Shoplifters should be spared prosecution and jail to help tackle court backlogs and overcrowded prisons, says the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Tanks and soldiers patrol the streets of Ecuador as narcos sow terror nationwide after declaring all-out war on a government trying to rein them in.Residents of Quito and Guayaquil cowered at home as hundreds of soldiers patrolled the streets.
Since September, Venezuela has deployed thousands of security force members to wrest control of seven prisons from the hands of powerful gangs finding caches of guns, drugs, swimming pools and restaurants even a zoo.- 'A total success' -
In the first of the raids, on September 20, authorities found restaurants, a pool, a nightclub and a zoo at Tocoron prison.