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Bluelighter
hoptis said:
My dad used to tell me about how him and my mom would stash meth and dope in my diper.
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DPMC Moderators: tryptakid
The Mega Merged Drug Busts Thread
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My dad used to tell me about how him and my mom would stash meth and dope in my diper.
lil angel15
Bluelight Crew
Customs Media Release said:
Police raid covert drug lab
By ROB MALINAUSKAS
04 Jul 2006
POLICE drug finds have doubled in the past 12 months.
There were 48 drug busts in the past financial year, compared with 25 in 2004-05.
This was revealed yesterday after yet another raid, on a clandestine drug lab in a Modbury house.
A Modbury man, 25, and a Redwood Park man, 35, were arrested by police at the Wright Rd property yesterday morning.
They appeared in the Holden Hill Magistrates Court charged with taking part in the manufacture of a drug of dependence.
Police made another large find at Sturt on Friday, after an operation in which a Marion Rd supermarket car park was kept under observation for 24 hours.
They arrested a Netley man, 51, and later searched his house, finding 12.7kg of cannabis worth about $120,000, 62 ecstasy tablets and about $40,000 cash in a hole in the floor.
The man was charged with selling a drug of dependence, possession of ecstasy for sale, possession of cannabis for sale, cultivation of cannabis and unlawful possession.
Detective Acting Chief Inspector Kym Hand said the haul was a significant find and thanked the general public for their help.
"We did receive a lot of information from members of the public over a period of time," he said.
"Although information you do give us isn't necessarily acted on immediately, investigations are conducted into it and the result in this matter is evidence of that."
In an unrelated incident during the supermarket operation, police arrested a Glenelg man, 31, for firearms offences after he was allegedly found in possession of the three stolen handguns.
From The Advertiser
By ROB MALINAUSKAS
04 Jul 2006
POLICE drug finds have doubled in the past 12 months.
There were 48 drug busts in the past financial year, compared with 25 in 2004-05.
This was revealed yesterday after yet another raid, on a clandestine drug lab in a Modbury house.
A Modbury man, 25, and a Redwood Park man, 35, were arrested by police at the Wright Rd property yesterday morning.
They appeared in the Holden Hill Magistrates Court charged with taking part in the manufacture of a drug of dependence.
Police made another large find at Sturt on Friday, after an operation in which a Marion Rd supermarket car park was kept under observation for 24 hours.
They arrested a Netley man, 51, and later searched his house, finding 12.7kg of cannabis worth about $120,000, 62 ecstasy tablets and about $40,000 cash in a hole in the floor.
The man was charged with selling a drug of dependence, possession of ecstasy for sale, possession of cannabis for sale, cultivation of cannabis and unlawful possession.
Detective Acting Chief Inspector Kym Hand said the haul was a significant find and thanked the general public for their help.
"We did receive a lot of information from members of the public over a period of time," he said.
"Although information you do give us isn't necessarily acted on immediately, investigations are conducted into it and the result in this matter is evidence of that."
In an unrelated incident during the supermarket operation, police arrested a Glenelg man, 31, for firearms offences after he was allegedly found in possession of the three stolen handguns.
From The Advertiser
Bauer095
Bluelight Crew
Meth bust in Minnesota (Long)
METH Inc.: The Route To Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
July 9, 2006
Meet Alberto Zatarain. He was the local face of a highly organized Mexican drug cartel selling high-grade methamphetamine across Minnesota. Now he's behind bars. But his case shows how cartel trafficking is intensifying here -- and why it's tough to stop.
In the eyes of the federal agents who secretly watched him, Alberto Zatarain was a drug dealer who made all the right moves.
He had at least three aliases. He switched cell phones every month and drove ugly old cars to avoid notice. After dark, he holed up and watched TV inside a rented matchbox house in Richfield that rattled from low-flying jets. No clubs, no parties, no women.
And every few months, when another runner came up from Mexico, Zatarain handed off suitcases of cash -- profits from a booming business that stretched from metro suburbs to farm towns in the Red River Valley to Fargo.
He was selling methamphetamine, and demand never let up.
Operating a network of stash houses from Richfield to Brooklyn Park, and often delivering meth hidden inside jars of instant coffee to customers, Zatarain and his band of couriers at times in recent years reeled in $250,000 a month.
"He controlled Minnesota and North Dakota," a federal drug-enforcement agent said.
Zatarain, 23, wasn't an independent operator. He was a point man for a shadowy, cunning cartel in Mexico that federal authorities say now dominates the illicit meth trade besieging Minnesota and the Midwest.
The cartel, rooted in Mexico's Sinaloa region, is producing a highly addictive form of the drug in large clandestine labs south of the border, then shipping stockpiles of it here to dealers such as Zatarain through a cross-country smuggling system.
But his success made him careless. Today, Zatarain is in the Sherburne County jail, convicted on federal drug-conspiracy charges, sentenced to 15 years, and awaiting transfer to federal prison. He is one of only a few large-scale meth dealers in Minnesota with ties to the Sinaloa cartel to get caught in recent years.
Court documents obtained by the Star Tribune, along with interviews with federal agents and attorneys involved in Zatarain's case, illustrate in detail how he operated before his organization unraveled. Zatarain also pleaded guilty last month to a second set of drug charges, from deals he allegedly tried to make in the past year while behind bars.
The cartel, meanwhile, is still flourishing, undeterred by his arrest and apparently capitalizing on a new state law that's wiping out the small-time meth producers once prevalent in Minnesota. The law restricts the sale of cold medicines that contain a chemical commonly used to process the drug.
Federal authorities say Mexican cartels now control at least 80 percent of the meth sold in Minnesota and are filling the supply void being created by the demise of mom-and-pop dealers. The cartels are ever more responsible for a drug scourge costing the state several hundred million dollars a year.
Federal agents say that Zatarain's case, in which nearly a dozen others with ties to the cartel also were prosecuted, has shed new light on how the Sinaloa cartel works. But not enough to shut it down.
Midway through this year, a Drug Enforcement Administration task force fighting the meth trade in Minnesota is on a pace to confiscate more cartel shipments here than ever. Last year, the task force seized nearly 50 kilos (1 kilo is 2.2 pounds) of the drug. Already this year, nearly 40 kilos have been seized.
Tom Kelly, the head of the DEA's office in Minneapolis, said the cartel's reach is enormous. "You can't stop it at the border of Minnesota," he said. "It's a constant uphill battle."
El Grande kept calling. His real name was Emilio Flores, and he was a cartel connection in Denver, a regional hub for heroin and meth on its way to Minnesota from Mexico. He wanted Zatarain, nicknamed Beto, to stay in the Twin Cities for the winter.
Normally, to keep a low profile, the cartel rotated its distributors in and out of the metro area every few months. But business was too good for Zatarain to return home to Tepic, a city in western Mexico where the cartel has roots.
