Seattle Police Officer Charged in Large Coast-to-Coast Pot-Smuggling Operation
Posted: May 9, 2017 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, U.S. News | Tags: Associated Press, Cannabis, Clinic, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jeff Sessions, Michigan, pot, Preliminary hearing, Seattle, Smuggling, United States Attorney, United States Department of Justice, United States magistrate judge Leave a comment
Mike Carter reports: Veteran Seattle police Officer Alex Chapackdee is accused of helping his brother-in-law and others smuggle at least 100 kilograms of marijuana to the East Coast. In return, Chapackdee was paid $10,000 a month, charges allege.
Federal prosecutors will ask that a suspended Seattle police officer charged with being part of a large-scale East Coast marijuana smuggling ring be held in jail pending trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida set a detention hearing Friday for Alex Chapackdee, who faces a mandatory-minimum five-year federal prison sentence — and perhaps up to 40 years — for his role in allegedly transporting hundreds of pounds of marijuana from Washington to Baltimore then driving back with boxes of cash. The court also could impose a fine of up to $5 million if he’s found guilty.
Chapackdee, a veteran Seattle police officer, appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Seattle Monday afternoon along with three co-defendants named in a 15-page complaint unsealed Monday. He was arrested last Friday and suspended from duty without pay.
[Read the feds’ complaint against Le, Chapackdee, others (PDF)]
More than two dozens shocked friends and family members crowded Tsuchida’s courtroom during the brief hearing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vince Lombardi said the serious allegations and significant penalty prompted him to seek detention for all four defendants. Read the rest of this entry »
Socialist Utopia: Venezuela’s Food Shortages Trigger Long Lines, Hunger and Looting
Posted: August 27, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Global, Health and Social Issues | Tags: Bernie Sanders, Colombia, Famine, Hunger, Illegal drug trade, Juan Manuel Santos, Leftism, Looting, Marx, Marxism, Nicolás Maduro, OPEC, Smuggling, Socialism, South America, State of Emergency, The Left, Venezuela, Venezuelan people 2 Comments
Violent clashes flare in pockets of the country as citizens wait for hours for basics, such as milk and rice.
“In past years, when oil prices were high, Venezuela’s leftist government flooded markets with subsidized goods ranging from cooking oil to diapers. It gave citizens in border towns like La Sibucara not only access to cheap supplies, but also a source of income as many people trafficked products—including nearly free gasoline—to neighboring Colombia, drawing handsome profits.”
The incident was just one of numerous violent clashes that have flared in pockets around the country in recent weeks as Venezuelans wait for hours in long supermarket lines for basics like milk and rice. Shortages have made hunger a palpable concern for many Wayuu Indians who live here at the northern tip of Venezuela’s 1,300-mile border with Colombia.
“We are going very hungry here and the children are suffering a lot.”
—María Palma, 55, of La Sibucara
The soldiers had been deployed to stem rampant food smuggling and price speculation, which President Nicolás Maduro blames for triple-digit inflation and scarcity. But after they seize contraband goods, the troops themselves often become targets of increasingly desperate people.
“Food-supply problems in Venezuela underscore the increasingly precarious situation for Mr. Maduro’s socialist government, which according to the latest poll by Datanálisis is preferred by less than 20% of voters ahead of Dec. 6 parliamentary elections.”
“What’s certain is that we are going very hungry here and the children are suffering a lot,” said María Palma, a 55-year-old grandmother who on a recent blistering hot day had been standing in line at the grocery store since 3 a.m. before walking away empty-handed at midday.
“If people aren’t outside protesting, they’re outside standing in line for goods.”
—Marco Ponce, head of the Venezuela Observatory of Social Conflict
In a national survey, the pollster Consultores 21 found 30% of Venezuelans eating two or fewer meals a day during the second quarter of this year, up from 20% in the first quarter. Around 70% of people in the study also said they had stopped buying some basic food item because it had become unavailable or too expensive.
An authentic socialist candidate soars in popularity in the U.S., the citizens of Venezuela are feeling the Bern
“They’re committing treason against our country, taking food and crossing the border.”
—National Guard Gen. Manuel Graterol
Food-supply problems in Venezuela underscore the increasingly precarious situation for Mr. Maduro’s socialist government, which according to the latest poll by Datanálisis is preferred by less than 20% of voters ahead of Dec. 6 parliamentary elections. The critical situation threatens to plunge South America’s largest oil exporter into a wave of civil unrest reminiscent of last year’s nationwide demonstrations seeking Mr. Maduro’s ouster.
[Read the full story here, at WSJ]
“It’s a national crisis,” said Marco Ponce, head of the Venezuela Observatory of Social Conflict, noting that unlike the political protests of last year, residents are now taking to the streets demanding social rights. Read the rest of this entry »
[PHOTO] of the Day: X-Ray Machine Reveals 8-Year-Old Boy Hidden in Woman’s Suitcase
Posted: May 8, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Health and Social Issues | Tags: Canary Islands, Ceuta, Civil Guard (Spain), Ivory Coast, Law enforcement in Spain, Melilla, Morocco, Smuggling, SPAIN, X-Ray Leave a comment
CEUTA, Spain — A young woman faces charges after Spanish airport officials say they found an 8-year-old child concealed inside her luggage when she tried to cross the border Thursday morning.
“The operator noticed something strange, which seemed to be a person inside the case.”
Fátima E.Y, 19, was traveling from Morocco to Ceuta, a Spanish territory, when border patrol agents noticed her acting anxiously. “The operator noticed something strange, which seemed to be a person inside the case,” a Civil Guard spokesman told Spanish newspaper El Pais.
