Criminology and Psychology

Ontario man was arrested in Michigan yesterday after police say they seized $1.8 million worth of cocaine from his tractor-trailer. State troopers stopped the truck in Van Buren County, about 225 km west of Detroit, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. A car that was believed to be travelling with the truck was also pulled over. Police say the truck driver, an Ontario man, allowed officers to search his cab. Inside, police say they found three large duffle bags with an estimated 63 kilograms of cocaine. The driver was taken into state custody, but has since been handed over to federal officials, who are now investigating the case. He hasn't been charged, but is likely facing drug charges, said Michigan State Police Sgt. Richard Dragomer. “With the size of the (drug) seizure, any loose ends to be tied up will be put together” before any charges are laid, Dragomer said. Four people in the car accompanying the truck were also taken into federal custody. They identified themselves as Americans, alth

24-year-old man has been arrested after police swooped on a house in Bicester and seized suspected heroin and cocaine.Police stopped and searched a man in the street in Reedmace Road, Bure Park, shortly after 4pm on Monday.Officers then searched a home in the same street and discovered money and a large amount of class A drugs. Police arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply who was bailed until May 23.Pc Richie Iwanoff said: "This is a significant arrest as we continue to tackle drug dealers in the Bicester area. Another man was remanded earlier this month after being charged with drug offences. "Drugs and drug dealing will not be tolerated in Bicester and we will continue to pursue our intelligence-led operations."We are working closely with our partner agencies to reduce drugs and the associated anti-social behaviour. Positive action will be taken at every opportunity to reduce the supply of drugs in the area.

Mario Alexander Boconovick-Urbina, 24, was sentenced Wednesday in Tucson for possession of marijuana after 1,120 pounds was found in his vehicle. The sentence stems from an incident Aug. 26, when Border Patrol agents tried to stop Boconovick-Urbina near Ajo, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona. Boconovick-Urbina refused to comply, and the agents lost sight of him, according to court documents. Other agents in the area were advised to be on the lookout for the pickup truck. About an hour later, agents found the truck parked in a creek bed on Rasmussen Road in Ajo, court documents state. As the agents approached the truck, Boconovick-Urbina drove toward a senior patrol agent and his K-9, and almost hit the dog. After a chase, the truck stopped and Boconovick-Urbina got out and ran, documents state. He jumped into the front yard of the home of an off-duty Border Patrol agent and got into a struggle with him. Boconovick-Urbina was then taken into custody.

"The suspect, identified as IK, 44, is suspected to be an accomplice of a drug ring trying to smuggle 7.2 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine into the country from Hong Kong," said head of investigation at the office, Eko Darmanto, as quoted by Tempointeraktif.com. Customs officers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport arrested Sunday a Taiwanese passenger for the alleged involvement in a recent foiled drug smuggling attempt, an officer said Monday.The customs officers last week arrested the two passengers who had hidden the drugs worth Rp 10.8 billion (US$1.24 million) in biscuit packets. Eko said his office got the information about the suspect from immigration officers about to fly to Hong Kong. "He is suspected to be the supervisor of crystal methamphetamine distribution in Indonesia. We haven't got any evidence but the case has been handed over to the police," he said. --

Police have broken one of the largest drug-trafficking rings operating in Greece after seizing more than 4 kilos of heroin in Athens, authorities said on Saturday.Police said they arrested three men, aged 19, 22 and 23, after an undercover police officer offered to buy a kilo of heroin for 11,000 euros.When the suspects arrived at the Kifissos KTEL bus station and attempted to sell the drugs, police moved in and made the arrests, a source said.During an inspection of the suspects’ home in Vyronas, eastern Athens, police uncovered the remaining amounts of heroin, 403 grams of cocaine, electronic scales and 520 euros in cash. The gang is believed to have been smuggled narcotics into the country from Albania before selling them in Athens and Patras.

