The St Lucia police Monday said they had detained six persons whom they believed had been involved in the ambush and rape of two British women while on an isolated beach on the island's north east coast.
Police said that the women, whose names were not given and in their early 30s, were on an environmental expedition which entailed camping at the location.
"We are pleased with speed at which the officers were able to apprehend the suspects in this case, and we are very thankful to members of the public who might have provided information leading to their arrests," Police Commissioner Vernon Francois said.
The men are due to appear in court later this week.
The incident is also being investigated by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture who explained that officers from the department would normally accompany students undertaking such assignments in these isolated locations.
British High Commissioner Karl Burrows described the attack on two women as a "dreadful crime" but has endorsed the island as a "friendly and welcoming country".
Burrows has advised British nationals visiting the island to exercise caution, as they would anywhere else, and pointed out that crime against UK tourists was not widespread.
"To put it into context, we have about 75,000 British to St Lucia each year and the vast majority of visits are incidents free," the high commissioner said.
"Our advice to British nationals is that common sense rules apply. There is crime as there is everywhere, but St Lucia is a friendly and welcoming country. Overall crime rates are low but common sense rules do apply. We advise against being in isolated areas after dark."
The British high commissioner expressed disappointment that news of the attack reached his office via the media and not through official channels.
"That's not the way things work and we are disappointed we were not contacted directly by the police, but hopefully we will be able to put procedures in place in order to remind the St. Lucia police of what sort of procedures should be followed," he told a local newspaper.

Sean Devalda, now 25, of Cheetham Hill, admitted conspiracy to rob and carrying a firearm with intent to commit an offence at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday.

He was part of a gang planning to rob a Group 4 cash-in-transit van in 2007.

He was arrested during a police raid on a house in Amsterdam.

Devalda was then extradited from the Netherlands under a European arrest warrant in February.

The robbery was abandoned when the group realised police were following them, a police spokesman said.

Officers discovered a balaclava, a pistol and seven rounds of ammunition dumped in a bin by the gang.

Two men were arrested but Devalda and another man fled.


Dutch police raided the house in Amsterdam
His three accomplices were jailed for conspiracy to rob and possession of a firearm at Leeds Crown Court in March 2008, police said.

Amsterdam Police worked with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) to arrest him four years later.

The operation involved a team of armed officers, a helicopter and police divers.

A firearm, £50,000 in cash and a number of expensive watches were recovered during the raid.

Det Insp Aaron Duggan, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "This case proved we will stop at nothing to bring criminals to justice."

Ch Supt Kevin Mulligan, of the Salford division, added: "We have been working hard to tackle organised crime in the city and make it a safer place for local residents.

"I hope the Salford community will be reassured that we are leaving no stone unturned in our continued efforts to track down fugitives on the run."

A wealthy gold dealer confessed he masterminded the murder of his estranged wife to a prison cellmate, a court heard.

Businessman James Fayed also allegedly plotted from behind bars to kill one of the men he is accused of paying to carry out the hit.

Prosecutors claim Fayed arranged the 2008 killing of his wife, Pamela, because he was embroiled in a costly divorce battle and feared she would give evidence against him in a federal probe into their international gold trading business.

Deputy Los Angeles District Attorney Eric Harmon said the case amounted to a love story, but one that involved 'boy meets gold' rather than 'boy meets girl.'

'It's that greed, that love of gold, that caused this man to have his wife murdered for financial gain,' he added.

Jurors at Los Angeles Superior Court heard excerpts of a tape secretly recorded by the inmate in which Fayed, 48, talked about his 'money-grabbing' wife.

'If she'd just kept her mouth shut,' he said.

Mr Harmon said the jailed businessman complained to the inmate that the hitmen passed up several better opportunities to kill his wife before choosing a crowded parking garage.


I DID kill Joanna Yeates: Shock as engineer Vincent Tabak admits to manslaughter of 25-year-old landscape architect
Mrs Fayed, 44, was attacked on July 28, 2008, on the third floor of a Los Angeles garage as she walked to her car after a meeting earlier that afternoon with her husband and their lawyers.

She was seeking $66,000 per month in support and attorney fees and was battling with her husband for control of their precious-metals business.


In court: Businessman Mr Fayed also allegedly plotted from behind bars to kill one of the men he is accused of paying to carry out the hit on his wife

She also demanded nearly $1million from Fayed, alleging that he had failed to give her access to the company's books.

The couple were supposed to be back in court the day after the murder. Mrs Fayed was getting into her car when she was stabbed 13 times by a hooded attacker.

The man fled in a red Suzuki truck that had been rented by the Fayeds' business, Goldfinger Inc., said prosecutors.

Police later found the victim's blood inside the SUV, even though it had been cleaned after the killing.

According to Mr Harmon, Fayed also discussed paying the cellmate to arrange the killings of the men he had used to carry out the attack on his wife.

Fayed could face the death penalty if he is convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Defence lawyer Mark Werksman claimed his client's cellmate, Shawn Smith, was a habitual liar who tried to trick Fayed into plotting the murder of at least one of the men who allegedly carried out his wife's killing.

