ARMENIANS WORK WITH U.S. CONTACTS WITH LOCAL POLICE LEAD TO APPREHENSION OF SUSPECTS.Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer GLENDALE - Armenian officials are working with local law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). to fight organized crime rings that victimize residents in the Southland and Armenia, officials said Wednesday. The cooperative effort was discussed at the Glendale Police Department, where John Evans John Evans may refer to:
``It's the flip side Flip side In the context of general equities, opposite side to a proposition or position (buy, if sell is the proposition and vice versa). really of globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation . So much of what happens in the world today knows no international boundaries, and the same can be said of crime today,'' Evans said. Of particular concern are the crimes of money laundering The process of taking the proceeds of criminal activity and making them appear legal. Laundering allows criminals to transform illegally obtained gain into seemingly legitimate funds. , smuggling smuggling, illegal transport across state or national boundaries of goods or persons liable to customs or to prohibition. Smuggling has been carried on in nearly all nations and has occasionally been adopted as an instrument of national policy, as by Great Britain and immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. fraud, officials said. ``There's been significant amounts of money that have flown back and forth that we're concerned with,'' said Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams. As many as 500 criminals are believed to be associated with Armenian organized crime gangs in the Los Angeles area, said Sgt. Steve Davey of the Glendale Police Department's Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force. Adams said his department has sent detectives to Armenia to teach in police academies there. And the contacts developed with Armenian police have led to the apprehension of suspects, he said. Within the past year, three fugitives have been brought back to Los Angeles from Armenia to face murder or attempted murder charges stemming from incidents in the east San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , officials said. One of the suspects, a former truck driver from Burbank, was listed as one of the FBI's most wanted. Shahen Keshishian was arrested by Armenian authorities in November and handed over to U.S. officials. He is charged with murdering a Canoga Park man during a road-rage incident in Universal City in 2000. Armenia does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. But that has not prevented authorities there from helping local law enforcement agencies. ``When there is a will to be cooperative, more things are possible than when there is the opposite,'' Evans said, adding that officials hope to negotiate an extradition treaty with Armenia, which does not have the death penalty. Alex Dobuzinskis, (818) 546-3304 alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans fields questions during a news conference Wednesday. John McCoy/Staff Photographer |
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