Jaime Lopez, a 49-year-old Colombian national, and seized four bottles of liquor containing liquid heroin on Saturday.CBP officers selected Mr. Lopez for a baggage exam after he had arrived on a flight from Bogota, Colombia. Mr. Lopez presented one suitcase and a box of duty free liquor for inspection. After noticing that the liquid inside the four bottles of liquor appeared unusually thick, CBP officers opened the bottles and a glue-like smell permeated from inside. The liquid in the bottles field tested positive for heroin. A total of three one-liter bottles of Irish Cream liqueur and another one-liter bottle of whiskey were seized. The heroin has a street value of over $1 million. Mr. Lopez was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for federal prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey located in downtown Newark. He appeared this afternoon in front of U.S. Magistrate Madeline Cox Arleo.

Customs officers have arrested five men at the airport for smuggling cannabis and cocaine worth $1.12 million into Hong Kong.On April 25 officers stopped four men arriving from India. They found 4kg of cannabis resin worth $288,000 concealed in men's shoes.The next day they inspected a man arriving from Ethiopia and found 1.47kg of cocaine worth $830,000 inside a concealed compartment in a suitcase.The five cases bring the total drug-smuggling detections at the airport since March 26, to 13.

Large narcotics seizure at Pearson International Airport totaling close to $2.5 million.The seizure came April 13, Canada Border Services Agency officers the Commercial Operations unit intercepted more than 113 kilograms of marijuana and more than 10 kilograms of hashish. During a routine container examination, officers came across 10 boxes with the suspect narcotics. In total there were 54 marijuana bricks worth an estimated $2.2 million dollars and seven hashish bricks worth more than $200,000. The narcotics were wrapped in brown tape with "minimal concealment," according to CBSA spokesperson Patrizia Giolti. The narcotics have been turned over to the RCMP, who believe the drugs were destined to be sold on GTA streets. No arrests have been made.

Two of the Jamaicans are in custody at the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) while the other was taken to a city hospital under police guard after officials suspected that he had swallowed some of the substance. Three Jamaican nationals were on Friday intercepted at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport with cocaine valued at US 20,000 dollars drug enforcement officials here have disclosed. Speaking to reporters here on Friday CANU prosecutor, Oswald Massaiah explained that around 6:30 Friday morning the three Jamaicans - one female and two males, who are in their late 20s - were outgoing passengers on a Caribbean Airlines flight CA424 destined for Jamaica via Barbados. Massaiah said officers at the airport profiled the female Jamaican and her suitcase was checked in her presence and a dart board was discovered. A preliminary check on the board revealed the substance which appeared to be cocaine. Following interrogation of that passenger, CANU officers subsequently proceeded to take

Managing Director of Goodies Music Productions, Mr Isaac Abeidu Aidoo, has been arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle pellets of cocaine to London. He was arrested while going through departure formalities at the Kotoka International Airport about 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.He was said to have requested to be allowed to commit suicide, since he could not bear the humiliation associated with the exposure in the media.He had allegedly swallowed 80 thumb-size pellets of cocaine, which he claimed had been given to him at East Legon by someone he identified only as Abdul. At the time of filing this report, Aidoo had expelled 39 of the pellets.Three others, said to be couriers — Mohammed Yakubu, Othniel Oppong Boansi and Philip Asiedu Kissi — are also in custody for attempting to smuggle various quantities of cocaine to Europe between April 21 and 22, 2008.

Convicted drug smuggler Brian Brendon Wright was today ordered to pay a confiscation order of £2,311,371 following a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court. Wright, 61, who headed an international drugs smuggling gang, was jailed for 30 years in April 2007 having been found guilty of conspiracy to evade prohibition on the importation of a controlled drug and the conspiracy to supply drugs. His Honour Judge Peter Moss today told Wright that he would have to serve a consecutive 10 years default sentence if the money was not paid in 12 months.Robert Alder, Head of Restraint & Confiscation Unit, HM Revenue & Customs, Criminal Investigation Division, said: "The size of this Confiscation Order reflects Brian Brendon Wright's role at the very top of a global organised crime network that lived off the misery of the countless victims of the illegal drug trade. "Confiscation Orders like this ensure that career criminals such as Wright are denied the opportunity to profit from thei

