Why Drugs Are Bad

Illegal marijuana growing pollutes U.S. national parks

2008-10-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

National forests and parks -- long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels -- have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.
Parts of Sequoia National Park of being poisoned by illegal marijuan farms.

Parts of Sequoia National Park of being poisoned by illegal marijuan farms.

The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast's Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 -- and authorities say the 1,800-square-mile Sequoia National Forest is the hardest hit.

Weed and bug sprays, some long banned in the U.S., have been smuggled to the marijuana farms. Plant growth hormones have been dumped into streams, and the water has then been diverted for miles in PVC pipes.

Rat poison has been sprinkled over the landscape to keep animals away from tender plants. And many sites are strewn with the carcasses of deer and bears poached by workers during the five-month growing season that is now ending.

"What's going on on public lands is a crisis at every level," said Forest Service agent Ron Pugh.

"These are America's most precious resources, and they are being devastated by an unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals. It is a huge mess."

The first documented marijuana cartels were discovered in Sequoia National Park in 1998. Then, officials say, tighter border controls after Sept. 11, 2001, forced industrial-scale growers to move their operations into the United States.

Millions of dollars are spent every year to find and uproot marijuana-growing operations on state and federal lands, but federal officials say no money is budgeted to clean up the environmental mess left behind after helicopters carry off the plants.

They are encouraged that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who last year secured funding for eradication, has inquired about the pollution problems.

In the meantime, the only cleanup is done by volunteers.

On Tuesday,October 14, the nonprofit High Sierra Trail Crew, founded to improve access to public lands, plans to take 30 people deep into the Sequoia National Forest to carry out miles of drip irrigation pipe, tons of human garbage, volatile propane canisters, and bags and bottles of herbicides and pesticides.

"If the people of California knew what was going on out there, they'd be up in arms about this," said Shane Krogen, the nonprofit's executive director.

"Helicopters full of dope are like body counts in the Vietnam War. What does it really mean?"

Last year, law enforcement agents uprooted nearly five million plants in California, nearly a half million in Kentucky and 276,000 in Washington state as the development of hybrid plants has expanded the range of climates marijuana can tolerate.

"People light up a joint, and they have no idea the amount of environmental damage associated with it," said Cicely Muldoon, deputy regional director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.

As of Sept. 2, more than 2.2 million plants had been uprooted statewide. The largest single bust in the nation this year netted 482,000 plants in the remote Sierra of Tulare County, the forest service said.

Some popular parks also have suffered damage.

In 2007, rangers found more than 20,000 plants in Yosemite National Park and 43,000 plants in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, where 159 grow sites have been discovered over the past 10 years.

Agent Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Game estimated that 1.5 pounds of fertilizers and pesticides is used for every 11.5 plants.

"I've seen the pesticide residue on the plants," Foy said. "You ain't just smoking pot, bud. You're smoking some heavy-duty pesticides from Mexico."

Scott Wanek, the western regional chief ranger for the National Park Service, said he believes the eradication efforts have touched only a small portion of the marijuana farms and that the environmental impact is much greater than anyone knows.

"Think about Sequoia," Wanek said. "The impact goes well beyond the acreage planted. They create huge networks of trail systems, and the chemicals that get into watersheds are potentially very far-reaching -- all the way to drinking water for the downstream communities. We are trying to study that now."

World's biggest ecstasy bust

2008-09-01T18:28:00.001-07:00

AUSTRALIAN Federal Police are boasting the world's biggest ecstasy bust after seizing drugs with a street value of $440 million and carrying out raids across the country yesterday.

Some of Australia's alleged leading crime bosses have been arrested in a crime network that spans five states and is controlled principally by Australians with Calabrian heritage and linked to Griffith, the south-west NSW town that was the centre of 1970s marijuana trafficking and the focus of the 1979 Woodward Royal Commission into the disappearance of Donald Mackay, a local businessman who blew the whistle on the illegal trade.

The investigation started on June 28 last year when customs officers uncovered the 4.4-tonne haul - 15 million ecstasy pills - in tomato tins aboard a container ship that arrived in Melbourne from Italy.

The key syndicate figures arrested include the alleged syndicate boss and prominent Riverina businessman, Pasquale Barbaro; the suspected drug baron and founder of the Black Uhlans Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, William Samuel Higgs; and Rob Karam, who is alleged to have used a corrupt network of Melbourne dock and freight workers to facilitate importations.

Barbaro, 46, and the son of Francesco "Little Trees" Barbaro, who was named in the Woodward Royal Commission as a member of the Calabrian organisation behind Mackay's disappearance, was arrested in Melbourne but his sprawling Italianate mansion in Griffith was the focus of the police operation in the Riverina.

Francesco Barbaro remonstrated with four AFP officers when he arrived at the Tharbogang property around 6.30am yesterday. "I have no idea what's happening," Mr Barbaro said. "I don't know anything about drugs. Leave me alone."

In a separate raid, police stormed the Sydney home of Barbaro associate Severio Domenico Zirilli, who appeared later at Central Local Court charged with conspiring to import the 2007 ecstasy haul along with Pasquale Barbaro and others; aiding Barbaro in the importation of a commercial quantity of cocaine; and trafficking the ecstasy".

Two other Griffith men, Pat Sergi, 45, and Dominco Barbaro, 31, were arrested in Melbourne and Wagga Wagga respectively.

Pasquale Barbaro's partner, who refused to be named, defended the Barbaro family, but conceded their vast influence in the Riverina district. "Everybody knows the Barbaros," she said. "They're probably the wealthiest family in town. They made their money from grapes I think, but there's a lot of wealthy people around here, it's one of the richest towns in Australia." Twenty people including the four from NSW, nine Victorians, two South Australians and one Tasmanian have been arrested and investigations into alleged connections with the Calabrian Mafia continue.

The AFP Commissioner, Mick Keelty, said other search warrants were executed also in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.

"It's classic organised crime and we have done our best to shut down this syndicate," Mr Keelty said. "We are part of a European and Australian attempt to shut this syndicate down. What I can tell you is that this is part of a global international syndicate, this is a major disruption to trans-national organised crime both in this country and abroad.

"The fact that a syndicate can sit back after importing 4.4 tonnes of narcotics [and] can continue to operate is something that seizes the minds of investigators and has focused our work over the 12 months or so."

The CEO of the Australian Customs Service, Michael Carmody, said snippets of intelligence helped detect the drugs and officials X-rayed the tomato tin cargo.

"Amongst 3000 of those tins that were opened, we discovered 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy tablets," Mr Carmody said.

"This is a very sophisticated concealment, even to the extent of adding stones to some of the containers to give them the same weight of a tin of tomatoes."

However, the federal police delayed releasing information about the haul - which may account for up to 60 per cent of drug imports to south-east Australia - in a bid to catch syndicate members.

Another shipment which arrived in Melbourne in June this year contained three bags of cocaine weighing about 150 kilograms. The investigation has also uncovered a money-laundering operation worth more than $9 million.

"In the second case it was much less sophisticated, ... the container was carrying bags of coffee beans and thrown on top ... were three vinyl bags which will be alleged contained the cocaine," Mr Carmody said.

Despite uncovering the haul, federal agents lacked the evidence to lay charges so the operation became a drawn-out affair of watching and waiting.

But those behind the shipment had a weakness - they owed their European suppliers millions of dollars, money that was meant to be repaid after the drugs were sold. No drugs to sell meanta major problem.

So the AFP put the press conference on hold and assigned a team of agents to open each tin of tomatoes, remove the drugs and replace them with harmless tablets.

In phone taps, police began to pick up increasing amounts of chatter as the European suppliers became impatient and their Australian counterparts grew increasingly suspicious.

While it was suspected the AFP had substituted the drugs, no-one could be sure. Had the suppliers sold them duds? Or were the importers trying to fool the suppliers about a police seizure in order to avoid paying their debt?

A key obstacle involved the home addresses of some of the alleged organisers. Griffith, with its links to the Calabrian mafia, or Honoured Society, was a tough place for surveillance so police concentrated on monitoring the group's Melbourne activities.

Then came the coup de grace. The AFP identified the importation organiser's safe house in Melbourne and, when no-one was home, a covert team paid a visit and installed listening devices.

Last month, the AFP reviewed the intelligence it had gathered during more than a year of watching and waiting.

Police had finally gathered enough evidence to allege the involvement of a who's who of organised crime in a conspiracy to import or distribute drugs. Warrants were secretly issued and, yesterday, the AFP swooped.

The federal Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, said the successful operation was a warning to international drug syndicates.

"The volume of the seizure indicates that international syndicates saw Australia as a potentially fertile market - we hope that impression has well and truly been smashed," he said.

"One benefit of this seizure is to send a very clear message to these drug syndicates that Australia is not a soft target ... that our law-enforcement authorities are as good or if not better than any in the world and they [smugglers] face ... very serious criminal consequences."

Paul McKay, the son of murdered anti-drug campaigner Donald McKay, urged the federal police to investigate links between organised crime and several powerful families in Griffith. He said the names Barbaro and Sergi were both raised during the 1979 Woodward Royal Commission into his father's disappearance.

"I don't want to speak on behalf of the town. I don't really know much about what happened today, but it seems to be the same names that keep coming up. If someone had a serious dig around here, I think it would uncover some pretty interesting stuff," Mr McKay said.

The Mayor of Griffith, Dino Zappacosta, said he was "shocked and disgusted" by the dawn raids.

"We've had our fair share of criticism and the town's reputation has been tarnished since the death of Don McKay. We need to send a clear message that this type of activity is unacceptable and ... these people need to be driven out of town," he said.

Meanwhile, a former senior law enforcement officer with intimate knowledge of organised crime said the Calabrian mafia in Australia had changed over the past three decades.

The alleged involvement of one of the founding members of the bikie gang, the Black Uhlans, William Samuel Higgs, showed how the group had changed.

"In the '70s it was a traditional Calabrian mafia, it's now prepared to business with anyone." he said. "Back then it would've been unthinkable for them to go into business with a bikie group.

Mr Karam is an associate of alleged drug baron Tony Mokbel and was one of Crown Casino's top 200 gamblers before being banned from the casino by Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

The source said despite claims the federal police had arrested "Mr Bigs", he doubted they had reached the "top of the tree". "These people would be very close, but they wouldn't be at the top [in Australia].

He said there would be little hope of getting those arrested to talk. "They won't inform, given who they are. If they do they'd be dead. ... and their families will be dead as well."

Two suspicious packages — containing a total of 31 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $31,000 — were found washed up on island beaches Monday

2008-09-01T18:26:00.001-07:00

Oscar-winner Helen Mirren admitted she loved snorting cocaine and only stopped due to the capture of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, in an magazine interview out this month.

The respected actress, 63, who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen", told the October issue of GQ men's monthly that she took the drug until her late thirties.

She only quit after the notorious Barbie was caught in Bolivia in 1983, and believed to have been making money from the Class A drug.

The star, knighted in 2003, also talked about meeting Queen Elizabeth, and spoke further about her date rape experiences.

Mirren said she used to take "a bit of cocaine. I loved coke. I never did a lot, just a little bit at parties.

"But what ended it for me was when they caught Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, in the early eighties.

"He was hiding in South America and living off the proceeds of being a cocaine baron.

"And I read that in the paper, and all the cards fell into place and I saw how my little sniff of cocaine at a party had an absolute direct route to this horrible man in South America.

"And from that day I never touched cocaine again. Until that moment I had never grasped the full horrifying structure of what brings coke to our parties in Britain."

Mirren said she hated marijuana and once tried the hallucinogenic drug LSD but found it a horrifying experience.

She said she was not a "royalist" but had become a "Queenist" after portraying the sovereign.

"It's a miracle she's never gone mad," she said.

"She is a remarkable person, who has achieved an amazing thing with a life she neither chose for herself, nor particularly wanted."

Mirren finally met Queen Elizabeth at Ascot races earlier this year, having turned down an invite to Buckingham Palace because she was filming.

"She said, 'Hello, it's lovely to meet you'. And that was about it, other than horsey chat," said Mirren.

Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip "just talked about the sandwiches, and the horses. Then the queen invited us all outside to watch the racing.

"I think it was just a gesture to say, 'It's OK, we're cool about the film. And that was plenty enough for me."

Mirren, who has spoken in the past of her date rape experiences in her youth, said she had a sheltered upbringing in a convent school and did not have the courage to stand up to men.

She did not report the incidents to the police.

"You couldn't do that in those days," she said.

"It's such a tricky area, isn't it? Especially if there is no violence. I mean, look at Mike Tyson. I don't think he was a rapist.

"I was (date-raped), yes. A couple of times.

"Not with excessive violence, or being hit, but rather being locked in a room and made to have sex against my will."

She said that if a woman voluntarily ended up in a man's bedroom, took all her clothes off and engaged in sexual activity in bed with him, she had the right to say "no" at the last second and if the man ignored her it was rape.

But she added: "I don't think she can have that man into court under those circumstances."

Mirren, often considered a sex symbol, added: "I might have a certain appeal in some way or another, and maybe part of that is sexual, but I am not beautiful."

Two packages of marijuana worth $31,000 wash up on beach

2008-09-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Two suspicious packages — containing a total of 31 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $31,000 — were found washed up on island beaches Monday about seven or eight miles away from each other.

The first package was discovered about 7:30 a.m. when a woman walking on the beach in the 3200 block of S. Ocean — south of the Lake Worth beach area — notified Palm Beach Police.

The duck-taped package — about one-foot square by four-inches high — turned out to be 13 pounds of marijuana, with a street value of about $1,000 a pound, said Palm Beach Police Capt. Dan Szarszewski.

"It was packaged for transport," Szarszewski said. "It probably dropped off a boat that was transporting it someplace. By the looks of the package, it had been in the water for awhile. It was faded from the sun."

Szarszewski said the package probably washed up because of the increased surf activity from the effects of Hurricane Gustav.

The second package was discovered in the surf near The Breakers about 3 p.m. by a man walking on the beach. That package, similar to the first with several barnacles attached to it, contained 18 pounds of marijuana, Szarszewski said.

9 men charged in major marijuana bust in B.C.

2008-09-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

Nine men have been charged following a year-long investigation into a huge marijuana grow-op ring in the B.C. rural community of Likely, east of Williams Lake, RCMP said Monday.

Police searched eight properties between Sept. 12 and Nov. 20 last year and seized 33,310 marijuana plants and 11 kilograms of buds, North District RCMP Const. Craig Douglass said.

Six of the eight properties have been seized and police are seeking to have the land forfeited to the provincial government, Douglass said in a news release.

"All of the properties are associated to the same, unnamed, organized crime group," he said.

Nine men have been charged with production of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. They are between 29 and 52 years old, and are residents of Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam.

Each of the accused could face penalties of up to life in jail. They are scheduled to appear in Williams Lake provincial court on Sept. 10.

Prior to this investigation, Douglass said, the RCMP had searched five other properties in the same area beginning in November 2006, and had uncovered 11,807 marijuana plants. Two men had been convicted of drug charges in this investigation.

Police believe the same unnamed organized crime group is responsible for all the marijuana grow-ops busted in the area, Douglass said.

Winehouse Suffers From Marijuana Poisoning?

2008-09-01T18:21:00.001-07:00

Amy Winehouse's hospital dash in July was the result of marijuana poisoning and not a reaction to medication, a British tabloid report has claimed. The Rehab singer was admitted to a London hospital on 28 July after falling ill at her home. Her representative subsequently released a statement blaming her condition on an adverse reaction to medication she is taking to help kick her drug addiction which the star's father Mitch has also backed.

But now The Sun newspaper is claiming Winehouse had in fact become sick after allegedly smoking pot for more than a day. The source tells the publication, "Mitch does everything he can to protect his daughter but his 'explanation' for Amy's hospital dash in July was simply untrue. She had smoked an inhuman amount of hash which resulted in acute cannabis poisoning. You have to take a s**tload of pot to suffer that severe a reaction. It's thought she had been smoking it for 36 hours... She is in need of years of psychiatry and medical treatment if she has a hope (of fully recovering)."

Abraham formally charged with Ecstasy possession

2008-08-05T13:37:00.001-07:00

One of Michigan's youngest convicted killers was formally charged Monday with possessing 254 pills of the street drug Ecstasy outside a Pontiac gas station.

As more than a half-dozen photographers and TV cameras packed into a jury box, Nathaniel Abraham, 22, was arraigned before Oakland Circuit Judge Daniel P. O'Brien. Abraham gained notoriety in 1997 when he was arrested for the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Ronnie Greene of Pontiac outside a party store. He was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder, sentenced as a juvenile and sent to a youth correctional facility until he turned 21. He was released in January 2007.

