Criminology and Psychology

Moroccan police have seized 1.1 tons of cannabis resin in the country's northern port of Tangier, local MAP news agency reported on Friday. The drug was concealed in three Italian-registered cars driven by Moroccan expatriates who were going back to Europe after summer vacations, a police source was quoted as saying. The drug was contained in three separate parcels of 540 kg, 210kg and 360 kg. The arrest of the suspected smugglers also involved an Italian national who was serving as a guide for the shipment of the substance from Morocco to Italy, MAP said. Despite the government's efforts to eradicate cannabis, which flourishes on 70,000 hectares of soil in the country's northern mountainous areas, Morocco remains the world's biggest provider of the drug. The north African country has also tightened the grip over international drug dealers by installing scanners in the ports of Tangier and Casablanca, enabling the officers to seize tons of hashish and scores of traffick...

59-year-old man from Carlton in Sydney will appear via videolink before Parramatta Local Court today after allegedly trying to smuggle more than 577 grams of cocaine through Sydney International Airport. After arriving on a flight from Santiago, Chile, yesterday morning (19 July 2008), the man was detained for a frisk search by Customs officers. During the search, a large package was found concealed around the man’s groin. He was then interviewed by Australian Federal Police agents at the airport.The AFP has charged the man with importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug, cocaine, contrary to the Criminal Code Act 1995.The maximum penalty for this offence is 25 years imprisonment.

The National Drugs Control Agency ((DNCD) has seized 95 kilos of cocaine in different suitcases and packages left at the Las Americas International Airport by unidentified travelers who arrived from Colombia in the last 24 hours. The antinarcotics agency today said it also seized 50 more kilos last Saturday found in the luggage claim area, in suitcases from Colombia, left by their owners. “The reinforced vigilance at Las Americas, with emphasis on flights from South America, has made possible that in less than 24 hours 90 packages have been seized, with an approximate weight of 95 kilos, brought to the country from Colombia,” said DNCD spokesman Roberto Lebrón.He said DNCD investitgators try to locate the owners of the suitcases, as well as their possible contacts in the country.

A 27-year-old Namibian man appeared in the Bellville magistrate's court on Wednesday on a drug possession charge.Police pokesperson Captain Dennis Adriao said Douglas Albrightson, a crew member for an international airline, was arrested on Saturday at Cape Town International Airport."He was stopped and searched by police who found 230 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of R66 171 in his underpants." Albrightson was remanded to September 3.Police have arrested a number of alleged drug mules at the airport in the past few weeks, Adriao said.

Airborne drug smuggling from Winnipeg to Sanikiluaq continues, with RCMP seizing about 10 grams of cocaine from a passenger on an Aug. 17 scheduled Kivalliq Air flight. Tipped off by information from the public, members of the RCMP detachment in Sanikiluaq found 19 plastic-wrapped packets of cocaine in the carry-on luggage of a woman traveling back from Winnipeg.The packets had a street value of $5,000, said Cst. Paul Robinson of the Sanikiluaq RCMP detachment. Sarah Kittosuk, 36, will appear in court in Sanikiluaq next month to face charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking in connection with the seizure. Since Kivalliq Air launched a scheduled air service April 1, between Sanikiluaq and Winnipeg, on a 16-seater, twin engine Beach aircraft, security checks on passenger luggage came to a halt.That's when the quantity of drugs and alcohol now flooding into Sanikiluaq began to increase, say police in Sanikiluaq.

50-year-old New Zealand man will appear in Southport Magistrates Court today charged with attempting to possess cocaine, following a transnational operation involving the Australian Federal Police and German law enforcement.This operation is the first involving information exchanged through the Europol Liaison Bureau in the Hague, following the appointment of an AFP member in May this year.German authorities intercepted two separate consignments of hydraulic cylinders being sent through buy air mail to an address in Surfers Paradise, Queensland in early August. Each consignment contained approximately 1.2 kilograms of cocaine. German authorities seized the cocaine and forwarded the consignment to the AFP.AFP agents monitored the delivery to a Surfers’ Paradise address yesterday and conducted search warrants at Mermaid Beach and two separate Surfers Paradise addresses.The AFP arrested the 50-year-old man and a 27-year-old Columbian woman at Surfers Paradise last night. Both were charged...

