A British couple could lose custody of four young children and spend years in a Venezuelan jail after allegedly trying to smuggle three suitcases full of cocaine to Britain.
Paul and Laura Makin from Birkenhead, northwest England, were arrested at the airport of Isla Margarita, a resort island off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, after allegedly packing 23.7kg of the drug worth an estimated US$1.7 million into their luggage.
Their children, two-year-old twins and a boy and girl aged seven and eight, have been taken into care by Venezuelan social services and are expected to return to Britain later this week.
Narcotics officials from the national guard at Santiago Marino airport in Porlamar, Margarita’s capital, intercepted the family on Monday as they prepared to board a charter flight to London-Gatwick airport. The six had been on a package holiday with tour firm First Choice.
After a brief court hearing the couple were remanded in custody on suspicion of drug trafficking. They are expected to reappear in court in several weeks to be formally charged.
Merseyside police said on Thursday that Paul Makin, 31, had been due to attend Liverpool crown court on Feb. 9 on charges of affray and possession of an offensive weapon. When he did not attend court a judge issued a warrant for his arrest. It is alleged he threatened a man with a machete last September.
The couple are the parents of two-year-old twins. Laura, 31, has children aged seven and eight from a previous relationship. The father of the two is understood to be among relatives who have flown to Margarita to repatriate all four children.
Speaking from her home in Moreton, Merseyside, Paul Makin’s mother, Chris, said: “I am in the dark. I am just interested in getting the children back in the country. The press seem to know a damn sight more than me. The [UK’s] Foreign Office are not speaking to me and the police are not speaking to me either. Regarding Paul and Laura, I know nothing about them. I’m really close to the kids — they spend weekends at my house.”
His grandmother Margaret added: “I am just so shocked and this has shattered me. I knew he was going on holiday, but the first I heard about this was when a relative rang this morning. I couldn’t believe it. I have no idea what’s going on and if it is a mistake.”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS