drug bust

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Boat Chase Leads to Biggest Cocaine Seizure 'of the Year'

Value of shipment seized off Colombian island estimated at $113M

(Newser) - A high-speed boat chase ended with Colombia's "largest cocaine shipment seizure of the year," per CBS News . The Colombian navy and air force worked with the US Southern Command's Joint Interagency Task Force to chase down the speedboat found to hold nearly 4 tons of cocaine,...

It's an 'Amount of Drugs Never Seen Before in Galicia'

Some of the cocaine was sandwiched between pieces of frozen tuna

(Newser) - Spanish authorities have confiscated 11 tons of cocaine and arrested 20 people tied to Balkan mafias in two different operations against the smuggling of the illegal drugs inside shipping containers, Spain's National Police said Tuesday. Police said the 16,500 pounds (or roughly 8 tons) of cocaine seized by...

Flight Attendant Admits to Fentanyl Smuggling Scheme
Drug-Smuggling Plot Goes
Awry for Flight Attendant
in case you missed it

Drug-Smuggling Plot Goes Awry for Flight Attendant

Terese White admits taping 3 lbs. to her abdomen, a tiny fraction of total fentanyl seized in US in 2022

(Newser) - A flight attendant pleaded guilty last week to drug trafficking charges after being busted with 3 pounds of fentanyl taped to her body in San Diego International Airport. Per the San Diego Union-Tribune , Terese L. White, 41, entered her plea in a San Diego federal courtroom. White is from Dallas,...

Cocaine 'Super Cartel' Is Busted in Europe

Ring controlled about one-third of the trade on the continent

(Newser) - Law enforcement authorities in six different countries have joined forces to take down a "super cartel" of drug traffickers who controlled about one third of the cocaine trade in Europe, Europol said on Monday. The European Union crime agency said 49 suspects have been arrested during the investigation, with...

$108M in Meth, Cocaine Hidden in Vintage Bentley

4 people arrested in the case in Australia

(Newser) - A vintage Bentley luxury sedan shipped from Canada to Australia was carrying more than $108 million in illegal drugs, authorities say. Officers found 161 kilograms of methamphetamine and 30 kilos of cocaine in tightly wrapped bricks hidden in the car, including behind the headlights, the National Post reports. The 1960...

Thailand: We Busted $1B in Ketamine... Oh, Wait a Second...

Turns out the cops busted a lot of trisodium phosphate

(Newser) - Thailand's justice minister is walking back claims of the country's largest ever ketamine bust as it turns out the substance seized was actually an everyday product, appropriately labeled. About 475 bags of a white, granular substance were seized from a warehouse in Bang Pakong district, Chachoengsao province, on...

Why You Don't Hide Drugs in Bag Labeled 'Bag Full of Drugs'

'Our K-9’s can read,' Florida cops chortle

(Newser) - Two men charged with drug trafficking could have done a better job hiding their wares than using a package labeled "Bag Full of Drugs," Florida authorities say. Ian Simmons and Joshua Reinhardt, both 34, were pulled over in Santa Rosa County on Saturday after a trooper clocked them...

Traffic Stop Uncovered $3.7M in Drugs, Police Say

Officers searched car after the driver avoided eye contact

(Newser) - Officers making a traffic stop on Interstate 15 in Arizona noticed the driver "would not make eye contact with deputies and appeared extremely nervous," ABC reports. So they called for a drug-sniffing dog that, the Mohave County Sheriff's Department report said, sniffed drugs—almost $3.7 million...

Big Vaping Bust May Explain Why People Are Getting Sick

Wisconsin police arrest Tyler Huffhines and Jacob Huffhines for alleged vaping operation

(Newser) - A stunning Wisconsin drug bust may help explain why vapers have been getting sick and dying , the New York Times reports. Police recently burst into a condo in a quiet subdivision and found an operation for filling vaping cartridges with THC-laced liquid. The raid netted 31,200 filled cartridges, 98,...

Airport Police Concede 'Huge' Drug Find Was a Bust

White powder was for vegan cakes

(Newser) - A suitcase containing 25 bags of white powder understandably caught the attention of police at London's Gatwick Airport. Tests on the powder and questioning began, the Guardian reports. In the end, police said, "It was determined these bags of powder were cake ingredients for a vegan bakery."...