El Grande and Zatarain, federal agents listening in on wiretaps soon would learn, spent a lot of time on the phone, often talking in code about selling meth -- which is also known on the street as crystal, glass or ice.
Since 2002, Zatarain had worked throughout the Twin Cities for the cartel. Initially, he sold heroin. But it was impossible to ignore the shift in consumer demand for meth -- especially in the suburbs, where authorities say it now ranks alongside cocaine and marijuana as a drug of choice.
For every sale of heroin, DEA agents estimated, Zatarain could make 10 sales of meth. The difference could mean thousands of dollars. By mid-2004, meth, selling sometimes at $12,000 a pound, had become the focus of Zatarain's operation for the cartel.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Dunne, the head of the Minnesota office's narcotics section, said that the meth pouring into the state from Mexico has become the focus of law enforcement officials, too.
"It is the number one drug threat facing federal drug prosecutors and agents in the Midwest," Dunne said.
The cartel to which Zatarain reported, law enforcement officials say, studied the exploding demand for meth in Minnesota and the Midwest and created a sophisticated business plan to capitalize on it. In many ways, authorities say, the cartel's tactics resemble how a corporation enters an international market.
"The cartel is run like a regular business and set up like a Fortune 500 company," Kelly said. "It has people who work on the transportation side, the finance side, the communications side, and they all work in concert to move a product to where the demand is very high."
Far from the reach of the DEA, the cartel first built labs in Mexico capable of large-scale production. To get great quantities of the drug made quickly, federal investigators say, the cartel also illegally began importing tons of ephedrine, a key ingredient in meth, from India and China. One lab in Mexico soon could produce as much as 50 pounds of meth a week.
By contrast, homemade meth labs in Minnesota -- whose numbers have plummeted since the state restricted the sale of cold medicines last year -- produce only a small fraction of that amount in a week.
To get meth to the Midwest, the cartel began using underground distribution networks that had been set up to smuggle Colombian cocaine, Mexican heroin and marijuana across the border, federal investigators say. Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix became major distribution hubs for cartel-made meth.
Shipments of the drug usually reach Minnesota from the Southwest via interstate highways, in cars or trucks with secret storage compartments that cartel couriers constantly change to try to stay one step ahead of state troopers who are getting intensive new training on their smuggling tactics.
Kelly, who spent time working for the DEA in the Southwest, said it has been nearly impossible to stop smuggling along the border there.
"They send five cars through at one time, and if one gets caught it doesn't matter because the rest got through, and they're on the way north," he said.
In May, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced a partnership with Mexico to fight meth trafficking. The DEA and Mexico plan to form special investigative teams along the border and compile a most-wanted list of meth traffickers.
Dunne said federal prosecutions of meth cases in Minnesota are soaring. In the past five years, those cases have more than doubled -- from 43 to 104.
But, he said, "We are only catching the tip of the iceberg of the methamphetamine that is coming into Minnesota from Mexico."
Catching Zatarain took three years.
In 2002, the DEA's task force in Minneapolis heard of a heroin dealer in Minneapolis whose name had been mentioned on a federal wiretap in Denver. The dealer was called "Beto," and he was being supplied in part from Denver by Flores, the guy nicknamed El Grande, who was also later convicted on drug charges.
But the DEA didn't figure out who "Beto" was until the spring of 2004. Through an informant, federal agents learned that Zatarain had gone home to Mexico, but was expected to return soon to the Twin Cities.
"We found that Beto was taking his turn in the rotation," a former task force member on the investigation said. "They came up in teams and stayed for a few months. Everybody was expected to do their time. If you wanted the good life back in Mexico, you had to come north and take your turn."
Federal investigators say Zatarain was making so much money that even as he was sending his receipts to the cartel he was also wiring cash home to his family -- never under his name -- and was planning to buy a ranch in Mexico.
In the fall of 2004, after reviewing the DEA's emerging investigation into drug cartels, U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum authorized the agency's request to use wiretaps in the hope of penetrating Zatarain's organization. The DEA task force soon realized it was not just pursuing a heroin case. It was on to what would become one of its most far-reaching meth probes.
By eavesdropping on Zatarain's calls, federal agents began learning his codes. When he talked about women, he was really talking about drugs. When he spoke of his "black girl," that meant he was moving black-tar heroin. Talk of "white girls" meant meth. References to the hassle of a broken window was another way of talking about "glass," slang for meth.
Heeding tips from traffickers who had come to the Twin Cities before him, Zatarain changed his cell phone every month and switched used cars about as often. He seldom moved drugs at night, reasoning that there were more police on the streets.
Once, when Zatarain's runners sensed they were being tailed -- and they were -- they simply drove off the freeway, got a hotel room along the Bloomington strip, and holed up for a few days.
On wiretapped phone lines, federal investigators say, Zatarain bragged about the vehicles he used for trafficking. They were outfitted with secret compartments that he said could get anything across the border unnoticed.
But he worried, too. Fearing detection from drug-detecting dogs that police often use on roadside stops of suspicious vehicles, Zatarain and his collaborators went so far as to put anti-freeze inside the plastic bolt that holds spare tires in the trunks of cars -- because they knew the odor throws off a dog's scent.
After spending thousands of hours listening to wiretapped conversations and conducting surveillance all the way from Lake Street in Minneapolis to the Red River Valley, the DEA was eager to learn whether Zatarain could, on short notice, deliver a large quantity of meth.
In January 2005, a Hennepin County Sheriff's deputy, working undercover, rang Zatarain's cell phone and placed an order. It was a call the DEA hoped would lead them to Mexico -- and his drug bosses.
According to court documents, Zatarain took the undercover officer's call and promised to deliver in two hours.
Then Zatarain called one of his meth couriers in Brooklyn Park. DEA surveillance teams tailed the courier to Zatarain's new apartment at 630 Quincy Avenue in northeast Minneapolis. There, other agents watched the apartment.
Close to noon, Zatarain left and drove to sell a half-pound of meth, as promised, to the undercover officer. He delivered it inside a jar of instant coffee, but he was not immediately arrested.
DEA agents soon learned Zatarain could deal almost 20 pounds of meth a month. But they heard nothing about his bosses.
By that time, as his business was peaking, Zatarain had begun breaking most of his own rules -- and his operation began to fall apart. He started working deals at night. Instead of buying a new cell every month, he would wait two.
"It became self-defeating," one investigator on the case said. "While he bought a new cell to avoid detection, he gave his old phones to his associates rather than rotating everybody's phones."
Agents simply listened in on the old phones to get Zatarain's new number.
Once, thinking he was on a secure line, he told someone not to call him Beto. Instead, he said, call him "Johnny." Agents wrote down his new street name.
