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Any thoughts on this? 27kg of gold is a lot. Shouldn't there be a limit here? If you have to declare how much money you have, then why not gold? http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/04/nk-envoys-gold-smuggling-no-lapse-at-changi-airport-says-minister/ NK envoy’s gold smuggling – no lapse at Changi Airport, says minister April 15, 2015by andrewlow in News · 3 Comments Second Minister for Home Affairs S. Iswaran told Parliament on Tuesday that there were no security lapses in the case of a North Korean diplomat who had apparently carried some 27kg of gold bars through Changi Airport and onto a flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh. The incident took place in March this year. Mr Iswaran was replying to a question posed by non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), Gerald Giam, of the Workers’ Party (WP). Mr Giam had asked what was the weight limit on the transport of gold and other precious metals in and out of Singapore by individual travellers, and if diplomats are exempt from this limit. And referring to the case of the diplomat, Mr Giam asked what measures are in place to ensure that diplomats do not abuse their diplomatic immunity to carry precious metals, drugs or weapons in and out of Singapore in their luggage. Son Young-Nam, the first secretary at the North Korean embassy in Dhaka, had departed on a flight from Changi, where he was screened before boarding. “No security threat items were found on him,” local news in Singapore reported. Mr Son was stopped when he arrived at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalam International Airport. Rashidul Islam Khan, commanding officer of the airport’s armed police battalion, said the diplomat was passing through the “nothing to declare” channel in customs when an official asked to scan his carry-on luggage. But Mr Son refused to allow customs officers and police to examine his bags. “He insisted that his bags cannot be scanned because he’s carrying a red passport and he enjoys diplomatic immunity,” Moinul Khan, head of Bangladesh’s customs intelligence department told AFP. “After more than four hours of drama, he gave in and we found gold bars and gold ornaments weighing 26.795kg (59lb), which is worth 130 million taka ($1.67m, £1.1m),” he added. Mr Khan said the diplomat admitted under questioning that he was carrying the gold illegally. The gold is reported to be worth some US$1.4 million. Bangladesh has a limit of 2kg which can be allowed into the country by individuals. Mr Khan added: “It’s a clear case of smuggling. We believe he would have sold the gold to a local criminal racket. He is being used as a carrier.” The Bangladesh government summoned North Korean Ambassador Ri Song Hyon on Monday and gave him a 72-hour deadline to send the diplomat home, the Associated Press news agency reported. “We told the ambassador to prosecute him in North Korea and update us about the action to be taken against him,” Mohammad Shahidul Haque, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry secretary, told Reuters. “We conveyed to him that the government would take serious action if any embassy official is found to be involved in any crimes in future.” IswaranMr Iswaran said diplomats, just like other travellers, are screened before they board the planes at Singapore’s Changi Airport. “This involves the use of metal detectors for checks on persons and X-ray screening for their belongings,” the Straits Times reported Mr Iswaran as having said. In the event of a suspicion of a security threat, the authorities “are not constrained from making the appropriate checks on the items a diplomat carries.” As for Mr Giam’s question about limits to the amount of gold and precious metals allowed to be transport in and out of Singapore, Mr Iswaran said there are no weight limits on these. Straits Times“The member should also be aware that it is not uncommon, especially for travellers to certain parts of the world, to carry what you and I might consider not insignificant amounts of gold on their person or in their personal baggage,” the minister said. “If they are able to give a clear explanation that these are their personal effects or for personal consumption purposes, generally they would be allowed to carry on with their travel with those items.” In the meantime, sources have said Mr Son was released by the Bangladesh authorities under the Vienna Convention which grants immunity to diplomats. He is also reported to have left Bangladesh for North Korea.

no updates already?