Abraham stood mute at his arraignment for the May 30 drug arrest. O'Brien entered a not guilty plea for him and set a 1 p.m. Sept. 15 pre-trial hearing. Abraham remains free on bond.

"I will make note that you showed up today as scheduled," said O'Brien.

In an unrelated matter, Abraham is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for failing to show up in Rochester Hills District Court on allegations of driving on a suspended license and not wearing a seat belt in Auburn Hills in May.

Abraham left the courthouse immediately after the arraignment, declining to answer the questions of reporters, several of whom pursued him down a hallway.

The drug possession charges can carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Highest Traces of Cocaine Found on U.S. Bills

2008-08-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

Paper money contains high traces of cocaine, regardless of whether or not the paper money came into direct contact with the drug. And U.S. bills take the top spot, covered in the greatest amount of the illegal powder, while Spanish notes are the most highly contaminated in Europe, a new study finds.

The findings, detailed in the latest issue of the journal Trends in Analytical Chemistry, reflect the popularity of the illicit drug, the researchers say.

"These findings should not be surprising, because cocaine and other drugs are traded using cash, which is handled by the same fingers that directly touch the drugs or wrappings," chemists Sergio Armenta and Miguel de la Guardia from the University of Valencia in Spain write. "Moreover, many cocaine users use a wrapped banknote to sniff this drug, so inducing direct cocaine contamination of the banknotes."

Armenta and de la Guardia analyzed Spanish notes for cocaine traces, finding they contained an average of 155 micrograms of cocaine. (A gram of cocaine would fill about half a tea bag. A microgram is one-millionth of that amount.)

They also reviewed previous research focusing on cocaine concentrations found in different currencies around the world.

German Euros contained levels of cocaine that were five times lower than the Spanish ones.
For Irish bank notes, one statistic suggested that of 48 notes studied the highest concentration found was 0.5 micrograms.

The chemists found U.S. bills contained an average of between 2.9 and 28.8 micrograms of cocaine depending on the year and city, with a maximum of more than 1,300 micrograms found on some 1996 bills.

One study based on 356 notes showed just 6 percent of Swiss francs were contaminated with cocaine at levels above one nanogram per note, where a nanogram is one-thousandth of a microgram. Some data suggest, the researchers found, that between 40 percent and about 50 percent of British pounds were contaminated with cocaine at levels of about 0.0011 micrograms per note.

It turns out, money really is dirty, and not just with drug traces. One past study revealed 94 percent of $1 bills collected from a community in western Ohio contained disease-causing or potentially disease-causing bacteria. The study, published in 2002 in the Southern Medical Journal, was led by Peter Ender, chief of infectious diseases at Wright-Patterson Medical Center in Ohio.

That's not too surprising, as $1 bills stay in circulation for an average of 21 months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, during which time they get handled by plenty of people. For larger bills, the life span is even longer, with $20 bills lasting about 24 months and $50 bills staying in circulation for 55 months.

John Gotti Jr. indicted on murder, cocaine charges

2008-08-05T13:34:00.002-07:00

John "Junior" Gotti, the accused Mafia boss who beat federal charges three times by having cases end in mistrials, was indicted again on Tuesday on conspiracy charges including murder and cocaine trafficking.

A magistrate-judge denied Gotti bail after federal authorities arrested him at his Long Island home on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and murder three men between 1988 and 1991. The indictment was unsealed in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, and Gotti could be moved there to face trial.

A defense lawyer denied the allegations and accused federal prosecutors of seeking revenge against Gotti for successfully fighting past charges.

Five other suspects were also indicted by a Tampa grand jury as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police in New York and Tampa, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Gotti, 44, three times escaped conviction on racketeering charges linked to his late father's crime organization, the latest coming in 2006 when a judge declared a mistrial because jurors were deadlocked. Two previous trials also were voided when juries failed to reach a verdict.

In all three trials, Gotti said he had quit the Gambino crime family after taking control from his father. A defense lawyer reiterated that assertion on Tuesday and said Gotti has been law-abiding for years.

"At this point it seems to be more personal than professional," defense lawyer Charles Carnesi told reporters of the prosecutors' quest to convict his client.

"This is a case based on drug dealers who want to avoid going to jail," Carnesi later told a magistrate-judge, referring to prosecution witnesses who have been convicted.

But federal prosecutors allege Gotti and the Gambinos, largely based in New York, have been involved in murder, kidnapping, bribery, extortion, gambling, jury tampering and other crimes nonstop from 1983 to the present.

"You have the Gambino crime family reaching out to Tampa, Florida," U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill told a news conference in Tampa, saying the indictments were the result of a nearly 10-year investigation.

The new charges allege Gotti has held several roles in the family including de facto boss.

"They're old crimes but the defense he used the last time -- that he resigned from the mob -- doesn't work in this case. There's no statute of limitations on murder," said Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor who is now a crisis management consultant.

His father, John J. Gotti, was known as the "Teflon Don" for escaping conviction three times. The elder Gotti was eventually convicted of racketeering charges and died in prison in 2002.

The latest indictment alleges the family publicly shot, stabbed, beat and murdered people in order to "create and maintain fear and dread in others."

The other five defendants are a Tampa resident, a New York state prison inmate and three New York state residents who are suspected of cocaine trafficking, murder and other charges.

(Additional reporting by Robert Green in Tampa and Edith Honan in New York; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by David Wiessler)

Sierra Leone minister suspended amid cocaine haul probe

2008-08-05T13:34:00.001-07:00

Sierra Leone's Transport and Aviation Minister Kemoh Sesay has been suspended following a police probe into a massive cocaine haul, a statement from the presidency said Tuesday.

Sesay's brother Mohamed is one of 45 suspects including nine foreigners -- mostly from Latin America -- in detention following the discovery of 600 kilos (1,320 pounds) of cocaine in a Venezuelan plane bearing a fake Red Cross emblem at Freetown's international Lungi airport.

President Ernest Koroma's office said Sesay was relieved of his duties "pending conclusion of investigation" into the July 13 seizure.

"The decision has been necessitated by the need to facilitate the investigations in providing unfettered access to everyone and everywhere where the probe demands," it added.

Police said the plane had come from Venezuela. A record for Sierra Leone, it was one of the biggest drugs hauls this year in West Africa. According to Koroma, the street value of the cocaine seized is 200 million dollars, or 125 million euros.

The region has become an important transit point for cocaine from South America bound for European markets.

The Sierra Leone defence ministry said Friday that it has declared a "no-fly zone" around the jails where the suspects are held and installed anti-aircraft guns in an effort to discourage prison escape attempts.

Neb. Troopers Seize 225 lbs. of Marijuana

2008-08-05T13:32:00.001-07:00

The Nebraska State Patrol said troopers found 225 pounds of marijuana after pulling over a minivan for speeding.

Troopers stopped the vehicle with Ohio plates Monday on Interstate 80 near Kearney.
Nebraska State Fair

Deb Collins of the Nebraska State Patrol said 30-year-old Madai Zapta Marquez of Phoenix and an unidentified 29-year-old passenger are being held on a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

Collins said the passenger's identity has not been confirmed, but he is believed to be an illegal alien.

The patrol said the minivan was registered to a Phoenix man who remains in federal custody after being indicted on marijuana charges.

Man jailed on charges of possessing cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy

2008-08-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

Newberry authorities say a weekend domestic dispute landed a man in jail on charges of possessing cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy.

According to a news release, on Saturday afternoon, Newberry County deputies were called to a domestic dispute on Compass Drive. The deputies were told by the complainant that a man was waiting for her and that he had a knife and was threatening to harm her.

The officers responded to the scene and found the man standing near a vehicle.

The officers say they saw the suspect place an object inside a white towel and walk away.

The officers followed the suspect behind the residence. He no longer had that white towel.

The deputies, believing that the towel likely contained the knife, began searching for it. They found it under a shed and, instead of a knife, found that it contained two bottles.

According to deputies, the first bottle had white tablets in it and the second bottle contained a glass pipe and Q-tips.

The officers searched the suspect's vehicle and say they found a bag of cocaine weighing approximately 10 grams, three bags of marijuana; two weighing approximately 4 ounces and one weighing approximately one ounce; and 12 tablets believed to be Ecstasy.

The subject, who was identified as 40-year-old Johnathan Duncan, of Columbia, was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Duncan's bond was set at $81,000 by a Newberry County magistrate

Officers say that while Duncan provided his address as being in Columbia, he was frequently in the Newberry County area.

Law enforcement has declined to identify the victim in this case.

Authorities break up marijuana operation, seize 6,000 plants

2008-08-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

Three carefully tended plots of marijuana covering more than one-half acre have been plucked from the Perry County countryside.

Authorities seized more than 6,000 pot plants with a street value of $4 million to $8 million in busting the sophisticated operation, Sheriff William Barker said today.

No arrests have been made in connection with the pot farm discovered Friday afternoon by a state helicopter flying over an area off No. 8 Hollow Road northeast of New Lexington, Barker said.

Deputies and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation agents heard people talking and then sounds of people apparently running as they approached the site, Barker said in a news release.

Most of the marijuana was planted in rows like corn and most plants were 5 to 7 feet tall, the sheriff said.

Investigators found a camp site that indicated the marijuana long had been cultivated and nurtured by a crew of keepers, some of whom may be Latino.

Two tents, men's clothes, a camp kitchen with cooking and food supplies and equipment and materials such as pruning tools, shovels, weed killer, saws and potting soil were found at the camp site.

The pot planters even had bathtubs that consisted of holes dug in the ground and lined with plastic, Barker said.

Labels on some of the food items were in Spanish, and worship symbols were found at the site, the sheriff said.

Woman sentenced to three years for drug possession after baby dies from cocaine overdose

2008-07-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

A 38-year-old Decatur woman charged with involuntary manslaughter after her newborn baby died of a cocaine overdose was sentenced to three years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Tammy Flemming had asked Associate Judge Timothy Steadman to give her probation and assignment to a drug treatment program. She said she had been a cocaine addict since she was 25.

Flemming also said she did not know she was pregnant prior to the birth of her second son. Several other witnesses, including a parole officer, testified that they, too, did not realize Flemming was pregnant prior to giving birth Dec. 2.

State authorities had taken Flemming's older son away from her because he tested positive for cocaine. The boy is a ward of the state but resides with his grandmother.

Assistant State's Attorney Elizabeth Dobson asked that Flemming be sentenced to an extended term of six years in prison based on the death of her newborn child from her abuse of cocaine.

Assistant Public Defender Steve Jones said while the child's death was a tragedy, Flemming had admitted her cocaine use and testimony proved her contention she did not know she was pregnant. He said the state was trying to punish Flemming on the manslaughter charge rather than the cocaine possession charge.

In handing down the sentence, Steadman said there was not sufficient evidence that Flemming knew she was pregnant. He said her pregnancy would have no bearing on his sentence.

Flemming needs substance abuse treatment, Steadman said, and recommended the department of corrections provide it to her while she is incarcerated. Probation would be inappropriate, he said.

"If there was anything that could motivate a person to get help, it would be a child living with cocaine in its system," Steadman said, referring to Flemming's living son. "I administered drug court for seven years. I know relapses are normal among drug users, who deceive themselves about their habits. But it reaches the point when deception can no longer be tolerated. Miss Flemming has reached rock bottom."

Prince's helicopter opens fire on cocaine smugglers' speedboat

2008-07-27T14:06:00.002-07:00

Prince William was involved in a second dramatic drugs raid in the Caribbean, when a helicopter he was in opened fire on a boat of suspected cocaine smugglers.

He was on board a Lynx helicopter as it chased a speedboat suspected of shipping cocaine from South America.

When the boat tried to flee, Royal Marines on the helicopter shot at it, forcing the crew of three to jump into the sea.

The men were pulled aboard HMS Iron Duke, the frigate on which the Prince
is spending time as part of a two-month secondment aimed at preparing him for his future role as head of the Armed Forces.

No drugs were found on board the speedboat, but traces were located on two of the three crew, who were handed over to the authorities in Colombia after the vessel was set on fire and sunk.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: ‘Prince William was aboard the Lynx, which was about to go out on a training flight.

‘It was redirected to intercept the suspect vessel. Prince William remained on board until the helicopter returned to Iron Duke.

'He witnessed the firing but wasn’t involved in it. He then returned to ship to resume his normal duties as officer of the watch.’

Iron Duke began tracking the vessel eight days ago during a security patrol 110 miles off the coast near the Venezuela-Colombia border.

Mark Newland, the frigate’s commanding officer, said: ‘My company are elated at again disrupting the activities of the suspected drug runners.’

William, 26, an officer in the Household Cavalry regiment, is spending five weeks on the ship as part of his Navy placement.

He also took part in the mission that seized £40million of cocaine off Barbados earlier this month.

Prosecutors mull charges against 58 over cocaine haul

2008-07-27T14:06:00.001-07:00

Fifty-eight people arrested after a record cocaine seizure in Sierra Leone remained in custody Saturday after a judge extended an initial detention period.

The suspects, including eight foreigners, were arrested after police found 600 kilogrammes (1,320 pounds) of cocaine in a Venezuelan plane at the country's international airport on July 13.

Prosecutors have said the investigation into a suspected drugs syndicate is continuing and they expect to file further charges.

A judge on Thursday remanded 19 of the suspects in continuing custody after the 10-day period for which they could be held under Sierra Leonean law ran out. Other suspects arrested later are expected to appear at a similar remand hearing.

The haul was a record for Sierra Leone and one of the biggest in West Africa this year.

West Africa is an important transit point for cocaine from South America bound for European suppliers.

Unwitting gardener tends marijuana plants

2008-07-27T14:05:00.001-07:00

A 73-year-old Dutch man was astonished to learn from police that the begonias he had lovingly tended on his doorstep concealed a secret marijuana plantation.

"Police officers suddenly noticed marijuana plants sprouting from his begonias," a police spokeswoman in The Hague said on Friday.
The Hague pensioner promised to destroy the marijuana plants, which he believes were planted by local youngsters, while preserving his begonias.

Earlier this month the Dutch government set up a task force to crack down on marijuana cultivation in the country.

Growing marijuana is illegal in the Netherlands, but sales of it and other cannabis-related soft drugs in coffee shops have been tolerated for decades.

1,062 pounds of marijuana found on boat

2008-07-27T14:04:00.002-07:00

U.S. officials say they found a half ton of marijuana on a Mexican fishing boat they commandeered off the coast of southern California.

Three Mexican nationals were taken into police custody when U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities stopped a panga boat Saturday outside San Diego, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The panga, a watercraft usually used by Mexican fishermen, was reported to authorities by U.S. Coast Guard officials.

The 25-foot boat was traveling before dawn with no lights, agency spokesman Vince Bond said. Agents said they chased the boat for about five minutes before the driver stopped.

The law enforcement officers allegedly discovered 13 bales of marijuana weighing 1,062 pounds on the boat and the three men were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Salem man arrested for exceeding medical marijuana limits

2008-07-27T14:04:00.001-07:00

Marion County sheriff's deputies have arrested a Salem man and charged him with growing several times the amount of marijuana he was allowed to cultivate under the state's medical marijuana laws.

They say they believe he hired a 15-year-old boy to help him with his plants.

Fifty-six-year-old Marc Kauffman was arrested after police found 35 mature plants and eight immature ones outside his home.

The law for growers with a Medical Marijuana Program card has a limit of six mature and 18 immature plants and up to a half pound of dried marijuana.

479 Ecstasy Pills Seized, 2 Arrested In Clearwater

2008-07-27T14:03:00.001-07:00

Clearwater narcotics detectives arrested two on suspicion of drug dealing Thursday night and confiscated nearly 500 Ecstasy pills, authorities said.

James Alderman, 40, of 3417 East Diana St., Tampa, was charged with being a principle in the first degree. He was being held at the Pinellas County Jail, with bail set at $5,000.

Jason Scott Gonzalez, 26, of 3329 Meta Court, Largo, was charged with trafficking in MDMA, or Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, which has the street name of Ecstasy, said Elizabeth Daly-Watts, Clearwater's police spokeswoman.

The pair had arrived at the parking lot of 2071 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. at roughly 8:15 p.m., Daly-Watts said. Undercover detectives arrested the pair and seized 479 pills of MDMA and a 1999 Cadillac sedan.

Meth-laced ecstasy latest lethal drug to hit city

2008-07-27T14:02:00.001-07:00

Winnipeg police have sounded the alarm again about ecstasy use, announcing yesterday that a 15-year-old boy recently died after taking a meth-laced capsule of the so-called party drug.

Sgt. Rod Hourd of the force's organized crime unit said it is believed the illicit drug contributed to or caused the boy's death about four weeks ago.

"These pills are dangerous and they're now starting to kill people," Hourd said yesterday. "This is not a fun party drug for people to take at a rave."