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two suspected drug traffickers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos. One of the suspects had a fake on duty tag and a tarmac reflective jacket just to beat security check. In a signed statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday, the Agency gave the suspects’ names as Uchendu Eze Sunday, 40 and Okeke Mathew Chizoba, 21. They were nabbed with substances suspected to be illicit drugs. Okeke smuggled his way to the tarmac under the guise of an airport staff but was promptly detected by officials of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). When searched, travel documents were found on him. Okeke was also found to have ingested 76 wraps of substances suspected to be cocaine. He is married to a Pole and works as a supermarket attendant in Warsaw, Poland. He hails from Uzo Nwanne in Enugu State and would have been paid 3,500 Euros. According to the NDLEA Commander, Mr. Victor Cole-Showers,...

ladder provided a drug smuggler with a novel way to conceal his contraband Tuesday at the border.Unfortunately for the smuggler who attempted to travel through San Luis port of entry with the marijuana, the new method wasn't as crafty in practice as it might have seemed in theory. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered 211 pounds of marijuana worth with an estimated street value $343,000 in two hollowed-out steel extension ladders, according to the CBP."This is the first time we've encountered this type of concealment," says Brian Levin, CBP spokesman in Tucson.The marijuana-filled ladders were being transported on the roof of a 1998 Dodge Ram van by a 40-year-old male driver, said CBP said. "They are very, very creative. They go through a lot of effort," said Levin. "But it doesn't really surprise us too much. Our job is just to think as broadly as they do." The name of the driver was not released. Levin said CBP does not rele...

Iran has hanged two convicted drug smugglers inside a Tehran prison, Iran's state-run newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest in a series of executions that has been criticised by rights groups and European governments.Since authorities launched a clampdown on "immoral behaviour" in July 2007, police have arrested dozens of drug addicts, smugglers, rapists and murderers.Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, practised since the 1979 Islamic revolution."The two men were drug smugglers. They were hanged inside Tehran's Ghezel Hesar prison on Tuesday morning," the Iran newspaper said.It said a Tehran court last year sentenced one of them to life term in prison but after he tried to smuggle narcotics into the jail, this was upgraded to the death sentence."Police found out he was trying to smuggle heroin and opium he got from his friend when returning to the prison from th...

latest plea by the three Bali bombers to the constitutional court would not affect plans for their execution. Lawyers for the three men - Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Gufron, lodged a legal challenge earlier this month, saying that Indonesia's method of executing convicts by firing squad was inhumane. The three men would prefer an Islamic method of execution by beheading. All three have been on death row since 2003, when a Bali court sentenced them to death for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

suspected smuggler with cocaine stashed in a hidden compartment in his vehicle was intercepted Friday morning at the San Clemente checkpoint on Interstate 5, according to a Border Patrol news release.A Border Patrol agent at the checkpoint stopped a Range Rover heading north at 5:30 a.m., the release states. The driver, a Mexican citizen traveling legally in the county, acted nervous as the agent interviewed him. The agent also noticed bottles of laundry detergent, often used to mask the scent of narcotics, inside the sport utility vehicle.A canine was used to search the vehicle, leading to the discovery of a hidden compartment in its center console with nine bundles of cocaine inside, the release states. The drugs weighed 23.1 pounds and have an estimated street value of $729,200. They were turned over to the North County Drug Enforcement Task Force, the release states.The name of the smuggling suspect was not released Friday.