Members of the coast guard have made arrests out at sea for the possession of illegal drugs. According to the Belize National Coast Guard yesterday while doing their frequent patrols in the Lighthouse Reef Atoll they came across a fishing vessel with the name “Yashi”. In the boat were seven fishermen from the village of Xunox in the Corozal district. When the officer conducted a search of the vessel they discovered what appeared to be cannabis stashed in the sail of the fishing vessel. Further searching led to the discovery of suspected cannabis inside the trouser pocket of two of the crewmen onboard the vessel. The seven men were detained and were transported to Belize City where they were handed over to the police. According to the National Coast Guard a previous search had been conducted last week Friday, April 18, this time at Turneffe Atoll as they had reasonable suspicions that the vessel was involved in illegal activities.

Vickie Lynn King of Athens was pulled over for a loud muffler. The deputy said she was acting nervous, so he asked if King had anything illegal in the car. She said no, but the deputy said she consented to a search anyhow.A female officer with the Athens Police Department noted a strange bulge when patting King down for weapons. The deputy reports it turned out to be two large backs of crack cocaine, weighing 7 grams in all. The deputy also reported finding a crack pipe in the vehicle.King is charged with drug possession and possession for resale. The drugs were secured as evidence and sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for examination.

Authorities identified the five bus companies accused of taking part in the drug smuggling as Transtar, Neptune Tours, Los Primos, USA-Mex and Ameri-Mex. According to the indictment, the companies have offices in Monterrey, Mexico, Rio Grande City, Roma, San Antonio and Houston.A telephone number listed for USA-Mex was not working. Representatives with Los Primos did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Attempts to reach the other bus companies were unsuccessful as no telephone numbers could immediately be found for their businesses.Investigators said the drugs were smuggled into the United States from Monterrey, Mexico, and transported north through the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, up through Houston and various cities north, including Dallas, Allentown, Pa., and Joliet, Ill.U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said the drugs were stored on the buses inside some "not completely undetectable but some very sophisticated compartments," often below where luggage was

Gardai have seized heroin worth €200,000 after carrying out a search of a premises in a Dublin business park. The search of the building in the Hillcrest Business Park, Greenhills Road, Walkinstown, Dublin 12 was carried out at about 3pm today by the South Central Crime Task Force under Operation Anvil, assisted by detectives and the National Drugs Unit. During the operation, 1kg of heroin and a number of other items were seized, including a trailer stolen in Duleek two years ago. No arrests were made, but gardai said investigations are continuing.

A boat containing more than a dozen bundles of marijuana washed ashore in San Diego. Someone spotted the 18-foot vessel lodged in some rocks and called the U.S. Coast Guard.An 18-footer crashed onto the rocks at Sunset Cliffs. The marijuana was found but no people were around when investigators arrived. The boat broke apart and sank during the retrieval operation. The exact amount of marijuana found is unknown. Each bundle contained different amounts of the drug.Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack said the boat was already abandoned when authorities responding to a distress call found it. Various law enforcement agencies including San Diego police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol were on the scene to investigate.Lifeguards assisted in retrieving the drugs from the boat, which were hidden underneath the floorboards, according to ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack.Lifeguard Lt. Nick Lerma said crews had to use an ax to extricate the bundles of

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has initiated an investigation into counterfeit cigarettes and cigarette smuggling from seven countries, including Moldova. The investigation centers on whether several Internet-based cigarette retailers are selling imported cigarettes in the US that violate patents held by Philip Morris USAThe ITC investigation was requested by Philip Morris in early March, CNN reported, and could result in an order to ban cigarettes from the US that are found to violate patents held by the company. Philip Morris, is the world's largest commercial tobacco company by sales. Their flagship Marlboro is the world's most popular tobacco brand. According to the company, Internet retailers are promising to deliver brand name cigarettes at low prices, like Marlboro's, but instead deliver knock-off cigarettes. A total of seven countries were named as problem countries, with Moldova being high on the list. Moldova is Europe's poorest country and known

Former Petty Officer Christopher Carlson has also been formally dismissed from the navy for misconduct.In sentencing Carlson, Canada's chief military judge said the case was a prime example of blatant disregard of Canadian Forces drug policy and an absolute abdication by a non-commissioned officer of his roles and responsibilities But the judge noted that there was no evidence that Carlson was ever involved in cocaine trafficking on board the HMCS Saskatoon, a charge that was dropped at the start of his court martial earlier this week,There was no evidence that Carlson ever used cocaine aboard HMCS Saskatoon but that he was involved in drug use with subordinates on his days off.Four members of the small warship faced court martial as a result of a military sting operation in early 2006 - the one was simply fined and two were handed suspended jail sentences as well as fines.

Vanessa Bedoya, 37, and Juan Bedoya, 38, both of the 1400 block of Green Oak Trail, Aurora, were charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.Juan Meneses, 32, and Gonzalo Rodriguez-Jimenez, 38, both of the 800 block of Amli Court, Aurora, were charged with unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, the Kane County state's attorney's office said.According to prosecutors, on March 25, Rodriguez-Jimenez and Meneses delivered more than 900 grams of cocaineto another unnamed person. Later, more than 900 grams of cocaine were recovered from Juan and Vanessa Bedoya, who are married. The cocaine was recovered at the home of Francisco Bedoya, 36, also of the 1400 block of Green Oak Trail, Aurora. In addition, more than 900 grams of cocaine was recovered in the home of Juan and Vanessa Bedoya, prosecutors said. Officers searched three Aurora homes Tuesday and found 15 kilograms of cocaine, worth about $4.5 million, along with $50,000 in cash and two vehicle

leather sofas, timber, even soft toys and lunch boxes hidden inside, millions of illegal cigarettes . Among the vast array of items which criminals try to smuggle through Birmingham Airport are guns and knives, animals, drugs, prescribed medicines and false passports. But it is illicit cigarettes, both genuine and counterfeit, which make up the bulk of the hauls seized by customs officers. On Friday, a hard-hitting campaign to warn smokers of the dangers of buying counterfeit cigarettes was launched in the West Midlands and Staffordshire by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Smokefree Alliance groups. For those tasked with detecting the hauls before they arrive on the streets, it is a massive challenge. Hidden inside anything from teddy bears to oil paintings, children's lunch boxes to hollow computers, the smugglers are constantly trying to find increasingly imaginative ways to disguise their hauls. This is serious organised crime and will involve all the components of that, such

Police have found a cannabis grower, this time in a rented facility on the Bygdøy peninsula, where many of Oslo's most famous museums are located. Cannabis plants have been flourishing in southern Norway recently, and yet another illegal plantation has been found.The police suspect a Norwegian, who is unrelated to the mostly Vietnamese bands that have been discovered growing cannabis in southern Norway in recent months.About 50 plants and 100 saplings were found by inspectors for the civil defence force, who alerted the police, reported newswire NTB."The confiscated goods are contained in a storage room for drying, on the floor and on shelves," said central police station chief Bjørn Hansen to a local newspaper. "The smell of so much marijuana is strong, and those who are working with the plants shouldn’t take a chance of going through customs at Gardermoen [Oslo's international airport] right after work," said Hansen.Police have recently uncovered a widespr

Seizures of cannabis plants that could be used to produce hashish and marijuana were made on the island called Kråkerøy, just outside Fredrikstad, and at Kongsberg in Buskerud over the weekend. The raid on a house in Kongsberg resulted in the fourth seizure of what police are calling indoor "plantations" in just a week. Around 400 cannabis plants were found in the house, which was being rented out. A Vietnamese man was arrested at the scene, and was to face charges .The Kråkerøy and Kongsberg seizures were the 14th and 15th in recent months in southern Norway. Other cannabis greenhouse operations have been found in Telemark, Buskerud, Hedmark and Østfold counties, and several have involved Vietnamese tenders like at the house in Konsberg. Police acknowledged over the weekend that they think the cannabis operations are linked, and the national crime unit Kripos has been called in to aid local investigations."We've noticed that many of these cases bear similarities,&qu

Special Narcotics indicted Edward Monsanto, Angel Perez-Baez, Juan Castro and Diogenis Gonzalez on Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree subsequent to their arrest on February 18, 2008 and the seizure of 3½ kilograms of cocaine in Upper Manhattan. As a result of this collaborative investigation, Operation Ghost Rider resulted in the indictments of 27 individuals, the seizure of 4 kilograms of heroin, 10 decks of heroin, 3 ½ kilograms of cocaine, scales and drug packaging material, a .25 Caliber Beretta handgun, $31,000 of US Currency, 5 handguns, handcuffs, bullet proof vests and ammunition.

