More drug pass texas border

[LilOlLady]

5 tons of marijuana seized in South Texas
The Associated Press
Aug. 15, 2011


Texas — More than five tons of marijuana wrapped in plastic and stacked on pallets have been seized from a truck loaded with broccoli at an inland South Texas checkpoint.

The Border Patrol says its agents discovered the contraband Saturday night at its Sarita checkpoint, about an hour north of the border on U.S. 77, after a drug-detecting dog alerted them.

Border Patrol announced Monday that the 470 bundles of marijuana were worth about $8.2 million. The driver, who was not identified, was turned over with the drugs to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Sarita checkpoint dog finds 5 tons of marijuana in broccoli truck | AP Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

More drugs pass through the South Texas border than any other place. Why isn't Gov. Perry doing more. Or is drugs a lucrutive business for Texas economy?
NAFTA Superhighway? Perry was the only gubernatorial candidate in 2006 of four major candidates who supported it.

 

[waltky]

This is how they thank us for gettin' rid of Saddam for `em...

California busts Iraqi drug-trafficking gang with ties to Mexican cartel
August 19, 2011 - Authorities in El Cajon arrest 60 suspects and seize more than $630,000 in cash, as well as marijuana and high-powered guns and explosives from an El Cajon group, which allegedly has ties to a Mexican cartel and organized crime in Detroit.

Sixty reputed members of an Iraqi drug-trafficking organization in El Cajon have been arrested and authorities seized more than $630,000 in cash, 3,500 pounds of marijuana, dozens of high-powered firearms and several explosive devices, law enforcement officials said Thursday. The organization was run out of a social club and has suspected links to the ruthless Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and an Iraqi organized crime syndicate in Detroit, according to law enforcement officials. The social club, located on East Main Street, has been a "hub of criminal activity conducted by Iraqi organized crime," El Cajon police Chief Pat Sprecco said.

According to authorities, over the last decade the club has been the center of other investigations for alleged drug sales, gambling, car theft and gun smuggling. The undercover investigation that led to the latest arrests and seizures, dubbed Operation Shadowbox, has been underway since January as investigators gathered evidence, arrested suspects and served search warrants. A search warrant was served Wednesday at the club, where authorities seized $16,000 and uncovered evidence of illegal gambling, Sprecco said. Over the years, thousands of Chaldean Christians fled Iraq and arrived in the United States to start new lives in cities such as Detroit and El Cajon, where about one-quarter of the roughly 96,000 residents have Iraqi ancestry.

The undercover operation announced Thursday found connections between the club and members of a suspected Iraqi Chaldean crime organization in Detroit, according to officials with the Police Department and the San Diego branch of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Operatives from the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico's most powerful crime organization, supplied the El Cajon traffickers with large amounts of marijuana, which was sold in Detroit for up to three times the purchase value, DEA spokeswoman Eileen Zeidler said. "That's a typical drug-trafficking pattern," Zeidler told The Times. In April, an undercover agent was shown a grenade and told that other grenades were available for sale from a Mexican military source, Sprecco said.

Four improvised explosive devices were seized by authorities during the investigation. Police said the 34 confiscated firearms included semiautomatic assault rifles and several fully automatic weapons. Half of the suspects arrested are expected to be charged with state violations, including sales, possession for sales, conspiracy to distribute narcotics and pharmaceuticals, and possession of firearms by convicted felons, authorities said. The others will be charged in federal court on suspicion of participating in a continuing criminal enterprise; conspiracy to distribute and distribution of narcotics, marijuana and pharmaceuticals; conspiracy to import marijuana; and possession and distribution of automatic weapons.

Source

 

[waltky]

Seven Die As Sinaloa Cartel Takes Control Of Tijuana...

Mexico: 7 Die In Mazatlán As Sinaloa Cartel Controls Tijuana
September 6, 2011 Seven people were killed in the northwestern Mexican port city of Mazatlán on Monday with some of the incidents tied to drug cartels operating within the region, a police spokesman said.

“A series of crimes occurred in different parts of the city,” the spokesman said. The first death occurred after a man opened fire on police officers in the popular tourist neighborhood of Villa Union. Two separate incidents left another two people dead in neighborhoods on the city’s outskirts, while gunmen armed with AK-47 assault rifles killed a 35-year old man in an alleged drug hit. The bodies of two other men were found in an SUV north of the city and finally gunmen opened fire on two people traveling in another vehicle, killing the passenger.

Mazatlán is located in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, home to the drug cartel of the same name. The Sinaloa Cartel is headed by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who along with holding the title of the most wanted person by the F.B.I. and Interpol, is listed as one of the richest people in the world by Forbes Magazine. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has offered a reward of $5 million for him. Guzmán was arrested in 1993 in Guatemala, but in 2001 pulled off a daring escape from a maximum-security prison in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. While Mazatlán and other Mexican cities continue to deal with widespread violence from the country’s drug war, the border of city of Tijuana has reported a drop in the level of drug murders.

