Free Republic

The US Department of Justice will investigate claims that the Obama administration shielded the Lebanon-based Shi’ite terrorist group Hezbollah from criminal prosecution for its drug-trafficking and gun-running operations, as part of an effort to curry favor with Hezbollah’s patron, Iran. Last week, Politico released an investigative report citing Drug Enforcement Administration and former Treasury Department officials who claimed that the previous administration blocked the prosecution of Hezbollah officials known to be involved in the smuggling of illegal narcotics and weapons – including chemical weapons – in an effort to bring Hezbollah’s patron state, Iran, to the negotiating table. In 2015,...

The White House on Wednesday condemned a Republican congressman’s assertion that many immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as kids are actually running drugs. White House press secretary Jay Carney said the comments from Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, “were extremely unfortunate, and I think a number of people have pointed out that they were offensive.” “They certainly don’t help any efforts by Republicans to improve their standing among Hispanic Americans, I would assume,” Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One as the president traveled to deliver an economic speech in Galesburg, Ill. …

Phil Jordan, a former CIA operative and one-time leader of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Intelligence Center, claims that the Obama administration is running guns to the violent Zetas cartel through the direct commercial sale of military grade weapons: Jordan, who served as director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Intelligence Center in 1995, said the Zetas have shipped large amounts of weapons purchased in the Dallas area through El Paso. Robert “Tosh” Plumlee, a former CIA contract pilot, told the Times he supported Jordan’s allegations, adding that the Zetas have reportedly bought property in the Columbus,...

The stench from Washington is getting stronger. Rep. Darrell Issa has called for a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of the festering mess known as Operation Fast and Furious. Hatched somewhere in the bowels of the Justice Department, that misbegotten scheme had the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives deliberately allowing high-powered guns to “walk” from Arizona and elsewhere into Mexico: Our agents turned a blind eye toward the straw purchasers who were funneling the weapons to the drug cartels. The (dumb) idea was to trace cross-border arms trafficking, and so prove the (false) claim that 90...

SARNIA, Ont. -- A Texas man driving to New York with $33,000 worth of marijuana was sentenced to two years in jail after his GPS directed him over the border and into Canada. Jesus Fontanez-Medina, 54, pleaded guilty in Sarnia court Tuesday to importing marijuana. He was driving a 1999 Blazer with Massachusetts licence plates on Feb. 7 when he entered Canada with a passenger at 5 p.m. Federal prosecutor Michael Robb said outside the courtroom that a GPS navigational system in the vehicle apparently led him to the border. The passenger, charged with a similar offence, is still before...

In early 2009, as the Sri Lankan Army moved into territory held, for years, by the rebel LTTE (Tamil separatists), they found some surprises. One, on the northeast coast, was a submarine shipyard. Well, not exactly submarines, but close. These semi-submersible boats run mostly submerged, and are excellent at evading detection. This design was first developed by Colombian drug gangs a decade ago, and these craft are carrying most of the cocaine being moved north to the United States. Several years of effort by the U.S. Navy to improve detection methods, have not had much success. Thus the semi-submersibles are...

SAN DIEGO - Narcotics syndicates operating along the southern border are a threat to the security of the United States, and not enough is being done to close the nation's borders to would-be terrorists, government witnesses told U.S. congressional leaders Wednesday. The House Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Non-proliferation held the first of several field hearings on border security and terrorism at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station in San Diego. During testimony, law enforcement agents, researchers and federal officials said they lack the funding, manpower and technology to fully secure the nation's northern and southern borders. "Drug cartels, smuggling...

SAN DIEGO - The driver of an SUV packed with illegal immigrants and nearly 700 pounds of marijuana sped from police with his headlights off the wrong way on Interstate 8 before crashing head on into a California Highway Patrol car, officials said. Wednesday night's pursuit was the latest in a series of incidents involving smugglers who try to evade border checkpoints by veering into oncoming traffic, often at night, sometimes with their headlights off. At least one of the incidents has resulted in fatalities. "This year for some reason they're becoming more frequent," said Brian Pennings, a CHP spokesman...

Rangers say they aren't equipped to cope with illegal immigrants, armed smugglers. ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. -- When two gunmen affiliated with a drug cartel fled into this border park from Mexico in August, ranger Kris Eggle grabbed his shotgun and raced to confront them. As Eggle searched a dry wash in the 104-degree heat, one of the men hidden in the desert scrub opened fire with an AK-47, delivering a fatal wound under the ranger's bulletproof vest. The killing came after years of complaints by rangers that they were badly outmanned and poorly organized for the increasingly...

By Terence P. Jeffrey © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com U.S. law-enforcement officers in the Southwest are convinced that Mexican military units are crossing the Arizona-Mexico border to aid smugglers in carrying drugs into the United States. In one incident, says a senior federal law-enforcement officer, a major in the Mexican army was caught at the U.S. port of entry at Naco, Ariz., carrying a detailed drug-smuggling map among his papers. The Mexican officer, said the official, was "coming into the United States and they found the drug-smuggling maps on him that showed all the drop points and trails" that local smugglers used...