“…agents spotted the boy’s father trying to cross the border into Ceuta and arrested him as well. Authorities believe he likely paid the woman, who isn’t related to the boy, to smuggle him into Spain.”
After passing the pink suitcase through an x-ray machine, agents saw what appeared to be a human frame. Upon opening the case they found an 8-year-old boy identified as Abou, who told authorities he was from the Ivory Coast. Read the rest of this entry »
Head of God Hermes Seized in Anatolia
Posted: January 16, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Crime & Corruption, History | Tags: Cappadocia, Central Anatolia Region, China, Kayseri, Nevşehir, Nevşehir Province, Smuggling, Turkey, Turkish lira, Underground city Leave a comment
A large number of historical artifacts, including the head of a 2,000-year-old Hermes statue, have been seized during an operation by the Sivas Police Department Directorate of Anti-smuggling and Organized Crime Branch.
Following three months of preparation, the police department simultaneously raided various addresses in villages and districts of the Central Anatolian province of Sivas, as well as in Nevşehir, Adıyaman and Kayseri on Jan. 13, and discovered historical artifacts. Read the rest of this entry »
[PHOTO] Remember When Apple Used to Crush Leaks with Ruthless Efficiency?
Posted: August 15, 2014 Filed under: Asia, Breaking News, China, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Apple, China, Foxconn, Inhaler, iPad, iPhone, Smuggling, TMZ 1 Comment
Me Neither!
TMZ.com reports:
…We’re told the phone was smuggled out of a Foxconn factory in China … where the majority of iPhone models are manufactured. The owner of the phone says the smuggler is his friend — an ex-employee — who worked in Foxconn’s hardware department designing the outer casing for the new model…(read more)
Chinese Smugglers Dig Tunnel to Hong Kong
Posted: December 25, 2013 Filed under: Asia, China | Tags: BBC News, Changling County, Hong Kong, Reed bed, Shenzhen, Smuggling, Tuesday, Tunnel 3 Comments
Officials said the tunnel cost almost $500,000 to build
Chinese authorities have uncovered a tunnel from the mainland to Hong Kong, apparently built by smugglers.
The tunnel, with concrete walls and interior lighting, started under a garage near the city of Shenzhen and stretched for 40m (130ft) under a river and into reed-beds in Hong Kong.
The authorities believe gangs intended to use it to import mobile phones and other electrical goods into Hong Kong.
The semi-autonomous zone has different tariffs to the mainland.
The smugglers could make huge profits by avoiding border fees and taxes.
[VIDEO] ATF: How to Fight Cigarette Smuggling by…Smuggling Cigarettes
Posted: October 18, 2013 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Humor, Law & Justice | Tags: Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, Cigarette, Fast & Furious, New York, Smuggling, Sting operation, tobacco, Virginia 1 CommentReason TV’s latest “Don’t Cops Have Better Things To Do”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, (and Explosives!) has been fighting cigarette smuggling by smuggling cigarettes. Agents buy smokes in low-tax states like Virginia and sell them in high-tax states like New York. The sting operations are supposed to help build cases against smugglers, but ATF is cashing in too.
By law ATF may keep booty to cover “operational expenses.” As if the line between law breakers and law enforcers wasn’t blurry enough already, a recent inspector general report highlights a “serious lack of oversight” at the agency. Seems that confidential informants have been allowed pocket, not expenses, but profits amounting to millions of dollars. ATF agents have “misused” $162 million in sting operation profits and “lost track” of $420 million cigarettes. (Yes, this is the same ATF that lost more than a thousand weapons during the infamous Fast and Furious fiasco.) And if you’re having trouble distinguishing the “good” guys from the “bad” guys, just remember: The “good” guys are the ones who get taxpayer-funded salaries and pensions.
But hey, don’t federal agents have better things to do! Well, ATF’s own most-wanted list features men suspected of crimes like murder, so yeah, agents could focus more time busting violent criminals. Then again, cigarette smuggling is much more lucrative.
The timing of this couldn’t be worse for the ATF, either.
Hong Kong Customs Nets Record Cocaine Haul, Seizing 60 Kilograms of the Drug
Posted: August 15, 2013 Filed under: China | Tags: Asia, Beijing, Brazil, China, Cocaine, Hong Kong, Hongkong, Illegal drug trade, Li & Fung, Mainland China, São Paulo, Smuggling, South America 1 CommentHong Kong customs seized a record haul of cocaine at its international airport this week, foiling two passengers who tried to smuggle 58 million Hong Kong dollars (US$7.5 million) worth of the drug in their luggage.
One 35-year-old man arrived Tuesday from São Paulo, Brazil, after transiting in Beijing with 48 kilograms (105 pounds) of cocaine wrapped in quilts inside his suitcases, the largest amount ever seized from an individual passenger in the city’s history. A 22-year-old female traveler on the same flight was also discovered to be carrying 12 kilograms of cocaine inside false compartments of four backpacks stowed in her suitcase. They two were arrested and charged with drug trafficking.
Not including Tuesday’s cases, customs officers have seized more than HK$50 million worth of cocaine at the airport this year, found sewn into jacket linings or stuffed into shopping bags and laptop cases. On Monday, airport customs officers found about HK$1.92 million worth of the drug inside layers of silicone rubber, which were in turn tucked inside handbags, two cushions and a wall map shipped by air mail from Uruguay.
pundit from another planet 