Peru’s "Jorge Chávez" international airport in Lima

Anti-drug police at Peru’s "Jorge Chávez" international airport in Lima have had their hands full over the last year, arresting nearly two "mules" a day, each carrying an average of five kg of pure cocaine.In 2005, 249 "mules" or drug couriers were arrested. In 2006 there were 454 arrests, and last year the number rose to 721, carrying a total of nearly four tons of cocaine, the police National Anti-Drug Directorate told IPS. The usual method is to swallow some 10 packets or capsules, each containing 100 grams of cocaine. But often larger quantities are carried, with the drug hidden under false bottoms in luggage, camouflaged in different kinds of containers, or attached to the body with adhesive tape. Of the 721 smugglers arrested in 2007, 62.4 percent (453) were Peruvian and the rest were foreigners, particularly from Spain (45), the Netherlands (29) and Brazil (18). Over three-quarters of the Peruvian "mules" were poor or unemployed. According to the histories of detainees taken by the anti-drug police at the airport, the going rate paid by drug traffickers to couriers who swallow cocaine packets and are sent to Brazil or Argentina is about 1,000 dollars. If they are sent to the United States, Europe or Asia, where the drugs have higher value, payment can be between 2,000 and 3,000 dollars. The more the couriers travel, the more they are paid, unless they are caught by the police, or die from cocaine poisoning when a capsule splits open in their bowels. For a poor or unemployed Peruvian, the payment for swallowing the capsules and travelling four or five hours to Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo is extremely attractive, in spite of the risks. The number of people willing to take the risk is increasing. In 2007, 452 were arrested, compared to 193 in 2006. Poverty creates a fertile recruiting ground.

The Peruvian press, accustomed to printing news about "mule" detentions, was nevertheless shocked on Dec. 22 by the arrest of 43-year-old Evelyn Changra, who attempted to travel to Buenos Aires with one kg of cocaine in her stomach, together with her children, aged 17 and 15, who had also swallowed drugs.

"This was a very poor family from San Juan de Lurigancho," an anti-drug police officer told IPS, referring to one of the most densely populated shantytown districts of Lima.
"The drug trafficker who recruited Evelyn Changra promised her 3,000 dollars if she would take her children along. She accepted because she had never been offered so much money in her life," the source said. A large proportion of Peruvian "mules" also come from Villa El Salvador, Comas and Carabayllo, similar working-class districts on the outskirts of Lima. Of the 721 couriers intercepted at the airport, 303 (42 percent) were heading for Brazil, 148 (20.5 percent) for Argentina and 122 (16.9 percent) for Spain. Recently introduced cut-price commercial flights from Lima to Sao Paulo have encouraged the drug mafias to increase trafficking to Brazil’s biggest city. In Argentina, drug traffickers are active among the large Peruvian community in Buenos Aires, and through relatives, they recruit "mules" from poor districts like San Juan de Lurigancho. In fact, the most important drug lords operating in the Argentine capital come from that part of Lima. "Those we catch tend to be people who stand out because they are obviously nervous, behave suspiciously, or don’t look as if they could afford a plane ticket. But many do manage to leave the country," the police source said. "It’s impossible to take X-rays of everybody, and it’s also impossible to search all the baggage and every object that could potentially be hiding cocaine." As trafficking by "mule" increases, President Alan García announced that he would hold talks with the governments of several countries so that their citizens would serve sentences in their home countries, to ease the overcrowding in Peruvian prisons. The National Prisons Institute told IPS that only 18 percent of the drug couriers arrested have so far been sentenced. In the Santa Monica women’s prison in Lima, there are 1,275 inmates accused of drug-related crimes: 942 Peruvians and 207 foreigners. Less than 240 have already been convicted and sentenced. "Mules" who are willing to cooperate with the justice system can reduce their sentences by up to seven years. But if they refuse to cooperate, they risk being accused of belonging to an international drug trafficking organisation, a crime that carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. "There’s been a real wave of arrests, and all the indications are that 2008 will be another record year. Now the drug barons are recruiting people from the valleys where cocaine is refined and produced. Using ‘mules’ is a cheap method for them, because losing half a ton or one ton of cocaine in a big shipment is worse than losing one kilo when a ‘mule’ is caught," said the officer. The main cocaine production centres are in the Huallaga valley, in the country’s Amazon jungle region, and in the basins of the Apurimac and Ene rivers, in the southeastern part of the highlands region. Poverty is extreme in both places. In some areas up to 70 percent of the population is poor. According to a 2007 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cocaine production in Peru has been rising over the last five years. In 2001, the estimated production of cocaine hydrochloride was 150 tons, compared to 280 tons in 2006. However, according to the Peruvian police force’s own statistics, drug seizures fell last year. In 2006, 14.6 tons of cocaine were confiscated, and in 2007, just over eight tons. Good news for the traffickers. (END/2008)