T hree days after buying a half-pound of crystal meth from Zatarain, federal agents broke down his apartment door. It was dawn, and he and two other men were there sleeping. They acted bewildered, as if the agents had targeted the wrong men.
"They had their game faces on," one of the agents on the task force said. "They weren't going to concede anything."
Agents wanted Zatarain to identify his bosses in Mexico. They offered the standard deal -- less prison time if he gave them names.
They met with Zatarain three times as he sat with his federal public defender, Kevin O'Brien. Finally, Zatarain gave information to the DEA and the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis about cartel operatives in Denver and Indianapolis, O'Brien said. Zatarain provided names, methods of operation, routes, and information about how the cartel recruited distributors.
And there his disclosures stopped. He would not identify the bosses who directed the operations. To do so would mean his family could be killed in retribution, Zatarain told DEA agents.
"My argument was that he was being manipulated by much bigger forces back in Mexico," O'Brien said. "He was very engaging, very bright, good-looking. He'd be successful in any business. He was a drug dealer for a reason: he was very organized, kept track of customers and he delivered. But he was just one of these kids who is used as cannon fodder."
Federal investigators say Zatarain was an example of what they call a "cell-head" -- someone who has a family relationship within the cartel's organization back in Mexico. That way, they say, the cartel has more control over keeping its far-flung operatives from cooperating with authorities.
"You could tell he wanted to talk," an investigator said, "but the last line of defense the cartel in Mexico has over them is that if you do talk, some of your family is going to end up dead. And he still has family back there in Mexico."
Zatarain, protecting his widowed mother and siblings in Tepic, stayed silent and pleaded guilty to drug-conspiracy charges.
While in jail waiting to be sent to prison for 15 years, Zatarain talked on the phone to his brother, Julio. In recorded conversations, they spoke about trying to sell encyclopedias and other books.
But it became clear to federal agents that they were trying to sell more meth. A second investigation began.
In January, a year after his arrest, Zatarain was indicted along with Julio and two others for allegedly trying to sell 500 grams of meth. He pleaded guilty last month and is scheduled to be sentenced in August. Under federal law, he could serve as many as 10 more years.
Federal agents say shutting down Zatarain's operation was a big victory. But they also know the cartel for which he worked is still in business in Minnesota.
"In the DEA, we always ask ourselves if we dismantled or if we only disrupted an organization," an agent who worked on the Zatarain case said. "Did we dismantle this operation? No."
METH Inc.: The Route To Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
July 9, 2006
Meet Alberto Zatarain. He was the local face of a highly organized Mexican drug cartel selling high-grade methamphetamine across Minnesota. Now he's behind bars. But his case shows how cartel trafficking is intensifying here -- and why it's tough to stop.
In the eyes of the federal agents who secretly watched him, Alberto Zatarain was a drug dealer who made all the right moves.
He had at least three aliases. He switched cell phones every month and drove ugly old cars to avoid notice. After dark, he holed up and watched TV inside a rented matchbox house in Richfield that rattled from low-flying jets. No clubs, no parties, no women.
And every few months, when another runner came up from Mexico, Zatarain handed off suitcases of cash -- profits from a booming business that stretched from metro suburbs to farm towns in the Red River Valley to Fargo.
He was selling methamphetamine, and demand never let up.
Operating a network of stash houses from Richfield to Brooklyn Park, and often delivering meth hidden inside jars of instant coffee to customers, Zatarain and his band of couriers at times in recent years reeled in $250,000 a month.
"He controlled Minnesota and North Dakota," a federal drug-enforcement agent said.
Zatarain, 23, wasn't an independent operator. He was a point man for a shadowy, cunning cartel in Mexico that federal authorities say now dominates the illicit meth trade besieging Minnesota and the Midwest.
The cartel, rooted in Mexico's Sinaloa region, is producing a highly addictive form of the drug in large clandestine labs south of the border, then shipping stockpiles of it here to dealers such as Zatarain through a cross-country smuggling system.
But his success made him careless. Today, Zatarain is in the Sherburne County jail, convicted on federal drug-conspiracy charges, sentenced to 15 years, and awaiting transfer to federal prison. He is one of only a few large-scale meth dealers in Minnesota with ties to the Sinaloa cartel to get caught in recent years.
Court documents obtained by the Star Tribune, along with interviews with federal agents and attorneys involved in Zatarain's case, illustrate in detail how he operated before his organization unraveled. Zatarain also pleaded guilty last month to a second set of drug charges, from deals he allegedly tried to make in the past year while behind bars.
The cartel, meanwhile, is still flourishing, undeterred by his arrest and apparently capitalizing on a new state law that's wiping out the small-time meth producers once prevalent in Minnesota. The law restricts the sale of cold medicines that contain a chemical commonly used to process the drug.
Federal authorities say Mexican cartels now control at least 80 percent of the meth sold in Minnesota and are filling the supply void being created by the demise of mom-and-pop dealers. The cartels are ever more responsible for a drug scourge costing the state several hundred million dollars a year.
Federal agents say that Zatarain's case, in which nearly a dozen others with ties to the cartel also were prosecuted, has shed new light on how the Sinaloa cartel works. But not enough to shut it down.
Midway through this year, a Drug Enforcement Administration task force fighting the meth trade in Minnesota is on a pace to confiscate more cartel shipments here than ever. Last year, the task force seized nearly 50 kilos (1 kilo is 2.2 pounds) of the drug. Already this year, nearly 40 kilos have been seized.
Tom Kelly, the head of the DEA's office in Minneapolis, said the cartel's reach is enormous. "You can't stop it at the border of Minnesota," he said. "It's a constant uphill battle."
El Grande kept calling. His real name was Emilio Flores, and he was a cartel connection in Denver, a regional hub for heroin and meth on its way to Minnesota from Mexico. He wanted Zatarain, nicknamed Beto, to stay in the Twin Cities for the winter.
Normally, to keep a low profile, the cartel rotated its distributors in and out of the metro area every few months. But business was too good for Zatarain to return home to Tepic, a city in western Mexico where the cartel has roots.
El Grande and Zatarain, federal agents listening in on wiretaps soon would learn, spent a lot of time on the phone, often talking in code about selling meth -- which is also known on the street as crystal, glass or ice.
Since 2002, Zatarain had worked throughout the Twin Cities for the cartel. Initially, he sold heroin. But it was impossible to ignore the shift in consumer demand for meth -- especially in the suburbs, where authorities say it now ranks alongside cocaine and marijuana as a drug of choice.
For every sale of heroin, DEA agents estimated, Zatarain could make 10 sales of meth. The difference could mean thousands of dollars. By mid-2004, meth, selling sometimes at $12,000 a pound, had become the focus of Zatarain's operation for the cartel.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Dunne, the head of the Minnesota office's narcotics section, said that the meth pouring into the state from Mexico has become the focus of law enforcement officials, too.
