services Agency has used deportation, expelling 1,386 people to China over the past three years, according to agency statistics.

It’s a process that lawyers, academics and former diplomats say offers too few protections against the mistreatment deportees might endure. It also places Canada at risk of using evidence rooted in coerced confessions as Canadian authorities make decisions on ejecting people, particularly those sought by Beijing as part of its sweeping global Skynet operation to chase people it calls corrupt fugitives.

When people are returned to a country such as China, “there’s a need for very significant and enforceable assurances about the treatment they will receive and monitoring on the part of Canada – which Canada has not done,” said Sharryn Aiken, an expert on immigration and refugee law at Queen’s University.

“And in the absence of monitoring, people die in jail.”

The United Nations Committee against Torture has said that in China “the practice of torture and ill-treatment is still deeply entrenched in the criminal-justice system.”Canada’s own foreign service recently signed its name to a letter saying there are “credible claims of torture” against people under interrogation in China.

Before deporting someone, Canadian immigration officials can conduct what is called a “pre removal risk assessment,” designed to evaluate whether a person is in danger of mistreatment upon return. “Due diligence is important before undertaking any removal measures,” said Nicholas Dorion, a spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency. That assessment is “in place to ensure that a person will not be removed to a country where they could face death or torture.”

But risk assessments are done entirely in Canada and do not include demands that China guarantee it will abide by certain standards of conduct, or allow Canada to monitor deportees. “Many of us don’t feel it’s really an effective safeguard,” said Vancouver immigration lawyer Douglas Cannon. “Especially in the case of people who are being sent back to face prosecution in China.”

The potential for problems is serious enough that David Mulroney, the former Canadian ambassador to China, says Ottawa should refuse to co-operate with Beijing on most corruption cases, limiting joint law-enforcement work to public-safety cases involving people accused of murder or drug offences.

When China demands the return of people it calls corrupt, it is asking Canada “to send people back into a very murky and worrisome Chinese system,” he said. “You have to be very sure that you are not on the Canadian side enabling the Chinese to unfairly prosecute someone.”

Using Interpol

Ottawa does have the ability to demand assurances from countries such as China, as it did in the high-profile deportation of notorious smuggler Lai Changxing in 2011. Beijing pledged not to torture or execute the man it then considered its number one most-wanted. China also promised Canada extraordinary rights to monitor his treatment. Mr. Lai’s case, however, was a notable exception.