cocaine

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Boat Chase Leads to Biggest Cocaine Seizure 'of the Year'

Value of shipment seized off Colombian island estimated at $113M

(Newser) - A high-speed boat chase ended with Colombia's "largest cocaine shipment seizure of the year," per CBS News . The Colombian navy and air force worked with the US Southern Command's Joint Interagency Task Force to chase down the speedboat found to hold nearly 4 tons of cocaine,...

Early Toxicology Reports May Shed Light on 3 KC Fans' Death

Source tells TMZ that the men allegedly showed traces of coke, fentanyl; cops await fuller tests

(Newser) - Three friends and fellow fans of the Kansas City Chiefs who were found dead outside a residence in the Missouri city were said by the homeowner to have frozen to death. Now, early toxicology results suggest there may be more to the story. Sources tell TMZ that preliminary reports have...

40 Nabbed in Mississippi Drug Bust
40 Nabbed
in Mississippi
Drug Bust

40 Nabbed in Mississippi Drug Bust

Some charged with threatening to murder with explosives

(Newser) - Approximately 40 people with connections to multiple states and Mexico were arrested Tuesday after a four-year federal investigation exposed multiple drug trafficking operations in east Mississippi, federal prosecutors announced, per the AP . In 10 federal indictments filed in the US Southern District of Mississippi, those arrested are accused of distributing...

It's an 'Amount of Drugs Never Seen Before in Galicia'

Some of the cocaine was sandwiched between pieces of frozen tuna

(Newser) - Spanish authorities have confiscated 11 tons of cocaine and arrested 20 people tied to Balkan mafias in two different operations against the smuggling of the illegal drugs inside shipping containers, Spain's National Police said Tuesday. Police said the 16,500 pounds (or roughly 8 tons) of cocaine seized by...

Cocaine in Wheelchair Could Get Man Life Sentence

Hong Kong customs agents found 24 pounds of suspected cocaine in wheelchair cushions

(Newser) - Authorities in Hong Kong say an airline passenger's wheelchair was packed with enough suspected cocaine to get him a potential life sentence. The South China Morning Post reports that the 51-year-old passenger, who has mobility issues, flew with the motorized wheelchair as one of his items of checked baggage....

Tampa Mayor Catches 70 Pounds of Cocaine

'It was a big catch,' she says

(Newser) - Tampa Mayor Jane Castor was the city's police chief for six years, and she knows a bale of cocaine when she sees one. The mayor helped haul in cocaine worth around $1.1 million during a recent fishing trip in the Florida Keys, WFLA reports. She says she was...

Scientists Probe the Possibility of 'Cocaine Sharks'

Investigation to air as part of Discovery's Shark Week

(Newser) - Last month alone, the US Coast Guard seized more than 14,100 pounds of cocaine in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. That's a lot of cocaine and suggests the drug, dumped by smugglers and picked up by currents, could make its way to marine life, including sharks. You'...

Secret Service: We Can't Solve the Cocaine Mystery

Agency closes its investigation into the West Wing discovery

(Newser) - Whoever brought cocaine to the White House appears to be off the hook. The Secret Service said Thursday it has closed its investigation into the unusual case without discovering any answers, reports USA Today . A small plastic baggie of cocaine was found in a West Wing lobby on July 2,...

Report: There's Little Hope of Finding WH Cocaine Culprit

Sources say drug was found in busy area near West Wing entrance

(Newser) - A lab test has confirmed that the white powder found at the White House on Sunday was definitely cocaine, sources tell outlets including NBC News and the Washington Post . The Post's sources say the drug was found on the ground floor of the White House, in the area where...

Cocaine May Have Been Found in the White House

Discovery by Secret Service prompted a brief evacuation over the weekend

(Newser) - A strange thing happened last weekend: The White House was briefly evacuated on Sunday evening after the Secret Service discovered what it would describe only as an "unknown object," reports Fox News . Now the Washington Post appears to have discovered what the "unknown object" was: cocaine. Authorities...