Hourd said the unidentified boy knew he was taking ecstasy but didn't know it contained methamphetamine.

Three other teens, aged 15 to 17, have been hospitalized within the past four weeks.

Drug-makers add meth to make it more addictive.

"The kids don't know (meth) is there. They're expecting one thing and they end up with another," said Joel Gervais of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba. "A lot of these kids showing up in the emergency rooms are probably both physically and psychologically in trouble."

PARENTS

Police are looking into how the boy obtained the drug. Hourd wouldn't say how many capsules the boy ingested.

Police are urging people not to consume ecstasy and asking parents to talk about the dangers of drugs with their children. It's the second time in four months police have issued such a warning.

In April, city police seized more than $300,000 worth of ecstasy in a bust with links to organized crime in Western Canada. The warnings follow more seizures of meth-laced ecstasy, or meth tablets or capsules passed off as ecstasy.

Police are checking to see whether some pills contain LSD. Traces of meth are also being found in some cannabis, Gervais said.

Battery acid or other toxic chemicals are used to make meth, cooked in toilets, bathtubs or makeshift labs.

The mix is extremely hazardous to a person's health and may result in brain damage or kidney failure.

Since 2000, at least four Manitobans have died hours after taking ecstasy.

S.F. man gets 23 years for role in cocaine ring

2008-07-25T20:24:00.001-07:00

A San Francisco man was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison today for his role in a drug ring that shipped more than half a ton of cocaine from the Bay Area to Washington, D.C., via airplane and FedEx over the course of a decade.

Michael Cheng pleaded guilty in April to cocaine trafficking and tax evasion charges as part of a deal with prosecutors. At a hearing today in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., Judge Gerald Bruce Lee ordered Cheng to pay $550,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and to forfeit an additional $1.45 million in drug-trafficking related profits.

Cheng, who is married and has a 7-year-old daughter, "maintained a lucrative and wealthy lifestyle based on his drug-trafficking business," Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dennis Fitzpatrick and Steven Mellin wrote in a sentencing memorandum. They said he was "at the top of an organizational structure that at its core had over 10 people working to facilitate the distribution of kilograms of cocaine and large sums of cash."

From 1998 to 2007, Cheng conspired with at least five other people to distribute about 1,100 pounds of cocaine, authorities said.

Initially the group shipped the cocaine by plane, but heightened security after the 2001 terrorist attacks forced the operation to switch to FedEx trucks, authorities said. Some 240 cocaine packages, vacuum-sealed and wrapped with fabric softener or detergent, passed through the shipper's processing center at Dulles International Airport in Washington from 2002 to 2007, authorities said.

Police seize heroin and cocaine

2008-07-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Officers found £27,000 worth of heroin, £13,000 of cocaine and £11,000 in cash when they searched the property in the Stobswell area on Thursday.

Three men - two from Dundee and another from Arbroath - were charged in connection with the find.

The raid was part of Operation Waterloo, which is aimed at reducing crime related to drugs activity.

Further properties in Tayside were searched on Friday as part of the operation.

Ch Supt Colin McCashey said: "Members of the community asked what we were doing about drug dealing and its associated problems and I hope that these recoveries and arrests go some way into reassuring them that we will not tolerate it.

"Where we have information that drug dealing is taking place we will always act. It is a top priority for us.

"The quantities of drugs recovered in this case would clearly have brought a great deal of misery to those abusing the drug.

"We should not forget the absolute devastation to peoples lives. We have stopped that happening in this case."

He added that police would continue their crackdown on drug related activity in the Hilltown, Stobswell and Albert Street areas.

He acknowledged reports about drug dealing being pushed to other areas of the city.

"I know this is happening and I would want to re-assure the people of Dundee that I am doing everything possible to deal with that," he said.

"We will never ignore information relating to drugs dealing - we may not be able to deal with it immediately but when we have sufficient information we will act.

"Information is vital for us to be successful in making a real impact. Residents should not suffer in silence and must tell us about what is happening, or what they suspect to be happening, in their area."

Gardaí confirm 6kg drug haul of powder meth

2008-07-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Contrary to some media reports that 6kg of crystal meth was seized, informed sources yesterday said that the haul was powder methamphetamine.

The crystal form of the drug is highly addictive and is smoked, whereas power methampethamine is either swallowed or injected, depending on the user.

The haul was made following a joint Garda/Customs investigation targeting drug trafficking by eastern European organised crime groups.

Following information from a foreign law enforcement agency, they monitored two vehicles that entered the state by ferry at Dublin port. The cars were followed to a location in Birr, Co Offaly, before being seized. Officers found the 6kg of powder methamphetamine in one car and 8kg of herbal cannabis in the other.

Members of the Garda National Drugs Unit (GNDU) arrested a 32-year Lithuanian man. He was released yesterday morning and a file will be prepared for the director of public prosecutions. Gardaí, meanwhile, are searching for other members of the gang.

The haul of methamphetamine dwarfs previous seizures of the drug. A mere 5g was seized in 2007, 136g in 2006 and 55g in 2005.

Gardaí do not have a formal valuation for the drug. Sources said that, in Britain, it fetches between €44 (£35) and €95 (£75) a gramme on the street which would suggest the seizure here would have a retail value of between €264,000 and €564,000.

Crystal meth arrests in Kitchener

2008-07-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

A Kitchener parking lot was the scene of a crystal meth arrest, yesterday afternoon.

Waterloo Regional police say they caught a 38 year old male and a 31 year old female in the middle of an alleged drug deal on Fischer Hallman Road.

Police seized 25-thousand dollars worth of crystal meth, over 9-thousand in cash, and the two cars.

This was part of an ongoing drug investigation.

The two accused are both from Kitchener, and started their court proceedings today.

$159 Million Worth of Cocaine Turned Over to Feds

2008-07-22T17:26:00.001-07:00

Nearly 10,000 pounds of cocaine seized by the U S Coast Guard has been turned over to federal authorities.

The drugs were found hidden inside the fuel tank of a Honduran freighter during a recent search.

The four and a half tons of cocaine have an estimated street value of $159 million.

The seven man crew of the freighter was taken into custody and the ship was turned over to the Honduran government.

Amherst man high on cocaine dies after jumping through picture window

2008-07-22T17:25:00.001-07:00

Amherst police are awaiting toxicology results that may explain why a 27-year-old Amherst man died early today, after witnesses claimed he overdosed on cocaine and jumped through a picture window in his home.

Police officers and paramedics restrained the man, Pietro Troncone, at the scene, but he went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance and died in Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, police said.

At about 4:45 a.m. today, police and the Snyder Fire Department responded to a first-aid call in Troncone's home on Delamere Road. Delamere is south of Sheridan Drive, west of North Forest Road.

"According to witnesses, he had been doing cocaine, was out of control and jumped through a picture window," Amherst Police Capt. Enzio G. Villalta said.

Troncone was cut and bleeding when emergency personnel arrived at the scene. Paramedics and police officers treated him for his cuts, restrained him and placed him on a gurney, where witnesses claimed he remained conscious and agitated.

On the way to the hospital, Troncone lapsed into cardiac arrest. Emergency personnel performed CPR, but he died in the hospital about an hour after the initial police call, authorities said.

Police say that a suspected cocaine overdose may have triggered a fatal heart attack, but they're awaiting the results from the toxicological tests.

Investigators say they don't believe the emergency personnel's actions contributed to Troncone's death.

"The officers and paramedics have been trained in all aspects of positional asphyxiation," Villalta said. "They're careful not to put a person in certain positions or restrain him in certain ways. It appears they restrained him correctly."

DEA Seizes More Than $60M Worth Of Marijuana From SoCal Homes

2008-07-22T17:23:00.001-07:00

Thousands of marijuana plants -- which could have generated millions of dollars a year in illegal profits -- were seized Tuesday during raids on three homes in Riverside County, authorities said.

Marijuana-growing facilities were shut down in Eastvale, Hemet and Riverside, in an operation targeting a total of eight homes in three Southern California counties. Four people were arrested, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Drug traffickers are using sophisticated equipment and measures to transform their seemingly quiet suburban homes into illicit marijuana grow operations," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. Landrum. "These lucrative illegal operations can function with little scrutiny, which makes them attractive to the criminal element, but put our communities in harm's way."

Tuesday morning's sweep involved DEA agents, Riverside County sheriff's deputies, Riverside police, San Bernardino County sheriff's personnel, IRS and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents, according to DEA agent Sarah Pullen.

A search warrant was executed at one home in San Bernardino County and four homes in Los Angeles County, according to Pullen.

She said five indoor marijuana cultivation facilities were identified -- three of which were in the Riverside County locations -- containing 5,600 plants, which could have yielded $60 million a year worth of marijuana sales.

The Eastvale residence contained 1,200 marijuana plants, with an estimated value of $3.5 million, according Riverside County sheriff's Investigator Jerry Franchville.

He said the 3,500-square-foot home, which lies at the edge of Providence Park in the unincorporated community, was rigged with assorted electrical devices to saturate the home with indoor light.

"There's all kinds of wiring in this house," Franchville said. "There's extra circuit breakers, grow lights that assimilate the sun, timers. It's pretty intricate."

He said the marijuana growers reconfigured the home's electrical system to bypass the local utility meter, stealing roughly $4,000 a month in wattage.

"The way law enforcement usually identifies these places is through the inordinately high electricity usage," Franchville said.

According to Pullen, in most of the growing facilities, carpets were torn out and holes were cut through floors, ceilings and doors to accommodate wiring. Closets and bathrooms served as storage areas for light ballasts, chemical supplies and fertilizer, she said. Windows and sliding glass doors were covered with drywall.

"These sophisticated growing operations pose an extreme hazard to our neighborhoods with their dangerous electrical wiring and changes made to the house infrastructure," said U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien. "In addition, any large narcotics operation invites violence, which further endangers families in these suburban communities."

Most of the converted homes were purchased in newer housing developments for between $500,000 and $800,000, according to Pullen.

Suspects arrested in connection with the marijuana cultivation were identified as: Sang Vong Din, 47, of Temple City; Sehn Nguyen, 41, of Los Angeles; Quan Vi To, 51, of El Monte; and Jennifer Zhang, 44, of Temple City.

They're charged with conspiracy to manufacture 1,000 or more marijuana plants and are expected to make initial appearances today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, said Pullen.

She said conviction on the conspiracy charge carries a minimum 10-year sentence in federal prison.

According to Pullen, Tuesday's arrests and seizures stemmed from a yearlong investigation that, to date, has led to the dismantling of 33 marijuana grow operations and the seizure of more than 19,000 plants.

Chesterfield Man Sentenced For Illegal Sale And Supply Of An Unlicensed Sex Drug And Diazepam

2008-07-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

Mr Brian Wilsher (57) of 11 Erin Road, Duckmanton, Derbyshire, S44 5HQ was sentenced at Derby Crown Court on 18 July 2008 to 34 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 18 months and 200 hours unpaid work for the illegal sale and supply of an unlicensed medicine and a Class C drug. The sentencing followed a joint prosecution by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Derbyshire Constabulary.

The case began in October 2007 after Police carried out a search at Mr Wilsher's home address in Chesterfield where a large quantity of tablets was found. These included approximately 50,000 kamagra tablets and 20,000 diazepam tablets. Also found at the address was over 4,000 boxes of kamagra condoms and kamagra oral jelly.

Mick Deats, Group Manager of Enforcement at the MHRA said, "It is illegal to place on the UK market or offer for sale an unlicensed medicine such as kamagra. This product has not gone through the correct licensing regulatory process to assess it for safety, quality and that it works. At best it could be a waste of money, at worst it could be severely detrimental to your health."

-- Mr Wilsher pleaded guilty on 20 June 2008 to two offences concerning the sale and supply of kamagra and to one offence concerning the possession of diazepam.

-- Kamagra is an unlicensed medicine used for male impotence and diazepam is a controlled Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

-- If an individual is convicted of offences under the Medicines Act 1968, they can be sentenced to a maximum of two years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. Where appropriate the MHRA will use the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to determine whether or not benefits were accrued through criminal activity and will recoup illicit earnings if the individual is found guilty.

$15K cocaine brick drifts to Mañagaha

2008-07-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

A brick-sized package containing about 1.5 kilos of cocaine with an estimated wholesale price of $15,000 drifted to Managaha Island on Saturday and was found by some children.

According to Department of Public Safety Commissioner Claudio Norita, some children swimming on Managaha Island had found the package adrift on the island's shore. It was wrapped in cellophane tape. The bundle, which was eventually turned over to DPS, contained about 1.5 kilos of white powder.

Norita said a preliminary test conducted by a crime scene technician using a field test kit revealed that it was cocaine.

“I'm not sure about the exact weight. We haven't gotten the full report yet,” the commissioner said.

DPS is set to send the packet to the Drug Enforcement Administration's laboratory in San Francisco to obtain a full examination and get its exact weight.

“It seems that it drifted into Mañagaha Island. Where it came from? I don't know, but the chief of the Criminal Investigation Division had tasked his investigators and the drug task force to [go] to Mañagaha,” he said.

Norita said CID investigators completed the search of Mañagaha all around the beach area to make sure there's no other drifting cocaine.

The commissioner recalled that three to four years ago in Chuuk, a bunch of cocaine also drifted to shore.

In the CNMI, Norita said marijuana in a trash bag drifted to the beach a few years ago.

“So it's not the first time. The CNMI is a transshipment point for cargo, ships and airlines. We are surrounded by water,” he said, which means the package may have been dropped from a passing ship.

Record cocaine seizure in Sierra Leone 'Red Cross' plane

2008-07-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

Police in Sierra Leone said Monday they had arrested seven foreigners, including an American, after a record haul of 600 kilos of cocaine was discovered in an airplane bearing a fake Red Cross emblem.

The seizure is a record for Sierra Leone and one of the biggest drugs hauls this year in West Africa -- an important transit point for drugs from South America destined for the European market.

Police official Francis Munu said a small white aircraft with a fake Red Cross emblem landed "without authorisation early Sunday and the two-man crew left the northern apron of the airport in a jeep."

"When police searched the aircraft, some 600 kilograms (1,322 pounds) of cocaine were discovered along with gallons of fuel and several AK 47 and AK 48 rifles were discovered with 339 rounds of cartridges," he said.

The plane came from Venezuela, the police said. Venezuela is an important exporter of cocaine shipments destined for Europe. In June last year the Venezuelan authorities seized 2.5 metric tonnes of cocaine on a small private plane also bound for Sierra Leone.

According to a recent United Nations report Sierra Leone is one of the countries used to smuggle drugs on to Europe.

"The geographical position of Western Africa makes it an ideal staging post from South America to the growing cocaine market in Europe," the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a 2007 report.

The poor law-enforcement structure and corruption in countries such as Sierra Leone, which is struggling to rebuild after a bloody decade-long civil war (1991-2001), also makes it an attractive destination for drug traffickers, the UN said.

After the find this weekend, Sierra Leone's police arrested seven foreign nationals -- three Colombians, two Mexicans, a Venezuelan national and a US citizen -- in a car six miles from the airport.

"They had knives, telescopes, compasses and a huge quantity of US dollars," a security officer involved in the arrest told AFP.

An unspecified number of Sierra Leoneans were also arrested including several airport and airport police officials.

Police official Oliver Somassa described the incident as "a cause for alarm."

Information Minister Ibrahim Ben Kargbo admitted that "the incident took the government unawares."

According to reporters in the north of Sierra Leone, close to the border with Guinea, police have stepped up surveillance and border patrols in the hopes to catch more people linked to the drug trafficking ring.

President Ernest Koroma ordered "a thorough investigation to be undertaken by security agencies".

According to the UNODC drugs seizures in Africa rose from less than 1 percent (of global seizures) over the 1998-2002 period to 15 percent in 2006.

In 2007 around 6 tonnes of cocaine were seized in several important hauls in West Africa, including a seizure of 2.4 tonnes of cocaine in Senegal late June 2007. In many cases there were South American nationals among those arrested in connection with the seizures.

Two men hit with several charges following the seizure of thousands of dollars worth of drugs

2008-07-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Two Toronto men now face 20 drug-related charges after police find several drugs destined for the Entertainment District in their possession.

One man, 40, was arrested in a downtown home, where police found a large quantity of drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, magic mushrooms and Viagara during a raid.

The seized drugs are valued at $35,000.

Meanwhile, the other man, 39, was taken into police custody after he was found in a hotel lobby with a huge sum of methamphetamine valued at $75,000.

Tetra Pak heir charged over drugs

2008-07-14T18:16:00.001-07:00

The heir to the Tetra Pak empire has been charged with possession of drugs.

Hans Kristian Rausing, 45, whose Swedish father owns the £5.4bn drinks carton company, was charged on Sunday with possessing Class A drugs.

