Criminology and Psychology

Customs officers at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport have intercepted a machine that makes pellets of cocaine which can be swallowed for smuggling. The machine was found in the luggage of three Bulgarians. The three were caught with fake passports and plane tickets attempting to smuggle the machine onto a flight to the Dominican Republic. The customs officers think the Bulgarians were trying to set up a new smuggling route between the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands. Strict checks on flights from Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles have forced smugglers to try new routes. This is the first time customs officers have intercepted a complete drug pellet machine at the airport.

Riaz Mohammed, used a string of front companies to ship the highly addictive narcotic from Turkey.The Court heard the "sophisticated" operation involved hiding half-kilo packages of the Class A substance in the hollowed out struts of wooden pallets. But despite the gang's best efforts each of the three importations - two to Dover docks and one which arrived at Heathrow airport - were intercepted during an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).Altogether 24kg of the drug - with an estimated street value of £2.3 million - was seized. In the dock with Mohammed, 41, of Lancaster Road, Leytonstone, east London (25 years), were his lieutenant Ibrahim Janturk, 52, from Tottenham, north London (22 years), and "footsoldiers" Cetin Albar, 35, who lived in Clapton Common, east London, and Emircan Aytac, 48, of Boyson Road, Walworth, south-east London, who got 16 years each.Mohammed was convicted by a jury of three counts of conspiracy to import heroin

Police arrested two African men for possessing and peddling heroin. Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) received a tip-off that a suspect, identified as A.B., possessed heroin. An undercover police officer offered to buy the heroin for Dh7,000 for every one kilogram. The suspect also showed the officer a sample. Police kept the suspect under surveillance and set up a trap to arrest him. On the day of the narcotics delivery, the two suspects arrived at the location with a bag. During the delivery, the police arrested them and seized 31 plastic bags with heroin, weighing 4.7 kilograms and worth around half a million dirhams. The two suspects were referred to the Pubic Prosecution.

The untouchables, an elite band of Australian Federal Police, some of whom insiders say were no better than "gangsters with police badges". Their headquarters were Redfern's landmark TNT twin towers, where extramarital conquests and drunken "happy hour" parties were common. It was the 1980s and, as one former officer of the 35-strong AFP Sydney drug investigation unit recalls, it was like "living inside a grubby episode of Miami Vice ". Memories of the heady days of the twin tower crew have been revived because of the charges laid against one of the squad's alumni, senior NSW Crime Commission investigator Mark Standen. Following his arrest on drug charges this month,. Michael Anthony Wallace - convicted of stealing $20 million worth of seized heroin in 1990 and then of murdering girlfriend Zoe Zou and dumping her body in the Blue Mountains in 2006 - was one. Another was Allan Gregory McLean, sentenced to 16 years' jail for helping import millio

The police have arrested a number of persons after wrapping up two investigations into the importation and trafficking on heroin and cannabis resin.A 28-year-Hungarian who arrived in Malta from Brussels on Tuesday was tailed by the police and was stopped on Wednesday when he boarded a vehicle driven by a 28-year-old Maltese woman from Qormi. Both were held. A search revealed that the man was carrying a capsule with heroin inside, the police said. A medical examination at Mater Dei Hospital revealed a further 30 capsules in his stomach. In all, some 300 grams of heroin were seized and Magistrate Silvio Meli launched an inquiry. The man was arraigned in court on Friday and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking. In the second case, the police said they had been following the movements of a number of persons for some days. They initially found a kilo and a half of cannabis resin in the car of a 27-year-old man from Naxxar, at Qammiegh, limits of Mellieha. A further five kilos of cannabis

Daniel Bailey (35) avoided prison when he received a 26-week suspended sentence after pleading guilty to producing cannabis. But following a separate investigation into his finances by police, he has been told to pay up £194,370 by a court. If he fails to hand over the money within six months, he will face a three-year jail term.During a hearing brought by police under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Lincoln Crown Court was told officers swooped on Bailey's home, near Spalding, on August 5, 2005. They searched the property and found 22 cannabis plants growing among the flowers in his back garden.More cannabis seedlings were discovered in a shed, and two small lumps of the drug were seized in the house.Bailey was subsequently convicted of production of cannabis, which triggered the probe into his financial affairs.The further enquiries showed that in the six years before his arrest, Bailey had claimed incapacity benefit and income support to the tune of more than £21,000, to which he was

Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security and the State Customs Committee removed over 41kg of heroin from illegal turnover, which had been smuggled to the country from Iran. It was planned to smuggle the heroin onwards to Europe. According to both structures, Turkish citizens Chengiz Cheftchi, Mehmet Baligchioglu and others smuggled a huge amount of heroin from Iran to Azerbaijan for sale. Cheftchi officially brought construction materials to Iran in a Volvo truck to further transport them to Kazakhstan. Baligchioglu instructed Cheftchi by phone to transport the drugs hidden in the truck to Azerbaijan and onwards to Kazakhstan by ferry and to hand in the drugs to a definite person.The Ministry of National Security and the State Customs Committee detained the truck driven by Cheftchi at the Astara check point. A total of 41.274kg of heroin hidden in the truck was revealed. A criminal case was filed for contravening Article 206.3.2 (deliberate drugs smuggling by a group; Articles 234.4.

Ashley Nicole Simmons, 22 of Lusby, the driver of the vehicle and charged her with possession of heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia, a syringe, used to inject heroin into the body.Two passengers in the vehicle were also found to be in possession of drugs. Katie Michelle Warren, 23 of Hollywood, was arrested and charged with possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia, a syringe. The front passenger, Elijah James Arneson, 28 of Lusby, was also arrested and charged with possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia, a syringe.

God Lucky Howard, 39, described in jail records as a mortgage broker, was arrested by Tampa police on one count each of delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church, a school and public housing; one count each of delivery of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a church, a school and public housing; and two counts of possession of cocaine. he arrest stems from two previous incidents, according to a criminal report affidavit. On April 28, police bought 3.4 grams of cocaine from him out of a home at 3812 N. Avon Ave., according to the report. A month later, police served a search warrant on that address and found a safe in the bedroom closet containing three plastic bags with 22.5 grams of cocaine, according to the report. Police also found a digital scale with cocaine residue. This is not the first time Howard has been arrested. Four years ago, he was released from state prison, where he served 18 months on a 2003 cocaine charge. He pleaded guilty to a similar charge in

Recovered a record quantity of cocaine during a drugs seizure last week in Stroud.The raid took place in the early hours of Wednesday, June 18, as officers discovered two kilograms of the Class A drug at a location in Ebley. The seizure follows continued proactive operations on the division targeting class A drug supply.The quantity of cocaine recovered, which has a street value of £80,000, represents the largest ever seizure of the drug in the Stroud area. 28 year-old man from Stonehouse was subsequently arrested on suspicion of supplying a class A drug and has been bailed to appear at Stroud Police Station on September 9. A 51 year-old Stroud woman was also arrested on suspicion of intent to supply a class A drug and has been bailed to appear at Stroud Police Station on August 12.Detective Inspector Jan Blomfield of Stroud Police Station said: "We're very pleased with this seizure of cocaine, which is the largest in the Stroud area ever made."In conjunction with the suc

Drug agents in the Bronx have arrested four men and seized $16 million worth of cocaine hidden in a tractor-trailer truck, authorities said Monday.The 400 pounds of cocaine was hidden in a hollow steel band around the cargo floor of the 16-wheeler, Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said.The packages were heavily wrapped in duct tape -- an apparent attempt to avoid detection by drug sniffing dogs, Brennan said. Agents spent 10 hours searching the truck before an X-ray device disclosed the hiding place.Brennan said the truck has California license plates and may have been used by international drug smugglers for other cross-country trips. She said it's believed other such trucks are on the road.The suspects were charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree conspiracy. If convicted, they face 8 to 20 years in prison.

Three men from Rotterdam and Amstelveen have been arrested in connection with plans to smuggle more than 2,200 kilos of cocaine from Brazil to the Netherlands, news agency ANP reports on Friday. The men, aged 38, 53 and 60, were picked up after raids on homes across the country. More than €100,000 in cash, a gun, computers and paperwork were also seized.