Hmmm... CD license plate is transferable from MPV to Lorry? http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/this-urban-jungle/here-comes-the-embassy-truck-that-can-break-all-traffic-rules-because-it-has

old news... but just stumbled onto it. Si-bei sexy! Must share! I always thot those spies r like james bond movie...got chio bu with dua nei nei one..how come tis one dun hav.... LOL MOSCOW (AP) — A U.S. diplomat was ordered Tuesday to leave the country after the Kremlin's security services said he tried to recruit a Russian agent, and they displayed tradecraft tools that seemed straight from a cheap spy thriller: wigs, packets of cash, a knife, map and compass, and a letter promising millions for "long-term cooperation." The FSB, the successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB, identified the diplomat as Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, detaining him briefly overnight. It alleged that Fogle was a CIA officer trying to recruit a Russian counterterrorism officer who specializes in the volatile Caucasus region in southern Russia, where the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects had their ethnic roots. Fogle was handed over to U.S. Embassy officials, declared persona non grata and ordered to leave Russia immediately. He has diplomatic immunity, which protects him from arrest. The State Department would only confirm that Fogle worked as an embassy employee, but wouldn't give any details about his employment record or responsibilities in Russia. Some officials also referred inquiries to the CIA, which declined comment. Fogle was the first American diplomat to be publicly accused of spying in Russia in about a decade. While relations between the two countries have been strained, officials in both Washington and Moscow sought to play down the incident. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul to appear Wednesday in connection with the case. McFaul said he would not comment on the spying allegation. Russian officials expressed indignation the U.S. would carry out an espionage operation at a time when the two countries have been working to improve counterterrorism cooperation. "Such provocative actions in the spirit of the Cold War do nothing to strengthen mutual trust," the Foreign Ministry said. Russia's Caucasus region includes the provinces of Chechnya and Dagestan. The suspects in the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his elder brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a manhunt — are ethnic Chechens. Tamerlan spent six months last year in Dagestan, now the center of an Islamic insurgency. U.S. investigators have been working with the Russians to try to determine whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev had established any contacts with militants in Dagestan. Despite the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States still maintain active espionage operations against each other. Last year, several Russians were convicted in separate cases of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences. But Tuesday's case had espionage elements that seemed more like "Spy vs. Spy" than Ludlum and le Carre. Russian state TV showed pictures of a man said to be Fogle, wearing a baseball cap and a blond wig, lying face down on the ground. The man, without the wig, was also shown sitting at a desk in the offices of the FSB, the Federal Security Service. Two wigs, a compass, a map of Moscow, a pocket knife, three pairs of sunglasses and envelopes of 500 euro notes (each bill worth $649) were among the items the FSB displayed on a table. The FSB also produced a typewritten letter that it described as instructions to the Russian agent who was the target of Fogle's alleged recruitment effort. The letter, in Russian and addressed "Dear friend," offers $100,000 to "discuss your experience, expertise and cooperation" and up to $1 million a year for long-term cooperation. The letter also includes instructions for opening a Gmail account to be used for communication and an address to write. It is signed "Your friends." "If this is genuine, then it'll be seen to be appallingly bad tradecraft — being caught with a 'How-to-be-a-Spy 101' guide and a wig. He would have had to have been pretty stupid," said Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University who studies the Russian security services. Samuel Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College London, called the evidence bizarre. "I wouldn't have thought that spies gave each other written instructions," he said in a telephone interview. Greene also noted that the FSB had displayed Fogle's official diplomatic ID, suggesting he was carrying it along with the spy paraphernalia when he was detained. "Maybe this is what the CIA has come to, maybe the propaganda folks in the Kremlin think we are this stupid, or maybe both," he said. A five-minute video produced by the FSB and shown on state TV showed a Russian official speaking to what appear to be three U.S. diplomats who had come to pick up Fogle in the FSB office. The official, whose face is blurred, alleged that Fogle called an unidentified FSB counterintelligence officer who specializes in the Caucasus at 11:30 p.m. Monday. He then said that after the officer refused to meet, Fogle called him a second time and offered 100,000 euros if he would provide information to the U.S. The Russian official said the FSB was flabbergasted. He pointed to high-level efforts to improve counterterrorism cooperation, specifically FBI director Robert Mueller's visit to Moscow last week and phone calls between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "At a time when the presidents of the two countries are striving to improve the climate of relations between the two countries, this citizen, in the name of the U.S. government, commits a most serious crime here in Moscow," the official said. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed that an officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was briefly detained and released. "We have seen the Russian Foreign Ministry announcement and have no further comment at this time," said Psaki, who was in Sweden with Secretary of State John Kerry. Little was immediately known about Fogle. A third secretary is an entry level position at the State Department, the lowest diplomatic rank in the foreign service. Putin has stoked anti-American sentiments among Russians in recent years in what is seen as an effort to build support at home. He also appears to have a genuine distrust of Russian nongovernmental organizations that receive American funding, which he has accused of being fronts that allow the U.S. government to meddle in Russia's political affairs. Hundreds of NGOs have been searched this year as part of an ongoing crackdown by the Russian government. Galeotti said the public exposure of Fogle suggests a political purpose behind the detention. He said these kinds of spying incidents happen with some frequency, but making such a big deal of them is rare. "More often, the etiquette is that these things get dealt with quite quietly — unless they want to get a message out," Galeotti said. "If you identify an embassy staffer who is a spy for the other side, your natural impulse is to leave them be, because once you identify, you can keep tabs on them, see who they talk to and everything else." "There's no reason to make a song and dance, detain them, eject them," he said. Greene said Fogle's detention should be seen as part of Putin's confrontation with the opposition and not as something likely to have a major impact on U.S.-Russia relations. "I think this is mostly for domestic consumption in Russia so that people say, 'look at these naughty Americans trying to meddle in our internal affairs and spy on us,'" Greene said. "But everybody's got spies everywhere so I don't see this as a major issue." In Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell also said the incident was unlikely to hamper U.S.-Russia relations. "I'm not sure I'd read too much into one incident one way or another," he told reporters, and pointed to Kerry's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Sweden on Tuesday evening. "We have a very broad and deep relationship with the Russians across a whole host of issues, and we'll continue to work on our diplomacy with them directly." Alexei Pushkov, who heads the international affairs committee in Russia's parliament, wrote in a Twitter post that the spy scandal would be short-lived and would not interfere in Kerry and Lavrov's discussions aimed at bridging deep differences over the civil war in Syria. "But the atmosphere is not improving," Pushkov commented. ___ Associated Press writers Max Seddon in Moscow, Bradley Klapper in Washington and Lara Jakes in Kiruna, Sweden, contributed to this report. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/russian-security-services-say-they-detained-us-diplomat-they-claim-cia-agent