The massacres and dead bodies that plagued Tijuana a few years ago have slowed thanks in part to the Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel allegedly gaining control over the city and its lucrative drug smuggling corridors to the United States. Tijuana, home to both trashy bars and brothels as well as renowned contemporary artists, has seen one of the most dramatic drops in violence in all of Mexico. To date this year the city has seen only 349 homicides, compared with the peak years of 820 in 2010 and 844 in 2008.

The Mexican government has claimed credit for the turn around in violence as in 2009 it sent droves of police and soldiers to the region in an attempt to dismantle the once-dominant Arellano Felix Cartel. However, some security experts see the gap filled by the Sinaloa Cartel after the demise of the Arellano Felix Cartel as the main reason for the drop in violent crime rates. “The drugs continue flowing, without a doubt. What has diminished is violence between criminal groups,” Edgardo Buscaglia, a security expert at Mexico’s ITAM university told Reuters. “Organized crime continues, not only drug trafficking but extortion, kidnapping, human smuggling and gun running. But it’s under a consolidated group (Sinaloa).”

Mexican President Felipe Calderón recently boasted that the government’s effort to combat drug cartels was succeeding. During his annual national report to Congress, Calderón said that he has strengthened the rule of law and fought against drug gangs like never before. The report states that 21 of Mexico’s 37 most wanted criminals have been killed or captured and that the government has confiscated $12.7 billion in assets from drug gangs. The president, however, has been under fire since he declared war on the cartels shortly after taking office in 2006. Since then more than 40,000 people have died in drug related violence, with 15,270 people being killed last year alone.

Source

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - give him a legal trial, den hang his sorry butt...

Mexican drug gang leader extradited to US for major trial
Sun, Sep 02, 2012 - Mexico extradited the former deputy leader of a Tijuana drug cartel to the US on Friday to face racketeering, money laundering and narcotics trafficking charges, US officials said.

Eduardo Arellano-Felix, who is known as “The Doctor,” ran the powerful Arellano-Felix Organization drug trafficking cartel with his brothers Benjamin and Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix. They are both serving time for drug trafficking convictions in the US.

‘VICIOUS DRUG CARTEL’

“The extradition of Eduardo Arellano-Felix today marks the end of a 20-year Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) investigation into this vicious drug cartel,” said William Sherman, acting special agent in charge of the San Diego DEA. US Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer added: “Today’s extradition is a milestone in our fight against the Mexican drug cartels.” Arellano-Felix, 55, was arrested by Mexican authorities in the northwestern city of Tijuana in October 2008 following a shootout with a tactical unit. His cartel was especially active in the city just across the border from San Diego.

APPEALS PROCESS

His extradition to the US was granted in 2010, but he had remained in Mexico while he pursued his avenues of appeals, all of which are now exhausted. He is set to make his first court appearance in San Diego on Tuesday in a US federal court, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. US prosecutors say Arellano-Felix was involved in racketeering as part of a plot to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana, as well as money laundering, according to the indictment.

MAJOR SHIPMENTS

The document said that the drug cartel’s leaders negotiated directly with Colombian traffickers to buy multi-tonne shipments of cocaine that were then smuggled into the US. The group’s estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds were then smuggled back into Mexico.

COCAINE, MARIJUANA

During its heyday in the 1990s, the Arellano-Felix Organization controlled the flow of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs through the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali into the US. It also ran operations in southern Mexico and Colombia.

Mexican drug gang leader extradited to US for major trial - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

Shorty's security chief nabbed...

Shorty Guzman's 'security chief' arrested in Mexico
10 February 2013 - The Mexican military says it has captured the man accused of being the security chief for Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, Mexico's most wanted drug lord.

A military spokesman said Jonathan Salas was arrested without a shot being fired in north-western Sinaloa state. Three helicopters and at least eight navy vehicles surrounded Mr Salas. Last year, the governor of Sinaloa mistakenly announced that Mr Salas, who is also known as The Ghost, had been killed in a clash with the Navy. Mexican prosecutors accuse Mr Salas of being the man tasked with guarding Joaquin Guzman, the fugitive leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

Joaquin Guzman, known as "El Chapo", or "Shorty", was arrested in 1993. But he has been in hiding ever since he escaped from his maximum-security prison in a laundry basket in 2001. The US State Department has offered a reward of up to $5m (£3.2m) for information leading to Shorty Guzman's arrest.

Mr Salas was detained on Saturday near the town of Costa Rica in Sinaloa state. Sinaloa Governor Mario Lopez Valdez has not commented yet on the arrest. In March 2012 he had told local media that Mr Salas had been shot dead by Marines. State prosecutors later denied Mr Salas's death saying that he had escaped the clash with the military alive.

BBC News - Shorty Guzman's 'security chief' arrested in Mexico

 

[LilOlLady]

5 tons of marijuana seized in South Texas
The Associated Press
Aug. 15, 2011


Texas — More than five tons of marijuana wrapped in plastic and stacked on pallets have been seized from a truck loaded with broccoli at an inland South Texas checkpoint.

The Border Patrol says its agents discovered the contraband Saturday night at its Sarita checkpoint, about an hour north of the border on U.S. 77, after a drug-detecting dog alerted them.