Read More

World's cheapest cocaine is processed across the border from El Cruce in Colombia's Catatumbo region

The world's cheapest cocaine is processed across the border from El Cruce in Colombia's Catatumbo region, using cheap Venezuelan gasoline, U.S. and Colombian anti-drug and military officials say.Venezuela Leftist rebels fighting Colombia's U.S.-backed military have increasingly found refuge in Venezuela, where they get weapons, food, medical treatment and a smuggling route for the cocaine that keeps them afloat.
Former rebels, local citizens and Colombian officials told The Associated Press that hundreds or even thousands of Colombian insurgents are in Venezuela at any given time.Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who last month publicly recognized the rebels as "insurgent forces," denies directly supporting them. He blames Colombia for failing to police their 1,370-mile border.But former rebels say the two main Colombian rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, buy protection from high-ranking Venezuelan National Guard and army officers, with whom they often also share a leftist ideology."Venezuela's army helps the guerrillas a lot," said Antonio, who spent 13 years with FARC. Now an informant for Colombia's military, he asked that his last name be omitted to protect relatives from reprisals.Antonio was among two FARC and four ELN deserters interviewed by AP who said they moved freely across the frontier, a tangle of thick jungle, wild rivers and rugged mountains.
Well inside Venezuela, Colombian insurgents rest, train, buy arms and uniforms, recover from wounds and process cocaine, according to the rebel deserters, Venezuelan opposition politicians and Colombian officials.
Some top rebel commanders even raise families and educate their children in Venezuela, deserters told AP.Colombian rebels were buying weapons and seeking refuge in Venezuela long before Chavez came to power in 1999. But border zone residents say their presence and influence have grown under Venezuela's leftist leader, principally in the states of Zulia, Tachira, Apure and Chavez's home state of Barinas.Inside Colombia, the rebel forces have been seriously weakened by a Colombian military fortified by U.S. training, weapons, satellite intelligence and communications intercepts.Venezuela's safe haven has helped to keep their insurgencies alive, particularly because it enables the rebels to extract tons of Colombian cocaine for unhindered shipment to the United States and Europe, according to U.S. and Colombian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they said they didn't want to provoke Chavez.In the dusty Zulia village of El Cruce, Venezuelan soldiers maintain nearby checkpoints but cede control of the town to Colombian rebels, residents say. Venezuelan officers also ferry rebels around in their vehicles, the deserters said."They are protected by a cloak that nobody touches," said Teofilo Duran, a Chavez foe who is mayor of the El Cruce district.
Roman, who quit FARC in January, said he broke his left thigh bone last year and had it repaired at the municipal hospital in Guasdualito, a town in Apure.
He said FARC paid for the operation and his monthlong recuperation at a private residence with seven other guerrillas."I was the only one who wasn't there for bullet wounds," he said. Roman, too, would only be identified by his first name.No one interviewed by AP - including retired Gen. Raul Baduel, a former close ally who recently split with Chavez - alleged or provided evidence that Chavez is personally involved in sheltering or militarily backing Colombian rebels.But there is little doubt senior rebel commanders have traveled freely and even lived in Venezuela.In December 2004, Colombian agents kidnapped a senior FARC official, Rodrigo Granda, in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.Colombia freed Granda last year at the request of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who is working for the release of rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt, who holds dual Colombian and French citizenship. Granda is believed to again be living in Venezuela.Colombian officials say at least two members of FARC's seven-member secretariat - Ivan Marquez and Timoleon Jimenez - live in Venezuela.So do the top two ELN commanders, Nicolas Rodriguez and Antonio Garcia, four ELN deserters told AP, speaking anonymously because they inform for Colombia's military.Chavez was asked directly by AP in Guatemala last month whether his government provided Colombian rebel leaders with refuge.
"That subject is 'off.' I won't talk about it," he replied.

