Police in Salerno, Italy made the largest drug seizure in history: 15.4 tons of amphetamines valued at US$1.12 billion. The Guardia di Finanza say that the pills—found inside three shipping containers at the port—were produced by ISIS in Syria. Scanners didn't detect the haul but police knew to expect them. From CNN:
"We weren't able to see them but we knew it was arriving because of our ongoing investigations we have with the Camorra (Italian organized crime group)," [Commander Domenico Napolitano] said[...]
The Camorra bring the drugs to Italy and take a cut for helping to distribute them, Napolitano added.
The pills carried the "Captagon" logo, which "distinguishes the 'drug of Jihad,'" according to the statement.[...]
"The hypothesis is that during the lockdown, due to the global epidemiological emergency, the production and distribution of synthetic drugs in Europe has practically stopped and therefore many traffickers with different organized crime groups have turned to Syria, where it does not seem to have slowed down," police said.[...]
Captagon was originally the brand name for a medicinal product containing the synthetic stimulant fenethylline. It is no longer produced or used, but drugs carrying the Captagon name are regularly seized in the Middle East, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
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Belgian police arrested a gentleman flying in from Jamaica for allegedly smuggling 127 grams of cocaine inside an artificial penis. That's quite a cock-up. The incident occurred in February and prosecutors have just asked for a three year sentence. The fellow's attorney argued that his client "has kidney failure and needs to exercise as well as follow a proper diet" so he is not fit for jail time. From the New Zealand Herald:
The arrested man told investigators that he was visiting his mother in Jamaica when an acquaintance offered him cocaine.
He said he took the drug for personal use only, planning to take it when he returned home.
(Image: 3D png Judges Gavel, Chris Potter, CC-BY)
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On Wednesday, Panama's National Aeronaval Service seized this homemade semi-submersible vessel in territorial waters off Bocas del Toro. Authorities discovered 5 tons of drugs inside and nabbed four Colombian citizens.
According to CNN, "the ministry (of public security in Panama) did not specify what type of drugs were seized in the raid, but smugglers have previously been caught using similar vessels to transport cocaine into the United States and Europe."
Indeed, you may recall the intense video below from last summer showing US Coast Guard crew members boarding a similar narco-sub in the Pacific Ocean:
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The Uganda Revenue Authority recently nabbed a smuggler attempting to bring banned cosmetics into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The cosmetics were stuffed inside footie pajamas to resemble a child. The cosmetics are illegal because they apparently contain hydroquinone and mercury. Police caught the smuggler on a bus at the Mpondwe border crossing.
(UPI)
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At Barcelona's international airport, police arrested a Colombian gentleman who arrived from Bogota with half a kilogram of cocaine under his toupée.
According to a Reuters report, "The man attracted police attention as he looked nervous and had a disproportionately large hairpiece under his hat. They found a package stuck to his head with about €30,000 (£27,000) of cocaine."
No word whether the unnamed man is a drug bigwig.
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Federal agents busted eight people for attempting to smuggle 26 pounds of methamphetamine disguised as Aztec souvenir decorative calendars and souvenir statues. The suspects apparently tried to mail the goods from Garden Grove, California to Hawaii.
(UPI via Daily Grail)
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US Customs and Border Protection officers in Pharr, Texas found two tons of marijuana packed inside key limes on a truck near the Texas-Mexico border.
According to CNN, "over 34,000 of the fake fruit packages were discovered by an imaging inspection system and narcotics K-9 team."
Last year, carrots were the mule of choice in the area.
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