'He's an innocent man wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit,' said Mr Werksman.

Prosecutors allege that Fayed paid Jose Moya, an employee at his Moorpark ranch, $25,000 to carry out the murder-for-hire.

Mr Harmon said Moya, a gang member, hired another gang member, Gabriel Marquez, to help - then Marquez, in turn, hired Steven Simmons, a member of the same gang, to stab Pamela Fayed.

The three are expected to be tried separately and have pleaded not guilty.

The Mexican Navy has said it has captured a suspected leader of the Zetas drug gang allegedly behind the mass killings of more than 100 people in northeastern Mexico.

Martin Omaar Estrada Luna, said to be the local leader of the gang, was captured on Saturday. He is accused of masterminding the murders of 145 people in Tamaulipas state near the US border.

Their remains were discovered in a mass grave earlier this month.

A navy statement said Estrada Luna, alias "El Kilo", is also the main suspect in the massacre of 72 central and south American migrants last August, also in the same township of San Fernando in Tamaulipas.

He was one of six people arrested in a navy operation on Saturday, the statement added.

A series of bus hijackings alerted authorities to the killings. Since April 1, officials have found about 20 mass graves in San Fernando alone.

The Zetas, a notorious gang formed in the 1990s by ex-military commandos, is now engaged in a fight to death with its former bosses.

Seven major drug gangs are operating in Mexico, and over 34,000 people have been killed since December 2006 in the raging wars for control over smuggling routes and government efforts to crack down on illegal activities.

Thursha Kamaleswaran was visiting her uncle’s convenience store in Stockwell, south London, with her brother, sister and their parents on Tuesday evening when three teenagers dressed in black scarves cycled past and opened fire, shooting her in the chest.
Thursha, who started school in September, remained in a critical condition in hospital last night but opened her eyes for the first time since the attack.
Roshan Selvakumar, the 35-year-old tenant of the flat above the shop who had dropped in to buy beer when he was shot in the face, was also in a critical but stable condition.
Detectives said that a teenager, believed to be one of the intended targets of the gang, had come forward to help police trace the attackers. The boy, said to be in his late teens, was one of two youths who ran into the shop to take cover, moments before two shots were fired. Yesterday it was reported that another boy aged around 16 had stopped at a nearby shop to boast that he was one of the targets.

organised crime squad has charged two men over the discovery of a clandestine drug laboratory at a motel in Perth's eastern suburbs.

Police say an investigation into two pharmacy burglaries led investigators to the men who were staying at a motel in Wattle Grove.

In the room, police allegedly found pseudoephedrine-based medications, a large quantity of cold and flu tablets and other drug making materials.

A 31-year-old Gosnells man and a 30-year-old Gosnells man have been charged with two counts of aggravated burglary and attempting to manufacture methylamphetamine.

A 29-year-old Gosnells woman, who was also in the motel room at the time, was charged with breaching her bail.

The 22-year-old PA went missing last weekend after leaving the Swindon nightclub Suju.
Her body was found in a roadside ditch 15 miles east of Swindon, near Uffington, on Thursday.
Christopher Halliwell was arrested on Thursday and charged with one count of murder on Saturday night.
He remains in custody and will appear before magistrates in Swindon on Monday.

Hundreds of tributes have been paid to Miss O'Callaghan
Police are continuing to search a field in Eastleach, Gloucestershire, after the remains of a second body were found.
The body has not been formally identified but police say the bones found so far belong to a woman aged 23-30.
Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, who is leading the investigation, said: "It has been indicated to me that this young woman was taken from the Swindon area between 2003 and 2005.
"The remains will now be subject of further forensic laboratory tests and a post-mortem examination.

Nearly 200 people remain in custody in London after violent riots erupted during a huge anti-austerity protest on Saturday.

Up to 500,000 protesters converged on the centre of the capital to protest against cost-cutting measures brought in by prime minister David Cameron's Conservative government.

A breakaway group of 300 anarchists caused havoc in the city's exclusive West End, smashing into banks, throwing fire bombs and paint at shops, and setting off missiles in Trafalgar Square until the early hours of the morning.

A total of 201 people were arrested and 84 were injured, including 31 police officers.

The main protest was the biggest union-organised rally in London's post-war history, with teachers, students and nurses marching to Hyde Park to tell the Government its deficit reduction plan was too savage.

But business secretary Vince Cable says the government is unmoved.

"No government would change its fundamental economic policies simply in response to a demonstration of that kind," he said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has revealed that intelligence reports suggest Libyan loyalist forces have placed bodies of people they have killed at the sites of coalition air strikes so they can blame the West for the deaths.

Mr Gates told the CBS Face The Nation programme: 'We do have a lot of intelligence reporting about Gaddafi taking the bodies of the people he's killed and putting them at the sites where we've attacked.'

A U.S.-led coalition began air strikes against Libya a week ago to establish a no-fly zone over the oil-exporting North African country and to try to prevent Gaddafi from using his air force to attack people rebelling against his rule.

Pirates board, take control of Italian oil tanker | Reuters: "A spokesman so no one was injured in the attack on the Savina Caylyn, which took place some 500 miles off the coast of India and some 800 miles off the coast of Somalia.

