Police Force armourer on the run

Alan Cumberland 38, is a long time employee of the NSW Police Force. His official title is Amourer, an old-fashioned word meaning someone who maintains and repairs guns, similar to a civilian gunsmith, but not as qualified.

Police raided his home on the Central Coast on Thursday and found a cache of guns and ammunition and some of the weapons had been "misappropriated" from the force's Armoury.  His home was one of four raided on Thursday, as part of an ongoing investigation into organized crime.


Firearms and Organized Crime Squad Commander Detective Supeintendent Ken Finch said he didn't show up for work at the Sydney Police Armoury after the raid and hasn't been seen since.


"There is a degree of organization involved, we would allege" Supt Finch said.  "He had access to everything in the course of his work and from the time he came to our notice, we have been focused on his movements." 


He added "I'm not suggesting that he has specifically supplied weapons to criminals but this is part of our investigation that is ongoing and we will make a number of inquiries in regard to that."



Anyone with information to assist investigators should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://www1.police.nsw.gov.au/. 

Edit March 31:  Alan Cumberland handed himself into police yesterday.  He has been charged with a number of firearms offences including aggravated possession of firearms and unauthorised manufacture of firearms. 

Halal Easter Eggs

If you look at your Cadbury chocolate bar wrapper, you will see that it is halal friendly and so are their Easter eggs. We are left wondering why because Islam is a minority religion in Australia.


We know that Muslims and Jews don't eat pork, but Islam has other rules about what not to eat and drink - they don't touch alcohol, eat the flesh of carnivores (animals who eat only animal flesh) or carrion (animals who eat the decaying flesh of dead animals.)


They also can't eat an animal that isn't killed in the correct way, so what is the correct way?

• Allah's (God's) name must be pronounced during the slaughter
• A sharp instrument must be used (knife) to slit the animal's throat 
• The animal must not be unconscious
• The animal must be hung upside down and allowed to bleed dry
• These steps must be accomplished by a Muslim or the People of the Book (Christian or Jew).  Many Muslims find kosher meat acceptable      
• The animal must have been fed a natural diet that did not contain any animal by-products.

There are 340 Australian companies who have paid to have the halal certification, including Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Franklins, Kellog's MasterFoods and Nestle.  It is obviously very important because these companies are prepared to pay a fee to get it.

Cadbury could be accused of bias because they cater to the Islamic religion but not the Jewish faith.   They list 71 halal products, including Dairy Milk chocolate bars, Freddo frogs and Red Tulip chocolates, but they do not carry any kosher-certified products.

The Islamic Co-Ordination Council of Victoria states: "With five office staff, two external food technologists, four sharia advisers, and over 140 registered halal slaughtermen/inspectors, ICCV is the largest and the most respected halal certifier in Australia.  We are ready to serve any company in Australia that is interested in producing halal product (meat and processed food.)

So why should Australian companies bother to get the halal stamp of approval?  A chicken wholesaler went to the trouble of killing his chickens the correct halal way, but when he found out they were still not acceptable and he had to pay for certification, he was furious. Stubborn to the core, he held out for three years and lost $120,000 each year. He got the certification to save his business.

No pressure?  Not much!  Happy Easter.

Hands off our superannuation

Before he was sacked from Cabinet last week over a failed leadership spill, former Minister Simon Crean was a member of the government's inner circle, so he should have a few clues about what they are up to. This week he put the cat among the pigeons by hinting that Julia Gillard intends to raid worker's superannuation to achieve a budget surplus.

The Opposition says our great-grandchildren will be paying off the huge debt that the Gillard government has amassed over two terms, with the costly Gonski school funding scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme the latest  promised policy commitments.

Then there's the cost of housing asylum seekers who keep arriving in leaky boats and the mind boggles when we think how much they must be costing.  The word is out that Australia is the land of milk and honey with plenty of benefits and free health care and the government is obliged to pay for every aspect of the daily life of an asylum seeker processed on shore, including their cigarettes. It's ironic really when you think about it, Labor managed to pull off a mammoth victory over the mighty tobacco industry by bringing in plain paper packaging for cigarettes, yet hand over money to asylum seekers to buy them.

Because of Labor's failed border protection policy decisions, it didn't take long for the Detention Centres across the country to fill up, so Ms Gillard turned to the public for help, compensating families to house an asylum seeker in a spare bedroom. 

When there still wasn't enough room, they moved them into the community and also University campuses.  We had no idea until a Sri Lankan asylum seeker was charged with indecently assaulting a young woman sleeping in student accommodation at Macquarie University in Sydney. Police first thought it was an asylum seeker living in student accommodation at the university, but he wasn't staying there, just visiting a friend and actually lived in a unit in Parramatta. The university said that Campus Living, part of the Transfield Group, provides services for asylum seekers, which includes temporary accommodation under a 2012 agreement with the Red Cross's Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme.

The mere mention of the possibility that the government could fiddle with our super sends chills down everyone's spine.  The PM has refused to rule out tax increases on super, saying only she wants a sustainable long-term superannuation system.  If there was ever a good reason to stop paying into your super and putting it somewhere else, this is it.

