The Mega Merged Drug Busts Thread

Meth Lab Found in Church

Holy Drug Lab?

Aug 04/2004

LEONARD, N.D. - A trustee stopping to deliver towels at a rural North Dakota church last week wondered why church doors were locked. Later that evening, congregants expecting a service instead found sheriff's deputies officials with guns drawn.

"Who would have thought somebody would turn an active church into an active amphetamine lab?" asked Rick Majerus, a Cass County, N.D., sheriff's lieutenant.

"There have been active methamphetamine labs in the back seats of cars, bathtubs and abandoned barns, but nobody I've talked to has ever heard of a meth lab in a church," Majerus said.

But, authorities said, that is what happened at the Bethel Moravian Church near Leonard, about 40 miles southwest of Fargo.

Ted Brewer, 22, of Leonard, has been charged with attempting to manufacture a controlled substance, burglary and two counts of possessing drug paraphernalia - all felonies.

- Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

Link

Three held over $45m drug bust in Albany

Three held over $45m drug bust in Albany

MINH LAM
© 2004 West Australian Newspapers Limited
8-9-04

An elaborate sting operation involving the Australian Federal Police, Customs and Brazilian police has resulted in the second-biggest seizure of cocaine in WA.

Authorities yesterday displayed 100kg of cocaine, worth $45 million, that had been buried in sand dunes near Albany's Princess Royal Harbour during the early hours of Saturday morning.

Federal police watched the unloading of the cocaine from a grain carrier moored in the harbour, and its burial, before swooping on people trying to pick it up yesterday.

A 50-year-old Bolivian man and 23-year-old Sydney man have been arrested and charged with possessing and aiding a prohibited importation, while a 29-year-old Sydney man has been charged with attempting to possess a prohibited importation.

The three, whose names have not been released, are due to appear in Albany Magistrate's Court today.

It was not known yesterday whether the Brazilian-registered ship Marcos Dias would be able to leave Albany this morning as scheduled as investigations and searches continue to determine the extent of involvement by its crew.

The haul is second only in size to 1000kg of cocaine seized near Denham in 2001.

Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison said the amount of cocaine seized amounted to about 227,000 street hits.

"It sends a very clear message that if you try to import drugs into Australia you will be caught and you will face maximum penalties," he said.

AFP agent Bill Graham said Brazilian national police had made them aware of a planned importation of cocaine in late June and they began to work closely with them and Customs to track the Marcos Dias and the Bolivian national.

The Bolivian man arrived in Sydney on July 22 and was followed to Perth and then Albany. Meanwhile, Customs planes, ships and officers tracked the Marcos Dias to Albany on July 27.

Link

Winnipeg teen busted smoking pot near cop shop

Winnipeg teen busted smoking pot near cop shop

Sun. Aug. 8 2004

CTV.ca News Staff

A teenager in Winnipeg committed a bit of a faux pas in front of a police station on Friday afternoon. He lit up a joint right outside the building's doors.

"I'd say this would be the dumb criminal of the week," Const. Shelly Glover told the Winnipeg Sun.

The 16-year-old teen was arrested after a passerby told officers the young man was smoking pot in the courtyard. It stands in front of a big historical mural of the Winnipeg Police Service.

"We were quite surprised to (find) that someone was doing something
like that," said Const. Andrew Zurawsky.

After searching the teen, officers found two marijuana cigarette butts and a small amount of what they think might be crystal meth.

Glover said the boy seemed surprised over the arrest. "He did not know that this was a police station," she said.

The careless teen was charged with drug possession and was later released. It wasn't the first time, however, that someone was arrested outside of a police station for smoking marijuana.

Just last year, pot activist Marc Emery was taken into custody after inhaling smoke from a water pipe. That also happened in Winnipeg during what Emery call his Great Canadian Smokeout tour.

Link

McCready Charged With Drug Fraud

Singer McCready Charged With Drug Fraud

By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Aug 07/04

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Country singer Mindy McCready has been charged with prescription drug fraud after authorities said she used a fake prescription to obtain the pain medicine OxyContin.