"queen pins" Enedina Arellano Felix and Sandra Avila Beltrán. Felix is alleged to have become one of the leaders of the Tijuana cartel across California's border after her brothers were murdered. Beltran, dubbed the "Queen of the Pacific," was indicted on drug charges in Florida four years ago and is said to have developed smuggling routes through Mexico for a Colombian cartel. A beautiful woman, Beltrán would ask to do her make-up before her court proceedings and gained even greater fame for her haughty and arrogant behavior. More women have also become notorious brokers and money launderers. Large sums of money are laundered in a small street in Mexico City, where beautiful women in low-cut dresses provide currency exchanges for tourists, Campbell said. However, the majority of women continue to fall into the lowest levels of the illegal drug trade, said Correctional Program Specialist Marueen Buell of the Prison's Division for the National Institute of Co...

Saudi Arabia has foiled an attempt to smuggle of 4.5 million of drugs pills and half a ton of hashish into the country, it was announced by the media spokesman of the Directorate General of Drugs Control, Major Ebrahim Abu Hilayel. In a press statement here on Saturday, he noted that the attempt was foiled in cooperation with a neighbouring country which he declined to name. According to him, the Saudi anti-drugs squad also foiled in the past two weeks several attempts of drugs smuggling and trafficking in Al Aflaj, King Khaled International Airport, Asir region, Jizan and Eastern Province. These include an attempt at trafficking more than one million Captagon pills smuggled into the Kingdom from a neighbouring country. They also include seizing of 54 kilograms of hashish and 254,000 drugs tablets. Several weapons found with the smugglers and traffickers involved in these cases were also seized. In addition, 69,000 drugs tablets were seized by the anti-drugs squad at King Khaled Intern...

Uruguay’s fishing industry has come under the spotlight of the Montevideo and Spanish police narcotics departments following the arrest of a Spanish citizen and the discovery of containers to be exported with 300 kilos of cocaine hidden among the frozen fish. The Spanish citizen had a company which was operating from Montevideo with two vessels, “Cibeles” and “Banzare” with Uruguayan licences, including for toothfish and on request from the famous Spanish Magistrate Baltasar Garzón was arrested allegedly linked to the attempted introduction of 2.2 tons of cocaine to Spain. The second operation involved a search of containers with fish ready to be shipped to Europe and which working on tips, allowed the discovery of 300 kilos of cocaine. Containers with frozen fish are ideal for smuggling since dogs can’t sniff the narcotics and there are fears that if left open for too long it could spoil the cargo, according to Uruguayan members of the police involved in the search. As a consequence o...

Death sentence hanging over the sheik for drugs trafficking, the oil-rich principality is waiting to see whether the strict rule of law or the kinship ties of the ruling family will prevail. The sheik, who is in his 50s, was caught by Kuwaiti police with 10kg of cocaine and 75kg of hashish. When sentencing him to death, judge Humoud al-Mutwatah said the sheik had "willingly walked the path of evil" and deserved no mercy. It was the first time a Gulf royal family member had been condemned to death by a court, and the case is widely seen as a test for the impartiality of the law in a country where the convict's relative, the Emir, could pardon his wayward kinsman. Lawyers at the time hailed the sentence as a sign of the impartiality of the law. Najib al-Wugayyan, a prominent criminal lawyer, called the verdict "a magnificent indication to all that nobody is above the law". However, Sheik Sabah has announced in the Kuwaiti press that he has appealed to the Emir to ...

Three Vietnamese members of a drugs gang were today jailed for a total of 23 years for a punishment beating that left a man dead.Tran Nguyen, 44, was beaten up and dumped fatally injured in a hospital in November 2006, two months after arriving in the UK on the back of a lorry.The gang accused the father-of-two of stealing plants from the cannabis factory he tended in Newport, south Wales, a four-month trial heard. Quynh Van Huynh, 51, who was the boss, was jailed for nine years for manslaughter at Cardiff Crown Court today.Than Van Le, 32, and Cong Van Le, 50, were sentenced to seven years each. All three had denied murder.In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Roger Griffiths, Mr Nguyen’s widow said she feared for the safety of herself and her family after giving evidence to the police.Pham Thi Thien said: "When I heard the news of my husband’s death it was devastating for me and my children."You can imagine the situation when a wife loses her husband and children l...