His wife, Eva Rausing, 44, was also charged with possessing Class A and Class C drugs.

Mr and Mrs Rausing, of Cadogan Place, Chelsea, remain on bail and will appear before City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on 29 July.

The couple were arrested in April after Mrs Rausing allegedly tried to smuggle drugs into the US embassy.

They were arrested on suspicion of possessing Class A drugs when they were allegedly caught with small amounts of crack cocaine and heroin.

NY Gov. Paterson says he used cocaine

2008-03-24T20:17:00.001-07:00

Gov. David Paterson said Monday he used cocaine in his 20s and smoked marijuana when he was younger. In reference to cocaine, Paterson, 53, said in a television interview that he "tried it a couple of times" when he was "about 22 or 23."

"And marijuana probably when I was about 20," he said on the NY1 cable news station. "I don't think I touched marijuana since the '70s."

He said "more Americans have tried a lot more during that period of time and gone on to lead responsible lives and hopefully have lived their lives to their fullest."

Paterson was lieutenant governor under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned this month amid a prostitution scandal.

Last week, Paterson and his wife, Michelle Paterson, disclosed they each had committed adultery several years ago during marital strife. The couple were separated for a "couple years" at the time, David Paterson said Monday.

In Monday's interview, Paterson pointed out that he had acknowledged to a television journalist after a 2006 gubernatorial Democratic primary debate that he had used illegal drugs.

The NY1 interviewer, Dominic Carter, noted that few people paid attention to Paterson's revelation in 2006 because he was running for lieutenant governor.

Mike Tyson gets day in jail for cocaine, DUI

2007-11-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

Mike Tyson was sentenced Monday to 24 hours in jail and three years' probation for cocaine possession and driving under the influence.

Mike Tyson was arrested in a traffic stop outside the Pussycat Lounge in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The former heavyweight champion had pleaded guilty in September to a single felony count of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor DUI count.

"I take responsibility for my actions," Tyson told Superior Court Judge Helene Abrams in an almost inaudible voice before she handed down the sentence.

Tyson, who will begin serving his jail time Tuesday morning, left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

Tyson had faced a possible maximum sentence of four years and three months in prison. Prosecutor Shane Krauser had recommended one year in prison Monday, saying that Tyson was a multiple offender who previously had been convicted of a violent crime and that only now has he sought treatment for his drug addiction.

"Judge, by my calculations, this is his fourth or fifth chance," Krauser said.

The latest charges stemmed from a traffic stop in Scottsdale on December 29 after the boxer had spent the evening at Scottsdale's Pussycat Lounge and was seen driving erratically. An officer said he saw Tyson wiping a white substance off the dashboard of his black BMW, and that his speech was slurred.

Authorities said they found bags of cocaine in Tyson's pocket and in his car.

Tyson told officers later that he used cocaine "whenever I can get my hands on it," and that he preferred to smoke it in Marlboro cigarettes with the tobacco pulled out, according to court documents. He also told police that he used marijuana that day and was taking the antidepressant Zoloft, the documents state.

Since his arrest, Tyson checked himself into an inpatient treatment program for what his lawyer called "various addictions."

Tyson attorney David Chesnoff said his client had taken 29 drug tests without a relapse since his arrest and that he's attended Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Heroin 'should now be prescribed'

2007-11-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

A community chaplain has called for drug addicts to be prescribed heroin on their release from prison.

Roger Howarth, who helps inmates leaving HMP Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, said the move would cut crime.

He claimed about 85% of prisoners tested positive for heroin on arrival at the jail and said it was the biggest single issue that needed resolving.

And Mr Howarth said decriminalising the drug was a necessary step to tackle the "frightening statistic".

'Heroin a killer'

"I firmly believe that the answer is to prescribe heroin to addicts. Take the criminality out of it," he said.

"Nothing is going to stop a heroin addict getting his heroin today, they absolutely have to have it, it becomes the number one driver and priority.

"Given that's the case, then why do we make people go and commit crime to get it?"

But listeners to BBC Radio Shropshire disagreed with the chaplain.

Former prison officer John Cherrington said: "How can anyone condone giving people drugs? But more importantly they should be clean when they come out of prison."

And a woman whose daughter was a heroin user, said: "We don't believe in euthanasia in this country and heroin is a killer."

Churchill's great-grandson sells ecstasy, faces jail

2007-11-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

Nicholas Jake Barton, the great-grandson of former British prime minister Winston Churchill, pleaded guilty Tuesday to knowingly taking part in a multimillion dollar ecstasy racket.

Barton was arrested at his Sydney home in June last year during a series of raids in which police seized some 250,000 ecstasy tablets worth around 15 million Australian dollars (13 million U.S. dollars).

The 33-year-old Briton, who is the son of James Barton and Arabella Spencer Churchill, pleaded guilty before Sydney's Local Court to knowingly taking part in the supply of a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Barton, who bears a passing resemblance to his famous great-grandfather, was ordered to remain in custody until Feb. 22 when he will be sentenced along with co-defendant Reese Gerard Woodgate, 42, who has also pleaded guilty.

Man Sold Ecstasy To Girl Who Died

2007-11-14T10:37:00.001-08:00

A Hialeah man is charged with first-degree murder amid allegations he sold Ecstasy to a 15-year-old girl who died from the drug.

Christopher Rodriguez, 22, is being held without bond at a Miami-Dade County jail. He was arrested Sunday.

The Miami Herald reported that the Circuit City security guard confessed to Miami Beach police to selling the girl Ecstasy "to make some extra money." Rodriguez sold her one tablet for $14, the report said.

According to the report, the girl took the drug Nov. 2 after Rodriguez met her and some of her friends at a gas station in Hialeah. She was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center that night and pronounced brain dead. She was taken off life support five days later.

Drug mule mother's cocaine death

2007-11-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

A mother who smuggled 34 bags of cocaine into Britain from Trinidad was killed when some of them split in her stomach, Cardiff Crown Court has heard.

Nicola Last's family believed she had gone on holiday to Spain to celebrate her 40th birthday.

But she died of a massive drug overdose when she returned from the Caribbean after swallowing £50,000 of cocaine.

Her travel companion David Case and Sebastian Stephen, both of Cardiff, deny drugs conspiracy charges.

Case, 44, with whom Ms Last travelled to Trinidad, is charged with Stephen, 40, with conspiracy to import a controlled Class A drug and conspiracy to supply that drug.

The court was told Ms Last had been stopped and searched at Heathrow Airport after catching a flight from the Caribbean island, but no drugs were found and she returned to her home in Barry.

She collapsed and died the following day at Llandough Hospital, near Penarth, and the bags of cocaine were found in her stomach with "numerous breakages".

Huw Evans, prosecuting, told the jury: "We say these two men were part of a drug dealing gang.

"The evidence suggests that Sebastian Stephen recruited David Case to become a drugs carrier, sometimes referred to as a mule.

"David Case in turn recruited Nicola Last to help him bring cocaine from Trinidad back to the UK."

He alleged they both carried the packages of cocaine, which would have taken a considerable amount of time to swallow, in their bodies - which had fatal consequences for Ms Last.

Drug Courier Vomits 38 Wraps of Cocaine

2007-11-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

A 29-year-old suspected drug courier, Okonkwo Sunday, on Saturday, at about 730 p.m., gave himself up for arrest by vomiting 38 wraps of substances that tested positive as cocaine.

The suspect, at the departure hall of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, was immediately arrested by officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). Okonkwo had ingested 60 wraps of the hard drugs, which he intended to smuggle to Spain . He was to travel on a Turkish Airways flight from Lagos to Athens through Istanbul. Sunday is based in Barcelona where he works as a labourer to earn a living.

He hails from Abagana in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Reacting to questions on why he threw up some of the drugs, he said "it was turning my stomach and I was feeling pains inside my body."On how he got into the drugs business,he said he needed money to start business and " I met a man in a drinking bar the night I came back and he was the one that gave me the drugs with a promise of $3,500."

Similarly, one Chijoke Mbadiagha Ambrose 35-year-old, was arrested same night at about 1030 p.m. during the screening of passengers on Alitalia flight from Lagos to Athens through Milan.

He ingested 77 wraps of substances that tested positive for cocaine. Ambrose is from Amiri Village, in Oru Local Government Area of Imo State. He is based in Greece. He came to the country on November 1, 2007. According to Ambrose, "I met one Chukwuebuka who was with me in Greece . He told me he is now back home doing runs. He collected my phone number and that was how I got involved in drugs. The suspects are still under observation until they complete excretion of the drugs."

Cocaine Use Dulls Brain's Sensitivity to Rewards

2007-11-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

Cocaine addiction dulls the brain's sensitivity to even monetary rewards, U.S. researchers report.

A team at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory analyzed brain activity in 18 cocaine addicts and 18 age-matched healthy people.

The participants were outfitted with a cap of electrodes that measured brain activity as they pressed or didn't press buttons in response to visual prompts. During this task, the participants were told they could earn various amounts of money for fast and accurate performance.

The results showed that the cocaine addicts had a blunted brain response to the offer of a monetary reward.

The findings were presented Nov. 7 at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

"This altered sensitivity to reward may help explain why some drug-addicted individuals are unable to modify their drug-taking behavior, even in the face of well-understood negative consequences and/or positive incentives for behavioral change," Rita Goldstein, who runs the neuropsychoimaging lab at Brookhaven, said in a prepared statement.

In previous studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers in Goldstein's lab found similar compromised brain sensitivity to monetary reward in cocaine addicts.

"Individuals with such blunted neural and behavioral sensitivity to rewards may have a particularly difficult time responding to abstract incentives designed to motivate behavioral changes -- especially when outside of a structured treatment environment or when rewards are not readily available or clearly contingent on behavior," Goldstein said.

Woman Visiting Husband At Prison Had Marijuana-Filled Condoms

2007-11-12T13:34:00.001-08:00

A Central Florida woman visiting her husband in prison on Sunday morning was arrested after she was found with two condoms stuffed with marijuana in her pants, according to officials.

Robin Adkins, 43, was charged with possession of marijuana over 20 grams and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility, both third-degree felonies.

According to Volusia County sheriff's deputies, Adkins was visiting her husband at Tomoka Correctional Institution, a state prison in Daytona Beach, when correctional officers said she was acting suspicious.

During the visit, Adkins went to the bathroom, and when she exited she was walking slowly with her arms clutched to her waist, deputies said. When she sat back down with her husband, officers said she appeared to be trying to remove something from the waistband of her pants.

Adkins was escorted out of the visiting area and taken to a search room, where she turned over two condoms with bags of marijuana stuffed inside them after she was asked if she had any contraband, officials said.

Prison officials called the Volusia County Sheriff's Office to continue an investigation into the incident.

Responding deputies said the marijuana weighed about 65 grams.

Adkins was booked in at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach and then taken to the Volusia County Correctional Facility, where she was released about four hours later after posting $3,500 bond.

Authorities Seize Nearly 9 Tons Of Marijuana

2007-11-12T13:33:00.001-08:00

Authorities seized a truckload of marijuana worth more than $67 million at the Calexico port of entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said the truck driver was supposed to be hauling a shipment of flat-screen televisions. Authorities said a narcotics dog detected the drugs. When agents opened the trailer, several large packages of pot fell out, authorities said.

There were more than 1,000 packages of marijuana totaling more than 17,700 pounds.

The accused smuggler is a 25-year-old Mexican and registered participant in the FAST program.

FAST is an agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States to expedite trade. "Low-risk" drivers must submit an application and agree to a security profile.

Pregnant woman charged for using heroin

2007-11-10T09:40:00.002-08:00

A 22-year-old woman was charged with endangering her unborn child by injecting herself with heroin, according to court documents.

Nina Doane, 52 Village Green Road, was arrested by Hampstead Police on Wednesday afternoon at the police station. Court documents say she is more than four months pregnant.

Detective Sgt. Ken Owen said as far as he knows, this is the first time someone has been arrested on this charge in Hampstead. He refused to provide any further details about the arrest.

Doane was released on $1,000 bail. She is expected in court Dec. 17.

Mother, aunt charged over cocaine in child

2007-11-10T09:40:00.001-08:00

The mother and aunt of an 18-month-old boy who tested positive for cocaine in September have been indicted on four counts each of first-degree wanton endangerment.

The indictment for each says that the mother, Ashley Carrier, 20, and the aunt, Jessica Coffman, 24, "wantonly left substances in a residence that created a substantial danger of death or physical injury to a minor child."

Each woman was charged with four counts because three other children, other than the boy who tested positive, were in the Chestnut Street home.

Police went to the home on Sept. 25 after receiving a call that a child might have ingested prescription narcotics.

Carrier told police the child was stumbling and acting sleepy. Coffman told police the child might have taken Klonopin, a narcotic, but she refused to give police a prescription bottle.

The toddler was taken to Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville, where a test showed cocaine was in his system. He was later transferred to Kentucky Children's Hospital in Lexington.

First-degree wanton endangerment is a class D felony punishable by one to five years in prison.

Carrier and Coffman were in the Boyle County jail yesterday. They could be arraigned in Boyle Circuit Court as early as Dec. 4.

Addicted rats prefer saccharin to cocaine

2007-11-10T09:38:00.000-08:00

Researchers have learned that rats overwhelmingly prefer water sweetened with saccharin to cocaine, a finding that demonstrates the addictive potential of sweets.

Offering larger doses of cocaine did not alter the rats' preference for saccharin, according to the report.

Scientists said the study, presented this week in San Diego at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, might help explain the rise in human obesity, which has been driven in part by an overconsumption of sugary foods.

In the experiment, 43 rats were placed in cages with two levers, one of which delivered an intravenous dose of cocaine and the other a sip of highly sweetened water. At the end of the 15-day trial, 40 of the rats consistently chose saccharin instead of cocaine.

When sugar water was substituted for the saccharin solution, the results were the same, researchers said.

Further testing the rat sweet tooth, scientists subjected 24 cocaine-addicted rats to a similar trial. At the end of 10 days, the majority of them preferred saccharin.

"Intense sweetness is more rewarding to the rats than cocaine," said co-author Magalie Lenoir of the University of Bordeaux in France.

Lenoir said mammalian taste receptors evolved in an environment lacking in sugar and so were not adapted to the high concentrations of sweets found in the modern diet. Excess sugar could increase levels of the brain chemical dopamine, she said, leading to a craving for sweets.

Cocaine also increases dopamine, she said, but through a different brain mechanism.

Biggest cocaine seizure in Mexico

2007-11-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

Mexican authorities have revealed what they're claiming is the world's biggest seizure of cocaine.

Police found 23 tonnes of the drug on a ship from Colombia, docked at the port city of Manzanillo.

The cocaine was in more than twenty thousand packets. Police say the shipment had a street value of more than half a billion dollars.

Man is arrested after reporting his weed stolen

2007-11-06T13:25:00.001-08:00

A man was arrested for drug possession after telling authorities that two masked gunmen had stolen 150 pounds of marijuana from his home.

Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies arrived at the home near Penitas in South Texas to find the door kicked in and nearly 15 pounds of pot lying on the floor, Sheriff Lupe Trevino said.

Jose Guadalupe Flores, 35, escaped while the men ransacked the house but returned later and told the deputies he had been wrapping the drugs for shipment when the intruders arrived.

"The guy walked right up and said the drugs were his," Trevino said. "That's not the smartest move."

Flores, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was charged with felony possession of marijuana at an arraignment hearing Monday. Because of his immigration status, Flores will be jailed until his case is heard.

Authorities were still searching for the gunmen.

Father, son accused of attacking alleged marijuana grower

2007-11-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

A marijuana grow-house was uncovered in Poinciana on Sunday after a father and son from Homestead attacked the alleged grower and then ransacked the home, the Polk County Sheriff's Office reported.

Pedro Gonzalez, 27, was walking out of the garage at a home on Kingfish Drive about 12:15 p.m. when he was attacked by three people and forced back into the house, a sheriff's report said.

Neighbors heard the commotion and called for help. When deputies arrived, they arrested father and son Raul Liranzo Cruzata, 39, and Raul Liranzo Bandera, 20, both of Southwest 188th Court in Homestead.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Wood said the father and son are accused of trying to take the marijuana plants from the Poinciana home.

Cruzata and Bandera each face charges of armed kidnapping, armed robbery and occupied burglary with battery.

Detectives found an elaborate lighting and irrigation system inside the house with about 62 plants.

Gonzalez was treated at an area hospital for head injuries and was arrested on numerous charges including cultivation of cannabis, trafficking cannabis and maintaining a dwelling for drug use and sale.

