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Gun-Wielding Fake Priests Kill Three
SOFIA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - Two gunmen dressed as priests killed three men and wounded two others in a gangland shootout in the Bulgarian capital, police said Friday.
Assassins wearing the dark robes of orthodox priests gunned down a man linked to organized crime and two other men at a shopping center cafe in an affluent Sofia suburb and then fled, a police spokesman said.
"It was a shootout between criminal drug gangs," the spokesman said, adding the assailants were still at large.
Police said one of the dead men was a close ally of a leading organized crime figure in Sofia and that the two other men killed alongside him appeared to be his bodyguards.
The Balkan country has struggled with rampant organized crime since the fall of communism 15 years ago and has stepped up its efforts to stamp it out ahead of Bulgaria's planned accession to the European Union in 2007.
Police blame an increase in mafia-style murders in recent years on gangs competing for shrinking criminal markets such as drugs and prostitution.
This Pen Really Is Mightier Than The Sword
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested a Russian woman carrying 38 "pen guns" capable of firing .22 caliber bullets, saying she was part of a Russian-Kosovan gun-smuggling ring.
The silver weapons -- displayed by police Thursday -- look like normal pens.
"I've never heard of anything like this before, at least not in these quantities," a police spokeswoman said.
The weapons were illegal and the woman was arrested on suspicion of arms trafficking, she added.
Police specializing in criminal gangs from the former Soviet bloc had been following suspects for months before arresting the woman Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The 27-year-old woman was also carrying 99 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition, the statement said.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - Two gunmen dressed as priests killed three men and wounded two others in a gangland shootout in the Bulgarian capital, police said Friday.
Assassins wearing the dark robes of orthodox priests gunned down a man linked to organized crime and two other men at a shopping center cafe in an affluent Sofia suburb and then fled, a police spokesman said.
"It was a shootout between criminal drug gangs," the spokesman said, adding the assailants were still at large.
Police said one of the dead men was a close ally of a leading organized crime figure in Sofia and that the two other men killed alongside him appeared to be his bodyguards.
The Balkan country has struggled with rampant organized crime since the fall of communism 15 years ago and has stepped up its efforts to stamp it out ahead of Bulgaria's planned accession to the European Union in 2007.
Police blame an increase in mafia-style murders in recent years on gangs competing for shrinking criminal markets such as drugs and prostitution.
This Pen Really Is Mightier Than The Sword
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested a Russian woman carrying 38 "pen guns" capable of firing .22 caliber bullets, saying she was part of a Russian-Kosovan gun-smuggling ring.
The silver weapons -- displayed by police Thursday -- look like normal pens.
"I've never heard of anything like this before, at least not in these quantities," a police spokeswoman said.
The weapons were illegal and the woman was arrested on suspicion of arms trafficking, she added.
Police specializing in criminal gangs from the former Soviet bloc had been following suspects for months before arresting the woman Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The 27-year-old woman was also carrying 99 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition, the statement said.