The Indian Panorama

Tag: UK

  • Indian Origin ‘Chicken King’ In Talks to Sell Off His Business

    Indian Origin ‘Chicken King’ In Talks to Sell Off His Business

    LONDON (TIP) : Indian origin Britain’s “chicken king” is planning to sell off his Irish fish supplying business to consolidate his food empire following a hygiene scandal at one of his chicken plants in the UK last year.

    The 2 Sisters Food Group, owned by Ranjit Singh Boparan, is believed to be working with corporate finance advisers from Clearwater International on a possible disposal of the business.

    An undercover investigation last year had showed workers appearing to change the dates on food labels and picking up dead poultry from the floor and returning it to the production line at a plant in West Bromwich. The company has since put a series of safety measures in place at all its chicken production units.

    Earlier this month, 2 Sisters said it would close three of its factories, threatening the future of nearly 900 jobs. Last month, Mr Boparan sold the pizza brand Goodfella’s to the owner of Birds Eye for 200 million pounds in cash.

    The 51-year-old tycoon, based in the Midlands region of England, left school at 16 and turned 2 Sisters into Britain’s largest poultry supplier through a series of acquisitions, including a 342-million-pounds takeover of quoted rival Northern Foods in 2011.

    He also acquired turkey business Bernard Matthews and restaurant chains FishWorks, Giraffe and Harry Ramsden’s.

    According to the reports, the deal spree left 2 Sisters with debts of 824 million pounds at the end of last year, 5.4 times its underlying earnings although the Goodfella’s sale will reduce that total. The company has 250 million pounds of bonds that will need to be repaid next year.

    In November last year, the credit ratings agency Moody’s downgraded its debt rating deeper into junk territory on fears over meagre profit margins and huge debts.

    Mr Boparan is also shouldering heavy pension payments after acquiring Northern Foods’ final-salary pension scheme. The plan has about 17,000 members and had a 541 million pounds shortfall in March 2015, its most recent disclosures show.

    2 Sisters has reportedly also held talks about merging its Fox’s Biscuits brand with the Jammie Dodgers maker Burton’s Foods, which is owned by a Canadian pension fund.

     

  • Indian Origin Woman And Her Partner Arrested In South Africa For British Couple’s Kidnapping

    Indian Origin Woman And Her Partner Arrested In South Africa For British Couple’s Kidnapping

    JOHANNESBURG (TIP):  South African special police unit Hawks have arrested an Indian origin woman and her partner on charges of abducting a British couple. They both are allegedly linked to ISIS.

    Fatima Patel and Safydeen Aslam Del Vecchio also face charges of robbery and theft after they went on a spending spree using the couples’ credit cards, building up a stash of jewellery, camping equipment and electronic devices which were found at a remote location where an ISIS flag was being flown.

    The Hawks declined to provide any further information due to the sensitive nature of the case as the search continues for the couple whose vehicle was found abandoned more than 300 km away from where they were last seen on February 9.

    Patel and Del Vecchio also stand accused of contravening the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorism and Related Activities Act by hoisting an ISIS flag at a modest homestead in a rural area.

    Del Vecchio also faces another terrorism-related charge for allegedly participating in “extremist web forums that support ISIS and offering to supply phone numbers and sim cards that are not traceable.”

    Yousha Tayob, the lawyer representing Patel and Del Vecchio, confirmed that the pair had appeared in the court and were remanded in custody at Westville Prison in KwaZulu-Natal province.

    The incident had prompted the British government to issue a travel advisory about possible terrorist attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa, but local Muslim organizations have dismissed this as an “overreaction”.

    Ebrahim Deen of the Afro-Middle East Centre told the weekly that South African Muslims posed no threat to travelers and that the incident was more related to crime than an ISIS attack.

    “Muslims are largely integrated in (South African) society, are not disillusioned and they face little discrimination like in Europe and elsewhere,” he said.

    Martin Ewi of the Institute for Security Studies said South Africa was regarded as a “logistics base” for terror cells in transit, and is not traditionally a target for attacks, although the arrests of Patel and Del Vecchio confirmed the presence of an active terror cell in South Africa.

    “We in the counter terror fraternity suspected that they were working as members of an active cell, and the kidnapping will confirm the presence of an active ISIS cell,” Mr Ewi said.

  • Indian Origin Sikh Man’s Turban Pulled Out Outside UK Parliament

    Indian Origin Sikh Man’s Turban Pulled Out Outside UK Parliament

    LONDON (TIP) :  An Indian Origin Sikh man’s turban was pulled out  by a white man shouting “Muslim go back” in an apparent racist attack outside the UK parliament, according to a media report.