He said it was believed that at least five pirates took part in the attack, which took place at about 0625 GMT. The crew was made up of 17 Indians and five Italians. A navy frigate was heading to the scene"

Russia: Suspects held over airport bomb - Europe, World - The Independent: "Several people with information on last month's suicide bombing at a Moscow airport have been detained, Russia's top security official said yesterday. Alexander Bortnikov added that the bomber was under the influence of mind-altering drugs.

Relatives of a woman who was killed while allegedly preparing a New Year's Eve suicide bombing in Moscow are suspected of providing assistance in the airport bombing, General Bortnikov said.

It was not immediately clear if any of them were among those detained, but General Bortnikov, who is director of the FSB, said some suspects were still being sought.

The bombing in the international arrivals terminal at Domodedovo Airport on 24 January killed 36 people and wounded 180.

Investigators said last week that the bomber was a 20-year-old man from the Caucasus region in Russia's south, which is gripped by an Islamic insurgency. The bomber's name has not been released and officials have provided only vague details of the investigation."

"The Comancheros are understood to have linked up with a Mexican drug cartel importing cocaine into Australia and are sharing the technology.


''There is nothing strange in organised crime having better access to technology than the authorities,'' said Michael Kennedy, a former police detective and an academic at the University of Western Sydney.

''The bikies are becoming more entrepreneurial and, after all, organised crime is a business enterprise. Crime groups will share technology if it helps them.''

The Comancheros are believed to use the phones sourced from Mexico with global roam activated. The roaming facility is expensive but criminals believe it is priceless to have communications that cannot be monitored.

What makes the BlackBerry so hard to ''tap'' is that Mexico has no reliable register of handsets, mobile numbers, or users."

BBC News - Thousands of stolen iTunes accounts for sale in China: "Tens of thousands of fraudulent iTunes accounts are for sale on a major Chinese website, it has been revealed.

Around 50,000 accounts linked to stolen credit cards are listed on auction site TaoBao, the country's equivalent of eBay.

Buyers are promised temporary access to unlimited downloads from the service for as little as 1 yuan (10p) a time.

Apple, which recently stepped up iTunes' security after a series of break-ins, declined to comment."

Godfather inspiration was a fraud - Hindustan Times: "historian has claimed that the mobster who inspired the 1970s movie The Godfather was a “fake”. It was believed that Charles “Lucky” Luciano was the father of organised crime and experts hailed him as the model for legendary mafia boss Don Corleone, played by Marlon Brando. 


Luciano was credited for running New York’s underworld, and was linked to extortion rackets, punishment attacks and gangland murders.

But US author Tim Newark, in his new book Lucky Luciano: Mafia Murderer and Secret Agent, claims that his reputation was fabricated by the US government to justify the expense of tracking him down."

Incendiary devices go off at Maryland state buildings - CNN.com: "Two Maryland state employees suffered burned fingers when they opened packages containing incendiary devices that set off a flash of fire, smoke and a sulfur smell, authorities said.
The packages were sent through the mail to two state office buildings. One was addressed to Gov. Martin O'Malley, said Greg Shipley, a spokesman with Maryland State Police. The other was addressed to the Maryland Department of Transportation, officials said."

Teen actor’s dad jailed for murder | Celebrities | Entertainment | Toronto Sun: "The teenage star of Scottish actor/director Peter Mullan’s gritty new film about a blade-wielding gang of Glasgow youths is the son of a real life convicted knife murderer.

Newcomer Connor McCarron has won acclaim for his role as a youth who becomes embroiled in gangland violence in the 1970s in new movie Neds.

The 17 year old recently claimed his father, John, was a 'role model' who kept him away from dangerous gang culture as he was growing up.

But the actor's comments have now come under fire from grieving parents Ronald and Helen Auld, whose son William was stabbed to death by John McCarron following an argument in a Glasgow bar early last year.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years behind bars last August.

Ronald Auld tells Britain's Daily Record, 'Connor was saying his dad was a role model and that got us upset. His father is doing 18 years for murder.'"

We may finally be let into the great secret of just how safe - or unsafe - we are as momentum builds to publish a breakdown of criminal incidents in London, though the battle is far from over. The Metropolitan Police plans to publish some data as early as next month. However, initial indications are that only property crimes (not violent crime) will be revealed, and that the data will be aggregated into large, artificial geographic regions called "super-output" areas.
I've long campaigned for the release of criminal incident data broken down by street, having lived in the US where it was easily available. I worked as a crime reporter, and not only were anonymised crime incidents published weekly in the local newspaper (and now online), but as a reporter I could go through individual incident reports down at the station.
Knowing what crimes happen and where is important for several reasons. First, people want to know how safe (or unsafe) they are. They need accurate and detailed data if they are to form an opinion of the safety of their neighbourhood. When they know what's happening, they are in a better position to help or support the police. They are also better able to hold the police to account. This is perhaps what the police fear most, but it is a misplaced fear according to Richard Pope, the creator of civic website planningalerts.com (a site that mines planning applications to local authorities and provides alerts by postcode) and groupsnearyou.com.