Twenty one people, including 14 Victorians and some with alleged mafia links, were arrested after the seizure of 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy, it was revealed last Friday.The arrests were the culmination of a 12-month operation across the country, including Melbourne.Those charged included a 37-year-old Werribee woman who was arrested in a Carlton house and charged with trafficking MDMA, money laundering in excess of $1m and aiding and abetting the importation of cocaine. She appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Friday and was remanded to reappear in court in March. The other Victorians were from Kew, Keilor East, Werribee, West Footscray, Cheltenham, Greenvale, Sydenham, Taylors Lakes, Eltham and Nar Nar Goon. Charges include trafficking MDMA and conspiracy to import MDMA. The AFP executed 45 search warrants across Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales as part of the joint investigation involving Australian Customs, a spokesperson said. AFP Commissioner Mick ...

Luiza Caetano de Lima, a 29-year-old Brazilian cook, was arrested for carrying 350 grams of cocaine in her vaginal cavity. She was intercepted on a bus on the Paraguayan border.

Last year, 230 Britons were incarcerated in the Emirates, including 59 for drugs offences, figures from the Foreign Office in London show. Fifty Britons were apprehended in Abu Dhabi last year, 19 for drugs crimes.Catherine Wolthuizen, the chief executive of Fair Trials International, puts the number of drug arrests down to the highly sensitive new equipment that customs officials use to conduct searches on travellers.“So many people now travel to Dubai and, as we’re seeing, many have no idea what risks they’re taking or their vulnerability to this very strict approach,” she says. “If they find any amount – no matter how minute – it will be enough to attract a mandatory four-year prison sentence.“What many travellers may not realise is that they can be deemed to be in possession of such banned substances if they can be detected in their urine or bloodstream, or even in tiny, trace amounts on their person.”Raymond Bingham, who is otherwise known as DJ Grooverider, was among those arrest...

anti-drug agency and police are gearing up to dismantle foreign-organised crime syndicates which have been controlling the trade in illicit drugs at some of Thailand's famous tourist destinations for years. Krissana Pol-anand, the secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), said ONCB officials and drug suppression police were very concerned about the drug trade run by foreign businessmen in Phuket, Koh Samui and Pattaya.''The drug trade run by foreign businessmen has been increasing in these areas. We're collecting evidence in order to bring these people to justice as soon as possible,'' said Pol Lt-Gen Krissana. The ONCB yesterday held a press conference to announce its new drugs suppression policy.Pol Lt-Gen Krissana had been transferred to an inactive post at Government House by the coup-appointed government of former prime minister Gen Surayud Chulanont. He was re-appointed as chief of the ONCB by the Samak administration a few mon...

Police said yesterday that they have arrested two 28-year-olds in Athens after finding them in possession of 6.6 kilos of cocaine. Officers said that they also found a gun, 35 bullets and 11,000 euros in cash in the possession of the two suspects, a Greek and an Albanian. Police also revealed that they found 3.2 kilos of heroin hidden in a flowerpot on the roof of an apartment block in the Athens district of Galatsi. Officers said that an Albanian, who was arrested and jailed in February for drug dealing, had lived in the building.

20-year-old man traveling from Amsterdam suspected of drug smuggling was arrested following a routine inspection by customs at Keflavík International Airport on Wednesday. X-ray showed that he was carrying at least 20 foreign objects in his digestive tract. “The investigation is in the preliminary stages because we cannot do anything before we know what kind of substances he is carrying and how much it is,” Kári Gunnlaugsson, chief divisional manager at Keflavík Airport Customs Control, told Fréttabladid. The suspect is being held at the Sudurnes prison facilities and police are waiting for the objects to pass through his digestive system the natural way, which usually takes a few days but can sometimes take almost three weeks. Until then, police cannot confirm what kind of substances the man is carrying, but in recent cases like these people have usually tried to smuggle cocaine or amphetamines.