FARC and ELN have long bought weapons, ammunition and uniforms in Venezuela, the deserters said. But Chavez's recent wave of arms purchases has Colombian officials worried that rebels could use them to make up for reported ammunition shortages.

They are especially fearful that some of the 5,000 Dragunov sniper rifles that Venezuela plans to buy from Russia could end up in rebel hands, leading to higher casualties among Colombian soldiers.

"If narcotics are crossing the border - and I think most everyone agrees that they are - then it is only logical to assume that ammunition, arms, etc. may be crossing as well," the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, told AP.

Venezuelan security forces "know of the major cocaine-processing labs but don't bother them at all," said Antonio, who said he had led a FARC unit given the task of smuggling partially refined cocaine from Colombia into Venezuela.


Several El Cruce residents, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear, said disproportionately large quantities of food, gasoline and cement - the latter two used in converting coca leaves into cocaine - move through the region toward the hills on the Colombian frontier where guerrilla camps are located.
AP journalists saw smugglers on motorcycles, heading toward Colombia shouldering backpacks laden with gasoline-filled plastic containers.
In the border hamlet of Simon Bolivar, council president Juan Carlos Maldonado said rebels pass through frequently.
"Their problem isn't the Venezuelan government," he said. "Their problem is the Colombian government."

Read More

Drug smugglers are disguising themselves as music stars

Police here and elsewhere throughout the country say that drug smugglers are disguising themselves as music stars and driving large tour buses on Tennessee highways and across the country’s interstates.
Police on Thursday night observed a tour bus that was driving reckless and upon making a traffic stop found more than $1.5 million hidden in fake speakers in the bus traveling on Interstate 75 north of Chattanooga.
The bus which was originally pulled over because it was spotted weaving in and out of traffic, police said.
Authorities said this is not the first time they have pulled over a fake tour bus and found millions of dollars in drugs and cash.Police in California and Texas have also stopped tour buses for traffic violations and instead of finding their favorite pop singer, country band or church group, have made discoveries of large amounts of drugs and money.One state trooper said that it has happeneded to him twice in the past eighteen months and sees this as the next big idea of the criminal.

Read More

Passengers travelling on domestic flights or between European Union countries could have to hand over up to 19 pieces of information

Passengers travelling on domestic flights or between European Union countries could have to hand over up to 19 pieces of information including their credit card details and mobile phone number.
The proposal is revealed in a draft of EU anti-terror plans that would cover every air passenger entering or leaving EU countries seen by the Guardian.
It reports that Britain wants to extend the plan to include sea and rail travel, all domestic flights and those between EU countries.
The Home Office says a pilot of the passenger name record system has already resulted in more than 1,400 arrests, but the scheme has been denounced by civil libertarians and data protection officials.The newspaper reports that according to a questionnaire circulated to EU members by the European Commission, the UK is the only country of 27 EU member states that wants the system used for “more general public policy purposes” besides fighting terrorism and organised crime.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “We broadly welcome the commission’s proposal. This is a key opportunity to share data safely and responsibly in order to improve the security and integrity of our borders.”
The scheme would work through national agencies collecting and processing the passenger data and then sharing it with other EU states. The Guardian reports Britain also wants to be able to exchange the information with third parties outside the EU.
Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford told the newspaper: “Where is this going to stop? There’s no mature discussion of risk. As soon as you question something like this, you’re soft on terrorism in the UK and in the EU.”

Read More

"Welcome to Tijuana. Our guns are bigger than your guns."