Yahoo News Arab diplomat offers S$6,200 for sex By Fann Sim | SingaporeScene

Sat, May 08, 2010 AFP BUCHAREST, Romania - A Romanian diplomat involved in a fatal hit-and-run case in Singapore was detained for questioning on Friday, Romanian prosecutors said. Silviu Ionescu, who was Bucharest's charge d'affaires in Singapore at the time, is alleged to have hit three pedestrians in two incidents in December while driving a car belonging to the Romanian mission. One of the victims, a 30-year-old Malaysian national, suffered brain damage and died on Christmas Day, while the two others suffered injuries. The diplomat, who flew back to Romania days after the accident, "has tried to influence witnesses' depositions and asked an employee to erase data in his computer," prosecutors said. Ionescu was taken in for questioning for six hours on Friday by prosecutors who are seeking a 29-day detention warrant against him. Judges have 24 hours to approve the diplomat's detention or release him. Ionescu has publicly denied he was the driver, claiming the car was stolen. In interviews to Romanian media, he alleged he was "a victim of a conspiracy by Singapore authorities." Last month, Singapore issued an arrest warrant after a coroner's court ruled that Ionescu was driving the car involved in the accident. Singapore's foreign ministry said the Romanian government had the moral obligation to persuade Ionescu to return to face the charges. There is no extradition treaty between the two countries. "The Romanian government must in its own interests ensure that justice was served and seen to be served," a spokesman said in a statement. "Otherwise, there would inevitably be consequences for bilateral relations."