Cops: Guy Busted With $140M in Meth Had a 'Very, Very Bad Day'

Van said to have crashed into parked police cars was carrying a lot of meth

(Newser) - If you're going to be driving around with $140 million worth of meth, what definitely falls under the "you had one job" category is to avoid getting pulled over by the cops—or crashing into a couple of cop cars. This week, one man in Sydney, Australia, allegedly...

Ship's Cargo Was $1B in Cocaine, Feds Say

Officials call it one of the biggest busts in US history

(Newser) - Federal authorities have made what they called one of the largest cocaine busts in US history: 16 tons of the drug, worth more than $1 billion. The haul was seized Tuesday from a cargo ship, the MSC Gayane, at the Port of Philadelphia, the Inquirer reported. "This amount of...

Deputies Encounter ‘Attack Squirrel’ During Bust
'Attack Squirrel'
Awaited Deputies

'Attack Squirrel' Awaited Deputies

Suspect reportedly fed the animal meth

(Newser) - Sheriff's deputies say they rescued an "attack squirrel" during a raid Monday in Alabama. Investigators said they were told before the raid that the man they were looking for kept a squirrel in his apartment and fed it meth "to keep it aggressive." A squirrel was...

A Tip About Huge ATM Withdrawals Led to Historic Bust
A Tip About Huge
ATM Withdrawals
Led to the Dark Web
the rundown

A Tip About Huge ATM Withdrawals Led to the Dark Web

At least 420K counterfeit Xanax tablets were seized

(Newser) - Their "storefront" operated on the dark web, but their undoing was a bunch of New York City ATMs, say prosecutors. Three New Jersey men have been charged in what prosecutors describe as a $2.3 million pill operation that sold counterfeit Xanax and other drugs to customers in 43...

DEA Busts a Staggering Amount of Fentanyl

Enough to kill 2M people found in house in Westchester, NY

(Newser) - "The fentanyl alone has the potency to kill nearly over 2 million people." This from Ray Donovan, special agent with the New York division of the DEA, about a drug bust on Friday morning in suburban Westchester County that yielded five kilos of fentanyl and six kilos of...

They Looked Like Speakers. Agents Found So Much More

Customs and Border Protection stop biggest-ever meth shipment

(Newser) - What looked like a shipment of speakers leaving for Australia contained so much more—a record-high 1.7 tons of methamphetamine, ABC News reports. Customs and Border Protection also uncovered nearly 60 pounds of cocaine and 11.5 pounds of heroin in the Jan. 11 seizure at Los Angeles/Long Beach...

What Cops Found in Secret Compartment Could've Killed 26M

It was 118 pounds of fentanyl, worth $20M

(Newser) - Suspicious of a semi-truck driving on the shoulder of I-80, Nebraska State Patrol troopers searched the vehicle and, in so doing, made the largest fentanyl bust in the state's history. In a secret compartment in the truck, stopped near Kearney on April 26, authorities say they found 118 pounds...

Man Accidentally Reveals $500M Opium Crop to Cops

'Unbelievable'

(Newser) - Authorities say they visited a North Carolina home this week after receiving a tip about a crime, but the crime they found wasn't the one resident Cody Xiong allegedly divulged. After a tip came into police last week—possibly related to a cockfighting operation, per the Charlotte Observer —...

Teacher Caught With $6M in Drugs: Cops
Teacher Busted
in $6M Drug Raid

Teacher Busted in $6M Drug Raid

Karla Alvarez, 28, arrested after cops raided her house in Georgia

(Newser) - A middle school teacher who doubles as a soccer coach was nabbed after cops in Georgia raided her home and found $6.2 million in cocaine and heroin, reports Fox 5 . Karla Alvarez, 28, and two others face drug trafficking and gun charges following Thursday’s arrest. Hall County Sheriff’...

'China's Walter White' Tried to Solve Australia's Drug Dearth

$600K-per-month make-and-export business was going well until he got busted

(Newser) - A 46-year-old chemistry professor identified only as Zhang, but who Time notes has been called "China's Walter White" in reference to the lead character of AMC's Breaking Bad, was convicted Tuesday of whipping up and selling 32 kilos of drugs—though prosecutors think the amount produced was...

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