Two U.S. citizens in their sixties have been arrested in the Australian city of Perth on charges of attempting to smuggle 1,350 beetles out of the country, the West Australian newspaper said on Thursday.The discovery followed an anonymous phone call to a customs hotline.Customs officers in Perth International Airport found some 1,000 tiger beetles, a regulated native species banned from export without a permit, in the luggage of a 62 year-old U.S. tourist. The insects were packed in glass vials hidden inside yoghurt containers. During questioning the man informed police about his 63 year-old accomplice, who was subsequently detained after another 350 assorted beetles were found in his luggage. Customs National Manager Investigations Richard Janeczko said the smuggling of rare creatures was a major international problem. "Australian species are favored targets of wildlife smugglers," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "Wildlife trafficking is a cruel practice and, unfort

Police in Vietnam have arrested two people for smuggling two disemboweled tiger carcasses, a police official said Friday. The local Environmental Police arrested the owners of two houses in Ninh Binh province, 100 kilometers south of Hanoi, on Wednesday after finding two frozen tigers there, said Tran Quoc To, a senior department official. The carcasses, weighing 265 and 245 kilograms, were hidden in refrigerators. "The houses are only the transit points for the animal smugglers," To said. "Further investigation is under way to find out where the tigers were from and what other people are involved in the case."To said the police also found livers and four skinned feet suspected to belong to other tigers in one of the refrigerators. "We haven't identified the feet yet, but they look like tiger feet," To said. "The ring must have smuggled more than two tigers."Tiger bones and other parts are often used in traditional Vietnamese medicine. "

John Paul Jones was arrested in Thailand after a doctor allegedly discovered 65 plastic bags filled with $31,608 in hashish in his stomach, police said. John Paul Jones, 51, was visiting the island of Ko Samui when he was rushed to the hospital after complaining of severe stomach pain, the Bangkok Post reported. An X-ray of Jones's intestine showed a sausage-like string of objects that were surgically removed and identified as 800 grams of hashish. "Before the operation, Mr Jones looked nervous and asked whether police would be notified. We found 62 black objects obstructing his small intestine. Three packs had burst," Dr Worapob said. It is reported that it took doctors two hours to remove the drugs, which were concealed in condoms and probably smuggled into Thailand from India or Pakistan. Authorities said Jones would be held for questioning and charges.

Customs officers discovered the drugs, said to be 70 per cent pure, as they were being sent through the post from Brazil.cocaine with an estimated street value of up to £400,000 destined for the streets of the West Midlands has been found in bottles of cosmetics. Customs officers discovered the drugs, said to be 70 per cent pure, as they were being sent through the post from Brazil.Devious drugs smugglers had used a chemical process to suspend the cocaine in the cosmetics in an attempt to get the drugs onto the region's streets.But suspicious officers decided to test the liquid when it arrived in two separate shipments during the past month.A tell-tale blue circle indicated the bottles actually contained the drugs.In total they found more than a kilo and a half of cocaine in one consignment with an estimated street value of around £80,000.The second consignment contained a further kilo of cocaine with a street value of more than £50,000.The cocaine had a purity of 70 per cent and o

Narcotics officers have seized heroin worth $2.5 million at Changi Airport and have arrested a woman and two men, the Government-run radio said today. The woman was arrested at the airport Friday with five pounds of heroin strapped to her body as she was about to board a plane for the United States, and the men were arrested later, the radio said. Officials said all were Singaporeans.

