cocaine

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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&#39;s Not What You Think
Belgium Has
an Unusual
Drug Problem
Nov 22, 2022 4:34 PM CST

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...

Packed With the Baby Wipes: Much Cocaine

Border Patrol estimates the street value at $11.8M

(Newser) - Border Patrol officers at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge near Laredo, Texas, decided somebody should take a second look at a trailer truck supposedly transporting baby wipes. What the agency described as a canine and "non-intrusive" inspection last weekend found unlisted cargo: 1,935 packages holding about 1,533 pounds of...

Supermarkets Find $83M Worth of Cocaine in Banana Shipments
Oops: $83M Worth of Cocaine
Sent to Supermarkets
in case you missed it
Jun 19, 2022 7:05 AM CDT

Oops: $83M Worth of Cocaine Sent to Supermarkets

And in Colombia, cocaine disguised as potatoes

(Newser) - Supermarkets in the Czech Republic got a little more than they bargained for in their banana shipments last week: $83 million worth of cocaine. Police were alerted after grocery workers started discovering blocks of pressed cocaine in with the fruit; ultimately, 1,851 pounds were found, Newsweek reports. The crates...

Canada Takes Bold Step to 'Remove the Shame' on Drugs

Small amounts of 'hard' drugs to be temporarily decriminalized in British Columbia to fight ODs

(Newser) - If you're busted in British Columbia with a small amount of hard drugs, you could soon see some grace, thanks to an innovative new program designed to deal with the OD crisis. The BBC reports that, starting at the end of January, drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA (ecstasy), and...

Feds Find First Major Drug Tunnel Since 2020

It ran from Tijuana to San Diego warehouse

(Newser) - The legalization of marijuana in California hasn't put the cross-border tunnel builders in the San Diego area out of business, but the highly sophisticated tunnels are now being used for different drugs, federal authorities say. The latest tunnel to be detected ran 1,744 feet from a property in...

Death of Diver Led Cops to Staggering Cocaine Haul

Australian police fear drugs from total shipment worth $84M have already reached the public

(Newser) - The death of a diver on the side of a coastal river in Australia led authorities to at least 220 pounds of cocaine—and that's apparently just the tip of the white powder iceberg. A man in high-end diving equipment was found unconscious near the Hunter River in Newcastle,...

Half a Ton of Cocaine Found in Coffee Shipment

Nespresso says drug hasn't contaminated its coffee pods

(Newser) - After more than half a ton of cocaine was found among a shipment of coffee beans at a Nespresso plant, the company reassured customers that its coffee pods would not provide a bigger jolt than customers were used to. "The substance in question did not come into contact with...

Premier of British Territory Claims Immunity in Drug Case

British Virgin Islands leader allegedly accepted bribe from undercover DEA agent

(Newser) - Update: The premier of the British Virgin Islands said Monday that as the elected, constitutional head of government of the British overseas territory, he is immune from prosecution on charges of cocaine-smuggling and the US must immediately release him from custody. One former federal prosecutor, however, tells the AP that...

Tainted Cocaine Kills 20, Sickens 74

Authorities in Argentina suspect batch was deliberately poisoned

(Newser) - Apparently adulterated cocaine killed 20 people and seriously sickened 74 others in Buenos Aires, health officials said early Thursday as authorities searched frantically for the remainder of the deadly batch to get it off the streets before it is consumed. Experts are still analyzing the drug to determine what was...

A Notorious Cocaine Dealer Ended Up in Maine, Then Dead

Alberto Martinez reportedly just couldn't quit Harlem

(Newser) - An affable man living in the town of Lewiston, Maine, was shot dead on Halloween in Harlem—where people came out in the street to drink a champagne toast to his demise. How do the two jibe? Writing for the New York Times , Ali Watkins explains that Abraham Rodriguez, as...

Grandma Shocked by Cactus Toy's Cocaine Rap

Walmart says item has been pulled

(Newser) - A grandmother in Canada says she was more than a little surprised when the dancing cactus toy she bought for her toddler granddaughter started rapping in Polish about depression and cocaine use. "It just so happens that I am Polish and when I started to listen to the songs...

Colombia Nabs Feared Drug Kingpin
Colombia Nabs Feared
Drug Kingpin
Oct 24, 2021 9:30 AM CDT

Colombia Nabs Feared Drug Kingpin

Dairo Antonio Úsuga leads the violent Clan del Golfo

(Newser) - The most wanted drug trafficker in Colombia has been arrested. Per the New York Times , Dairo Antonio Úsuga, popularly known as Otoniel, was nabbed during a military operation in the remote mountains of Colombia's Uraba region. The 50-year-old was alleged to be the leader of the country's...

Pilot in Deadly Balloon Crash Had Cocaine, Pot in System

5 died after balloon hit power lines in New Mexico

(Newser) - Update: The hot air balloon pilot killed along with his four passengers in a crash in Albuquerque, NM, in June had drugs in his system, the Federal Aviation Administration says. A toxicology report released Wednesday says blood and urine samples taken from 62-year-old Nicholas Meleski show he had marijuana and...

For This Former Olympian, It's a Trip to Prison

Australia's Nathan Baggaley sentenced to 25 years for 2018 cocaine-smuggling plot

(Newser) - A two-time Olympic silver medalist and three-time world kayaking champion has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in a failed $150 million cocaine-smuggling plot. Australia's Nathan Baggaley, 45, and his brother Dru, 39, were convicted in April of attempting to smuggle 650 kilograms of cocaine...

Smugglers' Cocaine Disguise Doesn't Fool Cops

Haul was altered to look like charcoal

(Newser) - Police in the Netherlands and Ireland were very keen to talk to the owners of two containers that arrived in Rotterdam weeks ago—but they never showed up to collect them. Inside the abandoned containers, which were destined for Ireland, was a huge shipment of cocaine disguised as charcoal, CNN...

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