"It is the number one drug threat facing federal drug prosecutors and agents in the Midwest," Dunne said.
The cartel to which Zatarain reported, law enforcement officials say, studied the exploding demand for meth in Minnesota and the Midwest and created a sophisticated business plan to capitalize on it. In many ways, authorities say, the cartel's tactics resemble how a corporation enters an international market.
"The cartel is run like a regular business and set up like a Fortune 500 company," Kelly said. "It has people who work on the transportation side, the finance side, the communications side, and they all work in concert to move a product to where the demand is very high."
Far from the reach of the DEA, the cartel first built labs in Mexico capable of large-scale production. To get great quantities of the drug made quickly, federal investigators say, the cartel also illegally began importing tons of ephedrine, a key ingredient in meth, from India and China. One lab in Mexico soon could produce as much as 50 pounds of meth a week.
By contrast, homemade meth labs in Minnesota -- whose numbers have plummeted since the state restricted the sale of cold medicines last year -- produce only a small fraction of that amount in a week.
To get meth to the Midwest, the cartel began using underground distribution networks that had been set up to smuggle Colombian cocaine, Mexican heroin and marijuana across the border, federal investigators say. Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix became major distribution hubs for cartel-made meth.
Shipments of the drug usually reach Minnesota from the Southwest via interstate highways, in cars or trucks with secret storage compartments that cartel couriers constantly change to try to stay one step ahead of state troopers who are getting intensive new training on their smuggling tactics.
Kelly, who spent time working for the DEA in the Southwest, said it has been nearly impossible to stop smuggling along the border there.
"They send five cars through at one time, and if one gets caught it doesn't matter because the rest got through, and they're on the way north," he said.
In May, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced a partnership with Mexico to fight meth trafficking. The DEA and Mexico plan to form special investigative teams along the border and compile a most-wanted list of meth traffickers.
Dunne said federal prosecutions of meth cases in Minnesota are soaring. In the past five years, those cases have more than doubled -- from 43 to 104.
But, he said, "We are only catching the tip of the iceberg of the methamphetamine that is coming into Minnesota from Mexico."
Catching Zatarain took three years.
In 2002, the DEA's task force in Minneapolis heard of a heroin dealer in Minneapolis whose name had been mentioned on a federal wiretap in Denver. The dealer was called "Beto," and he was being supplied in part from Denver by Flores, the guy nicknamed El Grande, who was also later convicted on drug charges.
But the DEA didn't figure out who "Beto" was until the spring of 2004. Through an informant, federal agents learned that Zatarain had gone home to Mexico, but was expected to return soon to the Twin Cities.
"We found that Beto was taking his turn in the rotation," a former task force member on the investigation said. "They came up in teams and stayed for a few months. Everybody was expected to do their time. If you wanted the good life back in Mexico, you had to come north and take your turn."
Federal investigators say Zatarain was making so much money that even as he was sending his receipts to the cartel he was also wiring cash home to his family -- never under his name -- and was planning to buy a ranch in Mexico.
In the fall of 2004, after reviewing the DEA's emerging investigation into drug cartels, U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum authorized the agency's request to use wiretaps in the hope of penetrating Zatarain's organization. The DEA task force soon realized it was not just pursuing a heroin case. It was on to what would become one of its most far-reaching meth probes.
By eavesdropping on Zatarain's calls, federal agents began learning his codes. When he talked about women, he was really talking about drugs. When he spoke of his "black girl," that meant he was moving black-tar heroin. Talk of "white girls" meant meth. References to the hassle of a broken window was another way of talking about "glass," slang for meth.
Heeding tips from traffickers who had come to the Twin Cities before him, Zatarain changed his cell phone every month and switched used cars about as often. He seldom moved drugs at night, reasoning that there were more police on the streets.
Once, when Zatarain's runners sensed they were being tailed -- and they were -- they simply drove off the freeway, got a hotel room along the Bloomington strip, and holed up for a few days.
On wiretapped phone lines, federal investigators say, Zatarain bragged about the vehicles he used for trafficking. They were outfitted with secret compartments that he said could get anything across the border unnoticed.
But he worried, too. Fearing detection from drug-detecting dogs that police often use on roadside stops of suspicious vehicles, Zatarain and his collaborators went so far as to put anti-freeze inside the plastic bolt that holds spare tires in the trunks of cars -- because they knew the odor throws off a dog's scent.
After spending thousands of hours listening to wiretapped conversations and conducting surveillance all the way from Lake Street in Minneapolis to the Red River Valley, the DEA was eager to learn whether Zatarain could, on short notice, deliver a large quantity of meth.
In January 2005, a Hennepin County Sheriff's deputy, working undercover, rang Zatarain's cell phone and placed an order. It was a call the DEA hoped would lead them to Mexico -- and his drug bosses.
According to court documents, Zatarain took the undercover officer's call and promised to deliver in two hours.
Then Zatarain called one of his meth couriers in Brooklyn Park. DEA surveillance teams tailed the courier to Zatarain's new apartment at 630 Quincy Avenue in northeast Minneapolis. There, other agents watched the apartment.
Close to noon, Zatarain left and drove to sell a half-pound of meth, as promised, to the undercover officer. He delivered it inside a jar of instant coffee, but he was not immediately arrested.
DEA agents soon learned Zatarain could deal almost 20 pounds of meth a month. But they heard nothing about his bosses.
By that time, as his business was peaking, Zatarain had begun breaking most of his own rules -- and his operation began to fall apart. He started working deals at night. Instead of buying a new cell every month, he would wait two.
"It became self-defeating," one investigator on the case said. "While he bought a new cell to avoid detection, he gave his old phones to his associates rather than rotating everybody's phones."
Agents simply listened in on the old phones to get Zatarain's new number.
Once, thinking he was on a secure line, he told someone not to call him Beto. Instead, he said, call him "Johnny." Agents wrote down his new street name.
T hree days after buying a half-pound of crystal meth from Zatarain, federal agents broke down his apartment door. It was dawn, and he and two other men were there sleeping. They acted bewildered, as if the agents had targeted the wrong men.
"They had their game faces on," one of the agents on the task force said. "They weren't going to concede anything."
Agents wanted Zatarain to identify his bosses in Mexico. They offered the standard deal -- less prison time if he gave them names.
They met with Zatarain three times as he sat with his federal public defender, Kevin O'Brien. Finally, Zatarain gave information to the DEA and the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis about cartel operatives in Denver and Indianapolis, O'Brien said. Zatarain provided names, methods of operation, routes, and information about how the cartel recruited distributors.
And there his disclosures stopped. He would not identify the bosses who directed the operations. To do so would mean his family could be killed in retribution, Zatarain told DEA agents.