Three suspects are in custody, police said, naming Hezi Serbero, 57, the notorious smuggling ringleader who served a previous seven year prison sentence for attempting to smuggle ecstasy pills out of Holland, Mordechai Hirsch, 67, and sea vessel company owner Moshe Keder, 81, described by police as their oldest drug smuggler in custody to date. Keder was the owner of the tugboat which set sail around the globe, with police agents following close behind. After following a renovated tugboat packed with anywhere between seven to ten tons of Moroccan hashish around three continents for over than a year, Tel Aviv police undercover agents working with their British counterparts made the largest narcotics bust in Israeli policing history Friday, raiding the boat and arresting the Israeli drug smuggling cartel, as well as British nationals in the English port city of Southampton. The tugboat packed with Moroccan hashish. "The operation began a year and a half ago, when we received intelli

Hans Kristian Rausing was held at his mansion after his wife was allegedly caught trying to smuggle drugs into the US embassy.American-born Eva Rausing, daughter of a wealthy Pepsi boss, was arrested as she arrived for a function just after 4pm on Tuesday.Security guards asked to search her bag and are said to have discovered the drugs wrapped in paper.As Mrs Rausing, 44, was taken to Charing Cross police station, officers raided her £5million home in Chelsea and allegedly found a £2,000 drug stash.

The police said 121 people had been crammed inside an airtight seafood container late Wednesday night that measured just 20 feet long and 7 feet wide. Survivors said they had shouted and banged on the sides of the sweltering container as they began to collapse from lack of air. Fifty four migrant workers from Myanmar suffocated in the back of a sealed truck in southern Thailand as they were being smuggled into the country to work as illegal laborers, the Thai police said Thursday. Col. Kraithong Chanthongbai, the local police commander in Ranong Province, on Myanmar’s border, said that the dead included 37 women and 17 men and that they were heading for the resort island of Phuket to work as day laborers. Twenty-one of the survivors were hospitalized and the others were held for questioning, he said. All but two were later discharged from the hospital. The deaths illustrated the dangers migrant workers face as they are smuggled by the millions across borders into countries as far apart

Inspectors of Dubai Customs have succeeded in aborting an attempt to smuggle heroin through Terminal 1 in Dubai International Airport. According to a statement from the Customs, the inspectors grew suspicious of a passenger who arrived from an Asian country due to his behaviour. A scan conducted on him revealed a number of capsules in his stomach. The passenger admitted he swallowed 137 capsules containing heroin. He was offered a big amount of money to smuggle the heroin into the UAE.

Notable users include President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, billionaire Alexander Mamut and Boris Yeltsin Jr, grandson of the former president, according to the newspaper Kommersant. iPhones are not sold by Cupertino, California-based Apple in Russia and it can’t be used legally on local networks. Still, about 250,000 people own one, more than any other country except the U.S. and China, according to Eldar Murtazin, chief analyst at Moscow-based Mobile Research Group. That popularity has turned into a bonanza for traders who sell the phones in kiosks and on the internet for $1,000 each, more than twice the U.S. price. Hackers say they charge as much as 2,500 rubles ($105) to “unlock’ ’ them so they work locally. “It’s an icon for Russians,’’ said Timofei Kulikov, a lawyer and buyer of electronic products for X5 Retail Group NV, Russia’s largest supermarket chain. “If you see two businessmen at lunch in Moscow, they’ll both have iPhones on the table.’’ The evolution from web-surfing, touch-s

Faisal Ali Rao, 26, Mumtaza Hussein, 33, Siddiq Ahmed, 43 and 64-year-old Said Attar Hussein were observed “behaving suspiciously” at the airport on 29 March.They have been arrested in a joint operation between customs and police as they attempted to smuggle drugs via the Maldives to Tanzania.The four from Pakistan were arrested on 29 March at Malé’s Hulhule International Airport, having swallowed a total of 189 capsules of heroin between them. Information was then passed to police, who arrested the Tanzanian on 6 April.The arrests highlight the use of Maldives as a trans shipment point for narcotics, which drug demand reduction officer Kunal Kishore, of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), says is on the rise. “Maldives is in the process of evolving as a big transit point,” said Kishore. “I think it will increase.”Arriving from Karachi via Colombo, they were arrested and sent to Malé’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, where they were found to have swallowed a total of