Assassins blasted Ricardo Rosas Alvarado, a member of an elite state police force, with a blizzard of bullets pumped out of AK-47 assault rifles. Alvarado crumpled at the wheel of his sedan, yet another victim of the weapons known here as "goat's horns" because of their curved ammunition clips, and which can fire at a rate of 600 rounds per minute. The killing, Mexican authorities said, was a panorama of blood, shattered glass and torn metal that brutally showcased the firepower of Mexico's drug cartels. But that was just the warm-up. Two hours later, a small army of cartel hit men descended on a federal police office and bunkhouse in this crowded city at one of the world's busiest border crossings. None of the officers, who had recently been sent here to crush the drug gangs terrorizing the city, were killed in the hail of more than 1,200 bullets, authorities said. But police veterans understood the message delivered to the newcomers: "Welcome to Tijuana. Our guns are bigger than your guns." The high-powered guns used in both incidents on the evening of Sept. 24 undoubtedly came from the United States, say police here, who estimate that 100 percent of drug-related killings are committed with smuggled U.S. weapons. The guns pass into Mexico through the "ant trail," the nickname for the steady stream of people who each slip two or three weapons across the border every day.
The "ants" -- along with larger smuggling operations -- are feeding a rapidly expanding arms race between Mexican drug cartels. The U.S. weapons -- as many as 2,000 enter Mexico each day, according to a Mexican government study -- are crucial tools in an astoundingly barbaric war between rival cartels that has cost 4,000 lives in the past 18 months and sent law enforcement agencies in Washington and Mexico City into crisis mode.
These drug traffickers, with their steady supply of U.S. weaponry, are the target of President Bush's proposed $500 million U.S. aid package to help Mexico battle cartels. Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, or ATF, hope that some of the money will be used to give Mexican police chiefs greater access to U.S. databases for gun traces. Currently, the traces can be made only through federal police headquarters in Mexico City. Many police chiefs do not even bother to make requests because of the inevitable bureaucratic delays. Corrupt customs officials help smuggle weapons into Mexico, earning as much as $1 million for large shipments, police here say. The weapons are often bought legally at gun shows in Arizona and other border states where loopholes allow criminals to stock up without background checks. The arms traffickers have left Mexico awash in AK-47s, pistols, telescope sighting devices, grenades, grenade launchers and high-powered ammunition, such as the so-called cop-killer bullets believed to be able to penetrate bulletproof vests. "You're looking at the same firepower here on the border that our soldiers are facing in Iraq and Afghanistan," Thomas Mangan, a spokesman in Phoenix for the ATF, said in an interview.

Read More

Smuggling into Bordeaux jail

Alice English was charged with smuggling fully 2.8 kilograms of marijuana, as well as crack, cocaine, hashish, cellphones and pornography into the Bordeaux jail. She copped to it in videotaped testimony this week, but said she only did it once, and only because inmates had threatened her children—and she added that other guards must have been complicit in the arrangement, since there was no other way inmates could have known such details. Pierre-Arold Agnant, a guard at the Montreal Detention Centre, was nabbed last year for allegedly accepting bribes to allow a gang-controlled smuggling ring to bring drugs into the facility. It's impossible to know for sure, but Jackson said recently he suspected as much contraband entered prisons via staff as via visitors.

Read More

Gregory Todd Holland,Terrill Montez Holland,John Burnett,authorities said they recovered 9.9 grams of cocaine.

Gregory Todd Holland, 22, of 17 Elmhurst Drive, was arrested on a charge of dealing cocaine, a Class A felony. He is being held in the Wayne County Jail on a bond of $50,000.Terrill Montez Holland, 22, also of 17 Elmhurst Drive, was arrested on a charge of possession of cocaine, a Class D felony. He was released on bonds of $15,205. Police said the men are brothers.Also, authorities said they recovered 9.9 grams of cocaine.John Burnett, who was driving the vehicle, was arrested on a charge of maintaining a common nuisance, a Class D felony. He was released on a $5,000 bond.Police spotted Burnett's vehicle, a white four-door Lincoln, at 11:43 p.m. in the 3000 block of East Main Street.the vehicle sparked interest because a similar vehicle was used in a robbery last week, police said.The vehicle used in the robbery was also a white, four-door Lincoln. Burnett told police he purchased the vehicle two weeks ago.Burnett was followed until he was pulled over at East Main and 22nd streets.According to a police report, Burnett appeared nervous, was shaking and breathing hard while talking to police.After a drug dog sniffed the vehicle, police found two bags of a white rock-like substance in a pouch on the back of the passenger seat. Police found another bag when Greg Holland got out of the vehicle.Barnett told police the drugs were not his and he did not know where they came from but had said he purchased cocaine at least a dozen times over the last six months, a report said.When police took the men to the jail, police said they found another bag and $120 in cash on Terrill Holland.