"The body of a 21-year-old man was found in a flat in Kőbánya, Budapest’s 10th District, late Tuesday night, making him the sixth person to die from a heroin overdose in the capital since last weekend.Budapest Police anti-drugs division head Maj. Norber Ródler told reporters on Wednesday that it is not yet known whether there is a connection between the recent death and the drugs sold by the two dealers who were captured on Monday. The heroin that has resulted in the deaths of six people in recent days was pure, Ródler noted.Police arrested one Hungarian and one Vietnamese heroin dealer on Monday National Bureau of Investigation (NNI) anti-drug department head Attila Madarász told Magyar Hírlap that “disco drugs” top the drug popularity list in Hungary: speed and ecstasy, followed by marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Finance and Excise Guards spokesman Jenő Sípos told the daily that 73kgs of drugs have been impounded so far this year, most of them arriving from countries south and so...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Calexico, Calif. downtown port of entry seized nearly half a million dollars in cocaine on Monday and arrested a 22-year-old female Mexican citizen in connection with the failed smuggled attempt. CBP officers discovered 22 packages of cocaine hidden in false compartments in this BMW.at about 9:30 a.m. when a female driving a silver 2008 BMW 1201 was referred to the secondary inspection area for examination after a human/narcotic detector dog alerted to the vehicle during a pre-primary enforcement operation.At the secondary inspection area, an intensive examination of the vehicle revealed special compartments within the rocker panels that resulted in the discovery of 22 wrapped packages of cocaine with a total weight of 60 pounds.The driver, a Mexicali resident, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The narcotics, worth $480,000, and the vehicle were seized by CBP.This interception came at the heels of six other na...

Paul Longoria will have years behind bars to reflect on his decision to turn a Forsyth County fence company into a front for cocaine trafficking. Longoria was sentenced this week to 12 years in federal prison on felony drug charges. He was ordered to serve another five years on probation after his release, said Patrick Crosby, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Atlanta. Longoria was arrested in May 2007 at Crown Fence in northern Forsyth County. The company was undistinguished from the thousands of small businesses that fill office parks across Forsyth County and metro Atlanta, but for one unusual detail: Refrigerated trucks kept showing up.Authorities said that's ultimately what prompted another tenant of the office park to raise the red flag.Longoria and two others were accused of bringing large shipments of cocaine by tractor-trailer from Texas to Crown Fence in a small business park off Brown's Bridge Road. On May 3, 2007, agents with the Forsyth County Sheriff...

27-year-old Mexican national is behind bars after he allegedly tried to smuggled 27 pounds of cocaine into Brownsville.U.S. Customs & Border Protection officials told Action 4 News that the seizure happened at the B & M International Bridge earlier this week.The man pulled up to the bridge in a Ford Explorer.A seconday inspection of the vehicle revealed 27 pounds of cocaine hidden inside.The driver was arrested and handed over to U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers for further investigation.

34-year-old Ellenbrook man appeared in Fremantle Magistrate's Court today charged with importing a banned steroid from Thailand.The man was charged by customs officials following an investigation into an alleged plot to import more than 15,000 tablets of the banned performance enhancing drug Dianabol.Customs were alerted to the alleged plot after several thousand tablets were allegedly found inside six tins, packaged as nuts at Perth International Airport mail centre in mid July.Early forensic tests had identified the tablets as Dianabol.The man was granted bail and is due to reappear in court on September 15.If found guilty he faces a possible five-year jail term or $110,000 fine. Customs investigations national manager Richard Janeczko said a permit from the Therapeutic Goods Administration was required to import Dianabol into Australia.“Last week we carried out nine search and seizure warrants at several residential properties and business premises across Perth,” he said."A...

$1.8 MILLION stash of illegal party drugs has been seized and nine people arrested in one of the biggest drug hauls in the Territory. More than 26kg of cannabis, 5kg of ecstasy tablets and almost a kilogram of methamphetamine was found when detectives pounced on homes and industrial warehouses in the Darwin and Palmerston areas at the weekend.The sting was part of Operation Uadjet -- a two-month NT Police investigation into the alleged thriving drug ring.Drug and Organised Crime Division Superintendent Peter Bravos said it is believed the drugs were not being manufactured in the NT but had been transported to the Top End via road from South Australia.Supt Bravos said it was one of the biggest seizures he had seen in his 11 years in the force."It is a huge bust -- the quantities are enormous,'' he said. On Friday, Darwin detectives randomly raided four homes and warehouses in the Darwin and Palmerston areas and seized 700 ecstasy tablets, 60g of methamphetamine, 300g of can...