British woman’s bulging wig did not fool customs agents in Norway who realized she wasn’t just having a bad hair day. The wig was concealing 2.2 pounds of cocaine glued to her head and customs agents detained her on suspicion of cocaine smuggling, authorities said Wednesday.The 32-year-old suspect, whose name was withheld, arrived late Sunday at Vaernes airport near the city of Trondheim on a flight from Copenhagen, Denmark, the customs service said.“The agent thought she had a great deal of hair and suspected that she was wearing a wig,” the agency said. “The wig was examined and the agents found a bag of cocaine.”Norway’s largest newspaper, Verdens Gang, said the cocaine was glued so firmly to the woman’s real hair that police brought her to the local hospital to have it removed.Kjetil Mjoesund, of Trondheim police, confirmed that it was glued to her head, but had no information about how it was removed. He said she was taken for a routine medical check. A court ordered the women hel

68-year-old woman is facing drug charges after she allegedly hid cocaine and marijuana in her wig to smuggle to her son in Kingston Penitentiary.In May, Correctional Service Canada began an investigation after receiving information that identified a woman who had agreed to supply her son with drugs while he was in jail.The woman’s 40-year-old son is serving a life sentence for numerous armed robberies, police said.Police said the woman was arrested when she left her home around 6:20 a.m. Saturday. When officers searched her, they turned up 26 grams of cocaine and 25.5 grams of marijuana, which had been concealed in her wig.She has been charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance and two counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.Her son faces one count of conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance. Police said the woman has been released from custody.

"This morning [Saturday], we found 18 pounds of compressed ganja in one of the bathrooms at the Norman Manley International Airport. On Friday, we found another 40 pounds of compressed ganja in two buckets, inside one of the bathrooms," head of the Narcotics Division, Senior Superintendent Carlton Wilson, told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.SSP Wilson added that, on Friday afternoon, the police found a quantity of drugs at one of the warehouses at the Kingston airport."We believe some of the drugs was liquified cocaine. We arrested a man at the Norman Manley Airport this morning, after he was found with drugs going to Barbados," Wilson revealed.The lawmen's concerns come two years after a high-level security system was implemented at the two international airports to facilitate the ICC Cricket World Cup championship."We believe there is a syndicate operating at the airports, facilitating the smuggling of drugs," Wilson said.The senior officer based his c

Dutch businessman, charged with money laundering related to drug trafficking, and a banker accused of helping him, are to stand trial at Dubai’s Court of First Instance. The man, identified only by his initials AK, was charged with laundering dhs60 million through bank accounts in the UAE, according to the Head of Dubai Public Prosecution, Attorney General Issam Al-Humaidan.The Arabic female banker, MA, was accused of receiving commission to facilitate the transactions. The businessman, who owns two Dubai-registered companies, has admitted laundering money he took from Asian nationals and channeled to other accounts in exchange for a commission. The woman said she was unaware of his activities, and denied receiving any kickback. The man is suspected by Police of being in a gang plotting to smuggle cocaine from Latin America to the Netherlands under the guise of trading in fruit. Police arrested the suspect and searched his accommodation after a major investigation by Dubai’s Criminal I

Deborah Donde and Emily Gathoni were arrested by Malaysian police on suspicion of drug trafficking after they were found in a room in which four kilos of marijuana were seized. Arrest of two Kenyan university students in Malaysia and the sentencing to life of another student in China are an indication of how serious drug trafficking has become.The two Kenyan students, one a daughter of a former MP, were arrested along with a Saudi and an Eritrean in an apartment in Cyberjaya near Kuala Lumpur.The former MP’s daughter was released for lack of evidence. Twenty-six-year-old fourth year University of Nairobi student Olivia Singaniabe Munoko was sentenced to life in prison in China in 2006.She was arrested in March 2006 at Guangzhou’s Bai Yui international airport in possession of 1.8 kg of heroin. She had just landed at the airport from Kuala Lumpur.The large number of ‘‘mule’’ arrests has been attributed by the international community to Kenya’s becoming a major drug trafficking hub in

Canadian man will face a Sydney court today, accused of trying to import more than 150 grams of cocaine into Australia.Customs officers stopped the 45-year-old at Sydney Airport on Saturday after he got off a plane from Dubai They suspected he was hiding drugs inside his body and called federal police, who took him to hospital.A scan showed he was hiding 58 packages of cocaineHe will face Central Local Court today.

