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Phoenix police detectives seized approximately one million fentanyl pills in a suburban home. Detectives arrested two suspected drug traffickers and seized a handgun in what they call the largest one-time seizure of fentanyl pills in the department’s history. Phoenix police officials tweeted photos of fentanyl pills seized while executing a search warrant on a suburban home. The photos show what police described as 950,000 fentanyl pills. Detectives arrested Francisco Delgado, age 26, and Jose Molina-Quinonez, age 21, during the search of their Avondale, Arizona, home, News12 NBC in Phoenix reported. Phoenix Police Department Sgt. Brian Bower told KTAR News there...

An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted...

908 Devices, manufacturer of purpose-built handheld and desktop devices for chemical and biomolecular analysis, and the United States Forest Service (USFS) are collaborating on a research effort to extend the capabilities of the MX908 handheld device for rapid detection of toxic pesticides used in illegal marijuana grows on federal lands. Drug traffickers plant marijuana in remote areas on U.S. federal lands, mainly in the Pacific Southwest, and use toxic and illegal pesticides to accelerate crop growth. USFS personnel currently have no safe and reliable method to conduct pesticide testing at the site of these illegal marijuana grows. They often must...

A Citizen's Indictment pursuant to Titles 21 U.S.C. 848 and 18 U.S.C. 1951-1968 Plaintiff, Lee Cary Defendants: Tom Perez, Chair, Democratic National Committee; Henry R. Muñoz III, Finance chair; Michael Tyler, Spokesperson; address 430 South Capitol St SE, Washington, D.C., 20003; and custodians of FCC-reported monies donated to individual Democrat politicians, and Democrat campaign-related special interest groups. Introduction: According to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Federal prosecutors have available two sets of statutes to dismantle criminal enterprises that function like businesses. The continuing criminal enterprise (CCE) statute (21 U.S.C. 848) targets only...

Court documents filed in federal court claim that a suspected drug traffickers linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel used a Middle Eastern honor system to launder drug proceeds. Known as a Hawala, members of the conspiracy would be hired by cartel members in Canada and Mexico to move drug proceeds through the honor system that does not leave a paper trail as couriers move the money between countries. “Drug traffickers in Canada would generate drug proceeds from multi-kilogram and multi-pound sales and distribution of drugs provided by Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel,” court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed. A...

Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales. PICTURES: ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timeline In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder...

SOME 300 drug traffickers are on death row in Iran, the judiciary has announced, reflecting Tehran’s hard line on narcotics which has added to international concerns over its extensive use of capital punishment. "For 300 drug-related convicts, including those who were in possession of at least 30 grammes of heroin, execution verdicts have been issued," Sharq daily quoted Tehran prosecutor-general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying yesterday. Although the list was long it did not contain any big-time traffickers or ringleaders, he said. All the convicts face death by hanging. Amnesty International says Iran is second only to China for the...

ZAPATA - Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez, Jr. tells CHANNEL 5 NEWS armed pirates shot at a McAllen couple on Falcon Lake this afternoon. The husband and wife were jetskiing near Old Guerrero. One their way back to shore, pirates in a boat pulled up next to them and started shooting at them. The husband was hit, possibly in the head. The woman tried to save him and ended up being at shot as well. She had to turn around and leave her husband in the water. She fears he's dead.

Drug traffickers are spending $1 million a pop to build boats that look like submarines and can carry 4 tons of cocaine for 2,000 miles without refueling. Nicknamed "narco subs," they're made to sneak loads up from South America to Mexico, where the drugs are offloaded and taken overland into the United States. "It is a semi-submersible coffin," said Jay Bergman, Andean regional director for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "You batten down the hatches and you are doing everything to not be detected sailing in the middle of the ocean." At least 13 of the craft have been stopped and...

Note: The following text SNIPPET is a quote: American Citizens Services Warden Message Threat against the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City May 14, 2010 1. U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Mexico, who plan to come to the U.S. Embassy for consular or other services, are advised that the Embassy has recently received unsubstantiated threats against its physical property, allegedly from drug trafficking organizations. Perimeter security around the embassy has been augmented and embassy officials are working with Mexican authorities to investigate the credibility of these threats. The Embassy continues to function normally, and the hours our offices are...