Read More

Nicole Paquette’s arrest area’s largest cocaine bust.

Nicole Paquette’s arrest in 2006 led to what police Chief John Romero called the area’s largest cocaine bust.Police found 21 kilograms of cocaine in boxes in Paquette’s rental van and another 30 kilos in a Methuen home, which combined Romero said had a street value of $2.5 million.Paquette’s lawyer argued that his client had only a "minimal role" in the drug operation and did not know whether the closed, unmarked boxes contained cocaine or marijuana.The trial of co-defendant Angel Ayala Roque is scheduled to start next month.

Read More

Jocelyn Mims Sumner County attorney found himself on the other side of the law for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs into the jail.

Sumner County attorney found himself on the other side of the law for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs into the jail.Investigators said Jocelyn Mims conspired with an inmate to pick up a plastic cup full of drugs from a road pull-off, and bring it to the jail. hough authorities got word of the plan, and found the cup at the drop-off site. Inside the cup, police found Zanax, marijuana, and tobacco.
Mims has also worked as a public defender in Sumner County.

Read More

Recep Yilmaz, 67, was caught boasting of his profits of up to £100,000 a week from the smuggling

The drug traffickers were caught after police bugged the ringleader's fleet of luxury cars. Recep Yilmaz, 67, was caught boasting of his profits of up to £100,000 a week from the smuggling ring which shipped the class A drug in bulk from Europe.
A Hastings man was part of an international drug smuggling ring which planned to flood the streets of Britain with £7 million of heroin, the Old Bailey has heard.
Sean Harrison, 41, of Hilly Glen Close, who organised the heroin on the continent, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs earlier this month.
But police swooped after learning that a shipment of 69.1kg was on its way to Britain, organised by David Powell, 50. The lorry containing the heroin, worth a street value of around £7million, was driven by John Rae, 41. Police discovered the deal after bugging the Mercedes and Jaguar owned by car dealer Yilmaz, known as the 'Top Man,' who has pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy. Mert Goren, 27, who took possession of the heroin from Rae, has also admitted his part in the trafficking ring. Powell and Rae are now standing trial for importing heroin.
The Old Bailey heard how the charges date back to the summer of 2002 when Harrison and Rae were in Europe while Powell and Yilmaz remained in the UK awaiting the drugs. Prosecutor Victor Temple QC said:"Harrison travelled to the continent to take possession of the heroin. "Whilst still on the continent he met Rae who in any event was on a scheduled trip back to England. "Rae in his turn took possession of the heroin from Harrison, secreted it in his lorry, and brought it across the Channel and through customs."Harrison travelled back to England on his own. Once in England Rae handed over the heroin to Harrison and or Powell. "Rae's function was now complete and he drops out of the picture. Harrison and Powell still had much to do. One or other or both had received the heroin from Rae."What is beyond doubt is that they met and continued the enterprise.They drove in separate vehicles to a lay-by on the M26 near Wortham, Kent. "They had the heroin with them. it being anticipated they would meet Goren at the lay-by." The court heard how the main conspirators had been under police surveillance for months before the hand over. At 7.25pm on July 27, officers watched as three cars arrived near junction 2a on the M26 near Wrotham, Kent. Powell and Harrison were seen depositing two holdalls in the back of Goren's car. When police intervened they discovered the bags contained 101 parcels wrapped in brown tape containing 51.85kg of heroin.A third holdall was found in the front passenger seat contained a further 17.3kg

Read More

Forced him to carry the heroin that was strapped to his body when he was arrested at the Bali Airport.