Dain Cummings pleaded guilty to possession of 675 grammes and was fined $20,000. Cummings pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, possession with intent to transfer and importation of the illegal drugs. All of these charges were withdrawn.He was reprimanded and discharged on the importation charge. Pansy Lindsey, who came in on the same flight as Cummings, and was caught with 650 grammes of cannabis, received a similar sentence.The court heard that on Tuesday 10 June, Cummings arrived in Antigua at the V.C. Bird International Airport on board Caribbean Airlines flight 415.While being processed by immigration officials, he failed to meet the necessary entry requirements and was approached by officers from the Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP) and customs officials.Reports are that the officials told Cummings that they suspected he was in possession of illegal drugs. The Jamaican man’s luggage was searched, but nothing was found.Of the belief that Cummin

Gardaí have uncovered a multi-million euro drug trafficking ring believed to be run by a man in prison.Three men were arrested in Dublin yesterday evening following the seizure of €5m worth of heroin.Gardaí are describing the arrests as significant. Drug-dealing is big business in prison, making a prison conviction a good career move At 5pm, officers from the Organised Crime Unit and the National and Clondalkin Drugs Units raided a storage company in Clondalkin and discovered 20kg of heroin worth €4m.A 24-year-old Polish man was arrested there and, nearby, a 36-year-old Tallaght man was also detained.He is believed to be the organiser and a dealer with connections to Limerick and Cork criminal gangs.He is also currently on bail on other drugs charges.A parked car was also searched on the Stern Road in Crumlin and another 5kg of heroin worth €1m were seized.A third man in his 30s from Cabra in Dublin was arrested in the city.Gardaí have been targeting this supply network for some tim

Police have launched a manhunt for survivors - believed to be players in the trafficking of drugs - who fled the scene of a plane crash in Clarendon early yesterday morning. The cops theorise that a plane transporting drugs tried to land at an airstrip near the Rocky Point port, which is used by bauxite company Jamalco, got into difficulties and crashed into mangroves close to the Salt River community. The aircraft then burst into flames.According to the police, when they arrived at the site of the crash, they were unable to capture the fleeing men. Four partially burnt packages of compressed marijuana were found near to the burnt-out plane. A further search of the mangroves turned up 16 packages with an estimated weight of 2.5kg each.The police are also following strong leads that most of the marijuana on the aeroplane was saved before it went into flames and that it might be hidden at locations in the Salt River area. A joint police-military team also searched a few homes in the vici

17-year-old British girl has been arrested in Lima after allegedly trying to smuggle 3.7 kilos of cocaine out of Peru. The teenager, who was travelling alone and gave her name as Sophie Charlotte Lane, was intercepted as she tried to board a KLM flight to Amsterdam. Police stopped her after spotting 'a suspicious stain' on one of her bags as it passed through an X-ray machine at the Jorge Chavez International airport. She has reportedly told police she had a connecting flight from Amsterdam to Madrid and had been asked to deliver the bag to the Spanish capital.The Foreign Office confirmed there had been an arrest, but would not confirm the name. Police have seized 840kg of drugs at the airport this year and 168 'mules', including 35 women, have been arrested.The family of a 17-year-old British girl being held in Peru for allegedly trying to smuggle £185,000 worth of cocaine out of the country last night insisted she is innocent.Sophie Lane was arrested at Lima Airport a

R2.5 million worth of cocaine has been confiscated at Johannesburg and Cape Town’s main airports, police said.Spokesman Captain Dennis Adriao said a shipment of motorcycle parts was searched at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport following a tip-off.“When we cut open the parts, bags of cocaine with a street value of R1.5 million was found. The shipment was coming from Sao Paulo in Brazil and was headed for Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said.No arrests had been made.On Wednesday a 28-year-old Gauteng woman was arrested for being in possession of cocaine worth R1 million at Cape Town International Airport.Adriao said that she had swallowed 19 condoms filled with cocaine.“She was acting as a drug mule and was coming from Buenos Aires. This type of smuggling in drugs can be very lethal to the carrier,” he said.

Two men suspected of arranging and taking part in the transport of 381 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia have been detained in Croatia. The shipment, destined for western Europe, was discovered in a joint action by Croatian and neighbouring Slovenian police in the Slovenian port town of Koper.It was hidden in a container ordered by a Croatian company and arriving on board a ship from the Italian port of Gioia Tauro.The two have been detained for 48 hours and Zagreb Jutranji List daily said there were more suspects they were looking for.The daily added that the two arrested kept silent before the investigative judge.Jutarnji List said that last week two Croats were arrested in Panama on drug smuggling charges, and that among the 23 detained last November in the international police operation dubbed “August,” ten were Croatian nationals.The group is alleged to have smuggled at least 200 kilograms of cocaine since 2000 and the arrests followed an intensive police operation that started i

young woman has been charged with transporting drugs inside her body after landing at Sydney airport from America.The Australian Customs Service today said its officers stopped and searched the woman on Sunday after she arrived on a flight from Los Angeles.During their search, the customs officers became suspicious she might be concealing drugs inside her body and referred her to the Australian Federal Police, who took her to hospital for an internal examination.She was found to have 40 pellets containing a total of 400g of cocaine in her stomach. A 19-year-old woman is due to face Sydney's Central Local Court today charged with importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug. The maximum penalty for the offence is 25 years in prison and/or a $550,000 fine.