McCready, 28, was arrested Thursday at her home in Nashville by agents with the 21st Judicial Drug Task Force, according to the Williamson County Sheriff's Department.

Authorities say McCready presented a fraudulent prescription for OxyContin at a pharmacy on Feb. 12, paid for the drugs and then left. Investigators later learned that McCready was not a patient at the doctor's office from which the prescription purportedly originated.


McCready was booked into the county jail and held on $10,000 bond. She posted bail and was released the same day.

The singer had a No. 1 hit in 1996 with "Guys Do It All the Time." Her other hits include "Ten Thousand Angels" and "A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)."

Link

And another article same bust...

Police seize 100kg of cocaine
August 8, 2004

MORE than 100kg of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $45 million, has been seized in a raid in the southern port city of Albany in Western Australia.

Three men, who Australian Federal Police (AFP) believe were minor players in an international drug trafficking syndicate, have been arrested after police yesterday intercepted the drugs in a covert operation that began almost two months ago.

AFP and Australian Customs Service officers yesterday recovered the drugs from a beach in Albany Harbour after they were allegedly buried in bags in the sand by a Bolivian man who flew to Australia in July to take possession of the drugs.

Authorities said today the cocaine was originally imported from South America via the Brazilian-registered bulk grain carrier Marcos Dias which arrived in Albany on July 27.

The ship has been monitored constantly since it arrived in the harbour.

Police will allege that early yesterday morning the man made contact with the grain vessel and took four duffle bags containing the tightly-wrapped powdered-form cocaine from the ship before bringing them back to shore and burying them.

Federal police agent Bill Graham said police moved swiftly to substitute the drugs, estimated to equate to 227,000 street hits, before laying in wait until the man returned to collect them.

He later returned with two other men, who authorities believe were recruited from Sydney as part of the drug importation operation, to collect the drugs.

Agent Graham said the men were arrested but so far had refused to cooperate with police.

He said officers had spent today searching the Marcos Dias but no other drugs or arms had been found on the vessel.

Agent Graham said it was too early to tell if there would be more arrests.

Customs regional director Paul O'Connor said authorities first learned of the plan to import the cocaine through intelligence information from a liaison officer based in Brazil.

"As a result of intelligence from AFP, the operation involved extensive surveillance of the vessel in Australian waters using a combination of electronic surveillance aircraft, a customs patrol boat, thermal imaging equipment and closed circuit television in the port," he said.

"Using this leading edge technology, we were able to successfully monitor the vessel and activities around it from the moment it arrived in Albany Harbour on July 27."

The 50-year-old Bolivian and a 23-year-old Australian man have both been charged with attempting to possess a prohibited importation and aiding and abetting prohibited importation, while a 29-year-old Australian has been charged with attempting to possess a prohibited importation.

The trio will face the Albany Magistrates Court tomorrow morning.

Yesterday's drug haul is the second largest in the WA's history, only surpassed by a seizure in 2001 where 1000kg was confiscated as part of Operation Feria.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10382336%5E1702,00.html

Driver Who Complained About Cop Arrested

Driver Who Complained About Cop Arrested

Aug 9, 2004

(1010 WINS) (CLINTON, N.J.)

A man who complained about a police officer after being ordered to push his disabled car off the road was arrested when a police supervisor responding to his gripe spotted drugs in the vehicle, authorities said.

Kevin Baluta, 24, of Franklin Park, was pushing his car on Route 31 Saturday night after it ran out of gas, police said.

After being told to get his vehicle to the side of the road, Baluta asked for the officer's name and badge number. That prompted the supervisor to respond to the complaint and ask for Baluta's identification.

Baluta got gas for his car and drove away but forgot to get his identification back. The police supervisor pulled Baluta over a short distance away to return the ID card and spotted a prescription bottle in the car that contained 11 bags of heroin and 50 Xanax pills, police said.

Baluta was charged with drug possession and two motor vehicle violations.