"My argument was that he was being manipulated by much bigger forces back in Mexico," O'Brien said. "He was very engaging, very bright, good-looking. He'd be successful in any business. He was a drug dealer for a reason: he was very organized, kept track of customers and he delivered. But he was just one of these kids who is used as cannon fodder."
Federal investigators say Zatarain was an example of what they call a "cell-head" -- someone who has a family relationship within the cartel's organization back in Mexico. That way, they say, the cartel has more control over keeping its far-flung operatives from cooperating with authorities.
"You could tell he wanted to talk," an investigator said, "but the last line of defense the cartel in Mexico has over them is that if you do talk, some of your family is going to end up dead. And he still has family back there in Mexico."
Zatarain, protecting his widowed mother and siblings in Tepic, stayed silent and pleaded guilty to drug-conspiracy charges.
While in jail waiting to be sent to prison for 15 years, Zatarain talked on the phone to his brother, Julio. In recorded conversations, they spoke about trying to sell encyclopedias and other books.
But it became clear to federal agents that they were trying to sell more meth. A second investigation began.
In January, a year after his arrest, Zatarain was indicted along with Julio and two others for allegedly trying to sell 500 grams of meth. He pleaded guilty last month and is scheduled to be sentenced in August. Under federal law, he could serve as many as 10 more years.
Federal agents say shutting down Zatarain's operation was a big victory. But they also know the cartel for which he worked is still in business in Minnesota.
"In the DEA, we always ask ourselves if we dismantled or if we only disrupted an organization," an agent who worked on the Zatarain case said. "Did we dismantle this operation? No."
Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia
Pair charged after drug raids
July 11, 2006 - 9:04AM
Police say raids in Melbourne's west have disrupted a major heroin trafficking syndicate linked to the arrest of an Australian couple in Vietnam.
Detectives from the drugs taskforce carried out the raids following the arrest of Melbourne couple Hoang Le Thuy and her husband Nguyen Van Huy in Vietnam on Thursday.
Heroin was allegedly found hidden in bottles of medication in the St Albans couple's luggage at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhut airport before they boarded a flight to Melbourne.
A substantial amount of cash, mobile phones, and methamphetamine were seized during the Melbourne raids.
A 34-year-old St Albans man has been charged with conspiracy to import a prohibited drug. He was remanded in custody to face Melbourne Magistrates Court today.
A 32-year-old Deer Park man was charged with trafficking in methamphetamine and bailed to face court at a later date.
Detectives said they were confident they had identified principal persons involved in the trafficking and importation of substantial amounts of heroin into Australia.
Drug lab raided
A 24-year-old man has been arrested after police discovered a drug laboratory at a home in Brisbane's west.
Police said officers searched the Riverview house about 3pm (AEST) yesterday.
The man will face Ipswich Magistrates Court on July 31 charged with producing a dangerous drug, possession of a dangerous drug and charges relating to break and enter offences at local schools.
AAP
From The Age
Pair charged after drug raids
July 11, 2006 - 9:04AM
Police say raids in Melbourne's west have disrupted a major heroin trafficking syndicate linked to the arrest of an Australian couple in Vietnam.
Detectives from the drugs taskforce carried out the raids following the arrest of Melbourne couple Hoang Le Thuy and her husband Nguyen Van Huy in Vietnam on Thursday.
Heroin was allegedly found hidden in bottles of medication in the St Albans couple's luggage at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhut airport before they boarded a flight to Melbourne.
A substantial amount of cash, mobile phones, and methamphetamine were seized during the Melbourne raids.
A 34-year-old St Albans man has been charged with conspiracy to import a prohibited drug. He was remanded in custody to face Melbourne Magistrates Court today.
A 32-year-old Deer Park man was charged with trafficking in methamphetamine and bailed to face court at a later date.
Detectives said they were confident they had identified principal persons involved in the trafficking and importation of substantial amounts of heroin into Australia.
Drug lab raided
A 24-year-old man has been arrested after police discovered a drug laboratory at a home in Brisbane's west.
Police said officers searched the Riverview house about 3pm (AEST) yesterday.
The man will face Ipswich Magistrates Court on July 31 charged with producing a dangerous drug, possession of a dangerous drug and charges relating to break and enter offences at local schools.
AAP
From The Age
fengtau
Bluelight Crew
RM14mil of ‘ice’, Ecstasy pills seized
KULIM: One of the region’s biggest and most sophisticated syabu producing laboratories with international links was busted when police seized syabu and Ecstasy pills worth a whopping RM14mil from a factory in Taman Makmur, Lunas, here.
Twenty-one people, including a family of four, a Taiwanese chemist and a Hong Kong national, were arrested during a massive joint operation involving police from Bukit Aman and the Kedah narcotics department at about 4pm last Sunday.
The family of four was a 48-year-old man, his 44-year-old wife and their two children, aged 21 and 19.
TAKING STOCK: Chemists looking through the drug processing equipment and chemicals at the factory in Taman Makmur, Lunas, yesterday. The factory is believed to have international links.
Federal Narcotics Crimes Investigation Department director Commissioner Datuk Najib Abdul Aziz said the laboratory was a manufacturing and distribution centre for syabu and Ecstasy pills, both for local consumption as well as export to foreign markets such as Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.
“We found several drums containing chemicals such as methanol, iron chloride and sodium sulphate in the laboratory, which we believe had been in operation for the past three months,” he said.
“Our officers also seized several cars, RM171,000 in cash and foreign currency in excess of RM70,000,” he said.
It is learnt that police had placed the factory, which previously manufactured soap and cosmetics, under surveillance for about a month.
DEADLY STUFF: Kuala Muda narcotics chief ASP Ismail Abu (right) and Najib showing the seized syabu at the press conference.
In 2004, police had, in a well-coordinated operation involving Malaysian and Chinese authorities, smashed a major regional supply line of amphetamine pills following raids on a processing factory in Semenyih.
They arrested two Chinese nationals and more than 20 Malaysians, and also seized syabu and drug-processing chemicals worth millions of ringgit.
The bust was believed to be the biggest in South-East Asia.
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/7/11/nation/14796699&sec=nation&focus=1
KULIM: One of the region’s biggest and most sophisticated syabu producing laboratories with international links was busted when police seized syabu and Ecstasy pills worth a whopping RM14mil from a factory in Taman Makmur, Lunas, here.
Twenty-one people, including a family of four, a Taiwanese chemist and a Hong Kong national, were arrested during a massive joint operation involving police from Bukit Aman and the Kedah narcotics department at about 4pm last Sunday.
The family of four was a 48-year-old man, his 44-year-old wife and their two children, aged 21 and 19.
TAKING STOCK: Chemists looking through the drug processing equipment and chemicals at the factory in Taman Makmur, Lunas, yesterday. The factory is believed to have international links.
