drug smuggling

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'Terror on the High Seas': the Coast Guard's Floating Prisons

Fishermen carrying drugs from South America detained on US vessels for days or weeks

(Newser) - Seth Freed Wessler wrote a story last week for the New York Times that he describes to PRI as one of "real terror … on the high seas": what amounts to "floating Guantanamos" in the Pacific, Coast Guard cutters sent far from US shores to bust smugglers trying...

Fugitive 'Cocaine King' Finally Messes Up After 23 Years

He now faces 30-year sentence in Italy

(Newser) - A fugitive Italian crime boss is in custody after 23 years on the run following what seems to have been a major slip-up: Authorities in Uruguay say 50-year-old Rocco Morabito, once known as the "cocaine king of Milan," was found after he used his real name to enroll...

Canadian Bike Cops Nab One of America's Most Wanted

Katay-Khaophone Sychanta may face extradition to US

(Newser) - Montreal police have just earned a heap of respect for bicycle cops everywhere. Two cycling police officers were patrolling a Montreal bike path last Wednesday when they spotted two men they suspected of having drugs, police say. The suspects took off running and the officers pursued, one eventually jumping off...

Border Agents Watch as Drone Flies 13 Pounds of Meth Into US

Agents recovered the drone and drugs and arrested a 25-year-old man

(Newser) - Looks like automation is impacting everyone's livelihoods, even drug smugglers. The Los Angeles Times reports Border Patrol agents arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of importing a controlled substance Aug. 8 in California after watching a drone carrying 13 pounds of meth fly over the border fence from Mexico....

'Cocaine Cowboy' Arrested After 26 Years on the Lam

Gustavo Falcon disappeared before being indicted for drug smuggling

(Newser) - The "last of the Cocaine Cowboys"—on the lam for almost exactly 26 years—was finally arrested Wednesday while on a 40-mile bike ride with his wife, the Miami Herald reports. During South Florida's "Miami Vice era," Gustavo Falcon allegedly helped his brother, kingpin Augusto...

Worker Makes $434K Find in Plane Flagged for Maintenance

Yes, that's cocaine

(Newser) - Authorities say 31 pounds of cocaine that was accidentally discovered stashed in the nose of an American Airlines aircraft in Tulsa, Okla., is worth around $434,000. Tulsa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Justin Green says the plane arrived in Miami from Bogota, Colombia, on Sunday. It was flagged for...

Customs Busts 53-Pound Snail Statue Stuffed With Meth

'Mexican stone crafts'? Um, no

(Newser) - Customs and Border Protection officials say officers in Cincinnati intercepted more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine that was concealed inside a statue of a snail, reports the AP . Authorities say the package, sent from Mexico and labeled "Mexican stone crafts," contained a decorative snail statue that exhibited "...

Man's New Car Starts Rattling for Very Illegal Reason

A cautionary tale on buying drug-smuggling cars seized by cops

(Newser) - A northern Kentucky man bothered by a rattle in a car he'd recently bought at an Ohio auto auction has found 2 pounds—or about $130,000—of heroin in a secret compartment inside the vehicle, reports the AP . "We went out to dinner one night and the...

Cops: Trio Brought $23M in Cocaine on Cruise

3 Canadians could face life in prison

(Newser) - Australia has made one of its largest drug busts ever … on a cruise ship. With help from Canadian and US authorities, police searched the Sea Princess after it docked in Sydney on Sunday and uncovered 210 pounds of cocaine, worth about $23 million, in two cabins, reports La Presse...

Border Patrol Finds 2 Kids, $460K in Cocaine in Woman's Car

Some women smugglers apparently bring children along to make themselves 'inconspicuous'

(Newser) - On Monday morning, a Border Patrol agent pulled over a Honda Accord cruising north on Interstate 5 in San Clemente, Calif., and the agent's drug dog started giving the sign there was possibly something illicit inside the vehicle, the Los Angeles Times reports. Surprise No. 1 when agents searched...