SAO PAULO, Brazil — In one murder after another, the "Canal Livre" crime TV show had an uncanny knack for being first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victim. Too uncanny, say police, who are investigating the show's host, state legislator Wallace Souza, on suspicion of commissioning at least five of the murders to boost his ratings and prove his claim that Brazil's Amazon region is awash in violent crime. Police also have accused Souza of drug trafficking. "The order to execute always came from the legislator and his son, who then alerted the TV crews to get...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/February/09-ag-162.html Hundreds of Alleged Sinaloa Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Nationwide Takedown of Mexican Drug Traffickers “Operation Xcellerator” Takes 23 Tons of Narcotics Off America’s Streets and Seizes More Than $59 Million in Drug Money WASHINGTON – Today Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., announced the arrest of more than 750 individuals on narcotics-related charges and the seizure of more than 23 tons of narcotics as part of a 21-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as "Operation Xcellerator." The Attorney General was joined in announcing the current results of Operation Xcellerator by...

Mexican drug trafficking organizations are now the greatest organized crime threat to the United States, according to a recent report released by the U.S. Department of Justice. The National Drug Threat Assessment for 2009, released last month by the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, says Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) operate in more than 230 cities across the United States. These drug syndicates not only smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border, they also produce drugs here in the United States. Their smuggled products include cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana, and their domestically produced products include methamphetamines and marijuana. The...

Corrupt officials inside Mexico's security forces have leaked U.S. anti-drugs intelligence directly to drug traffickers to help them escape raids, a senior U.S. law enforcement agent said. A recent anti-corruption sweep showed the infiltration of Mexican police forces had reached alarming levels, with several high-ranking investigators and a presidential guardsman arrested for selling information to drug cartels. The U.S. agent said the arrests were an encouraging sign that Mexico's government is serious about stopping drug gangs from getting their hands on intelligence, some of which comes from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA. "There have been occurrences where we...

Few rituals are more futile than the "housecleaning" of Mexico's police forces. So deep, broad and brazen is cop corruption south of the border that removing it makes eradicating rats from landfills look easy. Mexico stages quasi-annual purges of officers high and low — last year it was 284 federal police commanders — and yet every year it seems to find itself with an even more criminal constabulary. This year's scandals, however, are especially appalling. Over the summer, President Felipe Calderon's anti-drug czar, Noe Ramirez, resigned abruptly. This week, the likely reason became apparent after Ramirez was detained and accused...

The purported head of Zeta operations in Reynosa was formally charged with organized crime and firearms violations, Mexico's attorney general's office said Monday. A federal judge in Mexico City ordered that Jaime "El Hummer" González Durán remain in custody pending trial. Federal authorities arrested González during a series of Nov. 7 raids in Reynosa and later fought off Cartel gunmen who chased them to the city's airport as they attempted to fly him out of the city. The raids also uncovered the largest cache of illegal weapons ever found in Mexico. Investigators believe the weapons belonged to González's organization, which...

TIJUANA, Mexico – Investigators have arrested three gunmen accused of participating in killings and kidnappings ordered by a Tijuana-based drug smuggling cartel and who allegedly used acid to dissolve the bodies of some victims, state authorities said. Prosecutors in Baja California state, where Tijuana is located, said in a statement that Oswaldo Millan, 26, Armando Nava, 32, and Arturo Silva, a 29-year-old former state investigator, were arrested during a raid Tuesday in Otay. The office said the suspects admitted belonging to the Arellano Felix cartel and working as enforcers who collect fees from drug traffickers using the cartel's routes. The...

PRIME Minister John Howard has delivered a blunt warning to Australians who carry drugs into Asia, calling them stupid and telling them not to expect the Government to save them. His comments follow high-profile drug cases in Indonesia where 10 Australians now face the death penalty if convicted of narcotics charges. "It's beyond belief that any Australian could be so stupid as to carry drugs into any country in Asia," Mr Howard told Channel 9. "We have told Australians - young Australians - again and again, don't take drugs out of this country, don't take them into Asian countries because...

TIJUANA – Some U.S. law enforcement officials weren't amused with a cartoon published in Mexican newspapers this month depicting a reward of $10,000 for an FBI or DEA agent. In the cartoon, a drug trafficker stands near the reward sign. He's quoted as saying, "Let's see what type of hide yields more belts." The hide presumably refers to the skin of the agents. Cartoonist Osvaldo Muñoz Aceves said the drawing was his dark-humored response to recent demonstrations along the Arizona border againstillegal immigration. He believes the migrants are innocent targets, compared with drug traffickers. "The drug trafficker is doing something...

A 48-year-old Chicago man who was in Juárez reportedly to adopt a child was abducted in broad daylight Tuesday, Chihuahua state police said. Daniel Chaídez was stopped at a red light at Vicente Guerrero Street and Tecnológico Avenue with his wife, Evgenia Bakas, 46, and a 2-year-old boy whose identity was not released, when Chaídez was pulled out of his 2002 Ford Explorer and shoved into a white Suburban. Bakas, who does not speak Spanish, told Mexican investigators through a translator that two men took her husband away at 11:30 a.m. Police said Chaídez, who was born in Durango, Mexico,...