Reynaldo Zuniga, a 34-year-old Border Patrol agent from Harlingen, was paid to pick up one of the men along the Rio Grande and then drive him to a fast food restaurant in Hidalgo, where the other man would pick him up, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Monday.Zuniga, Luis Alfredo Cruz, 29, and Jose Luis Arteaga, 24, were arrested early Saturday morning, said Border Patrol spokesman Ricardo Rosas.All three men remained in federal custody. At their first court appearance Monday, Cruz and Arteaga — both of whom are both from Reynosa, Mexico — requested that lawyers be appointed to represent them. Zuniga was making arrangements to obtain counsel. A message seeking comment left at Zuniga's home was not returned.Officials could not immediately say how long Zuniga had worked for the agency.

$80 million worth of drugs allegedly smuggled inside fibreglass foot spas have been seized in Port Melbourne.Customs and Australian Federal Police monitored the sea cargo, which arrived in Melbourne from Canada on June 5. X-rays allegedly revealed 124kg of cocaine - believed to have originated from South America - 66kg of methylamphetamines and 121kg of MDMA inside the bases of 13 foot spas. AFP agents monitored the delivery of the spas to a Braybrook address, in Melbourne's west, and raided four premises overnight, arresting four people. They were taken to St Kilda Road police headquarters for questioning.

Federal prosecutors say that the final drug and immigrant smuggling run of a Bahamian sea captain known as "Tricks" came to an end in the churning surf off Jupiter Island when he forced 10 passengers to jump from his idling speedboat. Moments later, the twin-engine boat ran aground on the rocky shore in the dark early morning of Dec. 28, 2006. Not far from the boat, police later found the body of a 64-year-old Jamaican man with an orange life vest twisted around his neck and a black duffel bag containing 83 pounds of marijuana.The murder and drug smuggling trial of Rickey Thompson, 42, opened Wednesday with federal prosecutors painting a picture of a cocaine-snorting captain, who forced his passengers, sometimes at gunpoint, off his boat in rough seas far from shore. The immigrants, mostly from Jamaica and Haiti, each paid him $3,000 for the three-hour trip from Freeport. That December night, Nigel Warren, known as "Pops," begged to stay aboard because he couldn'

Middlesbrough woman, her partner and a 17-yerar-old girl have been arrested in Jamaica suspected of attempting to smuggle drugs. The three were arrested at the Sangster international airport in Montego Bay on June 8th by the Jamaican authorities. Police claim the two women were caught attempting to smuggle cocaine internally and all three are suspected of swallowing packages of cocaine before boarding a flight back to Manchester.The trio were arrested as part of Operation Airbridge, a UK Border Agency initiative working in partnership with the Jamaican authorities, aimed at catching drug smugglers using the island as a gateway to the UK and Europe.Tony Walker, from the UK Border Agency, said: "The use of such young people in smuggling drugs demonstrates the ruthless nature of those criminal gangs involved in the illegal narcotics trade and the misery they cause. "The dedication of UK and Jamaican drug detection officers has prevented deadly class A drugs from entering the UK.

Luis Antonio "Flaco" Ramirez, 20, of Roma, allegedly organized a complex caravan system through private ranches in Starr, Zapata and Jim Hogg counties to avoid detection at U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints.Once north of the Rio Grande Valley, Ramirez's workers cut across Central Texas before delivering their loads to Houston. One worker told authorities each load carried at least a half-ton of narcotics and sometimes much more, according to a criminal complaint filed in Ramirez's case.Over the past two years, agents seized eight loads believed linked to his organization in traffic stops, raids on stash houses and one incident at a Laredo hotel. In all, they found 9 tons of marijuana and more than 4 pounds of cocaine in locations between Laredo and Houston.In one series of stops, the Goliad County Sheriff's Office attempted to pull over a Ford Expedition on suspicion of a traffic violation. But as deputies stepped out of their car, a pickup truck sped toward them and