Swiss Study Finds Marijuana Use Alone May Benefit Some Teens, U.S. Doctor Disagrees

2007-11-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

Researchers at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland surveyed 5,263 students, including 455 who smoke marijuana only, 1,703 who smoke marijuana and tobacco and 3,105 who smoked neither one.

The survey, which will be published in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that marijuana-only smokers had better relationships with friends, better grades and were more likely to play sports than teens who smoked tobacco and those who abstained from both substances.

A U.S. substance abuse expert disagreed with the study and said U.S. teens should not be encouraged to use marijuana, particularly since teenagers’ brains are still developing at this time.

“Switzerland is very liberal compared to us in many ways,” Dr. Edwin Salsitz, senior physician of chemical dependency at Beth Israel Medical Center. “In general, it’s not a good idea for teenagers to use psychoactive drugs. The brain is still developing until the age of 21.

“Maybe (there’s) a cultural bias there that says it’s ok to use marijuana once or twice a month,” he continued “But from what I know, I’ve never heard that anyone thought it was beneficial. Most experts here would say that it’s not a good idea to use cannabis before the age of 15, because it interferes with school and the development of brain.”

Researchers found that marijuana-only users had the following characteristics:

— More likely to be male (71.6 percent marijuana smokers versus 59.7 percent of teens who used tobacco and marijuana)

— Play sports (85.5 percent vs. 66.7 percent of tobacco and marijuana)

— Live with both parents (78.2 percent vs. 68.3 percent of tobacco and marijuana)

— Have good grades (77.5 percent vs. 66.6 percent of tobacco and marijuana)

Cannabis-only smokers were also less likely to have been drunk in the past 30 days, less likely to use cannabis before the age of 15 and less likely to use marijuana more than once or twice in the past 30 days. They were also less likely to use other illegal drugs, compared to students who used both substances, researchers found.

“The gateway theory hypothesizes that the use of legal drugs (tobacco and alcohol) is the previous step to cannabis consumption,” the authors wrote. “However, recent research also indicates that cannabis use may precede or be simultaneous to tobacco use and that, in fact, its use may reinforce cigarette smoking or lead to nicotine addiction independently of smoking status. In any case, and even though they do not seem to have great personal, family, or academic problems, the situation of those adolescents who use cannabis but who declare not using tobacco should not be trivialized.”

In comparison to students who abstained from both substances, marijuana-only smokers were:

— More likely to be male (71.6 percent cannabis users vs. 47.7 percent of teens who abstained)

— Have a good relationship with friends (87 percent vs. 83.2 percent)

— Be sensation-seeking (37.8 percent vs. 21.8 percent)

— Play sports (85.5 percent vs. 76.6 percent)

— Less likely to have a good relationship with their parents (74.1 percent vs. 82.4 percent)

The fact that some students who smoked marijuana were less likely to have a good relationship with their parents wasn’t surprising to Salsitz. “The way to look at it is to look at alcohol as an analogy,” he said. “Do adults or teens who use alcohol have better relationships than those abstinent? That’s just not true. It looks like if you smoke marijuana and not tobacco, it’s better for you.”

He said the study should be viewed in terms of culture. “In France, people drink wine with food, but they don’t get drunk,” he said. “Kids also start doing this when they are young, and that’s different from here. I don’t think anyone would say that the active ingredient in marijuana is doing anything good in the brain, compared to abstaining or smoking tobacco, so there must be cultural reason for this happening.”

Man caught with over $1 million in cocaine

2007-10-31T22:51:00.001-07:00

A 61-year-old man was arrested today after he tried to smuggle 36 pounds of cocaine at the Bridge of the Americas.

Servando Mayor-Ramirez of Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico, was attempting to cross at 1 p.m. in a 2007 Honda Civic when a scanner at the port of entry detected possible contraband. An inspection revealed 14 bundles weighing 36 pounds. The estimated value of the cocaine is $1,080,000.

In separate incidents today, Customs and Border Protection officials also seized 476 pounds of marijuana.

Club-drug 'ecstasy' harmful to first-time users

2007-10-31T22:50:00.001-07:00

Even small amounts of the drug ecstasy can harm the brains of first time users, a new study shows.

Researchers took brain scans and gave memory tests to 188 people who had never taken ecstasy (MDMA). The tests and scans were repeated 18 months later, and differences could be seen in the brains of 59 people who had tried small amounts of ecstasy in the intervening period. On average, those who had newly tried it had taken just six pills.

"We found a decrease in blood circulation in some areas of the brain in young adults who just started to use ecstasy," says Maartje de Win, who led the study at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. "We also found a relative decrease in verbal memory performance in ecstasy users compared to non-users.” There was no evidence of damage to neurons or alteration to mood, however.

Ecstasy is an illegal amphetamine, which is taken by clubbers for its euphoric effects. The drug increases the amount of a neurotransmitter, called serotonin, in the brain. Serotonin is involved in regulating several brain functions, including mood and memory.

Previous studies have shown that long-term or heavy use of ecstasy can damage neurons and cause depression, anxiety, confusion, difficulty sleeping and decrease in memory.

However, this is the first study to examine the effects of low doses of ecstasy on the brain, the researchers claim. The study did not look at the long-term effects of ecstasy's low-dose effect on the brain, and so they were not able to say whether the effects would be permanent.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, in Chicago.

School Assistant Principal Charged With Growing Marijuana

2007-10-31T22:46:00.000-07:00

Police said they arrested an assistant principal of a Virginia elementary school on charges of growing marijuana.

Leonard Marsh works at Cub Run Elementary School in Centreville.

Police arrested him and his wife Tuesday night. Detectives said they found marijuana plants and packaged marijuana inside the couple's house.

The assistant principal was placed on administrative leave.

Border Patrol makes largest marijuana seizure this year

2007-10-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

Border Patrol agents in Fort Hancock, Texas made the El Paso Sector's largest marijuana seizure of the year after a motorist lost control of his vehicle and flipped his trailer on FM Road 192, spilling over 3,000 pounds of marijuana Tuesday, announced U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials today.

According to officials the incident occurred at about 1:40 p.m. when a Border Patrol agent observed the vehicle pulling a utility trailer traveling northbound from the levee just north of the U.S./Mexico boundary.

The vehicle was next seen traveling west on I-10 near McNary.

Agents became suspicious and began following the truck when it made a u-turn across the median and drove east on I-10, said the announcement.

The driver made an abrupt right turn onto FM 192 that caused the utility trailer to flip onto its side. Agents approached the vehicle and noticed several cellophane wrapped bundles.

The driver, an 18-year old U.S. Citizen, was unhurt in the accident and was placed under arrest pending further investigation, said officials.

A total of 3,006 pounds of contraband tested positive for marijuana. The value of the drug haul is estimated at $2.4 million.

Prison visit leads to heroin bust

2007-10-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

Visitors' day at the maximum-security federal prison at Donnacona near Quebec City turned into a heroin bust - involving a 6-week-old child.

The Sûreté du Québec seized 32 grams of heroin when a drug-sniffing dog reacted to something in a baby stroller Saturday.

A woman, accompanied by a 5-year-old child and the infant in the stroller, became agitated after she had arrived to visit an inmate, investigators said.

The 22-year-old woman, from Halifax, appeared in court yesterday to be charged with possession of heroin for the purposes of trafficking, SQ Constable Ann Mathieu said.

Authorities pegged the resale value of the drugs inside prison walls at $38,400. The two youngsters are in the hands of youth protection authorities, Mathieu said.

$2 million in Ecstasy pills seized

2007-10-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

A yearlong investigation resulted in 11 arrests and the seizure of approximately 100,000 Ecstasy tablets with an estimated street value of more than $2 million, officials said Monday.

Among those arrested was suspected ringleader Jian Dong Mai, 51, of Rosemead, said David Nehls, assistant special agent for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"This had been going on for about a year," Nehls said. "We have a lot of sources. One helped us get started. It's really a lot like peeling an onion."

Nehls said ICE became involved in the investigation when agents learned Ecstasy was being smuggled through Los Angeles International Airport. Officials believe two gangs were involved in the distribution of the drugs.

"We started our investigation at the street level and moved up through the organization," Nehls said. "That's how we got to Mr. Mai."

Much of the distribution was done by college students at area colleges, Nehls said.

The most recent seizure occurred Friday when ICE agents joined agents from the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement in seizing three duffel bags hidden inside an 8-foot-by-10-foot self- storage unit, said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of ICE's Los Angeles office.
About 35,000 Ecstasy tablets were seized in previous raids over the past three months.

Eleven people have been arrested, including the suspected ringleader, Nehls said.

Mai is a Chinese national being held without bond on federal charges of distributing a controlled substance.

None of the other suspects were identified. Seven, including Mai are in federal custody. Four are in county jail, Nehls said.

The seizure was part of an ICE-led investigation into several San Gabriel Valley-based criminal organizations involved in smuggling large quantities of Ecstasy.

Nehls could not identify the organizations.

"This is one of the largest Ecstasy seizures in the Los Angeles area in recent years," Schoch said. "The size of this seizure is a clear sign that this probe has succeeded in dismantling several significant local Ecstasy smuggling rings."

California Attorney General Jerry Brown called it "particularly troublesome that some of these drug dealers (were) college students, breaking the law in between classes."

The seized Ecstasy was taken to Drug Enforcement Administration labs for analysis.

326 pounds of marijuana seized by UNITE, DEA

2007-10-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

Four Tennessee residents are in federal custody after law enforcement officers intercepted a large load of marijuana meant for Southeastern Kentucky.

A combined investigation by Operation UNITE detectives and agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration led to an arranged undercover delivery of processed marijuana at the Wal-Mart store in Middlesboro about 10:45 p.m. Thursday, October 25.

Assisting with the sting were officers from the Harlan County Sheriff’s Office, Middlesboro Police Department and Kentucky State Police K-9 Unit.

“Law enforcement officers confiscated 96 pounds of marijuana in Middlesboro,” said Dan Smoot, law enforcement director for UNITE. “Further investigation led to the discovery of an additional 230 pounds in a storage unit in Lafollette, Tennessee, early Friday morning.”

“This marijuana was ultimately meant for delivery to Harlan County,” Smoot noted. “Now it will be sent to the KSP Crime Lab in London for analysis.”

Four people were arrested by the DEA and taken into custody by the U.S. Marshal Service. They were lodged in the Laurel County Detention Center.

Jason A. Alvezios, East Hemlock Street, Lafollette, Tennessee.

Brandi Nicole Layne, age 24, Melvin Lane, Lafollette, Tennessee.

Jordan R. Martin, Perkins Lane, Jacksboro, Tennessee.

Tildem J. Crase, Straight Branch Road, Speedwell, Tennessee. He also maintains a residence in Letcher County.

All four individuals were lodged without bond. They were scheduled for an initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Robert Weir in U.S. District Court in London on Friday afternoon.

During an initial appearance the suspects learn the charges, are advised of their rights, and are appointed an attorney if needed, according to the U.S. District Court Clerk. Dates may also be set for a detention hearing or preliminary hearing on the charges.

Randolph: Man busted with sword, marijuana

2007-10-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

A traffic stop for a bum brake light turned into the arrest of a Delaware man for carrying samurai swords and a small amount of marijuana.

Peter Hansen, 22, of Newark, Del., was charged Monday with two counts of unlawful possession of weapons, possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, Lt. Don Smith said Tuesday.

Police were patrolling Route 10 Westbound just after 10 a.m. when an officer spotted a gray Dodge with a malfunctioning rear brake light and pulled the vehicle over near South Morris Street.

The officer walked up to the vehicle and saw two samurai swords laying on the rear floor board.

Police determined Hansen was the owner of the swords.

A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed an additional samurai sword, a dagger, a flare gun, and marijuana pipe and marijuana, police said.
Hansen was additionally charged with failure to maintain lamps, while a passenger, Mitchell D. Angle, 18, of Magnolia, Del., was charged with one count of hindering his own apprehension by giving police a fake name.

A third passenger, Heather Adank, 21, of Shawtown, Del., wasn’t charged.

16-year-old charged as heroin 'mule'

2007-10-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

A 16-year-old drug mule was nabbed at Kennedy Airport with a mind-boggling 80 balloons of heroin in his stomach, authorities said Friday.

Anthony Cruz of the Dominican Republic was caught Tuesday by airport customs agents with almost a kilo of drugs worth $500,000 in his belly, prosecutors said.

"Not only was he endangering the citizens of New York City by bringing narcotics into their neighborhoods but he could have suffered fatal injuries if any of the balloons burst and the heroin entered his system," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

The 5-foot-11, 210-pound teen was stopped by a Customs and Border Patrol inspector after American Airlines Flight 834 from the Dominican city of Santiago arrived at Kennedy Airport. He agreed to an X-ray of his body, which showed the dozens of sacks of drugs in his stomach, prosecutors said.

Cruz confessed to swallowing the balloons in exchange for $300, 500 Dominican pesos - which are worth about $15 - and a plane ticket to New York, all offered by someone who approached him in the Dominican, prosecutors said yesterday. Cruz was born in New York but had been living with his mother in La Vega, Dominican Republic, prosecutors said.

"The allegation looks like he was being used by others," Cruz's lawyer, Oona O'Flaherty, told Queens Criminal Court Justice Suzanne Melendez at her client's arraignment yesterday.

Cruz was ordered held without bail on felony charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance. He faces 20 years if convicted.

Ecstasy involved in Atkins' death

2007-10-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

The final autopsy report from the Volusia County Medical Examiner released Friday determined that former Florida cornerback Avery Atkins died July 5 from ecstasy intoxication and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Atkins, 20, was found dead inside his car, which was parked in the garage of his aunt's home in Port Orange.

"The investigation clearly indicates that the death of Avery Atkins was not caused by the actions of any other person or persons," Port Orange police said in a statement. "The findings of this investigation are clear that the death of Avery Atkins was the result of his ingestion of MDMA (ecstasy) in sufficient quantities which produced toxic levels, resulting in his death."

Atkins was the prize recruit in coach Urban Meyer's first signing class in 2005, and played that fall as a freshman.

He was a projected starter in 2006 but was granted a release from his scholarship before the season after an arrest on a charge of domestic battery.

He transferred to Bethune-Cookman but left the team after three games last fall. Atkins was arrested three times in the three months before his death on drug possession (marijuana and crack cocaine), aggravated assault and gun charges.

Schwarzenegger: 'Marijuana Isn't a Drug'

2007-10-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says marijuana is not a drug, a British magazine reported Monday. But his spokesman said the governor was joking.

Schwarzenegger told the British edition of GQ magazine that he had not taken drugs, even though the former bodybuilder and Hollywood star has acknowledged using marijuana in the 1970s and was shown smoking a joint in the 1977 documentary "Pumping Iron."

"That is not a drug. It's a leaf," Schwarzenegger told GQ. "My drug was pumping iron, trust me."

Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, said the governor made the comments in a lighthearted context, noting his interviewer was Piers Morgan, one of the judges on "America's Got Talent." Morgan is a former British newspaper editor.

"The governor was doing an interview with the host of 'America's Got Talent,' the newest version of the gong show," McLear said. "I think it's important to keep that quote in the context of the environment where it was said."

"Of course the governor understands marijuana is a drug. It's like when he goes on Leno or the Daily Show, if you took something like that out of context, it might seem shocking but it was in a silly entertainment context," he added.

In the interview for the magazine's December issue, Schwarzenegger refused to condemn politicians who decline to answer questions about drug use.

"What would you rather have? A politician taking stuff and not saying, but making the best decisions and improving things? Or a politician who names all the drugs he or she has taken but makes lousy decisions for the country?" Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying.

"A politician's job is to do what's best for the people and to improve the country, the economy, the environment. Why should I care if a politician takes sleeping pills every night so long as he can do his job?" he added.

In the same interview, Schwarzenegger listed former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who left office in June, as one of the greatest leaders in history, alongside former South African President Nelson Mandela, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Asked if he would include President Bush on the list, Schwarzenegger — a Republican — said: "I would say that I was ... very fond of his father. I worked for President Bush Sr., and he was a great man."

"I think his son does some great things and there are some other things I don't agree with."

Half a million Aussies on ecstasy: study

2007-10-25T17:27:00.001-07:00

A Queensland researcher says ecstasy has become the second most popular illicit drug after cannabis over the past decade.

Greg Fowler from the Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre has outlined new research at a national conference on the Gold Coast in south-east Queensland.

Mr Fowler says more than 500,000 Australians use ecstasy each year.

"Ecstasy is popular partly because it can be consumed in a tablet form," he said. "It's perceived by consumers for that reason as perhaps having less risk than injecting drug use.

"The cocaine market in Australia is substantially smaller than the ecstasy market but there is indications that the cocaine market may be growing."