One person convicted of smuggling cocaine and another convicted of supplying the drug were sentenced to over five years in prison. Two others found guilty of reselling the drugs were sentenced to two to three years in prison.The Tampere District Court also handed down conditional prison terms or fines to seven others. In June, police in Tampere uncovered an international drug ring that smuggled some 700 grams of cocaine into the city.The drugs originated from Suriname and were transported through the Netherlands before being smuggled into Finland. The cocaine was valued at around 100,000 euros. Those convicted have foreign backgrounds while most of the buyers were Finnish.

Police Vice Squad has arrested three people in the Zabbar Housing Estate, in connection with cocaine and heroin trafficking. Reports of drug trading were received on Sunday morning, resulting in the arrest of a 31-year-old from Valletta and a 39-year-old from Zejtun. A bit later, the police arrested the man who was selling the drugs, a 22-year-old man who was already known to the police. He was found to be in possession of packets filled with cocaine and heroin, ready to be sold. Other related objects were also found in his home.

Earlier this week, two of Canada’s largest tobacco firms were handed a total $1.15 billion in criminal and civil penalties after pleading guilty to charges involving smuggling of cigarettes in the early 1990s. That’s not a whole lot different from the tax evasion that took down gangster chief Al Capone in the 1930s. Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. and Rothmans Benson & Hedges pleaded guilty to “aiding persons to sell and be in possession of tobacco manufactured in Canada that was not packed and was not stamped in conformity with the Excise Act,” the RCMP said. The scheme involved the shipment of contraband tobacco in Canada to locations in the U.S. and near the Canada-U.S. border between 1989 and 1994. It was delivered to black-market distributors who brought it back into Canada for illegal sales. That’s one way to get around the high taxes applied to the product – as long as you don’t get caught. If you do, however, it becomes a lot harder for the public to think of the corporation a...

Eight people have been charged with attempting to import about 100kg of marijuana, with a street value of about $60,000, from PNG. No drugs have been recovered, contrary to reports in the southern media that a significant amount had been seized.Delivery of the drugs to two men, who were the subject of a massive search and rescue operation on July 7, apparently broke down in PNG and were returning to Badu empty-handed when they ran into difficulties, Police said.The men were rescued by an Australian Customs helicopter the next day and their boat was searched. Detective Sergeant Garry Hunter from the Drug Squad told the Torres News that not all eight were involved directly with the attempted importion of the drugs."Some of the others were involved in other ways. One loaned a boat in return for a cut of the proceeds; he knew what the boat was being used for, therefore he also is involved but indirectly."A total of 17 people has been charged with 19 separate drug offences, not as...

Presidential amnesty has been granted to twenty-nine of the 30 Nigerians deported from Thailand for drug related offences. They have been released from the Nigeria Prison service. They were amongst 57 Nigerians serving jail terms in Thailand after their convictions for drug related offences and had been sent to Nigeria prison in 2005.They were all males between ages 35 and 50 and embraced their friends and familywho were waiting outside the prison gates shouting “I have regained freedom.” The Deputy Comptroller of Prison Ijebu Ode Command said their release was facilitated by the Osile Oke-Ona, Oba Adedapo Tejuosho and Evangelist Kayode Williams who sent letters to the presidency and Ministers of Interior over the plight of the prison inmates.He also explained that the inmates were given some rehabilitation programmes such as furniture making, tailoring, barbing, computer education, sports and religious matters and they have been properly rehabilitated and are now fit for society and s...

Unnamed British citizen is among more than 30 people being held after Thai police broke up a drug ring that was supplying tourists with cocaine and Ecstasy. Police Colonel Ithipol Kitsuwansay said the ring bought 10 kilos of cocaine worth £500,000 from Latin America each month and shipped it to the island of Samui. Scores of foreigners are on death row in Thailand for drug-related convictions.