Police have arrested an Asian National in Natovi, Tailevu suspected of supplying marijuana to Secondary School students, and people in Ovalau, Lomaiviti, Suva and even to Vanualevu.Media Liaison officer, Atunaisa Sokomuri said the 45 year old man is believed to have been the main drug peddler in Natovi and he was under police surveillance for some time.The man is also alleged to have been the main point of contact for drug suppliers to the Outer Islands.CID officers from Police Headquarters raided the house and confiscated 19 parcels and some loose dried Marijuana leaves.The leaves have been sent to the Koronivia research station for an analysis.Meanwhile, police are still questioning the truck driver who was found transporting more than $100,000 worth of Marijuana kept in the special welded compartments in the 10 wheeler truck.The truck owner who is from Nasinu will be questioned once police receive the analysis report. Police investigation in this case has been extended to Viti Levu

Clayton Roueche (ROOSH') was arrested last month after he was denied entry to Mexico and authorities put him on a plane to Dallas. He appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, where he was indicted last fall and charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and to launder money.Canadian authorities say Roeuche is the leader of a vicious gang that's called the United Nations because of its ethnic diversity. The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle says the charges against him arose from an investigation called Operation Frozen Timber, which uncovered the smuggling of tons of marijuana into the U.S. by private planes and helicopters.

Ricardo Mendoza-Morales, 39, of Beaverton smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico and California. U.S. District Judge James Redden imposed Mendoza-Morales' sentence Wednesday, three years after a multi-agency task force arrested nine suspects and seized drugs, handguns and $190,000 in cash. The seizure of 40 pounds of meth was one of Oregon's biggest, said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Deits. Six network members have been sentenced; three others are due Oct. 7.

According to the Don Quast Hyundai company website, Quast and another man named in the indictment, Phillip Stone, 45, are employees of the Abbotsford dealership. Quast, the owner's son, is the general manager and Stone is the sales manager. Devron Quast of Abbotsford and Robert Shannon of Maple Ridge, both 38, made an appearance Friday at the U.S. District Court in Seattle. Quast, Shannon and seven others were indicted for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana. On Thursday, Quast and Shannon went to Ferndale to meet with an undercover officer for a drug deal, according to the indictment. The same day, law enforcement seized $50,000 and hundreds of pounds of pot that the ring was trying to get across the border into the U.S. Stone is charged in the indictment for his role in obtaining containers and trailers to transport the narcotics into the U.S.The investigation, which involved undercover officers, resulted in the seizure of more than 590 kilograms of cocaine, more than

Police arrested seven people in total, including the three who worked for Entreprises Cara food services a company that loads meals onto outbound planes. Investigators allege the three workers were also unloading cocaine, smuggled on flights arriving from the Dominican Republic. Police recovered 16 kilograms in their investigation, which went back to August 2006. "Once a plane arrived in Montreal the employees had the responsibility to remove the drugs off the plane and move it out of the airport area," RCMP Insp. Andre Lemyre charged. It's not the first time the food service employees have come under scrutiny at Montreal's airport. Two years ago, 10 food service workers were arrested and over $5 million worth of cocaine was seized. At the time, one reporter was able to walk right through Cara's front door and gain access to the airport's restricted areas. "I just followed some employees in and put on a cooking uniform, and after that I was like a tourist

Australian police are investigating links between allegedly corrupt top crime investigator Mark Standen and a jailed drug runner whose attempt to smuggle AU$7 million (NZ$8.83 million) in cocaine into Australia was foiled by New Zealand customs. Standen, NSW Crime Commission deputy head was arrested this week for his alleged role in a AU$120 million global drug conspiracy. He now faces a second investigation into his friendship with John Anderson, who is awaiting sentencing over the cocaine smuggling, Melbourne's Sun-Herald newspaper reported. The newspaper reported Australian Federal Police began their investigation into Standen the same month New Zealand authorities intercepted Anderson's cocaine shipment en route to Australia from South America. In June 2006, the New Zealand Customs Service, recovered 18.3kg of cocaine concealed on the exterior of the vessel MV Tampa as it arrived in Auckland Harbour. The vessel was bound for Australia. The drugs and the metal pod containing

growing popularity of lapdogs and the abolition of European Union border controls have caused a boom in the cruel smuggling of puppies from eastern Europe. Customs authorities and animal rights groups have warned that rogue breeders are exploiting the demand for small “handbag” dogs, used as fashion accessories by celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.Breeds such as chihuahuas, Yorkshire terriers and golden retrievers are being bred in filthy conditions and then transported in cramped cages and cardboard boxes to street markets to be sold at cut price.Often they are crammed 30 at a time into car boots in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland for a painful journey to Germany, Austria and as far west as Holland and Sweden.“Dogs are bred in circumstances unthinkable to any serious breeder,” said Katja Wolf from Austria’s version of the Kennel Club.“The dealers just regard the animals as merchandise. It’s dirty and they contract all sorts of illnesses. If a bitch cannot have

