drug trafficking

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NATO Chief OKs Attacks on Afghan Drug Producers

(Newser) - NATO's top commander has authorized coalition troops “to attack directly drug producers and facilities throughout Afghanistan,” saying they “are inextricably linked to the Opposing Military Forces,” Der Spiegel reports. The order from US General John Craddock is not going over well with commanders on the ground....

In Mexico, Corruption Is Rampant and Pervasive

(Newser) - During his two years in office, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has made a valiant attempt to expel corruption from his government, but many think his efforts are quixotic at best, the Christian Science Monitor reports. “I don't think there is ever a point that Calderón can claim...

Drug Arrest Knocks Crown Off Beauty Queen

Some fear pageant's drug ties run deep

(Newser) - A Mexican beauty pageant winner lost her title yesterday after being arrested with a top drug trafficker, the New York Daily News reports. Authorities said Miss Sinaloa, Laura Zúñiga Huizar, was collared along with leaders of the Juarez drug cartel, an arsenal of weapons, and $55,000 in...

Mexican Beauty Queen Busted With Drug Mobsters

Miss Hispanic America found traveling with cartel's Mr. Big in gun-filled truck

(Newser) - Miss Hispanic America 2008 will be finishing this year in jail after cops busted her traveling with seven alleged drug cartel mobsters, the Houston Chronicle reports. Laura Zuniga, from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa, was stopped at a military checkpoint near Guadalajara in a truck full of guns, ammunition and...

US War on Drugs Has Failed: Report
US War on Drugs Has Failed: Report
Nov 27, 2008 8:42 AM CST

US War on Drugs Has Failed: Report

Americans urged to focus on treatment, prevention, gun sales

(Newser) - America is treating the symptoms rather than the disease of drug use, and its war on drugs will continue to fail unless it changes course, a new report by an influential Washington think tank finds. The report urges the US to develop stronger ties in the Caribbean and Latin America,...

Mexico Busts Former Drug Czar
 Mexico Busts Former Drug Czar 
Nov 22, 2008 7:26 AM CST

Mexico Busts Former Drug Czar

Former head of elite 'corruption-proof' unit accused of passing info to drug cartels

(Newser) - The former chief of Mexico's anti-drug operations has been arrested on suspicion of taking massive bribes from drug cartels, the Wall Street Journal reports. Noe Ramirez, accused of  pocketing $450,000 for passing information on investigations to drug kingpins, is the highest-ranking official arrested so far in "Operation Cleanup,...

Peruvian Rebel Group Finds New Life

Shining Path kinder, gentler and more ideologically muddled, but still deadly

(Newser) - All but forgotten, Peru's Shining Path guerrilla group has again become a force to be reckoned with, killing more people in October than it had in any month since the 1990s, the Washington Post reports in a look at its secretive ranks. Today’s drug-financed Path leans more liberal narcoterrorist...

$3.2B Opium Stash May Be Taliban's Secret Weapon

International agencies alarmed by 8,000 of tons of missing opium

(Newser) - A huge pile of missing opium has international law enforcement agencies worried, Time reports. The UN estimates up to 8,000 tons of opium—enough to supply every addict in the world for two years—have disappeared between Afghanistan's poppy fields and the world market in recent years. Experts fear...

Drug Kingpins Corrupt Elite Mexican Unit

Top anti-drug agents accused of passing information to traffickers

(Newser) - Two senior officials from an elite Mexican anti-drug unit have been arrested and charged with spying for drug cartels, the Los Angeles Times reports, and dozens of agents have been fired following a tip-off from a captured informant. Prosecutors say the officials leaked information to the gangs they were supposed...

UN Crackdown on Heroin Is Bleeding Taliban Dry

Hundreds of tons of chemicals seized

(Newser) - The UN has been quietly striking a major blow against the Taliban with a widely successful international attack on its heroin trade, Bloomberg reports. The campaign has seized several hundred tons of acetic anhydride bound for Afghanistan. Without the chemical, the Taliban can’t convert its poppy, which sells for...