The research is aimed at providing extra intelligence for police to fight the problem, with Mr Fowler saying ecstasy is adding significant profits to the coffers of organised crime.

Mr Fowler says most ecstasy is imported and a tablet which costs around 25 cents to produce, can be sold for between $30 and $35 in Australia.

"Demand in Australia is supporting a price at that level and organised criminal groups are reaping substantial rewards and that creates an ongoing incentive," he said.

"So we need to look at some of the strategies policing can actually use to look at the various choke points on the supply chain."

Ecuador's 17 year old Barcelona forward tests positive for cocaine

2007-10-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

A 17-year-old striker for 13-time Ecuadorean champion Barcelona tested positive for cocaine, the Ecuadorean Football Association said Wednesday.

Romulo Aguilar, president of the federation's medical commission, said that Miller Bolanos' Oct. 3 test showed he had been consuming cocaine "for a long time."

He said the offence carries a two-year suspension.

"It's worrying not only for soccer, but for the (players) themselves," Aguilar told Radio Quito. "They're boys who have the ability to be good sportsmen, good soccer players, and they don't need this sort of aid."

Bolanos had trained with the national team under coach Luis Fernando Suarez, with the possibility of being selected for the next qualifying round for the 2010 World Cup.

In late August, Michael Arroyo of Emelec tested positive for marijuana, which also carries a two-year suspension.

Ecuador faces Paraguay in Asuncion and Peru at home in Quito in next month's qualifiers.

Man held for smuggling 30,000 ecstasy tablets

2007-10-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Police have arrested a man for allegedly smuggling about 30,000 tablets of the synthetic narcotic agent MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, with an estimated street value of some 120 million yen, investigative sources said Tuesday.

He was identified as Osamu Nagasawa, 60, a company employee and a resident of the city of Shizuoka.

According to investigations by police and customs authorities, Nagasawa imported the drugs illegally from Belgium on Sept 22 using an international package delivery service. The drugs were hidden in a gardening pump. Customs officials at Kansai Internal Airport near Osaka detected the drugs using X-ray checks.

Nagasawa has told investigators that he was asked by a gangster to take delivery of the drugs at his home for 20,000 yen and accepted the request because he was in debt.

Troopers seize 38 pounds of marijuana in Ouachita traffic stop

2007-10-24T07:19:00.001-07:00

Two men are behind bars after state troopers confiscated more than 38 pounds of marijuana hidden inside door panels of a car during a traffic stop.

Authorities say Carlos Rodriquez Serna Junior of Bryan, Texas, and Jose Romero-Ortiz, address unknown, were arrested Tuesday.

Trooper Mark Dennis says Dennis said officers stopped a car in the eastbound lane of Interstate 20 in Ouachita Parish for an equipment violation. As troopers questioned Serna, Dennis says the driver, he appeared to be very nervous.

After getting permission to search the car, state police found 29 packages of marijuana, weighing 38.3 pounds, hidden in all four door panels of the car.

The marijuana is valued at more than $40,000 and troopers believe the drugs were en route to Atlanta.

Serna was booked with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, conspiracy to distribute marijuana and driving with a suspended license. Ortiz was booked on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute marijuana. He also faces U.S. Immigration violations.

Both men were booked into Ouachita Correctional Center.

47 Kilos of Heroin Confiscated

2007-10-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

Following an adventurous pursuit of an Albanian, the police located and confiscated 47 kilos of heroin in Pieria.
The driver of the car did not stop when the police ordered him to do so to unergo a check and as a result a pursuit followed, during which the culprit crashed into two parked cars. Despite the accident, the man managed to escape arrest. The amount of heroin confiscated is considered one of the biggest amounts ever confiscated.

Serbian Customs nabs 360 pounds of heroin

2007-10-24T07:13:00.001-07:00

Serbia’s Customs said it confiscated 360 pounds of heroin found in a Turkish truck at the Serbian Gradina border crossing with Bulgaria.

The heroin seizure was one of the biggest in 10 years by Serbian Customs officers, Serbia’s RTS radio-television said Wednesday.

The drugs were uncovered in a routine search Tuesday at the Serbian Gradina border point near Pirot, 190 miles southeast of Belgrade.

Officials said the heroin was stashed in 161 packages and hidden in a specially made cache in the driver’s cockpit of the truck, whose freight was registered as household goods being reportedly transported to addresses of diplomats in Austria, France and the Netherlands.

Serbian customs’ statement said the purchasing price of the heroin was estimated at $2.8 million, while on the street market it could reach $7.1 million, RTS reported.

Serbia is a major transit country on the Balkan route used to smuggle drugs to Western Europe.

Senate votes to make powder, crack cocaine penalties equal

2007-10-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

In the latest effort in a decade-long legislative crusade, the Ohio Senate on Tuesday voted 32-0 to make penalties for possessing and trafficking in powder cocaine as tough as those for crack cocaine.

This would provide equal justice to high-rollers who transport and sell large volumes of powder cocaine and street dealers and addicts involved with crack cocaine who now are punished more harshly, said Sen. Ray Miller, D-Columbus, the bill's sponsor.

"We have a crisis in our streets but the real problem is in the suites," said Miller. The current system discriminates against minorities and the poor, who are more likely to be involved with crack, said Miller.

Despite the unanimous vote, Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, reminded senators that the change would come at a cost. Additional prison time served by offenders involved with powder cocaine would increase costs by more than $25 million a year, according to the Legislative Service Commission.

Under current law, someone charged with trafficking in from one to five grams of crack cocaine faces the same penalty as someone charged with trafficking in from five to 25 grams of powder cocaine.

Miller praised former state Rep. Sylvester Patton, D-Youngstown, who was in the audience, for unsuccessful efforts with similar legislation dating back to 1997. They hugged after the vote.

The bill now goes to the House.

Man jailed over huge heroin haul

2007-10-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

A Glasgow man caught with a portion of one of the biggest heroin hauls ever recovered by Scottish police has been jailed for eight years.

Robert Wright was caught with enough heroin to give a "tenner bag" to almost everyone in Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth.

But the £2.88m seizure was a fraction of £10.5m consignment later found at the Glasgow Fruit Market at Blochairn.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Wright, 45, from Drumchapel, admitted being involved in supplying the drug in 2006.

He was caught in June last year, just two weeks after being released from jail where he had served a four and a half year sentence for drug trafficking.

High purity

Paul Kearney, prosecuting, told how undercover detectives were watching a unit in the busy wholesale fruit and vegetable market when Wright arrived in his large 4x4.

He was seen looking into vegetable boxes in a lorry and various boxes were then moved from the vehicle into the unit.

Wright took two black holdalls into the unit before backing his car up to the entrance.

Three black holdalls which appeared to be "full and heavy" were then put into the 4x4.

Judge Lady Dorrian described the haul as an "enormous quantity"

Wright was shadowed en route from the Fruitmarket to Maryhill, where plain clothes detectives moved in to detain him as he emerged from the car with one of the holdalls.

The 92 wrapped packages of heroin they recovered weighed a total of 36 kilos, was 50% pure and had a street value of £2.88m.

When questioned by police he admitted that he had been paid £4,000 to deliver the holdall to Maryhill.

He claimed he had no idea what was inside the bags.

When police later searched the lorry at Blochairn, they found another £10.5m pounds worth of the Class A drug.

By that time, however, word had got out about the police investigation and no-one else came to pick up the rest of the consignment, which had totalled 170 kilos.

Paul McBride QC, defending, said Wright fully accepted his responsibility and was not looking for mercy from the court but a full discount on his sentence for an early plea of guilty.

Sentencing Wright to eight years, the judge, Lady Dorrian, described the haul as an "enormous quantity" and said if it had not been for his early guilty plea she would have jailed him for 11 years.

St. Paul girl sentenced for giving out meth

2007-10-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

The 14-year-old St. Paul girl who distributed crystal meth at her middle school cafeteria was sentenced Monday morning in Ramsey County Juvenile Court.

Since she is underage, the sentence is not public. But Janet Hafner, spokeswoman for the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, said the girl is no longer in juvenile detention. She had been there since her arrest Oct. 2.

The girl's father, Jerry Castillo, 35, has been charged with fifth-degree drug possession. According to a criminal complaint, he was using methamphetamine and kept it in a bedroom nightstand.

His daughter apparently found the drugs and handed them out to about a dozen of her fellow students at Hazel Park Middle School, five of whom went to the hospital briefly after feeling ill.

2nd suspect arrested in UPS marijuana shipping scheme

2007-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

A city man was the second individual arrested in connection with a scheme to ship 12 pounds of marijuana through UPS to a New Britain address in June, police said.

Dwight Furze, 30, of 137 Cornwall Road was arrested Saturday by warrant after police determined he was involved with his wife in shipping a 12 pounds of marijuana to 75 Clark St. in June, police said.

His wife, Earlayna Murray, 28, was arrested on June 8 minutes after she signed for the package, police said.

U.S. Customs officials discovered the box contained about 12 pounds of marijuana and arranged for the delivery of the box to determine who would sign for the package, police said at the time.

Murray did sign for the package and was arrested a short while later after police searched the address. Murray was at the address alone except for a 2-month-old baby, police said. Police also found a small amount of marijuana in the apartment at the time of the search.

After investigating, police were able to determine that Furze was also involved in the shipping scheme. He was charged Saturday with conspiracy to possess more than 1 kilo of marijuana with intent to sell and criminal attempt to possess over one kilo of marijuana with intent to sell.

Furze was released after posting $25,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court on Nov. 2.

Hunters Dodge Bullet And Help Bust Calaveras Marijuana Grow

2007-10-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

The Calaveras County Sheriff's Department says a father and son who were out hunting dodged a bullet, and helped bust an illegal marijuana grow.

Recently, the unidentified hunter told the Department that he and his son were hunting near Sheep Ranch during the early morning hours. While hiking in the area, he turned on his flashlight, and was immediately fired upon from at least one firearm.

The father and son left the location immediately. Deputies later hiked around the area of Sheep Ranch Rd, and discovered remnants of marijuana left on a trail. After following the trail, a large garden was discovered which contained approximately 3,000 marijuana plants.

No suspects were located near the garden. The Department says that it appears that it was tended to by workers who lived within a primitive camp in the garden, and the marijuana was likely grown for a Mexican drug trafficking organization.

Man hid cocain in cooler

2007-10-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Police arrested a man at the security checkpoint at the Discovery Cruise Line terminal after finding a kilo of cocaine in a cooler, Magistrate Susan Sylvester heard yesterday.

Sigmund Hall, 27, is on trial for cocaine possession with intent to supply and taking preparatory steps to export the drugs in July 2006.

He was a ticketed passenger for the ferry from Freeport, Grand Bahama to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Security officer Deon Dean testified that he spotted an unusual object on the X-ray machine when the cooler was examined.

Dean alerted a policeman. At first glance the cooler appeared empty, but the policeman dismantled the cooler and found the drugs in a concealed cavity. The cooler's insulation had been removed and a hole was cut in the bottom to hold the drugs before it was reassembled.

In response to a question from Hall's lawyer Richard Boodle, Dean admitted that he did not see who put the cooler on the conveyor belt. But he claimed that Dean had a checked luggage ticket for the cooler. He explained that passengers could not take luggage and coolers on board, but they were given tickets to claim their belongings at the end of the journey.

In a statement to police, Hall allegedly admitted that he had planned to sell the drugs when he got to Florida.

His lawyer stressed the fact that Hall's name was nowhere on the cooler.

The case continues on January 14. Inspector Anne Marie Neilly is the prosecutor.

2 undercover officers pose as patients in investigation

2007-10-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

SAN DIEGO – When an undercover police officer asked Dr. Robert Sterner to prescribe marijuana for his dog, the doctor joked that only two-legged patients were covered by the state's medical marijuana law.

So the officer suggested Sterner appoint him caregiver for the dog, a designation that would allow him to obtain marijuana in the animal's name, according to a Medical Board of California accusation.

While a hidden camera rolled, Sterner said, “There you go. That's being creative,” according to the accusation.

The police officer walked out of the doctor's office with signed authorizations that allowed him to buy marijuana for his dog, as well as for himself.

Now the Medical Board wants to revoke Sterner's license, accusing the 50-year-old Middletown doctor of gross negligence in issuing medical marijuana recommendations to two undercover police officers. He is also accused of incompetence for his lack of knowledge about the safe use of marijuana and its therapeutic value.

Sterner was among a number of doctors targeted in a sting by the San Diego Police Department, including one doctor whose office consisted of a desk and three chairs but no medical equipment. The doctors were investigated because they seemed to be issuing a significant number of marijuana recommendations to young patients who didn't have serious medical conditions, according to the accusation filed in Administrative Law Court.

Sterner's attorney, Zenia Gilg, said the sting was illegal and nothing more than harassment.

“The purpose of the undercover investigation of the San Diego physicians, including Dr. Sterner, was clearly to intimidate and silence them,” Gilg said a letter to the Medical Board.

The police investigation follows years of debate over a 1997 California law – born out of voter-approved Proposition 215 – that allows marijuana use for medical reasons. California was the first of a dozen states that have legalized marijuana for medical use, although federal drug laws still make any use of the drug illegal.

Some say medical marijuana laws properly legitimize marijuana as a therapeutic drug. Others say they are just backdoor attempts to legalize marijuana.

Since the California law went on the books, the Medical Board has investigated 20 complaints filed against doctors who prescribe marijuana. Five doctors have been disciplined statewide.

In addition to Sterner, three other doctors with San Diego County connections have faced or are facing accusations from state medical authorities in connection with prescribing marijuana.

In an interview, Sterner defended his prescribing practices, saying he must rely on the symptoms described by his patients. He spoke contemptuously of the police, saying they were simply trying to “lampoon” his practice by going undercover with a hidden camera.

Sterner said he is a Harvard graduate and has a bloodline to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, a document he pointed out was written on paper milled from cannabis hemp.

He spoke passionately about his belief in the marijuana's medicinal value.

“I want to see as many options as possible available to my patients,” Sterner said. “It causes no harm and provides great benefit.”

Sterner said he has been practicing medicine for 24 years and until he began prescribing marijuana the Medical Board had never taken issue with his conduct.

“The accusation is snatching at straws,” he said, adding that despite the police sting no criminal charges have been filed against him. “There were no laws broken.”

Detectives posed as patients

The San Diego Police Department sent two undercover narcotics detectives to Sterner's office last year posing as patients complaining of insomnia and migraines, ills far less serious than those contemplated by the framers of the marijuana law.
Before the officers met with Sterner, his receptionist spelled out the arrangement, according to the accusation: A six-month recommendation for marijuana use would cost $125 and a one-year recommendation $200.

Sterner gave the first detective, Kimber Hammond, a quick exam while the doctor's dog Junebug curled on a chair next to the examination table, according to the accusation. Sterner took her blood pressure and temperature, shined a penlight in her eyes, listened to her chest with a stethoscope and tapped her wrist with a small hammer to check her reflexes.

During the exam, Sterner told Hammond that hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine hurt a person's brain but cannabis “adds to your brain,” according to the accusation. He also prescribed a drug that state authorities say was meant to disguise a positive drug test for marijuana.

When the other undercover detective, Conrado DeCastro, visited Sterner, the doctor called the marijuana recommendation “insurance” against criminal charges for possession, according to the accusation. “It has credibility and legitimacy,” Sterner told the detective, according to the accusation.

When DeCastro asked Sterner to issue a marijuana recommendation for his arthritic, 9-year-old Labrador retriever, Sterner “replied he was not sure if Proposition 215 applies to dogs as well as people,” according to the accusation. Instead, he suggested that DeCastro share some of his marijuana with the dog, Storm, according to the accusation.

But after DeCastro proposed having Sterner appoint him Storm's caregiver, he got the doctor's signed authorization.

Gilg, Sterner's attorney, said the conversation makes for good television but nothing else.

A caregiver recommendation goes to the patient, who then designates someone to obtain marijuana for them, Gilg said. Not the other way around as the Medical Board and undercover officers say happened, she said.

“It's almost laughable what went on here,” Gilg said.

Authorities say Oregon's Medical Marijuana law out of control

2007-10-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Voters who passed Oregon's medical marijuana law in 1998 were told about 500 people a year would apply to use the drug for relief from debilitating medical conditions such as cancer.

But it has mushroomed far beyond that, and now has nearly 15,000 patients with 17-hundred more applying for new or renewed permits each month.

People allowed to grow the drug surpass 4,000, and police and prosecutors say things are getting out of hand.

Some gets onto the black market at high prices and Oregon State Police say that of the 46 illegal crop seizures they took part in last year, 15 involved medical marijuana growers. But patient advocates say the real problem is filling the need--that the demand for medical marijuana is about ten times the supply.

Supporters are looking for an expansion of the program. Opponents want it repealed. Voters could decide next year.