Gang of drug smugglers including three Arabs and six Asians were arrested by police last week, police said.A Sharjah police official said that the gang members were arrested while they were attempting to smuggle 201kg of hashish at the country's ports.Police said the criminal investigation department at Sharjah police, in cooperation with the coastguard were able to arrest the six Asian drug smugglers while they were trying to smuggle the hashish.Police said they received information that three powerful drug dealers in the Gulf will buy the hashish from the Asian smugglers who will bring the hashish by boat.The drug smugglers were arrested after entering the territorial waters of the UAE near Sharjah. The three drug dealers were arrested when they came to meet the smugglers and to receive the hashish.

24 million British travellers could be inadvertently smuggling goods on their return from holidays and trips outside the EU, according to research by Saga Travel Insurance. Cigarettes, alcohol and clothing over the allowed expenditure limit top the list of contraband with men most likely to consciously break import laws.Over 30 million British adults travel outside the EU at least once every five years and three quarters (74%), or over 24 million of them are unaware of what products are restricted or are illegal to bring back into the country. In fact, it seems that those who travel regularly are even less able to correctly identity which products are regulated, with over four fifths (81%) of people who go outside the EU two or more times a year unable to do this.One of the most misunderstood import restrictions is the maximum value of £145 worth of clothes or other non-excise goods allowed to be brought back into the EU. The research revealed that 93% of people could not correctly ide

58 tortoises were recovered and five smugglers arrested here, police said Friday. A police team raided a hideout of a group of smugglers, five of whom were arrested, in Gosainganj area of Lucknow and recovered the tortoises Thursday night.“Those arrested have revealed important information regarding a gang involved in trafficking of endangered tortoises. We have already initiated an investigation in this regard,” K. Singh of Gosainganj police station said.Police said forest officials had confirmed that the tortoises had been caught in the Gomti river.

major smuggling ring involved in the illegal trade of shahtoosh wool captured, which is only obtained by killing the endangered Tibetan Antelope. During a raid on three Bangkok stores located in a high-end tourist area, police seized over 250 purported shahtoosh shawls which are well known in the fashion world for their exceptional quality. A single shawl requires wool from three to five dead antelopes. If all of the shawls prove to be genuine following forensic tests, the haul could represent over 1,000 Tibetan Antelopes that were killed for their wool, with a retail value of several million dollars.Unlike other wools that can be harvested by shearing or combing, shahtoosh, which means "the king of wools" can only be obtained by killing Tibetan Antelopes (Pantholops hodgsonii, or commonly known as the Chiru), which live almost exclusively in the remote Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Poaching has drastically slashed the Tibetan Antelope population because shahtoosh shawls can comma

Two Bulgarian smugglers were apprehended arriving from Serbia at the Röszke border station with ten kilograms of heroin on Thursday, writes szeged.hu.Sniffer dogs indicated that there was something suspicious about the two front mud-guards of their claret Mercedes. The border guards asked for backup and restricted control, and found ten kilograms and 394 grams of heroin derivatives valued at around Ft 16 million (€64,000). The smugglers said they had been lent the car and hired to bring the haul to Western Europe.

Cocaine packages with a combined street value of nearly £5m found floating in waters off the Welsh coast are linked to major international drug gangs, customs officials said last night.It was confirmed yesterday that a single package found floating near St Davids three weeks ago by a couple celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary contained 30kg of the Class A drug.Its origins are potentially so serious that the investigation has now been taken over by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca). It is the latest in a series of sinister packages mysteriously found floating off Wales’ coastline or washed up on its beaches, which are thought to be on their way to organised crime gangs in London and Liverpool from Colombia.In February, two similarly sized shipments were washed up, one on a beach in Meirionedd and another at Tywyn, in southern Gwynedd.In the same month, more than £6m of cocaine was discovered in separate finds on Cornwall’s beaches. Some packs had the word “Colombia” writt