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In the two weeks since an American
DC9 airliner was busted by Mexican
troops at a small airport in the
Yucatan, carrying 5.5 tons of
cocaine packed neatly into 128
identical black suitcases (somewhat
hilariously marked 'private') the
search for the true owners
Airline
Industry Information
April 20, 2006
HEADLINE:
Police officers detained at Mexican
airport over cocaine discovery
Police officers
at Caudal del Carmen airport, a small
airport in Mexico, have been detained
for possibly being involved in a
cocaine haul. The cocaine was
reportedly found in an empty passenger
aircraft. According to local Mexican
media at least five police officers
had been held for questioning while
other staff are being investigated.
The employees were allegedly trying to
stop the aircraft from being searched.
Other police officers were said to
have disappeared after 5.5 tonnes
of cocaine was found in a DC-9 from
Venezuela. The aircraft had landed at
the airport on 11 April. The drug haul
is estimated to be worth about
USD100m.
17 March 2006
UNODC
Compliments Ecuador on Seizure of 5.5
Tons of Cocaine
VIENNA, 17 March
(UN Information Service) - The
Executive Director, United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
Antonio Maria Costa, congratulated
Ecuador on the seizure of more than
5.5 tons of cocaine in the port of
Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The cocaine, with
a street value of around US$556
million in North America or Europe,
was uncovered in a joint operation by
police and customs, working together
in a new Joint Port Control Unit set
up with the support of UNODC.
"This is a
stunning success by a major UNODC
project," said the UNODC Executive
Director. "Guayaquil has for decades
been a haven for contraband. This
massive seizure is a powerful shot
across the bows of the drug
traffickers."
Ecuadorean
police and customs found 5.562 tons of
cocaine in a container loaded with bed
sheets which arrived on a ship from
the Colombian port of Buenaventura in
December 2005. They became suspicious
after the container had lain in the
port for several months, as the cargo
did not have the necessary
certificates of origin.
The cocaine,
mixed with plaster and glue, had been
packed in the corrugated channels of
cardboard dividers placed between
different layers of sheets.
Athens News
Agency
August 30, 2004
HEADLINE:
MASTERMIND OF MAJOR COCAINE SHIPMENT
ARRESTED IN GERMANY, PROCEDURES SET IN
MOTION FOR EXTRADITION TO GREECE
A Greek
businessman, believed to be the
mastermind of an international drug
smuggling ring reportedly behind the
shipment of 5.5 tons of cocaine
seized off Gibraltar in mid-July was
arrested Monday morning in Germany
According to
sources, Angelopoulos, known in the
drug racket as "the fat man", was
arrested by German police, acting on
an international arrest warrant,
raided the hotel near Stutgart airport
at around 4:00 a.m. local time as
Angelopoulos was sleeping.
The Greek
authorities have been informed of the
arrest, and procedures have been set
in motion for Angelopoulos'
extradition to Greece.
ANSA English
Media Service
June 16, 2004
HEADLINE:
VENEZUELA: POLICE ANNOUNCE RECORD DRUG
HAUL
DATELINE: CARACAS
(ANSA) - CARACAS,
June 16 - Police seized about 5.5
tonnes of cocaine of very high
purity in in three agricultural
establishments in the state of
Guarico, central Venezuela.
According to
local press, three Colombian drug
traffickers were killed during the
police operation and nine were
arrested.
Nationwide News
Pty Limited
Sunday Mail (SA)
July 25, 2004
Sunday
HEADLINE:
$154m haul in drug raids
COLOMBIAN police
have seized 5.5 tonnes of
cocaine with a US street value of $154
million in the biggest haul of the
illegal drug for years.
BBC Monitoring
Latin America - Political
Supplied by BBC
Worldwide Monitoring
October 25, 2003,
Saturday
HEADLINE:
Bolivia: Special Anti-Narcotics Force
reports record drug seizures
La Paz, 22
October (ABI Bolivian government
Information Agency ): The Special
Anti-Narcotics Force (FELCN) seized
21.1 tons of cocaine in 5,177
anti-drugs operations between August
2002 and 11 October 2003.
The final report
of the time in office of former Deputy
Social Defence Minister Ernesto
Justiniano notes that the FELCN also
destroyed 1,854 cocaine factories in
5,177 operations and confiscated
716,000 lbs of coca leaves. The FELCN
recorded its largest number of drug
seizures, 48 per cent more than the
number achieved in 2002.
In the report the
results of Operation Moonlight stand
out. It is described as the most
important operation since the creation
of the FELCN, with the seizure of
5.5 tons of cocaine that was going
to go out to the European market.
Agence France
Presse -- English
May 30, 2002
Thursday
HEADLINE: US,
Colombian coastguards seize 5.5 tonnes
of cocaine
DATELINE: BOGOTA,
May 30
The US and
Colombian Coast Guard have seized
5.5 tonnes of cocaine aboard a
fishing boat that was heading to the
United States, officials said. Nine
crewmembers were arrested Wednesday
aboard the Colombian-flagged vessel
"Punta del Este," some 1,200
kilometers (745 miles) northwest of
the Galapagos islands, after leaving
Colombia's major Pacific port of
Buenaventura.
Associated Press
Worldstream
February 19,
2001; Monday
HEADLINE:
Spanish police seize 5 tons of cocaine
in high-seas raid
DATELINE: MADRID,
Spain
Spanish customs
police seized some 5 metric tons
(5.5 tons) of cocaine, with an
estimated street value of dlrs 285
million, on a fishing ship in one of
Spain's biggest anti-drug operations
in recent months.
The ship Abrente,
flying a British flag of convenience,
was boarded early Monday some 350
miles (560 kilometers) west of Spain's
Canary Island archipelago.
