drug trafficking

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28 Pounds of Cocaine Seized on Cruise Ship in SF

Customs officers bust three on Australia-bound liner

(Newser) - It was supposed to be the cruise of a lifetime—around the Caribbean to Hawaii and onward to Australia. But three passengers who didn't make it past San Francisco look set to spend a big chunk of their lifetimes in jail. Customs officials seized close to 28 pounds of...

Violence-Torn Guatemala's Solution: Legalize Drugs?

President Otto Perez Molina to discuss idea with Central American leaders

(Newser) - New Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina came to power promising a "firm hand" against his country's worsening drug trafficking problems. But yesterday, Perez showed his hand, to some surprise: He called for drug legalization, not just in Guatemala but around Central America, reports the LA Times . "We'...

Feds Helped Mexican Drug Honcho Move Millions

Transferred cash, drugs across international borders

(Newser) - The New York Times last month revealed that undercover US agents have laundered and smuggled millions of dollars for Mexico's drug cartels—and today the paper shines a light on one such operation, in which federal agents helped one drug trafficker and his Colombian supplier move cash and cocaine...

1 in 50 Central American Men Murdered by Age 31: UN

Situation is nearing a 'crisis point'

(Newser) - This is basically insane: A new UN report says that one in 50 Central American 20-year-old men will be murdered before they turn 31. Unsurprisingly, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says the situation is nearing a "crisis point." The report places much of the blame on...

Feds Bust Iraqi Drug Ring in California

Authorities arrest 60, seize 4K pounds of pot, cite ties to Mexican cartel

(Newser) - Authorities have arrested 60 alleged members of an Iraqi drug ring run out of a southern California social club, seizing some $630,000 in cash, 3,500 pounds of marijuana, and a cache of firearms and explosives, the Los Angeles Times reports. The El Cajon-based club has been a “...

Feds Make Historic Cocaine Bust in Caribbean

Interception, seizure off Honduras coast a first for Coast Guard

(Newser) - The Coast Guard, working with FBI dive teams and the Honduran navy, has recovered 7.5 tons of cocaine worth $180 million from a drug submarine scuttled by smugglers off the coast of Honduras. The interception and seizure is the first of its kind in the Caribbean, the Miami Herald...

Mexico Nabs Drug King 'El Brad Pitt'

Nicknamed stemmed from disguise he wore

(Newser) - Mexico’s federal police have arrested the alleged leader of the armed wing of the Juarez Cartel—one Marco Antonio Guzman, also known as “El Brad Pitt.” Guzman was nabbed on Wednesday in Chihuahua, the northern Mexican state that’s home to Ciudad Juarez, site of an estimated...

Bizarre Venezuela Prison Has Pool Parties, Drug Deals

Armed inmates call the shots at San Antonio

(Newser) - The specter of imprisonment usually doesn't include poolside parties, dance clubs, weapons galore, and easy access to BlackBerries. But San Antonio penitentiary, located on Venezuela's Margarita Island, isn't usual. Though its 2,000 inmates risk being shot by guards if caught venturing outside the walls, the New ...

FAA Not Sure Who Owns Thousands of US Planes

Chaos prompts terror fears; agency calls for re-registration

(Newser) - The FAA lacks key information on who owns some 119,000 private and commercial aircraft in the US, prompting concerns that terrorists or drug traffickers could use the paperwork mess to their advantage—something the latter group is already doing. The FAA is calling for all owners to re-register the...

US Relies on Corrupt 'Afghan Robin Hood'

Abdul Razziq keeps order in ways US can't

(Newser) - Abdul Razziq is illiterate and corrupt. His network skims custom duties, facilitates drug trafficking, and smuggles contraband across the Pakistani border. Yet the 32-year-old is also essential to the war effort, bringing the kind of security to the city of Spin Boldak that has so eluded the US elsewhere. “...

