Morocco's militant hackers - Afrik-news.com : Africa news, Maghreb news - The african daily newspaper

Morocco's militant hackers - Afrik-news.com : Africa news, Maghreb news - The african daily newspaper: "They are militant hackers who have attacked sites in Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Israel... Their screen messages have been likened to messages on banners hoisted by demonstrators in protest or support of political, social or even religious ideologies. The group is very active in Morocco, from where they have often hacked into sensitive security systems.
Sitting behind their computer screens, they meticulously encode and decode IT security systems in search of the slightest miscalculation in order to launch an attack. Widely known as hackers in Morocco, they have gone haywire and are relentless in their efforts to penetrate into both local and foreign sites. Egypt, Kuwait and Israel have all fallen victim to their devices.
But these are not some casual credit card thieves. They fall into a new category of activists known as 'hacktivists'. And while the oil that keeps the wheels of this underground movement rolling is the Internet, it is their ideological beliefs that keep their lamps alight. 'It is the oldest form of hacking. Many developing countries resort to this mode of protest,' says Ali El Azzouzi, a Moroccan IT security expert. In recent years, Morocco, like many other countries, has seen a surge in hacking."

Ocean View's "one-stop shop" property service ?

Football great John Barnes, tennis legend Pat Cash, cricket's Darren Gough and rugby's Martin Corry and Martin Offiah are just some of the high profile figures who were promised luxury apartments if their names could be used to promote overseas developments that many fear will never be built.The promises were made by a Spanish company, which was closely involved with Sean Woodhall, a 43-year-old fraudster who disappeared after a light aircraft carrying him and other debt-ridden businessmen crashed in a Brazilian forest in May.The sportsmen have been offered holiday homes at the proposed "five-star" resort in Tafedna Bay, Morocco, which does not have planning permission, where not a spade has been turned and yet on which sales agents have already been taking cash from British customers.Former England rugby captain Corry this week cancelled his involvement in the project after police warned him about the potential fraud."He no longer wants anything to do with it," his spokesman said. Pat Cash is also reconsidering his contract. In another closely related suspected scam, a group of well-known footballers, including one ex-England international, are preparing to sue Midlands-based Ocean View Properties, which the as having left hundreds of customers millions out of pocket.The company is also believed to have conned two serving police officers. Ocean View, which has debts of more than £100million, this week took down its website "for maintenance". Both police and Government fraud agencies are now investigating the company and a multimillion-pound black hole. The suspected swindles involve four central characters and their cross-border labyrinth of companies, which lured people to invest in "off-plan" holiday-homes in Spain, Morocco and the Dominican Republic.
Buy-to-let millionaire Colin Thomas is the owner of Ocean View Properties; Woodhall, whose body has never been recovered, was Mr Thomas's dealmaker in Spain; Adam Sargent was Mr Thomas's expert salesman in the sports world; and Spaniard Ricardo Miranda was the supposed developer in all three countries.Mr Thomas formed Ocean View in 2001, the year that Woodhall moved to Spain after being convicted for a franchise fraud in Birmingham.Woodhall found sites in the Costa del Sol, while in Britain Mr Thomas created a network of franchise agents to sell off-plan apartments.
These agents were part of Ocean View's "one-stop shop" property service, which allowed it to control cashflows and direct customers to its own recommended mortgage brokers, travel agents and Spanish conveyancing lawyers-a practice criticised by the buy-to-let industry's own trade body.
Among these agents was Mr Sargent, a financial adviser to star footballers. He helped Ocean View sponsor Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, and Leicester City.
They told cash rich footballers there were guaranteed rental yields and high capital profits abroad. Among the many footballers to invest in discount deals were Villa's Gareth Barry, Newcastle United's Alan Smith and Shola Ameobi, and ex-Liverpool midfielder Steve Staunton.In return they allowed their names to be used on promotional material. Similar deals were also struck with England cricketers Duggie Brown and Paul Nixon, who still advertise their involvement with Ocean View on the Professional Cricketers' Association website.Customers would exchange contracts with a Spanish developer and hand over typical deposits of £70,000 to Ocean View in Britain.Mr Thomas said he would then transfer the bulk of the deposit to the developer. Many of the properties were built, but some were sub-standard, according to customers. However, cracks surfaced when the Costa del Sol property market collapsed amid a widespread corruption scandal in 2006. It then emerged that Ocean View and Mr Miranda's development company, Sungolf, had been taking deposits for the proposed Estepona Beach and Country Club near Malaga, a site that did not have planning permission and which has yet to be built.That was not allowed under Spanish law, legal sources have said.They have also said that Ocean View's practice of charging customers Spanish VAT on the full purchase price rather than on just the initial deposit was also illegal.Customers, many of them preparing legal cases, are now claiming they were deliberately duped. Last week, Ocean View's owner Colin Thomas said because Sungolf had all the cash, it would be starting a refund scheme in February.However, Mr Miranda's spokeswoman denied that was the case, claiming they had "proof" the money had already been "returned" to Ocean View.Meanwhile, Ocean View has also been telling unhappy customers they can transfer their contracts to another of Mr Miranda's developments-Morocco's Tafedna Bay, a site where Mr Sargent has been touting for business through his new company, Zenith Overseas Investments.The links between the businessmen can also be traced to Mr Miranda's Punta Perla development in the Dominican Republic, an empty site where Newcastle's Alan Smith has also invested.Last week, Ocean View's Mr Thomas said he had no involvement there, but the Sunday Express has obtained a sales document, which states that cheques for deposits in Punta Perla should be sent to his company in Staffordshire.Mr Thomas also said last week that he had severed relations with conman Woodhall in 2004. However, Ocean View was acting as agents for Woodhall's now-defunct Punta Perla Caribbean company from late 2005. Two weeks ago Woodhall's other company, Worldwide Destinations, was expelled from the industry's trade body, the Association of International Property Professionals, for allegedly selling non-existent mortgages in Egypt.Mr Thomas, Mr Sargent, and Mr Miranda have all strongly denied any wrongdoing. Mr Sargent said: "I took on an Ocean View franchise for five years and recommended it as a pension replacement and pension supplement scheme to my clients."The idea was to get people to buy properties, then get them built, and put them into a rental programme with its own travel arm."Generally, they've done that to a degree. The travel arm wasn't as successful as everybody had hoped, but we've managed to put people into a long term rental contract and I've been a lot more hands on than most in the sense that I've tried to manage the clients expectations."