Federal Narcotics Crimes Investigation Department director Commissioner Datuk Najib Abdul Aziz said the laboratory was a manufacturing and distribution centre for syabu and Ecstasy pills, both for local consumption as well as export to foreign markets such as Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.
“We found several drums containing chemicals such as methanol, iron chloride and sodium sulphate in the laboratory, which we believe had been in operation for the past three months,” he said.
“Our officers also seized several cars, RM171,000 in cash and foreign currency in excess of RM70,000,” he said.
It is learnt that police had placed the factory, which previously manufactured soap and cosmetics, under surveillance for about a month.
DEADLY STUFF: Kuala Muda narcotics chief ASP Ismail Abu (right) and Najib showing the seized syabu at the press conference.
In 2004, police had, in a well-coordinated operation involving Malaysian and Chinese authorities, smashed a major regional supply line of amphetamine pills following raids on a processing factory in Semenyih.
They arrested two Chinese nationals and more than 20 Malaysians, and also seized syabu and drug-processing chemicals worth millions of ringgit.
The bust was believed to be the biggest in South-East Asia.
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/7/11/nation/14796699&sec=nation&focus=1
Sydney, Australia
Ten people arrested in ice investigation
From: AAP
July 12, 2006
AT least 10 people have been arrested after police seized drugs, stolen property, cash and a gun in raids across Sydney.
The arrests follow an investigation into the supply of methylamphetamine, also known as ice, in central Sydney, the inner west and eastern suburbs, police said.
The first arrested were three men at an inner-city apartment at 8.15pm (AEST) yesterday.
Simultaneous raids were then carried out on houses in Paddington, Eagle Vale, Camperdown, Waterloo and Ultimo.
Prohibited drugs, stolen property, cash, a firearm, and a range of chemicals were seized.
Cards made to manipulate electronic reading devices, a small amount of the drug MDMA, and more stolen property were seized in two more raids on hotel rooms in Sydney.
Police said four men, aged 33 to 49, and two women, aged 31 and 37, were charged with offences including supplying a prohibited drug. They were refused police bail to appear in court today.
A 40-year-old man charged with drug offences was bailed to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on August 2.
Police said another three people were questioned and released pending further inquiries.
From News.com.au
Ten people arrested in ice investigation
From: AAP
July 12, 2006
AT least 10 people have been arrested after police seized drugs, stolen property, cash and a gun in raids across Sydney.
The arrests follow an investigation into the supply of methylamphetamine, also known as ice, in central Sydney, the inner west and eastern suburbs, police said.
The first arrested were three men at an inner-city apartment at 8.15pm (AEST) yesterday.
Simultaneous raids were then carried out on houses in Paddington, Eagle Vale, Camperdown, Waterloo and Ultimo.
Prohibited drugs, stolen property, cash, a firearm, and a range of chemicals were seized.
Cards made to manipulate electronic reading devices, a small amount of the drug MDMA, and more stolen property were seized in two more raids on hotel rooms in Sydney.
Police said four men, aged 33 to 49, and two women, aged 31 and 37, were charged with offences including supplying a prohibited drug. They were refused police bail to appear in court today.
A 40-year-old man charged with drug offences was bailed to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on August 2.
Police said another three people were questioned and released pending further inquiries.
From News.com.au
Adelaide, Australia
Heroin seized during Adelaide raid
August 17, 2006 03:40pm
Article from: AAP
ABOUT 2000 street deals of heroin have been prevented following a raid on an Adelaide home, police said today.
Police seized 190g of heroin during their search of a house at Paralowie, in Adelaide's north.
They also seized a stolen firearm and ammunition.
Police said a 25-year-old man who lived at the house had been arrested and charged with possession of heroin for sale and firearms offences.
Four other Adelaide men were also arrested and charged with possession of heroin.
The arrested men will appear in court at a later date.
From News.com.au
Heroin seized during Adelaide raid
August 17, 2006 03:40pm
Article from: AAP
ABOUT 2000 street deals of heroin have been prevented following a raid on an Adelaide home, police said today.
Police seized 190g of heroin during their search of a house at Paralowie, in Adelaide's north.
They also seized a stolen firearm and ammunition.
Police said a 25-year-old man who lived at the house had been arrested and charged with possession of heroin for sale and firearms offences.
Four other Adelaide men were also arrested and charged with possession of heroin.
The arrested men will appear in court at a later date.
From News.com.au
Adelaide, Australia
Two held over cannabis lab
August 17, 2006 10:38am
Article from: AAP
TWO men have been arrested after the discovery of a clandestine drug laboratory north of Adelaide.
Police said the drug lab and a small number of cannabis plants were found at a property at Lewiston.
Two men, aged 58 and 61, have been charged with taking part in the production of a prohibited substance and cultivating cannabis.
They were expected to appear in court today.
Detectives said they would dismantle the laboratory this morning.
From News.com.au
Two held over cannabis lab
August 17, 2006 10:38am
Article from: AAP
TWO men have been arrested after the discovery of a clandestine drug laboratory north of Adelaide.
Police said the drug lab and a small number of cannabis plants were found at a property at Lewiston.
Two men, aged 58 and 61, have been charged with taking part in the production of a prohibited substance and cultivating cannabis.
They were expected to appear in court today.
Detectives said they would dismantle the laboratory this morning.
From News.com.au
Sydney, Australia
$3.5m heroin haul found inside car
August 21, 2006 07:22am
HEROIN with a potential street value of $3.5 million has been found after police stopped a car in Sydney's southwest.
A 41-year-old Fairfield East man was driving the car when it was stopped by officers at the corner of Short and Macquarie streets at Liverpool at 12.40pm (AEST) yesterday, police said.
A search allegedly found seven packages of heroin, weighing 2.74kg and worth an estimated $3.5 million.
A search of a property in Fairfield also found a large sum of cash, believed to the proceeds of the crime.
The man has been charged with supplying a commercial quantity of prohibited drug and was refused bail to appear in Liverpool Local Court today.
From News.com.au
$3.5m heroin haul found inside car
August 21, 2006 07:22am
HEROIN with a potential street value of $3.5 million has been found after police stopped a car in Sydney's southwest.
A 41-year-old Fairfield East man was driving the car when it was stopped by officers at the corner of Short and Macquarie streets at Liverpool at 12.40pm (AEST) yesterday, police said.
A search allegedly found seven packages of heroin, weighing 2.74kg and worth an estimated $3.5 million.
A search of a property in Fairfield also found a large sum of cash, believed to the proceeds of the crime.
The man has been charged with supplying a commercial quantity of prohibited drug and was refused bail to appear in Liverpool Local Court today.