Apr 14, 2010 Ionescu's link to escorts firm News reports in Romania have linked former Roman diplomat Silviu Ionescu to a local company there that allegedly recruits girls to become 'escorts in the most fashionable karaoke clubs in Singapore', reported The New Paper. -- ST PHOTO: CHAN BEE LENG NEWS reports in Romania have linked former Romanian diplomat Silviu Ionescu to a local company there that allegedly recruits girls to become 'escorts in the most fashionable karaoke clubs in Singapore', The New Paper reported on Wednesday. Adevarul (The Truth), one of Romania's top daily newspapers, reported that the former charge de'affaires to Singapore had lent 28,000 euros (S$53,000) to the company, Elaboration Ltd, which is said to be run by his close friend, Mr George Karastergios, a Greek national. The Romanian reports also link Dr Ionescu, 49, to a traffic accident in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, six years ago, after which he claimed the other driver tried to blackmail him, said TNP. A warrant of arrest and an Interpol alert have been issued against Dr Ionescu, after a State Coroner found him to be the driver of the car that killed Mr Tong Kok Wai, 30, and injured two others in hit-and-run accidents last Dec 15 at Bukit Panjang.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Walter Woon, who will step down from his post next month, has said he can do more by teaching than by remaining in his current A-G position. In his first comments since Wednesday's announcement, he said the Attorney-General's post was, in any case, one he had planned to hold for only two years, with an eye on returning to teaching law. 'At this point of my life, I think I can make a more significant contribution through teaching and writing,' he said. His response to media queries on the announcement came yesterday in a brief statement which covered his plans and looked back on his stint as Public Prosecutor and the Government's chief legal adviser. Professor Woon, 54, will be replaced by Senior Counsel Sundaresh Menon in October. In the interim, current Solicitor-General Koh Juat Jong will be the A-G. Prof Woon will return to the National University of Singapore (NUS) Law Faculty. He will also become the first dean of the new Singapore Institute of Legal Education (SILE), a body to oversee and provide professional legal training and practice standards. Wearing these two hats will enable him to pass on the 'wide range of experiences' he has accumulated, he said. He noted that as more foreign-trained lawyers come to Singapore to practise, 'we must make sure that our own people receive the best training we can give so that they can compete'. Leaving the Attorney-General's job will also give him more time to visit international law institutions in Europe and the United States. This will keep him abreast of international law, a key area to which Singapore is devoting resources to become 'a centre of intellectual activity', he said. On a personal front, he will also get to spend time with his sons, who are in Cambridge University. Prof Woon described his turn as A-G as having been 'extremely interesting and educational' - but also 'taxing'. 'I leave secure in the knowledge that we have a good team in Chambers and that the system works,' he said. His room back at the Faculty of Law is waiting for him. Contacted, NUS law dean Tan Cheng Han said faculty members are 'very happy and excited' about Prof Woon's return. It has been a long detour. Prof Woon left in 1997 and, in the next nine years, served as Singapore's envoy to several European states. Then, he joined the Attorney-General's Chambers, serving two years first as Solicitor-General and then as A-G. Prof Tan said although Singapore profited from Prof Woon's time in public service, his departure was a loss to the law school, felt particularly in the area of company law. He added that it made sense for Prof Woon to rejoin the law school next month, which will give him four months until the new academic year in August to prepare for his classes and write papers.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1035338/1/.html SINGAPORE: The Romanian diplomat who is a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run accident in Singapore has been suspended from his duties by his country's Foreign Affairs Ministry. The announcement was made by the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday morning. This comes after reports said Dr Silviu Ionescu was charged with manslaughter by Romanian authorities on Wednesday. Romanian media reports quoting the general prosecutor's office said Dr Ionescu faces three charges for manslaughter, for fleeing the scene, and for giving false statements. Dr Ionescu was previously his country's Charge d'Affaires in Singapore. Singapore Police said that on 15 December 2009, the embassy car driven by Dr Ionescu hit three pedestrians in two separate incidents in Bukit Panjang. One of the pedestrians

ROMANIAN diplomat Silviu Ionescu, who might have been involved in a hit-and-run accident here, has made a U-turn and told journalists in his home country that he will not be returning to Singapore after all. Last week, he had said he would come back some time this month, after seeking medical treatment for diabetes at home. Yesterday, he said his statement had been misunderstood. http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNew...108-190489.html now theres nothing even spf or minister can do! :angry:

Dr Silviu Ionescu, charge d'affaires of the Romanian Embassy, has reportedly said that he was not involved in a fatal hit-and-run incident involving an embassy car. He said he will return to Singapore later this month to assist in investigations. Dr Ionescu is believed to be able to further assist with the tragic double hit-and-run accident that occured along Bukit Panjang Road on Dec 15. Three pedestrians were hit in the accident. One of the three, 30-year-old Mr Tong Kok Wai, has since passed away. At the time of the accident, Mr Tong had been married to Madam Yenni Young for just a month. He was taken off life support on Christmas Day, after suffering severe brain damage in the accident Central to the incident is a black Audi A6 belonging to the Romanian embassy. Dr Ionescu had earlier said that he was the last official to use the car involved in the accident. According to a report published in The New Paper, his reasons for returning to Romania were for medical tests, scheduled in advance as he has diabetes.