Thai police detained more than 30 people and broke up a drug ring that was supplying tourists with cocaine and Ecstasy on the island of Samui, an official said Saturday. Working with American drug enforcement agents, Thai police made the arrests Friday, said Police Col. Ithipol Kitsuwansay. Among those detained were an Iranian suspected of leading the ring, two Turks, several Africans and a British citizen, he said. Police also seized about 100 million baht (US$3 million) in assets owned by the Iranian, including a yacht, several gift shops and a pub on the island in the Gulf of Thailand, he said. He was identified as 38-year-old Shahriar Zarghamzade, alias Ramin Ahmani.Ithipol said the ring was buying as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of cocaine with a street value of 35 million baht (US$1 million) from Latin America each month and shipping it through Bangkok to Samui. It was then sold at parties frequented by tourists, he said.Scores of foreigners are on death row in Thailand for d...

Investigators have seized more than 150 bottles labelled “gay lube oil” imported from Thailand since the operation began at the beginning of the year and are investigating 30 people and groups across Australia, including WA. Customs national manager investigations Richard Janeczko said they had acted on intelligence from domestic and overseas officers in cooperation with Thai authorities and were the first to detect this particular disguise. “It’s a bit of a cat and mouse game. We believe we will be able to stop the use of this disguise in the near future and arrest many of the suppliers,” he said. “There has been a huge increase in the number of similar importation attempts this year, so we are already looking to predict the next disguise and deter future efforts.” He said the drugs were detected both as bulk imports for distribution and as personal quantities carried by travellers. Mr Janeczko said the drugs were designed as “performance and image enhancers” and were likely for use b...

Angel Daniel Vaszquez, 46, of 186 Hamburg St Delaney said. found with 122 packets of heroin inside his Plymouth Voyager, Then, executing a warrant at Vasquez's home, which is less than 100 feet from Van Horn Park, they found 60 more bags of heroin, $1,000 in cash and other drug-related items, Delaney said After the arrest, detectives observed dozens of addicts at the corner of Main, Medford and Harriet streets, waiting for a heroin delivery that never came, Delaney said. Vasquez was charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, violation of a drug-free school zone, operation of a motor vehicle with a suspended license.

Adam Turpin, 22, of Bruce Cres­cent, Lerwick, admitted supplying heroin between 13th September and 13th November last year at addresses in the town’s Commercial Road and North Road. A plea of not guilty to a further charge of supplying cannabis at North Road was accepted.Procurator fiscal Duncan Mac­Kenzie said that police had searched the home Turpin shared with his girlfriend when Turpin was present and had found a money tin containing £3,480. A drugs dog was used and found a quantity of heroin in the bathroom. Two sets of scales, a grinder and two letters relating to drugs supply were also found.The court heard that the heroin recovered, if bought in bulk, would be worth £1,520, but sold in deals would have the maximum resale value of £7,398, a profit of £5,878.Mr MacKenzie said that Turpin, who comes from Liverpool and appeared in court on crutches, was involved in the large scale supply and distribution of heroin in Shetland, a place Turpin had no connection with. Turpin had told ...

Customs officials on Friday said they discovered almost seven pounds of heroin hidden in a suitcase at Bush Intercontinental Airport. They said the drugs, which were valued at more than $600,000, were concealed within the frame of a suitcase. Airport officials said the bag belonged to citizen of the United Kingdom who was on his way from Trinidad to New York. He was arrested and is being held in jail.

Two people are in custody after a Border Patrol search of their vehicle Thursday near Quartzsite yielded 42 pounds of cocaine, the patrol said.The seizure came at the Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 95 near Quartzsite after a drug-sniffing dog alerted patrol agents to the possible presence of drugs in the 2000 Chevrolet Venture minivan, the patrol said.The cocaine, wrapped in 17 packages, was found in a false compartment in the roof of the minivan, according to the patrol.The dog alerted agents to the drugs after the van had been referred to a secondary inspection area so agents could determine the occupants' immigration status, the patrol said.The unidentified driver is a legal resident of the United States while the passenger is a U.S. citizen, according to the patrol.Both were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the patrol said.

