http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/drugsmuggling/ en-us Thu, 2 Apr 2009 20:52:48 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2220978/posts New York, NY (AHN) - New York City Police busted a the manager of a Bronx pizza parlor that was delivering a side order of cocaine with their pizzas, calzones and heroes. They also arrested five other employees of John's Pizza on Westchester Avenue for delivering cocaine to customers, sometimes the drugs were hidden inside pizza boxes. But not all the drug sales were delivered to customers. Some customers came from as far away as Connecticut for take-out pizza boxes filled with up to $40,000 worth of cocaine to go. New York's Special Narcotics prosecutor reportedly said investigators conducted surveillance... All Headline News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2220978/posts#comment Thu, 2 Apr 2009 20:52:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2214737/posts Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress09/mueller032509.htm Congressional Testimony Robert S. Mueller, III Director Federal Bureau of Investigation Statement Before the Senate Judiciary Committee March 25, 2009 Good morning Chairman Leahy, Senator Specter, and Members of the Committee. I am pleased to be here today. As you know, we in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have undergone unprecedented transformation in recent years, from developing the intelligence capabilities necessary to address emerging terrorist and criminal threats, to creating the administrative and technological structure necessary to meet our new mission as a national security service. Today, the FBI is a... FBI.gov http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2214737/posts#comment Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:37:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2187259/posts Entire South African Airways crew arrested for drug smuggling - TWICE in one month By SAM GREENHILL 17th February 2009 The entire crew of a South African Airways flight has been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling - for the second time in a month. Fifteen members of the flight crew, including the pilot, were detained yesterday at Heathrow airport after customs officers found five kilos of cocaine in a bag. They were being held by officers after the class A drug, with an estimated street value of £250,000, was discovered as the crew tried to clear customs following a... Dail Mail (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2187259/posts#comment Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:02:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2187113/posts The entire crew of a South African Airways flight have been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling - for the second time in a month. Fifteen members of the flight crew, including the pilot, were detained today at London's Heathrow after customs officers found five kilos of cocaine in a bag.  They were being held by officers after the class A drug, with an estimated street value of £250,000, was discovered as the crew tried to clear customs following a 12-hour flight from Johannesburg. Bob Gaiger, spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs, said the drugs were discovered after the... The Daily Mail (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2187113/posts#comment Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:14:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061670/posts The men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol guarding the Southern land border come into constant contact with drug and human smugglers, criminals and migrants. Every so often, they even encounter Mexican military personnel making unauthorized incursions across the border into the United States. The most recent Mexican military incursion occurred last week on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in Arizona. According to reports, the Mexican soldiers crossed the border in a military vehicle and held a Border Patrol agent at gunpoint before escaping back to Mexico. While the agent who was temporarily detained by the Mexican soldiers was... humanevents.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061670/posts#comment Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:56:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021808/posts What's worse, the cartels have now forged alliances with American street gangs, giving these drug cartels a deep reach into American life and through that alliance with our gangs that gives them control over most of the $300 to $500 billion American drug trade, the largest in the world. These cartels have become a global crime corporation with an international reach of illegal franchises spanning the world. The ability of these Mexican drug cartels to operate with complete disregard for the law on both sides of the border – trafficking in drugs, weapons, humans, terrorists, prostitution, and money laundering is... Right Side News and Laguna Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021808/posts#comment Tue, 27 May 2008 11:14:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912339/posts Mexican soldiers and civilian smugglers had an armed standoff with nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officials on the Rio Grande in Texas Monday afternoon, according to Texas police and the FBI. Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States, said Chief Deputy Mike Doyal, of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department. Mexican Army troops had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border -- near Neely's Crossing, about 50 miles east of El Paso -- when Border Patrol agents called for... The Daily Bulletin, Ontario Calif http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912339/posts#comment Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:49:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1852986/posts State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent distribute cocaine, federal and state authorities said at a news conference at SLED headquarters this afternoon. According to the indictment, beginning in 2005 — before he was elected state treasurer — Ravenel conspired with Michael L. Miller to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. If convicted, Ravenel faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. The Charleston Republican raised millions of dollars to unseat long-term Democratic incumbent Grady Patterson in November. He... the state.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1852986/posts#comment Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:04:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1842868/posts Everyone in Amado, Arivaca and other small communities south of Green Valley agrees that something must be done to stem the smuggling of illegal immigrants and drugs through the area. But most think it should be done closer to the U.S.