    Ravneet Singh, 37, from Punjab, was waiting to enter the Portcullis House, part of the British Parliamentary Estate, to meet Sikh Labor MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi when the assault took place on February 21st .

    Mr. Singh said he was waiting in the queue when the man, who was shouting “Muslim go back”, approached him and tried to remove his turban, a religious headgear.

    “I was in the queue outside Portcullis House and this guy ran up to us. Just before we got to the entrance he came up to me and attacked me. He was pulling at my turban strongly. It half moved and I grabbed it. Before he could do anything else I shouted at him and he ran,” Mr Singh was quoted as saying by The Independent.

    Mr. Singh said the man made a “racist comment” in another language that he did not understand.

    “He was a white man, but he didn’t sound English. He said something like ‘Muslim go back’,” he added.

    Mr. Dhesi, who was to host Mr. Singh, expressed “disgust” at the incident and sought action against the culprit.

    “Disgusted to discover today that someone filled with hatred tried to pull off the turban of one of my guests standing in line outside @UKParliament. I hope the @metpoliceuk /authorities will take urgent action,” Mr Dhesi tweeted.

    According to the report, the police have confirmed being alerted at 5.20 pm about the assault outside the building adjacent to the Houses of Parliament, which is home to offices for MPs and their staff.

    Police said no arrest has been made so far and they were probing the case.

    The Sikh community in the UK has often been the mistaken target of hate crimes against Muslims that surged after the 9/11 attack in the US.

     

  • Indian Origin Woman Found Dead In Her Home in England

    Indian Origin Woman Found Dead In Her Home in England

    LONDON (TIP):  An Indian origin woman was found murdered in her Wolverhampton home, in the West Midlands region of England , after what is suspected to be a burglary gone wrong.

    Sarbjit Kaur’s body was discovered by her family members at their home in the town of Wolverhampton on February 16th .

    West Midlands Police said they are keeping an open mind on the motive of the 38-year-old’s murder as it released the victims name on February 19th as part of a public appeal for information.

    Kaur was attacked inside her own home. This is a shocking case, the likes of which are extremely rare, and we have a team of officers working on this murder inquiry to establish what happened and to finding the person or people responsible, said Detective Chief Inspector Chris Mallett, who is leading the West Midlands Police Homicide Teams murder investigation.

    He confirmed that early inquiries have revealed that some items were taken from the home but added that the motive so far remains unclear as his team continues to investigate several lines of inquiry, including whether this was a random burglary or if the address or Kaur were deliberately targeted.

    The interior was in an untidy state – which could indicate it had been searched – and we believe that some items are missing. We are working with the family to understand exactly what items were taken, Mallett added.

    Police have carried out CCTV and house-to-house inquiries as well as conducted an extensive forensic examination of the scene as they try and piece together Kaur’s movements throughout the day.

    Kaur was assaulted during the attack and pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem has proved inconclusive on the precise cause of her death, with further tests being carried out by pathologists.

     

  • Indian Origin Former Met Officer May Take Charge As Britain’s Anti-Terrorism Chief

    Indian Origin Former Met Officer May Take Charge As Britain’s Anti-Terrorism Chief

    LONDON (TIP):  A senior Indian origin metropolitan police officer is running for the charge of Britain’s anti-terrorism chief .The Scotland Yard’s National Lead for Counter Terrorism resigns next month.

    Neil Basu, currently Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner and Senior National Coordinator for UK Counter Terrorism Policing, is tipped to take over one of the British policing s toughest jobs from Mark Rowley, The Sunday Times reported.

    Mr Basu, whose father is of Indian origin, is a former Met Police commander overseeing organized crime and gangs. He has specialized in anti-terrorism policing for the past three years and is currently Rowley’s deputy.

    He has been vocal about cracking down on British nationals who joined the ISIS terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.

    In a recent interview with the Combating Terrorism Centre in New York, he said that exclusion powers would be applied to about 200 of the 300 fighters in the war zone as he revealed that about half of the 850 who travelled from Britain to join ISIS had already returned and more than 100 were dead. Of the remaining 300, two-thirds would be blocked from the UK.

    Like other countries, we operate on the principle that we don’t want you back, and therefore we will deprive you of your British passport for those among these who end up coming back, we are absolutely waiting for them. That’s the bottom line, he said.

    The big threat for us now is the ideology that’s been diffused onto the internet and the calls for attacks by its followers in the West by ISIS online. The caliphate may have been defeated militarily, but it has now become a virtual network, he warned.

    Other possible candidates for the post of Britain’s anti-terror chief include Helen Ball, a Met Police assistant commissioner, and Dave Thompson, the West Midlands chief constable, from whose area numerous terrorist plots have emerged in the UK.