Border Agents Find 1.4K Pounds of Pot Inside Coconuts

Marijuana seized, valued at $285K

(Newser) - Customs officers discovered more than 1,400 pounds of marijuana hidden inside fresh coconuts at the United States-Mexico border in Texas, the AP reports. A news release from the US Customs and Border Protection said officers in Pharr encountered a large semitrailer Monday hauling a commercial shipment of coconuts from...

Cops: Women Hid $3M of Heroin, Opium in Tea Leaves

They were arrested at O'Hare International Airport

(Newser) - Three women were allegedly found with more than $3 million worth of drugs hidden in bags of tea leaves Tuesday afternoon at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the Chicago Sun Times reports. Authorities say nearly 70 pounds of opium and heroin were divided up into 470 tiny packets in...

Fresh Scars Give Away Airport Drug Smuggler

Woman had $220K worth of cocaine in breast implants: cops

(Newser) - Customs officials report an unusual arrest out of Germany: A 24-year-old Colombian woman was caught carrying $220,000 in drugs in her breast implants at Frankfurt Airport, reports Reuters . Authorities say the woman seemed to be in pain, and they found fresh operation scars below her breasts. They sent her...

Authorities: Guy Smuggled $1.6M in Drugs Into US on Sled

Innovative

(Newser) - Authorities say a Canadian man was arrested while pulling a sled carrying more than 180 pounds of prescription pills across the border into the United States. The US attorney's office says 21-year-old Cedrik Bourgault-Morin was apprehended early Wednesday after he crossed the border from Quebec along a railroad line...

Drug Smuggler Accidentally Asks Cop for Help

That's some seriously bad luck

(Newser) - Mounting bad luck doomed a would-be meth smuggler in Texas last year, the Houston Chronicle reports. Nineteen-year-old Houston resident Jose Trevino, who was sentenced to more than six years in prison yesterday, was desperate in August 2014. He had no job, no money, and a pregnant girlfriend when he decided...

Saudi Prince Arrested at Airport With 2 Tons of Drugs

Authorities allegedly found amphetamines on his private plane

(Newser) - A Saudi prince was arrested in Beirut Monday after Lebanese security forces at Rafik Hariri International Airport allegedly found an incredible two tons of drugs on his private plane. Abd al-Muhsen bin Walid bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud was about to fly back to Saudi Arabia at the time, RT....

Marijuana Falls From Sky, Crushes Doghouse

Bundle that hit carport probably fell from plane

(Newser) - Maya Donnelly awoke to what sounded like thunder in the early morning hours, but she dismissed it as a typical monsoon storm and went back to sleep. Later that morning, she looked in the carport at her home in Nogales, Ariz., near the border with Mexico, and saw pieces of...

Man, 91, May Have Become an Unwitting Drug Mule

Online 'friends' gave him soap filled with drugs before flight, say police

(Newser) - A 91-year-old retired surgeon has been charged with importing cocaine hidden in soap into Australia, prompting police to warn travelers to beware they are not tricked into becoming drug mules. Victor Twartz of Sydney was released on bail when he appeared in Sydney's Downing Center Local Court, charged with...

Coast Guard Seizes 8 Tons of Cocaine, Loses 2 of Them
 Coast Guard Seizes 8 Tons 
 of Cocaine, Loses 2 of Them 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 9, 2015 10:07 AM CDT

Coast Guard Seizes 8 Tons of Cocaine, Loses 2 of Them

Small submarine busted at sea; it sank while being towed to shore

(Newser) - A Coast Guard ship seized a semi-submersible vessel carrying 16,000 pounds of cocaine worth more than $180 million last month in what the Coast Guard is calling the largest drug bust of its kind. Even if they did lose two tons of the drug on the way home. The...

Drug Smugglers Use Sewage Line—Until It Clogs

Waste was oozing out of house on Mexican border

(Newser) - Authorities in the border city of Nogales, Arizona, believe smugglers were using an international sewage line to transport drugs into the US from Mexico. The big clue came when the pipe got clogged, sending gallons of waste through an illegal tunnel and into a house and local businesses. City officials...

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