A group of Iranians suspected of smuggling hashish, heroin and other drugs off the coast of Oman have been handed to authorities by the US Navy, who say they rescued the suspects from their burning vessel.
Huge plumes of smoke apparently smelling of hashish were seen rising off the waters in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday. The suspected smugglers are believed to have set their ship on fire, after they noticed a US Navy vessel approaching them, the US 5th Fleet announced.
Aerial surveillance footage captured people on board a traditional ship, called a dhow, pouring a liquid, likely an accelerant, over their cargo. An explosion then rocked the vessel, emitting heavy smoke.
When the US Navy, which was conducting an anti-narcotics patrol in the area, reached the ship, it discovered a large stash of drugs. Over 1,745 kilograms (3,847 pounds) of hashish, 500kg of methamphetamine and 30kg of heroin were found on the burnt vessel.
The Navy valued what remained of the drug stash at $14.7 million. This was only half of the cargo that the dhow was originally carrying, with the rest having burnt or sunk, according to a spokesperson for the US fleet.
Five injured men who identified themselves as Iranians were rescued by sailors, while one man from the boat remains missing. Having been given medical treatment, the suspected smugglers were handed over to the Omani authorities.
Venezuela violated a jurist’s right to be tried by an independent tribunal and his right to the presumption of innocence, the UN Human Rights Committee said on Wednesday.
MEXICO CITY, Dec 15 (IPS) – The effects of the covid-19 pandemic and high energy prices have had an impact on the consumption of polluting fuels in Latin America and the Caribbean, exacerbating energy poverty in the region.
The president will nominate Kwan, a two-time Olympic medalist figure skater, to serve as U.S. ambassador to Belize. He’s tapping Kennedy to be ambassador to Australia.
(Image credit: Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
In disclosing their files had been hacked by HelloKitty, an Oregon medical outfit let it slip that the FBI calls them “a Ukrainian hacking group,” the first such revelation about the previously mysterious miscreants.
The Oregon Anesthesiology Group (OAG) came under cyber attack in July, with the hackers gaining access to the information of 522 current and former employees and some 750,000 patients. The FBI has since seized a HelloKitty account that contained some of the files, the OAG said in a breach disclosure statement.
An Oregon healthcare organization appears to have accidentally revealed in a breach disclosure that the FBI believes that the HelloKitty (FiveHands) ransomware gang operates out of Ukraine https://t.co/pcfbiky8W6
— The Record by Recorded Future (@TheRecord_Media) December 15, 2021
While the statement itself was made public on December 6, it was only noticed by the media on Wednesday, and only because it contained the revelation that the FBI considered the hackers Ukrainian.
According to the cybersecurity publication The Record, none of the previous alerts about the group, whether by US government organizations or private security firms, contained any hint about the gang’s location.
The HelloKitty ransomware, also known as FiveHands, was first noticed in January this year. Its most notable attack was against the Polish game developer CD Projekt Red – the studio behind ‘The Witcher’ series and ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ – in February.
In the note sent to OAG on October 21, the FBI said the hackers most likely exploited a vulnerability in the third-party firewall to gain access to the network. The ransomware attack reportedly forced OAG to restore their systems from backups and rebuild their entire infrastructure from scratch.
According to OAG, the hackers potentially made off with patient names, addresses, appointment dates, medical record numbers, insurance ID numbers, and diagnosis and procedure codes. They also potentially accessed current and former employee data, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and tax information on file.
