American con-artist faked car accidents and used seven different bogus identities

A con-artist from Texas was arrested just as he was about to leave Ireland after a crime spree in Ireland using the identities of dead babies. Jeremy Cochran was convicted in court today of setting up bogus car-accidents from which he claimed over €80,000. The US citizen created identities using the names of infants who had died in the mid-1970s (a technique made famous in Frederick Forsyth's book The Day of the Jackal). He's been sentenced to four years and is likely to face extradition back to the US where there are outstanding warrant. Read court report here.

Garlic smuggler should have quit while he was ahead

Fruit and veg importer Paul Begley was jailed today for smuggling 1,013 tons of Chinese garlic into Ireland. Revenue caught an initial load in October 2007 so it appears Begley had gotten greedy considering that in 2006 the EU's fraud unit OLAF had launched a high profile investigation into garlic smuggling. Back then it was estimated that it was costing the EU €60 million a year in lost duty. Smugglers could make €24,000 on a 20-ton load by re-labelling the garlic as EU produce. Then in 2007 OLAF organised Operation Diablo in which 67 shipping containers from Asian ports were seized across the entire EU in a bid to crackdown on counterfeit goods. Obviously Begley didn't get the message and is serving a fairly hefty six-year sentence as a result. Read the court report.