Border Patrol announced Monday that the 470 bundles of marijuana were worth about $8.2 million. The driver, who was not identified, was turned over with the drugs to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Sarita checkpoint dog finds 5 tons of marijuana in broccoli truck | AP Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

More drugs pass through the South Texas border than any other place. Why isn't Gov. Perry doing more. Or is drugs a lucrutive business for Texas economy?
NAFTA Superhighway? Perry was the only gubernatorial candidate in 2006 of four major candidates who supported it.

why isn't Obama doing more to secure the border. those drugs never should have got across the border. more secure than ever is not secure enough. Illegal aliens would have been distributing those drugs across this nation, on our streets to our kids.

 

[LilOlLady]

5 tons of marijuana seized in south texas
the associated press
aug. 15, 2011


texas — more than five tons of marijuana wrapped in plastic and stacked on pallets have been seized from a truck loaded with broccoli at an inland south texas checkpoint.

The border patrol says its agents discovered the contraband saturday night at its sarita checkpoint, about an hour north of the border on u.s. 77, after a drug-detecting dog alerted them.

Border patrol announced monday that the 470 bundles of marijuana were worth about $8.2 million. The driver, who was not identified, was turned over with the drugs to the drug enforcement administration.

sarita checkpoint dog finds 5 tons of marijuana in broccoli truck | ap texas news | chron.com - houston chronicle

more drugs pass through the south texas border than any other place. Why isn't gov. Perry doing more. Or is drugs a lucrutive business for texas economy?
Nafta superhighway? Perry was the only gubernatorial candidate in 2006 of four major candidates who supported it.

hell, i say put more dogs on the border. Agents are letting drugs pass through.

 

[LilOlLady]

CORRUPTED GATEKEEPERS.

FRONTLINE/World . Mexico: Crimes at the Border . Corrupted Gatekeepers | PBS

 

[waltky]

Corrupt cops on the take protectin' drug dealers...

US attorney: Corrupt cops take thousands in cash to protect drug dealers
Feb 12, 2013 - In their patrol cars wearing their uniforms, with their station issued guns in plain sight, seven Metro Atlanta police officers two former DeKalb County jail officers, and a contract officer with Federal Protective Services protected drug dealers' street gangs while they flooded the streets of Atlanta with cocaine, federal indictments show.

"When the cooperator put the word out on the street that he needed dirty cops to protect his drug deals, he got a lot of takers from police officers all across town," Yates said. "Remarkably, one of the police officers actually suggested that future drug deals be conducted in the parking lot of a local high school so they could exchange backpacks there and that exchange of backpacks wouldn't be something that caused suspicion." Yates said DeKalb County police Officers Dennis Duren and Dorian Williams, Forest Park police Sgts. Victor Middlebrook and Andrew Monroe, Atlanta police Officer Kelvin Allen , Stone Mountain police Officer Denoris Carter, MARTA police Officer Marquez Holmes, former DeKalb County Sheriff's Office jail Officers Monyette McLaurin and Chase Valentine and Federal Protection Services contract Officer Sharon Peters were arrested.

Most wore their uniforms while committing the crimes. Another officer actually escorted the drug dealer to the interstate. Yates said the officers took thousands in payout's for their work with single transactions anywhere from a few thousand dollars to as high as $7,000. "This is a troubling day for law enforcement in our city. The law enforcement officers charged today sold their badges by taking payoffs from drug dealers that they should have been arresting," Yates said. "They not only betrayed the citizens they were sworn to protect, they also betrayed the thousands of honest, hard-working law enforcement officers who risk their lives every day to keep us safe. We will continue to work with our local law enforcement partners to pursue this corruption wherever it lies."

The officers were charged with numerous crimes including assisting with drug trafficking, receiving illegal payouts and using firearms during the commission of a crime. Allen is a 20-year veteran with the Atlanta Police Department and was personally known to Chief George Turner. The Zone 6 patrol officer was immediately removed from duty. "It is absolutely horrendous, if you look at this man you would never think he would do anything like this," Turner said. "We will not stand for any officers stepping on the other side of the law." Turner said another officer is also being investigated by federal agents for also using his position as an officer to protect drug dealers. Turner said he was a 3-year veteran of the force. The officer's name was not released because Turner said the federal indictment has been sealed.

Sheriff Thomas Brown said the two former jailers, Valentine and McLaurin, were terminated from their positions more than three years ago for issues surrounding alcohol abuse. According to the indictments, the men were acting as though they were still law enforcement, wearing their uniforms and showing official badges from the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department. Investigators said McLaurin went so far as to suggest shooting another drug purchaser if the deal went awry. Brown said his department is now launching an investigation into how McLaurin and Valentine kept their uniforms and gained access to new badges or still had their old ones. Five other people were arrested in connection with the case, including Elizabeth Coss and Shannon Bass of Atlanta, Gregory Lee Harvey of Stone Mountain, Alexander B. Hill of Ellenwood and Jerry B. Mannery Jr. of Tucker.

Source