Drug Crime Looms Over Everyday Life in Mexico

People alter habits to guard against risk of violence

(Newser) - The effects of the wave of violent drug crime in Mexico--one paper puts this year’s related deaths at 2,682--have seeped into everyday life in the once-pacific country, the New York Times reports. “You have to be more careful with everything these days,” says a watchdog. Some...

Thousands Protest Mexico Violence

Tide of kidnappings and murders linked to drug gangs and corrupt cops

(Newser) - Thousands of protesters marched in various Mexican cities yesterday, demanding the government crack down on the nation's mounting crime. Mexico has been rocked by kidnappings and murders connected to drug-trafficking gangs and corrupt police, with an estimated 12,000 drug-related deaths so far this year, reports the Los Angeles Times....

Mexican Drug Wars Spread to Touristy Yucatan

(Newser) - As drug violence soars in Mexico, casualties are spreading to the Yucatan peninsula, a major tourist destination and spring break hot spot. Twelve decapitated bodies were found near the popular ruins of Chichen Itza this week, the Los Angeles Times reports. That's because a government crackdown has heightened “a...

Drug Smugglers' Subs Could Open US to Terrorists

Semi-submersibles are difficult to detect

(Newser) - Semi-submersible boats used to smuggle drugs into the US could provide a path into the country for terrorists or their weapons, the Boston Globe reports. “If drug cartels can ship up to 10 tons of cocaine in a semi-submersible, they can clearly ship or rent space to a terrorist...

Tampa Drug Bust Nets 41 Arrests
 Tampa Drug Bust
 Nets 41 Arrests
Aug 13, 2008 1:50 PM CDT

Tampa Drug Bust Nets 41 Arrests

Villa Palms apartment complex a base for trafficking

(Newser) - Police surveillance at a Tampa apartment complex resulted in 41 drug-related arrests, more than investigators expected, the Tampa Tribune reports. "I figured it would be four or five people," one deputy remarked. The bust turned up 67.7 grams of crack cocaine, 466.7 grams of marijuana, and...

Mexico Seizes Homemade Drug Submarine

Crew says it was forced to pilot makeshift vessel

(Newser) - Mexico's navy seized a homemade submarine carrying a drug shipment off the Pacific coast yesterday and arrested its four-man crew. The 30-foot makeshift vessel was detected heading north about 200 miles off the southern state of Oaxaca, and intercepted when it surfaced. The crew offered no resistance, and say drug...

Wills' Ship Busts Coke Runner
 Wills' Ship Busts Coke Runner 
Jul 2, 2008 10:00 AM CDT

Wills' Ship Busts Coke Runner

Seizes $80M worth of drug near Barbados

(Newser) - The Royal Navy warship Prince William is serving on busted a speedboat carrying $80 million worth of cocaine northeast of Barbados, the Sun reports. The Ministry of Defense said today that Wills was “part of the ship’s company” but would not specify his exact role when they intercepted...

Mexican Troops Accused in Drug War Deaths

Military responsible for deaths of 13 unarmed citizens

(Newser) - Mexicans increasingly accuse state troops of beating and murdering innocents on their mission to curb violent drug cartels, Time reports. Since the state assigned 25,000 soldiers to fight drug-runners 2 years ago, troops have killed at least 13 unarmed people—while traffickers have added 1,800 more to the...

In Mexico's Drug War, US Guns Fire Shots
 In Mexico's Drug War,
 US Guns Fire Shots 
GLOSSIES
Jun 22, 2008 4:31 PM CDT

In Mexico's Drug War, US Guns Fire Shots

Lax gun control and leaky border towns allow a brisk barter trade

(Newser) - When Mexican authorities seize a cache of weapons from a drug-cartel hitman, their first call is long distance: to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Because, Portfolio reports, chances are any gun used in Mexico’s noxious drug war—which has left close to 10,000 dead since...

Afghan Cops Blow Up Huge Hashish Stash

260 tons of narcotics destroyed after history's biggest drugs bust

(Newser) - Afghanistan police have made what is believed to be the biggest narcotics bust in history, the Guardian reports. Some 260 tons of hashish—worth $400 million—was found buried in trenches near the Pakistan border. The narcotics haul, which would have made as much as $14 million in profits for...

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