Pandemic Changed the Way Cocaine Moves Around World

Production is at a record high, and smugglers are using parcel services more

(Newser) - In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, production of cocaine has skyrocketed and new distribution hubs have emerged in Africa, reports the BBC . Cocaine production rose by 35% between 2020 and 2021, marking the biggest increase in seven years, per CBS News , which also cites a new report from the...

On This Narco-Sub: 4 People, 2 of Them Dead

The Colombian navy said it recovered nearly 6K pounds of cocaine from the vessel

(Newser) - Some 6 million doses of cocaine likely headed for Central America have been intercepted by authorities—along with two bodies. The Colombian navy on Sunday said it seized a 50-foot submarine in the Pacific that was ferrying 5,800 pounds of cocaine valued at upwards of $87 million. Four people...

Exotic Cat on Cocaine 'Could've Shredded Us Apart'

Cincinnati Zoo now in possession of Amiry the serval, better known as 'cocaine cat'

(Newser) - It's a good thing Cincinnati Zoo employees had yet to see Cocaine Bear when they took in an exotic feline who'd gotten into the drug. Animal control officials were called to retrieve the African serval, a medium-sized cat, from a tree after he escaped from his owner's...

Cops: UPS Workers Made Some Very Illegal Deliveries

Two workers accused in drug trafficking scheme out of Texas

(Newser) - Some UPS drivers encounter trouble with snow, others with a very different kind of white powder. Two UPS employees are facing up to life in prison for "knowingly" transporting cocaine, federal authorities say . An indictment unsealed in the Southern District of Texas describes the drug trafficking scheme that involved...

Men Praised After Sea Rescue Were Drug Smugglers: Cops

Australian Federal Police hunting for 2 of 3 men who alerted emergency beacon off WA

(Newser) - A trio of men praised by authorities after they were found clinging to a cooler in the ocean off Western Australia earlier this month are now suspected of smuggling 800 pounds of cocaine. Aristides Avlontis, 36, Mate Stipinovich, 49, and Karl Whitburn, 45, claimed they were fishermen whose boat capsized...

Tons of Cocaine Were Floating in Pacific. Police Got to It First

It's New Zealand's biggest bust

(Newser) - New Zealand police said Wednesday they found 3.5 tons of cocaine floating in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean after it was dropped there by an international drug-smuggling syndicate. While they have yet to make any arrests, police said they had dealt a financial blow to everyone from...

Garland Tells Prosecutors to End Cocaine Case Disparities

House, Senate bills would alter gap first laid out by Sen. Biden

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors have been ordered to end sentencing disparities involving convictions for distributing cocaine: For decades, crack convictions have brought harsher punishments than powder cocaine offenses. Civil rights advocates and other opponents of the policy criticize the gap as harming Black and brown communities, a result of the government's...

Cocaine 'Super Cartel' Is Busted in Europe

Ring controlled about one-third of the trade on the continent

(Newser) - Law enforcement authorities in six different countries have joined forces to take down a "super cartel" of drug traffickers who controlled about one third of the cocaine trade in Europe, Europol said on Monday. The European Union crime agency said 49 suspects have been arrested during the investigation, with...

Belgium Has a Drug Problem. It's Not What You Think
Belgium Has
an Unusual
Drug Problem

Belgium Has an Unusual Drug Problem

Authorities are seizing so much cocaine their incinerators can't handle the load

(Newser) - Authorities at Belgium's port of Antwerp have gotten so good at intercepting smuggled cocaine that it's led to an unexpected problem: Their incinerators can't burn it all fast enough. And as AFP explains, that has led to a related problem: There's so much seized cocaine lying...

Hidden Cocaine Hindered Wheelchair: Agents

JFK passenger's wheels weren't turning, agency says

(Newser) - Something seemed to be keeping the wheels on an arriving passenger's wheelchair from turning, Customs agents noticed at Kennedy Airport in New York. So they X-rayed the wheelchair and reported they found the problem: 28 pounds of cocaine stuffed into the wheels, ABC7 reports. The stash has a street...

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