LInk

OMG, dude can you be more of a dumbass...11 bags of H and your bitching to a cop. Must have been the xanax talking

yeah kind of stupid. The moment i got in my car again i would have hid that shit in a good spot

yeah youre right hydrotiger xanax are the only thing that could have got me noided enough to bitch at a cop and im sure that having to push his car into the gas station didnt help out his mood that much either and then he leaves his i.d. with the cops well there is another downfall of the great xanax, forgetfullness. sounds like this guys xanax got him in all types of shit

unless they were lying about in the open how the fuck would the cop know they were there??
prescription bottle = drugs??

haha yeah totally must have been the xanax talking mixed with some dumbfuck syndrom...sucks the police officer didnt give him back his id the first time??? i guess it was just meant to be...

If he just sees a prescription bottle laying around, I dont see anything wroung with a cop making sure its yours. Plus those things are a little see thru, so he must of noticed stuff in there. Mental note: Dont eat Xanax with drugs on you.

DB

I think the important thing to remember is not to drive on Xanax. Probably the reason he forgot to get gas.

Feds bust jet cocaine ring into Teterboro

Feds bust jet cocaine ring into Teterboro


August 13, 2004,
The Associated Press

TETERBORO, N.J. -- Federal agents say they have broken up a Mexican drug ring that was smuggling cocaine on private jets into Teterboro Airport.

Six men from Mexico and the Dominican Republic were arrested this week, and three Learjets were seized, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said.

The suspects used planes to fly about 800 kilograms of cocaine from airports in Texas and Arizona to Teterboro. From there, it was driven to a Manhattan hotel and sold to the organization's leader and others, according to court documents.

The jets then flew to Texas, California and Arizona with the cash proceeds from the sales.

"It's likely this cocaine remained and was sold in the New York-New Jersey area," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marion Percell told the Record of Bergen County.

On each trip into Teterboro, the smugglers brought in between 50 and 90 kilograms of cocaine. On each trip out, they left with between $300,000 and $3 million in cash, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Newark.

The jets seized by federal agents are worth $5 million. Also seized in raids earlier this week were 64 kilograms of cocaine, an AK-47 assault rifle, two handguns and $700,000 in cash.

A federal magistrate ordered the suspects held without bail during a hearing Thursday in Newark. Each could get life in prison if convicted.

"Not only did we arrest the individuals responsible for the importation and distribution of cocaine, but their multi-million-dollar transportation infrastructure was also removed," said Michael Pasterchick, special agent in charge of the Newark DEA office.

Link

Police worker guilty in drug theft

Police worker guilty in drug theft
Detroit evidence room employee confesses to stealing cocaine for $1.3M to buy properties


By David Shepardson
The Detroit News
Friday, August 13, 2004

DETROIT — A former evidence room employee for the Detroit Police Department confessed Thursday to stealing 100 kilograms of cocaine, selling it and using the proceeds to buy several properties in Detroit.

John Earl Cole Sr. pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and money laundering.

Under a plea agreement, he faces no more than 30 years in prison and will be liable to repay $1.3 million — the amount he allegedly received for the drugs.

Cole, 52, said he took at least 220 pounds of cocaine between 1994 and 2000 — using a duffel bag. He said he kept the cocaine, with a street value of more than $2 million, in his locker.

He then replaced some of the stolen cocaine with flour.

Cole said he sold the cocaine on the streets of Metro Detroit and used the proceeds to buy at least 17 Detroit properties, including a barbershop and apartment buildings.

Working with a Detroit police officer, Donald Hynes, Cole alleged, he would steal cocaine three or four times a year.

Hynes, who is under indictment awaiting trial, helped him “because he had the key to the evidence room and it would look suspicious if I went in alone,” Cole told the court.

The precise amount stolen will never be known because of poor record keeping by Detroit Police.

The last theft occurred in 2000, when Cole removed 55 pounds of cocaine.

If the government believes Cole has provided substantial assistance, they will recommend a sentence of 15 years. Cole has already served nearly two years in custody awaiting trial.