Five arrested in cocaine bust

2007-10-20T16:43:00.001-07:00

PASCAGOULA -- The Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County arrested five people, seized around 25 grams of crack cocaine and a large sum of money, according to a news release from the task force.

On Wednesday, Robert Williams, 55, of 1007 Convent Ave., was arrested at his home, while searching the residence officers found and arrested Tommie Cody, 31, the news release said.

Both men were charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, within 1,500 feet of a church for 15 grams of crack cocaine found in the home, the news release said.

The home is near Asbury Chapel A.M.E. Zion, and the proximity enhanced the charges pressed against them. Williams and Cody are awaiting an initial appearance before Judge T. Larry Wilson at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center, and could face up to 44 years in prison and $1,000,000 in fines, the news release said.

On Oct. 10, the task force arrested Melvin Brown, 38, of 3121 Schovel Road, in his home. When agents searched the residence they found and arrested Nora Brown and Larry McCovery, who both live at the home, the news release said.

Agents found 10 grams of crack cocaine in the home, which is within 1,500 feet of Colmer Middle School, the news release said. Being near a school enhances the charges.

Melvin Brown is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute within 1,500 feet of a school.

Nora Brown was charged with Felony Possession of controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school, and McCovery was charged with possession of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school, the news release said.

The three were transported to the Jackson County Adult Detention Center, and their total bonds equaled $37,500.

Agents find big load of marijuana inside tour bus in Nogales

2007-10-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found nearly 1,600 pounds of marijuana inside a tour bus Thursday morning at the main port of entry in Nogales.

Suspicions were raised during questioning of the driver and a review of bus paperwork as the vehicle crossed through the downtown Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry at 2 a.m. Thursday, said Brian Levin, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman.

During a subsequent inspection, a drug-sniffing dog alerted agents to something inside the bus. A vehicle X-ray system also showed abnormalities in the bus's structure.

Officers inspected the bus and found an access hatch to a compartment in the rear of the bus, Levin said. Inside, they found 179 bundles of marijuana weighing a total of 1,577 pounds, he said.

The marijuana had an estimated value of $906,775, according to figures from the National Drug Intelligence Center.

The bus was a Mexican charter carrying 13 people en route to Phoenix, Levin said. Five people — three men and two women, all Mexican citizens — were arrested and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he said. The other eight were allowed to continue onward, but the bus stayed at the port.

It has been many years since officers found a large load of marijuana in a charter bus, Levin said.

"It tells us that the drug-trafficking organizations are trying to use a variety of ways to do this," Levin said. "They are looking for the appearance of normalcy and legitimacy. They are trying not to stand out."

Officers also stopped two attempts to smuggle cocaine through the same port of entry this week. On Wednesday, officers found 25 pounds of cocaine inside a compartment built into a 1996 Ford Thunderbird driven by a 47-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora.

On Thursday, officers discovered 37 pounds of cocaine inside the panels of a vehicle driven by a 26-year-old woman from Nogales, Sonora, Levin said. Both people were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The 62 pounds of cocaine has an estimated value of $435,922, according to U.S. data.

Amy Winehouse held overnight by Norwegian police for marijuana possession

2007-10-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse was arrested in Norway for marijuana possession and held overnight, a police official said Friday.

Winehouse and her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, were released at around 7 a.m. Friday after paying $715 each in fines, prosecutor Lars Morten Lothe said. A third person, also released, was fined $492, he said.

The three were arrested shortly after 6 p.m. at a hotel in Bergen in southwestern Norway, where Winehouse is on a European tour, after a tip to police.

"They were found with seven grams of marijuana," Lothe said. "She's paid the fine, so this thing is over for us now."

Winehouse was to perform in Oslo Saturday, before heading to the Netherlands on Monday.

Winehouse made her U.S. debut this year with the acclaimed album "Back to Black," but her celebrity has been fuelled by her tabloid image as well as her talent. She's spoken openly about her battles with drugs and her penchant for alcohol and marijuana, and her hit single "Rehab" is an autobiographical tale of her resistance to being pushed to go to rehab: "They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said no, no, no."

Marijuana worth $1 million found in bus at border; Driver charged

2007-10-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

LEWISTON, N.Y. - The driver of a charter bus carrying 55 passengers into the United States was arrested after border agents discovered $1 million worth of marijuana in the luggage compartment.

The 59-year-old Canadian driver, whose name was not released because of the ongoing investigation, was arrested at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, north of Buffalo, Oct. 13, after a narcotics dog detected the drugs during an inspection, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said.

Officers found nine undeclared pieces of luggage, including duffel bags and suitcases, which contained 320 pounds of marijuana in vacuum-sealed bags. Dryer sheets in the bags were an apparent attempt to conceal the odor, authorities said.

The bus passengers, who were on route to a Pennsylvania shopping mall, were interviewed and allowed to continue their trip on another tour bus.

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The bus driver was charged with federal counts of importation and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. He was turned over to agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)

Pit Bulls Seized, Two Arrested During Marijuana Bust

2007-10-18T17:06:00.001-07:00

CASSELBERRY, Fla. -- Police were trying to make a drug bust in Casselberry, but they uncovered much more, a high-profit marijuana operation and pit bulls that may have been fighting.

Police said drugs and dogs were the valuable commodities at a Casselberry home near Winter Park Drive. They arrested a man and his girlfriend for a large amount of marijuana and dogs that may have been trained to fight.

From the air, the backyard revealed broken down dog houses. It's where police said they found two of three pit bulls chained up, not far from a homemade treadmill.

Inside the home, officers found 28-year-old Daniel Coleman, his girlfriend Amber Urbanik and the strong smell of marijuana, but neighbors didn't know how much trouble the couple was in.

"I thought it was just a pot party and police busted them," said neighbor Richard Mercier.

Police said they discovered more than ten pounds of high-grade marijuana stashed in the house. They said Coleman admitted the drugs were a main source of income.

Investigators said they believe Coleman was sending or receiving the drugs by FedEx. They even found index cards with prices, up to $25,000 for seven pounds of marijuana. Police also found prescription pain killers, anabolic steroids and a handgun.

At his first court appearance, Coleman wanted to know about his dogs that he's been banned from seeing. Investigators said they had evidence of bite marks and had been deprived of food and water, but Coleman never admitted to using them to fight.

On all the charges, Coleman's bail adds up to $35,000. According to the police report, Coleman told investigators he recently put $26,000 in the bank and Thursday in court he turned down a public defender and said he plans to hire his own attorney.

Traffic stop yields 220 bricks of heroin

2007-10-18T17:03:00.001-07:00

PATERSON – Three men face drug trafficking charges after a motor vehicle stop Wednesday morning led to the seizure of $150,000 worth of heroin, authorities said.

Todd Anderson, 40, of East 39th Street, was arrested after authorities pulled over the 2001 Ford Escape he was driving southbound on Route 20 about 12:30 a.m. and found 220 bricks of heroin in the vehicle, said Capt. Robert Prause of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office Narcotics Task Force.

After obtaining a search warrant, prosecutor's office investigators found an additional 30 bricks of heroin at 111 Grand St. in Garfield, Prause said.

Jarred Ferrer, 21, of East 33rd Street in Paterson, and Quay Yum Montgomery, 28, were arrested at the Garfield address, which was Montgomery's residence, Prause said.

The Prosecutor's Office Gang Suppression Unit and Narcotics Task Force had been investigating the three suspects for about a month, Prause said.

All three men are charged with possession and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. They are being held at the Passaic County Jail, each with bail set at $250,000 with no 10 percent cash option.

Montgomery also faces a charge of illegally possessing a 9 mm handgun, Prause said.

Investigators also seized Anderson's vehicle, a 1998 Mercedes Benz, a 1993 Ford Tempo and $3,297.

Afghan Heroin Kingpin Sentenced to Over 15 Years

2007-10-18T17:02:00.001-07:00

MANHATTAN, New York (FBI) -- Baz Mohammad, 51, an Afghan heroin kingpin, and the first defendant ever extradited to the U.S. from Afghanistan, was sentenced this afternoon to 188 months imprisonment for managing an international narcotics-trafficking organization that imported millions of dollars of heroin into the U.S., announced Michael J. Garcia, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Karen P. Tandy, the Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

President George W. Bush previously designated Baz Mohammad as a foreign narcotics kingpin under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, which authorizes the President of the United States to make such designations when he determines that a foreign narcotics trafficker presents a threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the U.S. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, authorized the extradition of Baz Mohammad to the U.S. in October 2005. On July 11, 2006, Baz Mohammad pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court. According to the Indictment, other documents filed in the case, and statements made during Mohammad's guilty plea:

Between 1990 and 2005, Mohammad led an international heroin-trafficking organization responsible for manufacturing and distributing millions of dollars worth of heroin in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The organization then arranged for the heroin to be transported from Afghanistan and Pakistan into the U.S., including to New York City, hidden inside suitcases, clothing, and containers. Once the heroin arrived in the U.S., other members of the organization received and distributed the heroin. These co-conspirators then arranged for millions of dollars in heroin proceeds to be laundered back to Mohammad and other members of the organization, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The organization, closely aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan, provided financial support to the Taliban during the course of the conspiracy. More specifically, between 1994 and 2000, the organization collected heroin proceeds in the U.S. for the Taliban. In exchange for its financial support, the Taliban provided the organization protection for its opium crops, heroin laboratories, drug-transportation routes, and members and associates.

In 1990, Mohammad discussed heroin trafficking with other members of the organization in his Karachi, Pakistan, residence. During the meeting, Mohammad told his co-conspirators that selling heroin in the U.S. was a “jihad” because they were taking the Americans’ money and the heroin was killing them.

This case was the result of the cooperative efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the DEA, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the New York City Police Department (NYPD), working together under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, as well as the Afghanistan Counter Narcotics Police and the Interior Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Mr. Garcia praised the investigative efforts of the DEA, the FBI, ICE, the NYPD, and the Afghan Counter Narcotics Police.

“Baz Mohammad is a narcotics kingpin whose drug organization, operating under the protection of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, made millions of dollars from the sale of heroin in the United States," said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia. “Today's sentencing is a gratifying conclusion to an important prosecution that would not have been possible without unprecedented cooperation between law enforcement authorities in the United States and Afghanistan.”

“The sentencing of Haji Baz Mohammad -- the first person ever extradited from Afghanistan to the United States -- demonstrates both our nations' resolve to destroy the hold opium lords have on Afghanistan,” said DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy. “This drug kingpin bragged that he waged jihad against Americans by poisoning them with his heroin. His attack was unconventional, and his massive drug profits funded the Taliban and other extremist organizations dedicated to destroying freedom and justice. Today, as Mohammad loses his own freedom, he begins a long, hands-on lesson in the certainty of American justice.”

The prosecution of Baz Mohammad is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics Trafficking Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Boyd M. Johnson III, Amy Finzi, and Jocelyn Strauber are in charge of the prosecution.

UK cocaine and heroin addicts getting extra drugs for good behavior

2007-10-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

London, Oct.18 (ANI): Cocaine and heroin addicts on a government treatment programme in Britain are being given extra drugs as a reward for good behaviour.

According to the BBC, a survey of almost 200 clinics in England by the National Treatment Agency (NTA), which runs a 500 million-pound-a-year treatment scheme, found users were being offered extra heroin substitute methadone or anti-depressants for clean urine samples.

The NTA admitted the practice was unethical and said it wanted to see certain practices "squeezed out of the system".

The broadcaster reports a third of clinics in the survey said users who produced a drug-free urine sample might be offered increased doses of heroin substitute as a reward - known as "contingency management".

According to The Sun, a quarter admits that clients can choose the type of substitute drugs they want.

The survey also found clinicians offering anti-depressants, cash vouchers or access to detox as a reward.

The NTA said offering drugs for anything other than clinical need was wrong.

The agency's chief executive Paul Hayes told the BBC: "It isn't a practice we would advocate.

He said doses of drugs should be determined by an individual's needs and not by whether or not they were co-operating with the programme. (ANI)

News conference on marijuana bust to be held

2007-10-17T13:15:00.001-07:00

California Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement is holding a news conference this afternoon to announce the results of an investigation into Arnoldo Herrera, who officials say is responsible for 12 massive marijuana gardens on public lands in the Central Valley.

During the investigation, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agents seized more than 100,000 plants.

After serving eight federal search warrants, agents arrested 14 suspects and seized 297 pounds of processed marijuana, four rifles, six assault rifles, five handguns, one vehicle and $50,000 cash.

Tip yields massive marijuana harvest

2007-10-17T13:14:00.001-07:00

An investigation by Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force detectives led to the discovery of more than $900,000 in marijuana in Lyon County Wednesday, Oct. 10.

Task Force Det. Robert Harris said the agency was tipped off to someone growing marijuana off Ky. 274 in Lyon County.

Detectives were able to obtain a search warrant for a residence at 2430 Ky. 274 South in Eddyville from evidence seen growing on the property, he said.

Units from the Task Force, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky State Police served the search warrant.

Detectives found 454 marijuana plants, with a street value of $908,000. They also found more than 5 ounces of processed marijuana, with a street value of more than $500, in the house, plus several items of drug paraphernalia and a .22-caliber rifle.

Nathan Dunn and Denise Wallace were charged with cultivating marijuana, more than five plants, trafficking in marijuana, more than 5 pounds, and possession of drug paraphernalia (second offense for Dunn).

Dunn was also charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Both suspects were lodged in the Caldwell County Jail.

Marijuana plants valued at $500,000 seized in Hollywood

2007-10-17T13:13:00.001-07:00

One man was arrested and more than 100 marijuana plants were seized from a grow house in Hollywood on Tuesday. The house was raided by the Broward Sheriff's Office, Hollywood police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

BSO received a tip about the grow house at 2822 Washington St. and gathered enough evidence to get a search warrant, spokesman Jim Leljedal said.

Tuesday afternoon, detectives searched the home and found 124 marijuana plants inside the three-bedroom house, he said. The collection was valued at half a million dollars, Leljedal said.

The marijuana was grown inside individual plant pots, he said. ''It was a pretty sophisticated hydroponic operation,'' Leljedal said. ``They had a lot of extra wiring in the house, extra circuits, extra a/c units. One bedroom had an a/c unit that would cool a normal-size house, and that was just for the bedroom.''

Four pit bulls who lived at the property were rounded up and given to family friends, BSO said.

Detectives arrested Ronald Arrington, 31, who rented the home, and charged him with cultivating marijuana. He was booked into Broward County's main jail.

The investigation continues and additional arrests are possible.

Police find 200 pounds of marijuana in garage

2007-10-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Members of the Indiana State Police Marijuana Eradication Unit got more than they thought they would Sunday evening. A lot more.

According to ISP Public Information Officer Rich Myers, Morgan County Sheriff's deputies found 30 bags of cut marijuana in the garage of a county man along with equipment to grow the plants.

The bust came about as members of the state police unit were watching an area in Clay County for people responsible for the marijuana plants growing in a field. Around 10 p.m. the officers watched five men leave the field carrying plastic bags which they put in a van.

Myers said the officers stopped the van and found 8 plastic bags full of marijuana.

Thomas A. Madsen Jr., 34, was one of the five men in the van. ISP officers asked the Morgan County Sheriff's Department to do a check of Madsen's home at 9365 Arend Road.

Deputies arrived at the home around 2:30 Monday morning.

Myers said no one was at home but deputies detected the heavy smell of marijuana coming from the three car garage next to the home.

The deputies notified the ISP officers of the smell.

A search warrant for the property was obtained and the unit went in later Monday morning.

Myers said the officers found 30 bags of cut marijuana in the garage. One officer estimated the weight of the marijuana at more than 200 pounds. He said the marijuana was high quality and would bring a good price if it had been sold.

Myers said in addition to the marijuana, officers found a complete light and watering system for growing marijuana. There were two "parent" plants that was used to grow the seedlings. There were trays of small marijuana plants that have not begun to grow to adult size.

Officers spent most of Monday at the home working to gather the evidence and load it for transportation.

In addition, the growing operation, officers also seized a car, pickup truck, and a large motor home that was on the property.

Madsen will be facing charges in Morgan County at a later date. At this time, he is being held in the Clay County Jail on one count of dealing in marijuana as a Class D felony.

Also arrested with Madsen and facing the same charge are James V. Payton, 57, Camby, Christopher D. Williams, 23, Gosport, William B. Gunyon, 37, Indianapolis, and John R. Williams, 37, Spencer.

Marijuana found on 11-year-old

2007-10-16T14:24:00.001-07:00

An 11-year-old Lakeview Elementary School student was questioned by authorities last month after a bag of marijuana was found in his pocket at school.