From News.com.au
Northern WA, Australia
Bali drug import arrest
August 21, 2006 06:10pm
A NEW Zealand man was arrested at a West Australian airport after he flew in from Bali with 2kg of ephedrine taped to his body, customs officials said today.
Customs officers interviewed the 41-year-old after he arrived at Port Hedland International Airport in WA's north at the weekend.
When officers conducted a subsequent body search, they allegedly found four packs taped to the man's thighs and groin.
A preliminary test of the contents of the body pack tested positive for ephedrine, a prohibited precursor chemical which can be used to produce amphetamine-type substances, customs said in a statement.
The man was charged with importing a commercial quantity of border-controlled precursors.
He was due to appear in Port Hedland Magistrates Court today.
Investigations were continuing and further charges may be laid, customs said.
From News.com.au
Bali drug import arrest
August 21, 2006 06:10pm
A NEW Zealand man was arrested at a West Australian airport after he flew in from Bali with 2kg of ephedrine taped to his body, customs officials said today.
Customs officers interviewed the 41-year-old after he arrived at Port Hedland International Airport in WA's north at the weekend.
When officers conducted a subsequent body search, they allegedly found four packs taped to the man's thighs and groin.
A preliminary test of the contents of the body pack tested positive for ephedrine, a prohibited precursor chemical which can be used to produce amphetamine-type substances, customs said in a statement.
The man was charged with importing a commercial quantity of border-controlled precursors.
He was due to appear in Port Hedland Magistrates Court today.
Investigations were continuing and further charges may be laid, customs said.
From News.com.au
Melbourne, Australia
Ecstasy charges laid after chase
August 26, 2006 01:07pm
A 29-year-old man has been charged with trafficking drugs and endangering the lives of others following a police chase through the Melbourne inner-city suburb of Brunswick.
The Brunswick man was charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of ecstasy, possessing a commercial quantity of ecstasy, conduct endangering life and other traffic offences.
He was remanded in custody to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on August 28.
From News.com.au
Ecstasy charges laid after chase
August 26, 2006 01:07pm
A 29-year-old man has been charged with trafficking drugs and endangering the lives of others following a police chase through the Melbourne inner-city suburb of Brunswick.
The Brunswick man was charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of ecstasy, possessing a commercial quantity of ecstasy, conduct endangering life and other traffic offences.
He was remanded in custody to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on August 28.
From News.com.au
South Australia, Australia
Border drug, equipment bust
August 26, 2006 12:00am
Article from: Northern Territory News
THREE men will face court after police busted them with cannabis and drug paraphernalia.
Members of the Substance Abuse Intelligence Desk searched the trio's Holden Statesman at Kulgera, near the South Australian border, this week as part of an ongoing operation to monitor drug trafficking.
Police found 141g of cannabis as well as an assortment of drug paraphernalia, including bongs and scales.
From News.com.au
Border drug, equipment bust
August 26, 2006 12:00am
Article from: Northern Territory News
THREE men will face court after police busted them with cannabis and drug paraphernalia.
Members of the Substance Abuse Intelligence Desk searched the trio's Holden Statesman at Kulgera, near the South Australian border, this week as part of an ongoing operation to monitor drug trafficking.
Police found 141g of cannabis as well as an assortment of drug paraphernalia, including bongs and scales.
From News.com.au
technoHarmony
Bluelighter
Sydney, Australia
Three charged over 5000 ecstasy tablets
August 31, 2006
THREE men have been charged with drug offences after police seized 5000 ecstasy pills from three western Sydney homes.
Police said the drugs had an estimated potential street value of $250,000.
Officers investigating the ongoing commercial supply of ecstasy around Cabramatta seized the pills after searching three homes in Fairfield, Green Valley and Cecil Hills.
They arrested a 33-year-old Fairfield man and a 24-year-old Green Valley man at Lansvale about 2pm (AEST) yesterday.
A 23-year-old man was also arrested a short time later at a home in Cecil Hills.
All three men were charged with supplying a prohibited commercial drug and refused bail to appear in Liverpool Local Court today.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20312142-29277,00.html
Three charged over 5000 ecstasy tablets
August 31, 2006
THREE men have been charged with drug offences after police seized 5000 ecstasy pills from three western Sydney homes.
Police said the drugs had an estimated potential street value of $250,000.
Officers investigating the ongoing commercial supply of ecstasy around Cabramatta seized the pills after searching three homes in Fairfield, Green Valley and Cecil Hills.
They arrested a 33-year-old Fairfield man and a 24-year-old Green Valley man at Lansvale about 2pm (AEST) yesterday.
A 23-year-old man was also arrested a short time later at a home in Cecil Hills.
All three men were charged with supplying a prohibited commercial drug and refused bail to appear in Liverpool Local Court today.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20312142-29277,00.html
Darwin, Australia
Cops seize drug stash
By Rebekah Cavanagh
September 01, 2006 12:00am
Article from: Northern Territory News
POLICE said they stopped $25,000 worth of cannabis from hitting the streets following a raid on a Darwin house yesterday.
Property Crime Reduction Unit detectives used a search warrant in the raid on an Alawa residence early in the morning.
They found about 500g of marijuana, believed to be for dealing, concealed in a plastic shopping bag along with more than $4000 cash.
They also seized a vehicle and a range of suspected stolen items including two car stereos, a portable stereo system, mp3 player, portable DVD player, computers and car wheels.
A 21-year-old man was arrested at the scene and was charged last night with possession of a trafficable quantity of cannabis.
He was also charged with stealing, supplying a dangerous drug, and unlawfully possessing stolen property.
A Drug House notice will be issued for the premises.
It was the second bust by NT police in under 12 hours.
About 6.15pm on Wednesday, 295g of cannabis and 0.2g of methylamphetamine was seized at a Wagaman home. A 45-year-old man was charged with several offences.
From News.com.au
Cops seize drug stash
By Rebekah Cavanagh
September 01, 2006 12:00am
Article from: Northern Territory News
POLICE said they stopped $25,000 worth of cannabis from hitting the streets following a raid on a Darwin house yesterday.
Property Crime Reduction Unit detectives used a search warrant in the raid on an Alawa residence early in the morning.
They found about 500g of marijuana, believed to be for dealing, concealed in a plastic shopping bag along with more than $4000 cash.
They also seized a vehicle and a range of suspected stolen items including two car stereos, a portable stereo system, mp3 player, portable DVD player, computers and car wheels.
A 21-year-old man was arrested at the scene and was charged last night with possession of a trafficable quantity of cannabis.
He was also charged with stealing, supplying a dangerous drug, and unlawfully possessing stolen property.
A Drug House notice will be issued for the premises.
It was the second bust by NT police in under 12 hours.
About 6.15pm on Wednesday, 295g of cannabis and 0.2g of methylamphetamine was seized at a Wagaman home. A 45-year-old man was charged with several offences.