Highly contagious sheep and goat plague has hit Morocco and could spread to southern Europe.

Highly contagious sheep and goat plague has hit Morocco and could spread to southern Europe.Agency spokeswoman Teresa Buerkle says the outbreak has reached 29 Moroccan provinces and has largely affected sheep.She says the viral disease is known by its French name peste des petits ruminants (small ruminants' plague), or PPR.The disease is closely related to cattle plague and is transmitted to goats, sheep and wild small ruminants through close contact between animals.Buerkle says it poses no risk to human health.She told a UN briefing Tuesday that there is a concern PPR could reach southern Europe because of the close trade Morocco has with countries including Spain.

James Douglas Willson retired Des Plaines pilot convicted of international drug trafficking in Morocco

James Douglas Willson, 67, suffers from diabetes and kidney failure and has lost 35 pounds, said his daughter, Marilyn Brief.
A retired Des Plaines pilot convicted of international drug trafficking in Morocco isn't getting adequate medical care and may not survive his 7-year prison sentence, a family member says."My dad's body is shutting down," Brief said. "He's dying."
Imprisoned since early May, Willson was convicted after a Cessna 337 he reportedly was flying was seized by Moroccan police on a rural road, according to a statement from the Moroccan news agency.Willson piloted the twin-engine plane and landed it in Morocco to load drugs, according to the statement, which said two Moroccans also received prison sentences. Brief and Mouafik Anis, Willson's Moroccan attorney, said that Willson was a passenger on the plane, which took off in Spain but was forced to make an emergency landing in Morocco.A friend of Willson's recently delivered the plane to Spain and asked him to take a training flight with the pilot to make sure he could use the equipment, Brief said.
After the emergency landing, Willson was arrested, although no drugs were found on him or in the plane, Anis said during a telephone interview from Morocco."How can we charge someone with trafficking drugs when we did not find any drugs?" Anis said. "You must find drugs."Willson was sentenced June 16. The case is in the appeals process, Anis said.Willson is at a disadvantage in the Moroccan court system, according to Anis, who said he isn't always given advance notice of court dates. It is up to him, he said, to provide translations for his client.
The U.S. Embassy in Morocco referred all questions to U.S. State Department officials in Washington, D.C.Steve Royster, a State Department spokesman, said he could not say whether the embassy was involved in ensuring a translator was present at Willson's court proceedings. But he said at least one hearing was postponed because a translator was not available.Royster said the consular office in Morocco made sure Willson's U.S. health records were sent to the prison doctor.
"Whenever an American is detained overseas, we have a role to make sure he's getting access to the legal system and conditions that are humane," he said.Representatives have visited Willson twice and spoken to him on the phone several times.The consular staff also speaks to Willson's attorney almost daily and the prison doctor regularly, he said.The consular staff reported that Willson is about to be transferred to a larger prison with a better medical facility. Embassy officials also worked with Willson's attorney to make sure the family could visit him in prison in June.
"We're continuing to monitor the case," Royster said.
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said he has talked with Brief and helped her get in touch with government officials to assist her father.
"I just can't imagine what [she] is going through," he said.
Willson is housed in a facility without a roof or air conditioning, Brief said.
During his career, Willson flew planes for Ryan's Aviation and Atlas Air cargo carrier out of O'Hare International Airport, she said.
The Chicago native also worked as a pilot for Midway Airlines, a commercial airline that was based at Midway Airport.
"My dad has only been an upright citizen—an ordinary, working man," Brief said. "It's like they think my father is disposable, and he's not!"

British girl arrested for drug trafficking in Morocco

British girl was arrested on Wednesday while trying to sail from the Tangiers Port (northern Morocco) for Algésiras (southern Spain) with 10 kg of chira (cannabis resine).The drug was found in a cache set up in the front of a Spanish-registered four wheel drive vehicle, a Moroccan security source said without disclosing the identity of the British national.Some 70% of the processed kif (cannabis) in Europe comes from Morocco.

Sniper Films Morrocan Police Corruption

The Sniper chose the anonymity of the Internet to expose his evidence for fear of reprisals by local authorities.The independent Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) criticised police for hunting him, saying that an unspecified number of youths from Sniper's home village, Tarjist, were arrested by police seeking his identity and whereabouts.
To his surprise, the video has drawn tens of thousands of viewers around the world and made him a hero among downtrodden Moroccans tired of paying bribes to civil servants to avoid a fine or to obtain official papers, health care and justice.
"Take up your cameras, dear Moroccans," said one commentator on YouTube who identified himself as Youyoubes. "Such scenes you will find on any street corner. Unfortunately there is not a sniper in every house."