Arkansas Highway Police has seized more than $1 million worth of cocaine from a tractor-trailer on Interstate 40 near West Memphis.Highway Police Chief Ron Burks says the vehicle was traveling eastbound when it was stopped Wednesday. During a safety inspection, officers uncovered 53 bundles of cocaine, all weighing about 116 pounds. Burks says the drugs had a street value of $1.3 million.Officers arrested 60-year-old Joaquin Lopez of Vinton, Texas, on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Police believe the truck was headed from California to the New York-New Jersey area.

Three English gang members received jail terms totalling 85 years. Two of the accused, Martin Wanden, 45, and Perry Wharrie, 49, received record 30-year sentences. A third man, Joe Daly, 41, was sentenced to 25 years for his part in the smuggling operation which came unstuck off Dunlough Bay in west Cork on July 2 last year. The case brought to light the vulnerability of the Irish coastline for landing consignments of narcotics. For a coastline totalling about 4,350 kilometres, there is just one Customs cutter boat, the RCC Suirbheir, which is based out of Cork. A second vessel will enter service next year and an internal review team is deciding where this can be most effectively deployed. The Irish Naval Service also polices waters within a 200mile radius of the Republic. The Garda National Drugs Unit, local garda units based out of Bantry, the Irish Coast Guard, the Naval Service and the Customs drug enforcement unit were all instrumental in the recovery operation that followed the D...

The government of Guinea-Bissau has expressed its commitment to unravel drug scandal, vowing that it would not succumb to threats on the lives of the Justice Minister, Carmelita Pires and Attorney General, Luis Manuel Cabral, over the arrest of five people suspected of drugs trafficking. Carmelita Pires said though she is scared by the threats, the government would not be intimidated and would therefore continue to probe the country's major drug bust which has caused a stand off between police and soldiers at the West African country's main airport.Ms Pires said she had received two anonymous telephone calls warning her that she was talking too much and that she was digging her own grave. "I will not turn my back on this fight. I will not relinquish my responsibility," vowed Ms Pires.An arrest of five suspects - three Venezuelans and two Bissau nationals - was made after at least a plane believed to have arrived from South America was seized last month carrying 500 ki...

couriers have died after packages have ruptured and poisoned their systems with massive doses of narcotics. Couriers who die transporting narcotics are "sliced like pieces of meat" by drug barons intent on getting their product to market, the head of the Revenue Commissioners' drug law enforcement arm has revealed. Over €135m worth of illegal drugs have been seized by customs so far this year -- although most of this figure comes from the €110m haul of cocaine found off the coast of Cork last summer. Michael Colgan said yesterday that four "stuffers and swallowers" -- couriers who ingest drugs or carry them internally -- have been caught in Dublin Airport so far this year. "Couriers have died," he said. "They've just been sliced open like pieces of meat. There's no regard for health and safety, they (drug barons) just want to deliver their consignment. The poor unfortunates are of no interest to them. "Our experience would be that mos...

Michelle Kersey, 23, uttered a barely audible "guilty" during a brief appearance before Justice Renee Pomerance. She'll be sentenced Sept. 19.Her boyfriend at the time of their Aug. 9, 2006, arrests, Jeremiah Maguire, 24, had previously pleaded guilty in provincial court to drug and firearm charges and was handed a 21/2-year federal penitentiary term on a drug trafficking charge and one-year consecutive term for illegal possession of a firearm.Prosecutor Richard Pollock said Maguire was the subject of a Windsor drug squad investigation at the time and police had information he was dealing narcotics and that he kept a gun in his 1997 Acura. On the afternoon of Aug. 9, Kersey and Maguire were observed leaving their shared downtown apartment in the 500 block of Pitt Street and walking to the parked Acura. Pollock said Kersey took a traffic ticket off the windshield, ripped it up and threw it in the air before the two embraced and she returned to the apartment.Armed with sear...