-Mexico border — not 30 miles to the north, where the Border Patrol has proposed building a permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19. "There's this feeling that if you're against the checkpoint, you're against the Border Patrol," said Stewart Loew, a lifelong resident who manages his family's Agua Linda Farm near Amado. "That's not true. They have a very difficult job... Arizona Daily Star http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1842868/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jun 2007 02:44:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817368/posts It seems the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, overseen by Johnny Sutton from his throne in San Antonio, has a PR problem when it comes to dealing with drug smugglers. In the high-profile case of the two Border Patrol agents in Texas who are now serving long prison terms for shooting a drug smuggler in the rear end, conservative media outlets are proclaiming that Sutton’s office showed special favor to the smuggler in order to ruin the lives of the agents. Likewise, in the House of Death mass murder case, an informant was shown special consideration... NBPC.net http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817368/posts#comment Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:18:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769482/posts Family members of agent Ignacio Ramos, California Minutemen and Arizona bikers protested in front of the federal courthouse Wednesday afternoon. In Washington, D.C., Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, released a vitriolic statement chastising President Bush for not pardoning the agents. And the U.S. Attorney's Office retaliated, issuing a lengthy list of what it described as "myths" surrounding the case, which has become a cause celebre among conservative activists. Former agents Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean surrendered at 1:30 p.m. to the U.S. Marshal's office inside the federal courthouse in downtown El Paso, officials said. They were handcuffed and will be... Inland Daily Bulletin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769482/posts#comment Thu, 18 Jan 2007 13:50:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1721276/posts *** NOTE*** Take your blood pressure medication before viewing this report... McCaul Releases Report on Border Violence (Tuesday, October 17, 2006) Today, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (TX), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, released a report on border violence in the Southwest. The report examines the alarming rise in the level of criminal cartel activity, including drug and human smuggling, along the Texas-Mexico border and its effects on Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies. The report also looks at what steps are being taken to counter the threat, and the significance of these issues pertaining... Committee on Homeland Security http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1721276/posts#comment Wed, 18 Oct 2006 02:35:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1705197/posts LA VILLA, Texas - A former police officer about to face trial on drug charges and five alleged members of a violent drug gang escaped from a privately run federal jail near the Mexican border by overpowering a guard and cutting through at least four fences, officials said Wednesday. More than 60 local and federal law-enforcement officers using helicopters and bloodhounds were searching near the East Hidalgo Detention Center, a facility owned by a Lafayette, La., company about 20 miles north of the border. A four square-mile security perimeter was set up around the area during the initial investigation but... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1705197/posts#comment Wed, 20 Sep 2006 23:29:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1691368/posts Illegal marijuana production is surging on the North Coast and across the state as a result of rising dominance of Mexican crime families over the state's underground pot economy. Scores of Mexican nationals are being sneaked across the border to grow, guard and harvest marijuana gardens inside California because tightened border security has crimped smuggling of Mexican-grown pot into the state, according to local, state and federal drug agents. Mexican-controlled operations now account for as much as 70 percent of all the marijuana cultivated in the state's rural regions, including the North Coast, the agents said. Agents say tightened U.S.-Mexican... THE PRESS DEMOCRAT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1691368/posts#comment Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:38:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1687488/posts EL PASO, Texas - The union representing U.S. Border Patrol agents has set up a legal defense fund for two agents convicted earlier this year of wounding a suspected drug smuggler and then trying to cover up the shooting. The National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents nearly all Border Patrol agents, launched the fund this week to help former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean pay for an appeal and provide some money for their families. The men were suspended without pay after their 2005 arrests and fired after a federal jury convicted them in March. Union... Star-Telegram http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1687488/posts#comment Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:58:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1683510/posts Nearly two week ago, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell suggested hard-line Communist Raul Castro really did have a soft spot for capitalism. “Raul has been in charge of the military and the economy,” Mitchell explained to the August 2 “Today” show audience, calling Fidel’s younger brother “politically hard-line but more open than his brother to free enterprise, including foreign investment.” She might be on to something, after all. “Federal prosecutors in Miami were prepared to indict Raul Castro as the head of a major cocaine smuggling conspiracy in 1993, but the Clinton Administration Justice Department overruled them, current and former Justice Department... Business & Media Institute http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1683510/posts#comment Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:31:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1630449/posts Dug by hand with the help of rogue mining engineers to link warehouses on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border, it was the longest, deepest and boldest drug smuggling tunnel found to date. But before the Mexican gang had even punched through a concrete floor to emerge opposite a washroom in a distribution depot in Otay Mesa, California, a crack law enforcement team with expertise honed in the hunt for Osama bin Laden was on their trail. Little known outside police circles, the Tunnel Task Force came to light with the January 24 discovery of the passageway that was used... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1630449/posts#comment Thu, 11 May 2006 13:58:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1592500/posts PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she signed an executive order to expand the Arizona National Guard's presence at the state's porous border with Mexico to support federal efforts to combat undocumented immigration and other border problems. The governor also said she would veto a bill in the Legislature requiring her to send troops to the border, but wants lawmakers to pass a proposal to pay for the expanded National Guard role. She said the Legislature's pending bill requiring additional deployment as a result of her declaration last summer of an immigration emergency in four border counties... Newsmax http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1592500/posts#comment Wed, 8 Mar 2006 18:05:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588631/posts More than a ton of marijuana valued at more than $1.6 million was found near Jacumba after smugglers abandoned two vehicles at the border, according to federal officials. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent was patrolling O'Neil Valley less than a mile from the border around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when he spotted a pair of SUVs traveling along a road, said Agent Kurstan Rosberg. The drivers turned around and went back to the border, where they abandoned the SUVs and climbed over a 4-foot-high vehicle barrier and escaped, Rosberg said. Agents found 2,055 pounds of marijuana in 102 bundles,... Yahoo News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588631/posts#comment Thu, 2 Mar 2006 18:02:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588602/posts WASHINGTON - A south Texas rancher, Texas sheriffs, an Arizona district attorney and other law enforcement representatives urged Senate committee members Wednesday to heed their warning: The porous southern border of the United States is a national security risk. Witnesses told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, at a hearing on border violence that without cooperation from Mexico, combined with federal support from the United States, the situation at the border will continue to deteriorate. Cornyn focused the hearing on recent reports of Mexican military incursions into the United States, increasing border violence... Daily Bulletin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588602/posts#comment Thu, 2 Mar 2006 17:21:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1577009/posts Traffickers find a perfect cover in legitimate cargo passing through NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO - The five bridges spanning the green waters of the Rio Grande bustle with more than 21,000 cars, trucks and buses every day. This border town — and its American sister city across the river — see more than $100 billion in commerce rumble through every year. They're known as "Los Dos Laredos," and few dispute the towns are one of the great NAFTA success stories. But U.S. drug agents say that free trade with Mexico has had an ugly and unintended consequence: Just as legitimate business... Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1577009/posts#comment Sun, 12 Feb 2006 15:01:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1571165/posts Mexican authorities on Friday announced the capture of a top Mexican drug smuggler wanted in the United States for cocaine trafficking and money laundering and who was included among the 40 most-wanted fugitives in the world. Oscar Arriola Marquez, leader of the Arriola Marquez cartel, was arrested on Thursday in the northern state of Coahuila, one of three states where the organization is based, Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said. “He is one of the drug traffickers most sought after in the United States” and among the 40 most-wanted fugitives in the world, Cabeza de Vaca said. Mexican authorities... ap on San Diego Union Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1571165/posts#comment Fri, 3 Feb 2006 20:14:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1559586/posts The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers "trained to escape, evade and counterambush" if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday. The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border. The warning asks the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed. It also cautions agents to keep "a low profile," to use "cover and concealment" in approaching the Mexican units, to... The washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1559586/posts#comment Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:49:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1545224/posts Police in Colombia say they have found a half-built submarine in a warehouse in a suburb of the capital Bogota (2,250 metres (7,500 ft) above sea level,). Police chief General Luis Ernesto Gilibert said Russian documents were found alongside the partially-completed vessel. He said the 30 metre (100ft) vessel would have been capable of carrying huge quantities of cocaine or heroin. He speculated that, once completed, the submarine would have been disassembled and taken by lorry to to Colombia’s Pacific or Caribbean coast. When police raided the warehouse in the suburb of Facatativa they found the building equipped with closed-circuit... Technocracia.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1545224/posts#comment Thu, 22 Dec 2005 09:27:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1469064/posts NEWARK - Nearly four dozen leaders and associates of an international criminal enterprise have been charged in six indictments - forty-three of them were arrested over the weekend in New Jersey and other states - with running a smuggling ring that brought large quantities of counterfeit cigarettes, millions of dollars in high-quality counterfeit U.S. currency and drugs into the United States through Port Newark and other domestic ports, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced. The indictments, including three racketeering indictments, charge 57 individuals. Of those, several were arrested beginning on Friday as they arrived in Atlantic City to attend a... Department of Justice - US Attorney - NJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1469064/posts#comment Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:29:19 GMT