Drug Money Gushes Across Border

Crackdown on security fails to put a dent in cartels' wallets

(Newser) - Drug cartels are shuttling money across the US/Mexico border with relative impunity, despite an unprecedented effort to crackdown on the trade. According to a Washington Post analysis, authorities manage to snag no more than 1% of the cash crossing the border. That’s still a lot of money—the US...

Americans Allege Torture by Mexican Soldiers

Jailed Texans say army planted drugs

(Newser) - It sounds like the script of a B movie, but it's very real for two Americans behind bars in Mexico: They tell the Wall Street Journal that Mexican soldiers stopped their pickup near the border, planted two suitcases of drugs, then beat and tortured them with electric shocks. The Texas...

Ecuador, DEA Bust Drug-Smuggling Sub

Vessel's huge payload a serious development

(Newser) - The Drug Enforcement Administration said yesterday it has helped seize a diesel electric-powered submarine constructed in a remote jungle and capable of transporting tons of cocaine. The sub was captured near a tributary close to the Ecuador-Colombia border, and Ecuadorean authorities said it was seized before it could make its...

Mexico Gunmen Kill 35
 Mexico Gunmen Kill 35 
Jun 12, 2010 10:43 AM CDT

Mexico Gunmen Kill 35

Nineteen victims were at a rehab clinic

(Newser) - At least 30 gunmen burst into a drug rehabilitation center in a Mexican border state capital and opened fire, killing 19 men and wounding four people, police said. Gunmen also killed 16 people in another drug-plagued northern city. The killings—in Chihuahua city and in Ciudad Madero—marked one of...

Jamaica Toll Hits 73 as Manhunt Goes On

Suspected drug lord remains at large

(Newser) - Jamaican security forces kicked down doors and arrested dozens of residents of a bullet-pocked slum today and said the death toll from four days of fighting sparked by the search for a reputed drug lord has risen to 73. The target of the manhunt, Christopher "Dudus" Coke, was nowhere...

Colombian Narco-Beauty Queen Busted

Cops: Model was ringleader of drug trafficking gang

(Newser) - Colombia's one-time Coffee Queen became queen bee of a gang that recruited models to smuggle cocaine from South America to Europe, police say. Angie Sanclemente Valencia was busted in Argentina yesterday after being on the run for 5 months, the BBC reports. Valencia, 30, was stripped of her title in...

Chocolate-Lover Busted for Cocaine-Filled Truffles

Turns out the guy had more than a sweet tooth

(Newser) - Guess it looked like a sweet deal to Robert Lopera. That is, before customs officials stopped the American at JFK Airport and took a close look at the heavy bags of chocolate truffles and pistachios he was toting on his return from Colombia. Turns out the truffles were cocaine balls...

Convent Drug Ring Busted
 Convent Drug Ring Busted 
May 13, 2010 1:42 AM CDT

Convent Drug Ring Busted

Nuns were oblivious to cocaine in prayer books

(Newser) - Italian police have smashed a huge cocaine ring that used a Milan-area convent as a cover. The convent's South American janitor collected cocaine hidden in prayer books from drug smugglers posing as pilgrims, the BBC reports. The janitor was among 33 people busted. Mafia and Colombian cartels were behind the...

12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid
12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid
Apr 21, 2010 2:00 AM CDT

12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid

Selling teen sex a 'new low' for crime family: fed

(Newser) - New York City's Gambino crime family reached a "new low" with the trafficking of a minor to have sex with high-stakes poker players, a US attorney said yesterday as he announced charges against 14 alleged mobsters. Twelve of them are already in custody. Other charges include loansharking, drug trafficking,...

World's Top Pot Source: Afghanistan

Country slides into first place with 'astonishing' crop yields

(Newser) - The country that supplies the lion's share of the world's opium has become the top cannabis producer as well, according to report from the UN's drug agency. Other countries have more land devoted to marijuana, UNDOC chief Antonio Maria Costa says, but Afghan farmers achieve "astonishingly high" yields, producing...

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