According to Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office reports, deputy John Coker met with Lakeview principal Virginia Metts at the school. Metts reportedly told the deputy that the 11-year-old boy had been seen by a lunchroom worker earlier that morning putting an extra box of breakfast cereal in his jacket pocket.

A Lakeview teacher was told of this and reportedly took the jacket from the boy, placing it in the school office. The teacher reported that the student repeatedly asked to have the jacket back throughout the day.

At about 1 p.m. that day, Metts asked a teacher to return the jacket to the boy, but said to check it first to make sure he didn’t have anything else in it he shouldn’t have.

It was then that a clear plastic bag with marijuana - which at that time was described as a “green leafy substance” - was found in the right front pocket of the coat.

Coker questioned the boy, who said it was his jacket, but not his marijuana.

The boy said he stopped by a friend’s house on the way to school, adding that his friend’s brother had smoked marijuana while he was there.

However, the report said the 11-year-old did not know the name of the man he allegedly witnessed using the drugs. The report also said Metts told deputies the boy would be expelled from school for having marijuana.

The boy was then taken to the sheriff’s office, where he was questioned further. Deputies were then given information as to where the boy had been before school. The 11-year-old was then released into the custody of his mother.

The report notes the boy was not charged at that time and that the jacket had been left in a general area in the office where other people could have had access to it.

The marijuana was photographed and the photos were downloaded onto a sheriff’s office computer. The drugs were then reportedly taken to an evidence locker and were to be destroyed.

Guilty Pleas Expected In Marijuana Hamburgers Case

2007-10-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

Prosecutors said they expect guilty pleas Wednesday from two men accused of serving marijuana on hamburgers to police officers.

Justin Armijo and Robert Nuckols are due in court Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators said the two sprinkled the pot on top of hamburgers at a Los Lunas Burger King where they worked last fall. Then, the pair served those burgers to two Isleta Pueblo police officers, according to investigators.

Armijo and Nuckols face charges of aggravated battery on a peace officer and distribution of marijuana.

The two officers who ate the drugs are now suing Burger King.

Cocaine abuse could have made de Menezes 'paranoid and anxious' before he was gunned down on tube

2007-10-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

Traces of cocaine were found in the body of Jean Charles de Menezes, a court heard yesterday.

A pathologist told the Old Bailey that the Brazilian electrician must have taken the drug at some point before he was gunned down by anti-terror police at a London tube station in July 2005.

Dr Kenneth Shorrock said that traces of cocaine were found in Mr de Menezes's urine and a chemical associated with the breakdown of the drug benzoylecognine was found in his blood.

No other drugs or alcohol were found in the dead man's system, the court heard.

He accepted defence suggestions that cocaine can make users act in an aggressive, paranoid and inappropriate way.

But the pathologist said it was unclear if the drug was still active when the 27-year-old, who was mistaken for a suicide bomber, was killed at Stockwell in south London.

Dr Shorrock was giving evidence at the trial of the Metropolitan Police, which being charged under health and safety laws with a 'catastrophic' series of errors leading up to Mr de Menezes's death. The force denies the charge.

Ronald Thwaites QC, defending, suggested cocaine could cause 'distortion of thought processes' and when its effects wear off it can produce anxiety and paranoia.

Earlier, the leader of the firearms team which shot Mr de Menezes choked with emotion as he defended his officers in court.

He told the Old Bailey that despite what happened he was 'very proud' of them.

The officer, codenamed Ralph, said police had been prepared to risk their lives pursuing the man they believed was a suicide bomber. "I hope that's not forgotten," he added.

The trial continues.

Nearly $23 Million in Crystal Meth Confiscated from 18-Wheeler

2007-10-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Louisiana state troopers have made what they say is the largest crystal meth seizure in U.S. history. Almost $23 million worth of crystal meth was found on an 18-wheeler on Interstate 12 past Holden. WAFB's Keitha Nelson was on the scene shortly after state police pulled over the truck Thursday evening.

Troopers found more than 500 pounds of crystal meth in the back of a tractor trailer. It happened during a routine truck inspection.

Troopers led the driver, 51-year-old Francisco Villa of Pharr, Texas, off the interstate and into the back of the Wal-Mart in Walker.

The truck appeared to be carrying frozen produce, but after checking behind those goods, troopers found 10 large bundles of crystal meth, weighing 505 pounds. The drugs carry a street value of an estimated $22.9 million. State troopers say Villa was coming from Texas and headed to South Carolina.

Trooper Johnnie Brown says, "Looking into the community, this could have possibly gone into 505 pounds of crystal meth. That's a lot of meth to go anywhere in the U.S., specifically if it had gone to one community.

This drug seizure had nothing to do with Wal-Mart. The driver was simply directed off the interstate into that lot.

Villa has been booked on distribution charges and is in the Livingston Parish prison. Authorities consider him to be such a threat that he is being held without bond.

Lisle man gets 20 years in overdose death of neighbor

2007-10-16T14:14:00.001-07:00

A Lisle man who admitted giving a neighbor enough of a homemade illegal drug "to kill a rhino" was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for causing her death.

Albert Oldenburg, 41, of the 2600 block of Beau Bien Boulevard, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the Aug. 27, 2006, drug-induced homicide of Crystal Coble, 29, who lived across the hall from Oldenburg.

DuPage County Assistant State's Atty. Paul Marchese told Judge George Bakalis that Oldenburg's apartment contained chemical equipment and detailed handwritten instructions on how to produce fentanyl from pain patches generally used by people suffering from critical diseases.

Witnesses who were with Oldenburg when he gave Coble the drug said he admitted giving her "enough to kill a rhino." A DuPage County coroner's report stated that Coble had a level of fentanyl far beyond the therapeutic range. She also had a non-lethal dose of cocaine in her system.

Lisle police reports state that when Coble was found unresponsive on her couch, she had her cell phone in her hand and had dialed Oldenburg's number. A police investigation failed to locate any of the drug in the apartment, leading authorities to believe Coble ingested all of it.

Witnesses stated that before Oldenburg gave Coble the drug, she told him she had a bad reaction to it the previous day.

During a secretly recorded conversation made during the investigation, Oldenburg admitted giving Coble the drug "because she was a pest," Marchese said.

Oldenburg also admitted on videotape before his November arrest that he made the drug and gave it to the victim.

"You obviously are a very smart person," Bakalis said. "You could have put it to much better use. You cost this woman her life."

Police also found chemicals that could have been used to manufacture methamphetamine, but Marchese said the apartment wasn't an active meth lab. Criminal charges relating to those chemicals were dropped Tuesday as part of a plea agreement.

There was no indication that the victim paid for the illegal drugs.

Oldenburg faced up to 30 years in prison. He has been in the DuPage County Jail on $1.5 million bail since his arrest.

Suspects invade Nevada County home seeking cultivated marijuana

2007-10-15T11:08:00.001-07:00

Investigators are searching for four people suspected of breaking into a rural Nevada County home in search of cultivated marijuana and beating eight people with crow bars and baseball bats.

The suspects, wearing ski masks, invaded the house early Sunday demanding money and marijuana, said Nevada County Sheriff Lt. Bill Evans.

"It's harvest season," Evans said Monday. "Marijuana is worth a lot."

Deputies arrested a fifth suspect, 20-year-old Larken Bauers, on suspicion of conspiracy and armed robbery later in the day. Evans said deputies are still looking for four other suspects who fled into the woods, as well as a resident of the home, James Becket.

Deputies were called to the house shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday and found eight people beaten and bound inside. A 27-year-old victim was taken to a Roseville hospital in critical condition.

Authorities also found a handgun and a rental vehicle loaded with newly cut marijuana. They believe the crop was cultivated on property surrounding the house.

Beloit Cocaine Dealer Sentenced to Life in Prison

2007-10-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

MADISON, Wis. - A 32-year-old Beloit man has been sentenced to life in prison for distributing crack cocaine from May 2006 to January 2007. A jury convicted Arthur Conner in July of distributing more than 270 ounces -- about 17 pounds -- of the drug.

U.S. District judge John Shabaz says he imposed such a strict sentence yesterday because Conner wasn't likely to change his ways. The judge noted that Conner had been in and out of jail for the past 18 years, and every time he was released he went back to selling crack cocaine.

Shabaz also pointed out that Conner had no other history of employment besides selling drugs. The judge called Conner's actions a way of life that has to be stamped out. He said he hoped the stiff sentence would be a deterrent to others.

Ecstasy-selling soldier jailed for two years

2007-10-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

A SOLDIER who sold a total of 800 ecstasy tablets to undercover NSW police - sometimes while dressed in his army uniform - has been jailed for at least two years.

Defence force combat engineer, Sapper Blake Turner, 23, had pleaded guilty to supplying the drugs over a 30-day period in February and March this year at Moorebank.

In Sydney's District Court today, Acting Judge Graham Armitage noted Turner was of previous good character and had good prospects of rehabilitation.

In reports before the court, Turner had described his conduct as "stupid" and "ridiculous", and spoke of his desire to improve himself by establishing a career in business and finance.

As well as admitting the supply count, Turner had asked the judge to take into account a further 13 matters including unlawfully having $2160 in his possession.

On four separate occasions, Turner had supplied an undercover officer with ecstasy, the largest batch being 500 at $17 a tablet.

The judge noted evidence from Turner's school teacher father, who described his son as "a very talented boy" who had found school and sport easy.

His father referred to his son having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which he believed could have played a part in his offending, as he was impulsive.

Judge Armitage, who accepted Turner was genuinely remorseful, set a maximum term of four years.

He will be eligible for release on parole in February 2009, with his sentence backdated to March this year.

Alarm at BPD: Tainted cocaine

2007-10-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

BRADENTON --
Cocaine contaminated with dangerous levels of ammonia sickened a crime-scene technician and drew the Manatee County hazardous materials team to the police department Friday.

The chain of events started Thursday, when the cocaine was confiscated and the technician handled the drug as evidence.

Later that evening, the technician went to the hospital with respiratory problems and severe irritation on his arms and neck, according to Bradenton Police Maj. Bill Tokajer.

The Bradenton Police Department's evidence room was ventilated overnight. When firefighters encountered the cocaine the next day, some had burning throats, police said.

Firefighters called the county's hazardous materials team to the scene. They entered the evidence room shortly after noon in full protective suits.

The team re-emerged into the police department parking lot with a secure bag holding the cocaine. Waiting firefighters hosed the team down.

Bradenton Fire Department Deputy Chief David Ezell said the hazardous materials team secured the cocaine without injury or contamination.

Police took the cocaine to the sheriff's office for testing.

A high level of ammonia in the cocaine was found during tests and is believed to have caused the technician to get sick, Tokajer said.

Tokajer said the department's evidence room will remain closed to be ventilated over the weekend, and reopened Monday.

Manatee County Public Safety Capt. Larry Leinhauser said there is little fear that other areas of the city hall complex could be contaminated because the evidence room is secured.

Bradenton Narcotics Unit Lt. James Racky said cocaine is often cut with chemicals, but a high amount of ammonia is out of the ordinary.

"I think it was someone either selling bad stuff trying to get money or trying to hurt somebody," said Racky.

Racky said chemicals also are used at times to throw off drug dogs. "They try everything," he said. "Ammonia, fabric softener, coffee, oil."

Wills and Harry's favourite hangouts are haven for cocaine abuse

2007-10-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

London, Oct 13 (ANI): Boujis, London's top hotspot, is known for its royal patrons Princes William and Harry, but the nightclub is also a magnet for cocaine abuse, a new investigation has revealed.

A reporter from UK paper 'The Daily Mail' went undercover to expose what goes on behind the closed doors of Britain's most exclusive clubs.

One of these was the nightclub Boujis, where William and Harry have often been photographed with their girlfriends and close set of acquaintances.

The undercover investigation revealed that the club was a retreat for young people looking for cocaine induced high.

In her investigation, the reporter, who posed as a fashion student living off her millionaire father's money, wiped the surfaces of toilet lids and toilet roll covers with a special cocaine identification kit on four occasions.

According to the reporter, Nark Cocaine ID Swipe, supplied by drug testing specialists Drug Aware, are used in America by forensic teams, and these "wet wipes" can test for even the tiniest traces of cocaine and crack cocaine.

After she wiped the wet wipes, they immediately identified cocaine as the substance present.

In one instance, the toilet roll holders were smothered in large white chunks, which also tested positive for cocaine.

However, Boujis manager Jake Parkinson-Smith, said, "We have a zero tolerance policy against any type of drug at Boujis. Anyone found with drugs is immediately ejected and the police informed."

Boujis was the place where Prince Harry once famously cavorted with a television presenter and was photographed with his hands over her breasts.

The club was also where the 23-year-old allegedly attacked awaiting paparazzi. illiam was photographed at the club last week with Kate Middleton, confirming rumours of their rekindled romance.

Other clubs which have been affected by cocaine use, and which are constantly infested with celebrities, have been forced to remodel their bathrooms.

At Mahiki, often frequented by Sienna Miller, Kate Middleton, Princess Beatrice and the children of Richard Branson, the owners have built toilet cisterns into the wall, eliminating a large flat surface to snort the drug off.

Attendants are also on hand to stop people going into the toilets in pairs.

But, like Boujis, drug users at Mahiki have made good use of a five-centimetre long, three-centimetre wide toilet roll cover, the report said. (ANI)

Quarterback Quincy Carter Arrested For Marijuana Possession

2007-10-13T10:22:00.001-07:00

Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings Quarterback Quincy Carter found himself in trouble with the law Friday.
Carter was arrested and charged with second offense possession of marijuana Friday morning, which is a felony. Carter was stopped around 1 am and the officer smelled alcohol on him. He then took him for a breathalyzer test.
Carter was found not to be driving drunk, but police say he did have about three grams of marijuana in his pants.

Driver in fatal crash used marijuana, prosecutors say

2007-10-13T10:21:00.001-07:00

GENEVA – A Crystal Lake man tested positive for marijuana shortly after he hit a tree in a crash that fatally injured four passengers near Hampshire last month, prosecutors said Thursday.

Fakir M. Jaffrie, 24, was being held in the Kane County Jail on Thursday on $2.5 million bond after a grand jury indicted him Tuesday on felony charges in connection with the crash.

Jaffrie surrendered to authorities Wednesday. He faces charges of aggravated driving under the influence, reckless homicide, and driving under the influence of marijuana. The most serious charge carries a maximum sentence of 28 years in prison.

He was scheduled to appear in Kane County court today, when his attorney was expected to ask a judge to lower Jaffrie’s bond. On Thursday, Jaffrie needed to post $250,000 to be released from jail.

“I think $2.5 million is excessive for most offenders who weren’t involved in the deliberate murder of an individual,” Jaffrie’s attorney, David Camic, said Thursday. “He’s employed and has strong family ties. He doesn’t have a history of criminality.”

Camic also said he didn’t believe that Jaffrie was high when he crashed. Marijuana is detectable for days after it is ingested.

“We plan a vigorous defense,” Camic said. “He is touched by the loss as anyone else. One of the gentlemen killed was like his brother.”

Prosecutors wouldn’t say Thursday whether they had evidence that indicated that Jaffrie had consumed the drug shortly before the crash.

“Those are all facts we cannot talk about,” said Clint Hull, first assistant of the Kane County state’s attorney’s office. “This is a pending investigation.”

The Sept. 8 crash killed two McHenry County brothers: Zohair Husain, 18, of Huntley and Kumail Husain, 20, of Algonquin. Also killed were Ayush Joshi, 20, of Hoffman Estates and Henry Onwualu, 19, of Huntley.

The group was traveling west in Jaffrie’s 2003 Infiniti G35 on Dietrich Road in northern Hampshire Township, when the car hit a tree about 3:30 a.m., police said. Jaffrie also was injured seriously in the crash.

On the day of the crash, police charged Jaffrie with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, and driving too fast for conditions. Authorities awaited blood-test results before upgrading the charges.

Further details on the crash likely would surface during today’s scheduled court appearance, Hull said.

Police sack 300 pounds of ecstasy

2007-10-11T12:36:00.001-07:00

Border officials seized more than 300 pounds of ecstasy pills Monday near the U.S.-Canada border in Ferry County, according to court documents.

A witness reported he saw three people run across the border and throw duffle bags into a waiting pickup about 4:30 p.m., documents state. They ran into the United States at rural McIrvin’s Ranch, known as “the dump” because it is a common drug-smuggling location, at 198 McIrvin Road in Laurier, Wash.

The smugglers drove off, and the witness called authorities who pulled over the truck on Highway 395. A drug-sniffing dog was called out, and authorities found ecstasy pills in five duffle bags, according to the documents.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration seized the pills and arrested Tristan A. Reynolds, 26, and Joshua A. Vause, 27. They were in Spokane County Jail late Wednesday.