One of the Bali Nine has spoken publicly for the first time on the electronic media about his situation and his hopes of being able to leave a Bali jail, despite that fact that he faces the death penalty.
Scott Rush, who was arrested on drug trafficking charges in Indonesia, has spoken to SBS Television from his prison cell.
He says he never realised the implications that his actions could have, or that it was even possible to be executed for smuggling heroin.
Donna Field reports.
DONNA FIELD: These are dark days for Scott Rush. The 22-year-old from Brisbane is far from home in a foreign prison, with little to think of but impending death at the hands of an Indonesian executioner.
He was originally sentenced to life in prison for his role in an attempt to smuggle eight kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia in 2005.
He appealed, but rather than being shortened, his sentence was increased to death.
Scott Rush spoke to SBS Television's "Cutting Edge" program about that decision
SCOTT RUSH: I just thought it was bullshit. I mean, the fact, like, that any of us get the death penalty is bullshit. I mean …
JOURNALIST: Does that torment you, the thought of dying?
SCOTT RUSH: Yeah, it does, it weighs on my mind every, pretty much every second of the day. I mean, I can't have a normal conversation like I used to be able to because of this. It's always in my mind.
DONNA FIELD: Five other members of the drug syndicate are also facing execution.
In his first interview since the death penalty was imposed, Scott Rush speaks of regret for his parents. And he explains why he became a drug mule.
SCOTT RUSH: I didn't have a concrete job at the time. I was, I was waiting to go to the air force. I mean, I think about this and sometimes and the answer changes in my own head. But, I …
JOURNALIST: But you'd never been overseas, had you?
SCOTT RUSH: No.
JOURNALIST: You didn't have a passport. So, what, you thought there was just a buck in it and see what happens, or?
SCOTT RUSH: Kind of, yeah. I mean, everyone likes a bit of adventure now and then.
DONNA FIELD: Scott Rush was a drug user, and during the trial he said that he was young and unworldly. He said it was threats against his family that forced him to carry the heroin that was strapped to his body when he was arrested at the Bali Airport.
In the SBS interview, he says the decision to join the Bali Nine never sat easily with him and he wasn't aware of what could go wrong.
SCOTT RUSH: Quite honestly, I didn't really want to come here, because I didn't, I didn't feel comfortable. I didn't know what I was risking. I didn't know there was a death penalty. I didn't know anything about Bali, really.
DONNA FIELD: Scott Rush still hopes to be spared the firing squad, and eventually leave his Bali prison cell.
SCOTT RUSH: I feel that I will. I mean, if I've got any sort of instinct. Obviously, I'm hoping that I will, continuously thinking about it every day.
DONNA FIELD: Rush's last avenue of appeal is a Supreme Court review of his sentence. His family will also ask Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to make a plea to the Indonesian President for clemency.

Read More

Express mail from Puerto Rico Victor Encarnacion arrested and charged with trafficking cocaine over 200 grams

An express mail package from Puerto Rico that contained about 2 pounds of cocaine was seized by deputies and its Polk County recipient was arrested Wednesday, according to Sheriff's Office reports.
Victor Encarnacion, 30, of Kissimmee was arrested and charged with trafficking cocaine over 200 grams, reports said.
The package, addressed to Ariel Mendez at 739 Caribou Drive in Kissimmee, was flagged by postal inspectors in Puerto Rico as being suspicious and forwarded to the USPS Postal Inspectors in Orlando, reports said.
A federal search warrant was obtained after drugs were detected by a K-9 unit. When the package was inspected, detectives found 1 pound and 14 ounces of cocaine hidden inside bags of coffee. Another search warrant was then obtained for the Kissimmee address in Polk County where the package was to be shipped, according to the arrest affidavit.Undercover detectives and a postal inspector delivered the package to that address and a man identifying himself as Mendez signed for the package, reports said. The man then took the package, walked out the back door of the home and to the backyard of a neighbor's home and hid the package in some brush. Detectives arrested the man, who was later identified as Encarnacion, the Polk Sheriff's Office reported.

Read More

Smuggling drugs into Maidstone prison

s

Read More