Senior police officers have been grilled for their alleged roles in illegal logging in West Kalimantan province on the Indonesian portion of Borneo island, local media reports said Wednesday.National police chief General Sutanto had vowed to take legal action against any police officer involved in illegal logging or log smuggling in the country.‘We want to deal with illegal logging activities conclusively. Whoever is suspected to be involved will be investigated,’ the state-run Antara news agency quoted Sutanto as saying.At least 14 police officers in West Kalimantan province were being held at the national police headquarters in Jakarta for questioning, he said.‘The investigations are being conducted by the National Police general supervisory inspector,’ Sutanto said, adding that they were questioned on suspicion of having colluded with log smugglers in West Kalimantan. Sutanto, who like many Indonesians goes by only name, said he supported the forestry ministry’s plan to cooperate wi

Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan tribal leader, was arrested in 2005 and charged with smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States. U.S. authorities have called him one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers and compared him to Colombian cocaine trafficker Pablo Escobar. Noorzai's lawyer denied his client was a drug dealer and argued the charges should be dismissed because U.S. government officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested.According to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Laura Swain, Noorzai told agents that he traveled to the United States to meet with U.S. officials to discuss Afghanistan's future.Prosecutors agreed that officers overseas had at one point promised Noorzai he would not be arrested. But the officers were instructed to back off such promises, and no official immunity deal was offered, the judge said. Noorzai had previously cooperated with U.S. authorities in Afghanistan in the 1990s and following the September 1

Indian was among three persons nabbed by the British police in connection with the biggest ever seizure of heroin worth 15 to 20 million pounds, police said on Sunday. The Indian man was identified as 30-year old Harminder Chana, who was taken into custody by the Metropolitan police. Apart from Chana, Pakistani-origin Atif Khan (31) and Dutchman Patrick Kuster (35) were arrested over the seizure of 350 kgs of heroin valued at 15 to 20 million pounds.The specialist crime central task force seized the huge quantity heroin from two cars at a motorway service station in Kent on Thursday.Chana and Kuster were arrested in the motorway service station, while Khan was taken into custody in Ilford in east London.Officers saw the Dutchman transferring cardboard boxes from a BMW into another car in a parking lot off a highway southeast of London on Thursday.Police found ten more boxes full of heroin inside the BMW. They seized a total of 350 kgs in the bust.Detective chief inspector Peter Beyer s

Iranian security forces have killed 12 drug smugglers and seized 500kg of narcotics in two operations near the border with Afghanistan, state media says.The drug traffickers were killed near the city of Taibad in Khorasan Razavi province in the last 48 hours, the official IRNA news agency said, without elaborating.Iran is on the heroin smuggling route to the West from Afghanistan, the world's number one producer of the opium poppy which is the key ingredient for heroin. More than 3,300 Iranian security personnel have died fighting drug smugglers since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Ricardo Lopez-Balli, 38, of Bradenton, Fla., was charged with possession of drugs, aggravated trafficking in drugs, driving without a valid license, and cited for following too closely. Roberto Cortez, 33, of San Benito, Texas, was charged with possession of drugs and aggravated trafficking in drugs. Salvador DeLaCruz, 37, of 3825 Peru St., was charged with complicity to traffic drugs. All three were being held in the Lucas County jail in lieu of a $1 million bond. A state trooper stopped a car being driven by Mr. DeLaCruz about 3:30 p.m. Thursday heading eastbound on the turnpike near the interchange at Toledo Express Airport for following too closely. A sport utility vehicle being driven by Mr. Lopez-Balli was stopped nearby for the same offense, the patrol said. During the stops, troopers determined Mr. DeLaCruz owned the SUV that Mr. Lopez-Balli was driving. A drug-detecting dog was used to search both vehicles and authorities found the 26.4 pounds of cocaine in the SUV, the patrol

Turkish security forces seized 400 kilogrammes (880 pounds) of heroin hidden in vats of olives on a truck headed for Europe, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. The truck was detained at the Kapikule border post with Bulgaria after investigators became aware of the imminent transfer of the shipment on Wednesday, the report said. Sniffer dogs found the drug hidden in containers of olives. Investigators had been monitoring the olive exporting company for several months, according to the Turkish news agency.Turkey is a major transit point for drugs heading for western Europe from Asia. The country’s biggest seizure was in February 2007 when officers found 565kg (1,243 pounds) of heroin.