Agence France
Presse -- English
August 21, 2000,
Monday
HEADLINE: More
than five tonnes of cocaine seized in
Venezuela
DATELINE:
CARACAS, Aug 20
Venezuelan
authorities have broken up a major
drug trafficking ring and seized
5.5 tonnes of cocaine as part of
an international anti-drug operation
involving eight nations, the National
Guard announced Sunday.
As many as 173
packages of cocaine were seized on
Muasinoina Island, in the delta of the
Orinoco River, in the east of the
country as part of operation "Orinoco
2000," said National Guard General
Gerardo Briceno.
He described the
raid on the traffickers' base as the
largest cocaine seizure so far in
Venezuela.
The Associated
Press State & Local Wire
May 26, 1999,
Wednesday, PM cycle
HEADLINE:
Years-old drug tunnel beneath border
finally found
DATELINE: NACO,
Ariz.
A transborder
tunnel believed to have been used for
years to smuggle drugs is the third
found in Arizona this decade. It may
not be the last.
"If I were a
betting man, I'd say there are
probably quite a few more," said
Thomas Raffanello, special agent in
charge of the Drug Enforcement
Administration for Arizona.
Authorities had
suspected the existence of this one
since seizing 5.5 tons of cocaine
in a Tucson warehouse in December 1996
InfoLatina S.A.
de C.V.
August 30, 1998
HEADLINE:
Engulfed In Controversy, Debernardi
Resigns Biggest Cocaine Bust This Year
In a major joint
operation, authorities finished
unloading on Wednesday approximately
2.5 metric tons (about 5.5 tons)
of cocaine discovered on a ship off
the Guerrero coast on Monday,
according to a joint press release
from the Federal Attorney General's
Office (PGR) and the secretaries of
Defense and Navy.
In what was the
biggest cocaine seizure this year,
officials in Mexico acted on
information provided by a U.S.-backed
hemispheric reconnaissance system to
track and search a ship moving in
international waters off the west
coast.
The National
Secretariat of Defense detained two
suspects who tried to flee once the
ship, named Lady Douna had been
detained. During the inspection,
officials discovered 84 packets of
cocaine, each weighing a combined
total of 2.559 tons.
Orlando Sentinel
(Florida)
April 4, 1999
Sunday, METRO
HEADLINE: 5.5
TONS OF COCAINE SEIZED IN VENEZUELA
CARACAS,
Venezuela -Venezuelan authorities
seized 5.5 tons of cocaine,
equivalent to 70 percent of last
year's total seizures, narcotics
officials said Saturday.
Agence France
Presse -- English
March 08, 1994
11:24 Eastern Time
HEADLINE:
Ringleaders escape the net after
record drugs seizure
DATELINE: TURIN,
Italy, March 8
The bosses of a
major drugs ring escaped arrest after
a record seizure of 5.5 tonnes
of cocaine aboard a truck here, with
only intermediaries arrested, police
officials admitted Tuesday.
The cocaine,
smuggled in on a boat from Colombia in
a banana cargo, was seized overnight
Saturday. Police announced its seizure
on Monday.
United Press
International
November 17, 1994, Thursday, BC cycle
HEADLINE:
Sting nets 5.5 tons of cocaine
DATELINE: LOS
ANGELES, Nov. 17
Federal, state
and local law enforcement officers
have arrested 14 suspected drug
smugglers and seized 5.5 tons of
cocaine worth $500 million in the
largest undercover cocaine bust in
U.S. history. More than 100 law
enforcement officers raided a posh
Riverside County ranch earlier this
week and several other Southern
California sites in making the bust
that reaped 5.5 tons of cocaine and
nearly a dozen firearms, including
several semiautomatic weapons
Agence France
Presse -- English
March 07, 1994 16:40 Eastern Time
HEADLINE: Huge
cocaine seizure in Italy sets European
record
DATELINE: TURIN,
Italy, March 7
Italian police
confiscated 5.5 tonnes of cocaine
aboard a truck in Europe's largest
drug seizure yet, officials said
Monday.
The cocaine,
smuggled from Colombia and with a
street value of around 300 million
dollars, was found when a truck was
stopped on a road in northern Italy
overnight Saturday, police in Turin
said.
SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER
May 10, 1993, Monday , FINAL
HEADLINE: SHIP
SEIZED WITH 5.5 TONS OF COCAINE
DATELINE: Florida
A ship seized in
the Pacific Ocean after authorities
said it was carrying about 11,000
pounds of cocaine along with its cargo
of fish meal arrived in Miami Beach
yesterday.
The 225-foot Sea
Chariot was spotted April 22 by a
Navy helicopter in international
waters about 300 miles south of
Panama, Coast Guard spokesman Lt.
Cmdr. Jim Howe said.
Journal of
Commerce
November 21, 1989, Tuesday
HEADLINE:
MARITIME BRIEFS
BYLINE: Wire and
Staff Reports
NO ILLICIT
DRUGS FOUND IN PHILA. SHIPMENT
PHILADELPHIA -
U.S. Customs Service and Drug
Enforcement Agency personnel in
Philadelphia searched through roughly
4,300 barrels of sodium hydroxide but
found no illicit drugs, according to
officials from both agencies.
The barrels of
the chemical, commonly known as lye,
were part of a shipment off-loaded at
Philadelphia by Senator Linie. Barrels
from the same shipment were sent to
New York City, and subsequently were
found to contain about 5.5 tons of
cocaine.
"We came up with
a goose egg," said Steven Knox,
district director for Customs in
Philadelphia. Customs and the DEA will
pursue their investigation of imports
brought into the country by Arenal
Inc., a company apparently created by
drug traffickers, according to Customs
and DEA officials.
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