Tony Abbott was quick to jump in and said "I want to assure the hard-working people of Australia that their superannuation will be safe under a Coalition government.  We will make no unexpected adverse changes to superannuation in our first term."

African scammers thrive on Aussie greed

The seven deadly sins are - wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony.  As humans, they are all familiar emotions, but there is one Western Australian man who takes the cake for greed.

One would assume that when a person reaches the ripe old age of 70 and has amassed $700,000, he must have a few clues. Not so when it comes to greed, that's how much he spent to acquire a $26 million inheritance. 

The man, who wants to remain anonymous, rubbed his hands together with glee and readily believed what he was told in an email that turned up out of the blue - a little old lady, who wasn't related to him, and lives on the other side of the world, was going to leave him $26 million. Surely, he must have asked himself the question - why would she do that?

Police suggest that 23 fraud victims in Western Australia were scammed because they live isolated lives in remote country towns. Maybe they were too polite to suggest they were fleeced by crooks in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone because they saw dollar signs in front of their eyes and were guilty of that second deadly sin - greed.

Definition of greed:  The inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort.

The trees don't know that it's autumn

It's supposed to be autumn in Sydney, yet it's still very hot with unheard of temperatures for March.   This is the time we breath a sigh of relief after the long, hot summer, and delight in the the cool, crisp air of autumn.

As the Northern Hemisphere freezes, we continue to sweat.   The trees don't know that it's autumn and haven't even changed colour yet, let alone started to drop their leaves.  It's quite odd.

Shark hero, Trevor Burns receives bravery award

Brisbane man Trevor Burns was holidaying in Perth with his family in October  2010.  Keen snorkelers, they decided to get up close to some dolphins and joined around 40 other people on a tour, headed by guide Elyse Frankcom.  There were only around 12 snorkelers left in the water, keen to see a baby dolphin who was frolicking with its mother.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a shark attacked Elyse and double bit into her thighs.  Mr Burns grabbed hold of its tail and was tossed around like a rag doll while Ms Frankcom punched it in the head.  Then she started to sink, pulled down by her weight belt, and instead of rushing back to the safety of the tour boat with the others, Mr Burns dove into the bloody water and brought her safely to the surface.  She needed 200 stitches.

Mr Burns' wife and 24 year old daughter were horrified as they looked on from the boat, watching him being thrown around by the shark and thinking the worst.


Yesterday Elyse was reunited with the man who saved her life when he received a bravery award.  "I'm hoping to be back at work and in the water again in about two months, as soon as the doctors give me the all clear" she said.


Trevor Burns, a computer systems consultant accepted Australia's second highest bravery award - the Royal Life Saving Honour "Star of Courage" gold medallion.

"I wouldn't be here without him" she said.  Watch the ABC video.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-25/shark-attack-hero-leads-bravery-award-winners/4591750

A true crime of passion

Armed robber, John Killick is about to be released from prison.  In 1999, his girlfriend, Lucy Dudko, swooped down into the exercise yard of Silverwater jail in a helicopter, picked up her lover, and few away in a hail of bullets.  It if reminds you of something you've seen on the movies, you are right, Dudko got the idea from a video she hired starring Charles Bronson in "Breakout."

Killick

Lucy Dudko hired Tim Joyce for a chartered helicopter joyride and once in the air, she took a sawn-off shotgun out of her handbag, pressed  it to the pilot's throat and said "This is a hijack."

Lucy Dudko

They landed in a park, tied up the pilot with radio cables and fled.  After 45 days of freedom, they were caught at a Sydney motel.

Killick was in custody after robbing a bank in Bowral and shooting at an off-duty police officer.  He pleaded guilty and was being held on remand, waiting for sentence, when the daring escape took place. Killick had been to prison many times for armed holdups - 1966, 1972, 1981 and 1985.

Model prisoner Dudko

Before meeting Killick, the married mother of one had it all.  She emigrated to Australia from Russia in 1993 with her scientist husband, Alex Dudko and they had a beautiful baby daughter.  She was studying for a doctorate in history at Macquarie University.  But she threw it all away for a middle-aged womanizer who, because he had a chronic gambling addiction, was always broke.  She was a model prisoner and spent seven years in jail and was released in 2006.

After 14 years in jail, Killick is about to be released but the moment he steps outside the prison gates, detectives will extradite him to Queensland where he is expected to face outstanding charges and more jail time.

Now 71 years old, Killick says he's finally kicked his gambling habit after several intensive anti-gambling courses. "Maybe it's my age, but the urge is gone" he said.

His parole was challenged by Barrister Lester Fernandez who pointed out that while Killick claims he hasn't gambled since 2007, he had still been actively betting "on anything" inside jail in the seven years before that, admitting he telephoned family to place bets for him.  Mr Fernandez argued that Killick's long history of pathological gambling presented "acute risk factors" to the public and recommended he stay in jail.

The case has been held over until May 3.