Turkish security forces seized 108 kg of heroin in two operations staged in eastern province of Van, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. The report said the security forces stopped a truck in Balaban village in Gevas town of Van province and found 70 kg heroin. In another operation, Turkish security forces seized 38 kg heroin and two kg morphine in a minibus in Zernek village in Gurpinar town in the same province, said the report. The security forces detained the truck driver and minibus driver in the two operations, said the report. Turkey is a key transit route for smuggling drugs from Asia and the Middle East to

Police in Massachusetts have seized 185 pounds of cocaine from a tractor-trailer truck in the city of Lynn, authorities say.The Essex County District Attorney's Office said in a news release that the county's drug task force, working in conjunction with federal authorities, seized the drugs during an unloading operation this weekend, the Boston Herald reported Sunday.Essex County District Attorney Jon Blodgett credited everyone involved with Saturday's raid, which reportedly followed a lengthy undercover narcotics operation."It was a multistate, multifaceted enterprise, so it was a long investigation," Blodgett said. "These people were major players in the drug trade."The attorney's office said five men and a woman were also arrested in the raid. Those individuals face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on drug trafficking charges, the news release said. Blodgett told the Herald Saturday's raid would likely prompt more arrests as police are in

Mexican soldiers looking for drug traffickers found $6 million in cash inside a truck near the U.S. border and arrested five men at the scene, the army said on Friday.Army drug squads in the northern state of Tamaulipas, a smuggling hot spot over the border from Texas, found the U.S. currency stuffed into eight suitcases as they inspected a tractor trailer and smaller truck parked along a highway. They also found four pistols, the army said in a statement.Army and federal police units deployed in President Felipe Calderon's 15-month-old crackdown on drug cartels are grappling with a spike in violence that has left more than 800 people dead in gangland-style killings so far this year.The U.S.-Mexico border is the main entry point for South American cocaine and other drugs smuggled north to U.S. consumers. Mexico's powerful cartels buy masses of U.S. arms and their safe houses brim with cash from their organized crime businesses. Army raids have turned up big hauls of guns and ca

4,800 cartons of illegal cigarettes, many packaged in counterfeit red du Maurier cartons and packages. "Sophisticated," is the word investigators used to describe the operation. But finding this hidden shipment was just the start of the investigation. The officers put everything back in place, sealed up the container and on it went -- woks, dishes and illegal smokes -- by train to Toronto. The RCMP was contacted, search warrants were applied for and the sting was on. When five people arrived at the Toronto CN Rail yard last week to pick up the woks and dishes, they were surprised at who greeted them. "They usually are," Sgt. Susan Riddell said. "These are serious charges." Chi San Kong, 43, Cheng Zhano, Jian Hui Tan, 33, Jin Chang Haung, 45, and Hak Hang Lam, 39, are to appear in court May 30, all charged with unlawful possession of tobacco products. The street value of the score would have been $345,600, resulting in a loss of "$212,000 in duties and

Police have seized around 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs) of heroin in two separate incidents in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, local police said on Wednesday.A Tajik national was initially detained carrying 15 grams of heroin, but later gave police information about another 1.2 kilograms (2.6 lbs) he had been keeping in the cellar of a city center store. He said his acquaintances had asked him to keep the drugs. Police discovered another 0.5 kg of heroin in the possession of a train passenger. The 22-year-old woman was arrested and taken of the train. Both offenders face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of smuggling drugs. On Monday, police in the Urals region of Orenburg said they had seized more than 43 kg (95 lbs) of heroin hidden in a wood. The whereabouts of the drugs had been reported by an arrested drug dealer. Customs officers made their largest-ever drug bust in the Urals on March 19, seizing a total of 353 kg (780 lbs) of heroin.Russia's Urals is a major point in the heroin