The FBI began looking into Cole in March 2001, when Detroit police discovered that a sealed package of Gold Medal flour was in a box that had contained the drug.

To date, six others have pleaded guilty in the investigation.

They were Cole’s brother, David L. Cole Jr., 62, of Detroit; Anthony Lasenby, 35, of Detroit; Shirley Terry, a bank teller at Comerica Bank; Cora L. Cole-Robinson, Cole’s mother; Ide Mae Hall, Cole’s former mother-in-law; and Chontrice Cole, Cole’s daughter.

Link

Re: Police worker guilty in drug theft

To date, six others have pleaded guilty in the investigation.

They were Cole’s brother, David L. Cole Jr., 62, of Detroit; Anthony Lasenby, 35, of Detroit; Shirley Terry, a bank teller at Comerica Bank; Cora L. Cole-Robinson, Cole’s mother; Ide Mae Hall, Cole’s former mother-in-law; and Chontrice Cole, Cole’s daughter.

Click to expand...

It's surprising that Cole's mother and even mother-in-law was in on it. Just shows how stupid even the pigs get.

He sure did steal alot of cocaine FROM THE POLICE LOCKUP. Jeesus makes me wonder howmuch other smalltime stuff goes missing thats never noticed.

Bulgaria seizes heroin in onion truck
August 15, 2004

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian customs have seized 123 kg (270 lb) of heroin hidden in a Turkish-registered truck loaded with onions bound for Romania.

Customs officers detained the driver, a 28-year-old Turkish citizen, as he tried to cross the Turkey-Bulgaria border at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint, state news agency BTA said.

The heroin had a street value of about $7 million (4.85 million pounds), the agency added on Sunday.

Bulgaria, which borders Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Romania, lies on the Balkan route used by smugglers moving drugs from Asia to Western Europe.

The impoverished Balkan state, which hopes to join the European Union in 2007, usually seizes more than a tonne of heroin annually.

Link

2 men face felony drug charges

2 men face felony drug charges

By STEVE LIEBERMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
August 14, 2004


State troopers arrested two Rochester men and seized 56 pounds of marijuana yesterday after a traffic stop on the New York State Thruway in Clarkstown.

Jemahl D. McClean, 26, and Dwight Killings Jr., 23, were both charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana, a felony.

Troopers Seamus Lyons and David Katz stopped a 1996 red four-door Honda Accord near Thruway exit 13 at 3:30 a.m. yesterday, State Police Investigator Michael DeWitt said. Exit 13 is the Thruway interchange with the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

An investigation found numerous bricks of marijuana totaling 56.2 pounds inside the car, DeWitt said.

DeWitt said troopers involved with investigating narcotics estimated the marijuana's street value at $200,000 if sold in small amounts.

He said the narcotics officers estimate marijuana is sold for $800 to $1,200 a pound in New York City, rising in cost in the suburbs.

"They were coming from Brooklyn and heading to Rochester," DeWitt said of the two suspects. "They used yellow mustard as a masking agent on the individual bricks of marijuana."

The odor of mustard supposedly deters drug sniffing dogs.

"You can smell the mustard as well on the bricks," DeWitt said.

The Thruway and Palisades Interstate Parkway are considered major routes for transport of drugs, including cocaine, heroin and marijuana, bought in New York City for sale in upstate communities.

The state police have made numerous arrests and drug seizures along the Thruway corridor in Rockland, just across the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Clarkstown Justice Craig Johns yesterday arraigned McClean and Killings on the felony count and set their bail at $50,000 each.

A Rockland grand jury will hear the felony charges against McClean and Killings, both of who gave state police a home address of 346 Woodbine Ave. in Rochester, DeWitt said.

If McClean and Killings are indicted on a felony charge, their cases would transfer to County Court in New City, where they would be arraigned and enter pleas to any charges

Link

^^^^^^^ Happend In my home town.

That is pretty nuts that happend rite in my town. 56 pounds is alot of pot! I wonder what kind of weed it was shwag or some dank ? I think it was most likely shwag.