drug traffickers

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'Monumental Seizure' After Truck Crosses Into US

4 men arrested in Calif. for drug trafficking, accused of transporting 5K pounds of meth

(Newser) - When California law enforcement agents started trailing a truck this week in San Diego County, little did they know they were about to make a huge bust—one that's now being deemed one of the county's largest ever seizures of methamphetamine. City News Service reports four men from...

For Spanish Police, a Drug-Smuggling First

Cops say they seized 3 underwater drones meant to carry 'large quantities of cocaine'

(Newser) - A probe that lasted more than a year has led to the arrest of eight and the seizure of three underwater drones that were apparently built to smuggle drugs across the Strait of Gibraltar. The BBC reports Spain's police force seized the unmanned submersibles—one completed and two still...

Lawyer Who Scammed Major Drug Dealers Hears His Fate

Attorney James Morris Balagia sentenced to 15-plus years in prison for defrauding drug traffickers

(Newser) - A Texas attorney who specialized in representing clients facing charges of drug possession and driving while intoxicated is now seeing the culmination of his own legal troubles. The New York Times reports that on Monday, James Morris Balagia, known as the "DWI Dude," was sentenced to more than...

Cops Make Disturbing Find in Sea Container

It had been converted into a torture chamber

(Newser) - Dutch police arrested six men after discovering shipping containers that had been converted into a makeshift prison and sound-proofed "torture chamber" complete with a dentist's chair, and tools including pliers, scalpels, and handcuffs, a high-ranking officer announced Tuesday. Authorities said police conducted the raid before the torture chamber...

Inmate Found Dead Days After His Jailbreak Flops

Clauvino da Silva believed to have died by hanging

(Newser) - A Brazilian gang leader is believed to have committed suicide three days after attempting to escape prison dressed as his 19-year-old daughter . Clauvino da Silva was found dead Tuesday in his cell at the high-security Bangu 1 prison in Rio de Janeiro state. He'd been transferred there following his...

Cops: Guy Busted With $140M in Meth Had a 'Very, Very Bad Day'

Van said to have crashed into parked police cars was carrying a lot of meth

(Newser) - If you're going to be driving around with $140 million worth of meth, what definitely falls under the "you had one job" category is to avoid getting pulled over by the cops—or crashing into a couple of cop cars. This week, one man in Sydney, Australia, allegedly...

Hit Man Who Killed 300 Freed
 Hit Man Who Killed 300 Freed 
Aug 27, 2014 1:13 AM CDT

Hit Man Who Killed 300 Freed

Jhon Jairo Velasquez was Escobar's chief assassin

(Newser) - The Colombian hit man known as "Popeye" has been freed from prison after 22 years—which works out to around 27 days for each of the 300 people he has admitted killing. John Jairo Velasquez was the chief assassin for drug lord Pablo Escobar and is believed to have...

Isolated Tribe Says Elders Were Murdered

Also, video shows young members' first contact

(Newser) - A video that purports to show footage of first contact with a formerly isolated tribe on the Brazil-Peru border has been released by Brazil's FUNAI agency, along with some disturbing news from tribe members themselves. As had been hinted at in previous reports, some of the younger members say...

'Preppy Drug Ring' Busted in Affluent Philly Suburbs

11 members allegedly wanted to keep elite high schools stocked

(Newser) - After a four-month investigation, authorities yesterday busted 11 alleged members of a drug ring—a drug ring notable because some of its members were students and alums of pricey prep schools living in the leafy, affluent "Main Line" suburbs outside Philadelphia. Their goal, police say, was to keep five...

In Mass Trial, 30 Sentenced to Death for Drug Smuggling

Vietnam also hands out dozens of prison sentences; 89 defendants were tried

(Newser) - Thirty people were today sentenced to death in Vietnam in a single trial, the AP reports. The 21 men and nine women were convicted of heroin trafficking during a 20-day trial, said to be the largest such trial the country has ever held. The defendants were found to belong to...

Guy Crushed to Death by His Own Marijuana


 Guy Crushed to Death 
 by His Own Marijuana 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 6, 2013 10:44 AM CDT

Guy Crushed to Death by His Own Marijuana

Drug smuggler had half a ton in his backseat, crashed car

(Newser) - Very important lesson for drug traffickers: Do not store your half-ton of weed in the backseat of your car. A Brazilian drug smuggler did just that, police say, and the man was killed when he crashed into a tree while being chased by police ... because the 1,100 pounds of...

Weeds Actress Praises Mexican Drug Lord

Joaquin Guzman could be 'hero of heroes,' Kate del Castillo says

(Newser) - Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, best known in the US for her role in Weeds, has shocked Mexico with praise for Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin Guzman. In an open letter slamming the Catholic church, the media, and the Mexican government, Castillo—who played a drug boss in the Telemundo hit...

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...

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 “...

Drug Smugglers May Have Wiped Out Amazon Tribe

Uncontacted tribe missing after traffickers overrun lands

(Newser) - Authorities in Brazil fear that a "lost" tribe deep in the Amazon has been wiped out after encountering the outside world at its worst. The tribe, which had never previously been contacted by outsiders— and was photographed earlier this year aiming bows and arrows at a plane flying over...

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...

ICE Busts Hundreds in 168-City Gang Sweep

Half of those nabbed in multi-city raids have Mexican cartel links

(Newser) - A vast multi-city gang sweep shows the extent to which Mexican drug cartels have penetrated American cities—and, say federal officials, the extent to which the government is willing to go to take them down. Some 678 gang members, including 421 nationals, were busted in 168 cities during Project Southern...

Drug Submarine Seized in Colombia

$2M used to ferry cocaine to Mexico, say officials

(Newser) - A submarine that aimed to ferry masses of cocaine to Mexico has been nabbed off the coast of Colombia. The 100-foot-long fiberglass vessel was found stashed in a jungle area in southwestern Colombia. The sub—big enough to carry four people and eight tons of cargo—was capable of traveling...

Drug Catapult Seized at Mexican Border

Border fence pot-flingers foiled

(Newser) - Mexican drug smugglers trying to get marijuana across the border have resorted to medieval methods. A pot-flinging catapult was seized after National Guardsmen in Arizona spotted it being used other side of the border and alerted Mexican authorities, AP reports. The smugglers got away but left behind their vehicle, 35...

Mexican Cartel Claims to Have Retired

La Familia dissolved, banners say

(Newser) - Banners have appeared in the heartland of Mexico's La Familia drug cartel claiming that the criminal organization has been dissolved but authorities are understandably skeptical. The cartel, one of Mexico's most brutal, declared a month-long truce earlier this month and authorities believe that it is weakened and in disarray but...

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