From News.com.au
Sydney, Australia
Man hid 160 heroin pellets in his stomach
September 4, 2006 - 11:18AM
A Canadian-born New Zealander has been arrested at Sydney airport after allegedly trying to smuggle almost 160 heroin pellets in his stomach.
The 39-year-old was stopped by Customs officers when he arrived on a flight from Singapore on Saturday, Australian Customs said in a statement today.
After questioning him, officers became suspicious he may have been concealing a drug internally and took him to hospital.
The man later allegedly passed 159 pellets containing about 300 grams of a white power believed to be heroin.
He was charged with attempting to import a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug, which carries a maximum fine of $825,000 and/or life in jail.
AAP
From The Age
Man hid 160 heroin pellets in his stomach
September 4, 2006 - 11:18AM
A Canadian-born New Zealander has been arrested at Sydney airport after allegedly trying to smuggle almost 160 heroin pellets in his stomach.
The 39-year-old was stopped by Customs officers when he arrived on a flight from Singapore on Saturday, Australian Customs said in a statement today.
After questioning him, officers became suspicious he may have been concealing a drug internally and took him to hospital.
The man later allegedly passed 159 pellets containing about 300 grams of a white power believed to be heroin.
He was charged with attempting to import a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug, which carries a maximum fine of $825,000 and/or life in jail.
AAP
From The Age
GABAlover
Bluelighter
Good god, when will these idiots stop fighting a war they can't possibly win ?
Townsville, Australia
Charges after 2000 cannabis plants found
September 07, 2006 08:28am
TWO men have been charged after 2000 cannabis plants were uncovered in north Queensland.
The plants, including more than 1200 mature plants, were found on Crown land at Giru, Townsville, about 5am yesterday, police said.
The men, aged 42 and 77, will appear in the Townsville Magistrates Court today charged with possession of a dangerous drug and production of a dangerous drug.
News.com.au
Charges after 2000 cannabis plants found
September 07, 2006 08:28am
TWO men have been charged after 2000 cannabis plants were uncovered in north Queensland.
The plants, including more than 1200 mature plants, were found on Crown land at Giru, Townsville, about 5am yesterday, police said.
The men, aged 42 and 77, will appear in the Townsville Magistrates Court today charged with possession of a dangerous drug and production of a dangerous drug.
News.com.au
South East Queensland, Australia
Drugs, guns, money seized in raids
September 07, 2006 03:50pm
DRUGS, guns and $66,120 in cash have been seized and three people were arrested after police raids in south-east Queensland today.
Police said the raids were carried out on homes around the town of Murgon and were part of an operation codenamed Echo Taboo.
State Drug and Property Crime Group's Detective Superintendent Brian Wilkins said the operation showed the commitment of the Queensland Police Service to disrupt drug trafficking networks throughout Queensland.
"The co-ordinated nature of this effort has resulted in significant drug seizures and the arrest of persons involved in the supply of illicit drugs," Det Supt Wilkins said.
Gympie District CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Skillen the operation had significantly disrupted the supply of illegal drugs in the South Burnett area, particularly to the Murgon and Cherbourg communities.
Two men, aged 62 and 32, and a 30-year-old woman will face a total of 22 charges including trafficking, supply and possession of dangerous drugs charges and breaching of weapon licence offences.
They will appear before the Murgon Magistrates Court tomorrow.
News.com.au
Drugs, guns, money seized in raids
September 07, 2006 03:50pm
DRUGS, guns and $66,120 in cash have been seized and three people were arrested after police raids in south-east Queensland today.
Police said the raids were carried out on homes around the town of Murgon and were part of an operation codenamed Echo Taboo.
State Drug and Property Crime Group's Detective Superintendent Brian Wilkins said the operation showed the commitment of the Queensland Police Service to disrupt drug trafficking networks throughout Queensland.
"The co-ordinated nature of this effort has resulted in significant drug seizures and the arrest of persons involved in the supply of illicit drugs," Det Supt Wilkins said.
Gympie District CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Skillen the operation had significantly disrupted the supply of illegal drugs in the South Burnett area, particularly to the Murgon and Cherbourg communities.
Two men, aged 62 and 32, and a 30-year-old woman will face a total of 22 charges including trafficking, supply and possession of dangerous drugs charges and breaching of weapon licence offences.
They will appear before the Murgon Magistrates Court tomorrow.
News.com.au
Northern Victoria, Australia
$4m heroin uncovered in booze bus stop
By Mark Buttler
September 07, 2006 12:00am
HEROIN with a street value of $4 million has been seized from a car pulled over at a freeway booze bus in Victoria.
Seymour officers operating the bus arrested two people, then called in the Victoria Police drug taskforce after becoming suspicious and searching the vehicle on Sunday.
The Toyota Camry, containing two adults and their two young children, had been pulled over as part of .05 checking on the Hume Freeway at Avenel when officers decided to check it.
They found a suitcase containing eight packages of heroin weighing 3kg and with an estimated street value of $4 million.
A man and woman from Springvale, who were travelling in the car from Sydney to Melbourne, were arrested.
Police then searched a house in Springvale, where they found $80,000 that they believe was the proceeds of crime.
Insp Ross Smith yesterday praised the work of the officers operating the booze bus.
"Local police periodically conduct blitzes on the freeway and the alertness of the officers prevented illegal drugs being distributed to the community," he said.
A 41-year-old Springvale man has been charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of heroin and possessing the proceeds of crime.
He was remanded in custody and will face Melbourne Magistrates' Court in November.
A woman, 40, was released and is expected to be charged on summons with similar offences.
News.com.au
$4m heroin uncovered in booze bus stop
By Mark Buttler
September 07, 2006 12:00am
HEROIN with a street value of $4 million has been seized from a car pulled over at a freeway booze bus in Victoria.
Seymour officers operating the bus arrested two people, then called in the Victoria Police drug taskforce after becoming suspicious and searching the vehicle on Sunday.
The Toyota Camry, containing two adults and their two young children, had been pulled over as part of .05 checking on the Hume Freeway at Avenel when officers decided to check it.
They found a suitcase containing eight packages of heroin weighing 3kg and with an estimated street value of $4 million.
A man and woman from Springvale, who were travelling in the car from Sydney to Melbourne, were arrested.
Police then searched a house in Springvale, where they found $80,000 that they believe was the proceeds of crime.
Insp Ross Smith yesterday praised the work of the officers operating the booze bus.
"Local police periodically conduct blitzes on the freeway and the alertness of the officers prevented illegal drugs being distributed to the community," he said.
A 41-year-old Springvale man has been charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of heroin and possessing the proceeds of crime.
He was remanded in custody and will face Melbourne Magistrates' Court in November.
A woman, 40, was released and is expected to be charged on summons with similar offences.
News.com.au
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