Grim details about ex-cops and soldiers, and active cops and soldiers selling drugs and weapons:
One day in 2018, a pair of FBI agents showed up at Huff’s warehouse in High Point, an unexpected visit that shot a bolt of fear through his heart because he had $700,000 in drug money stashed in a washing machine in plain view. But it turned out that the agents only wanted to talk to him about one of his warehouse employees, [], a bearded Black man from Fayetteville who had converted to Islam.
CBS:
Spiraling violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in Mexico since 2006
FWIW:
Also probably a warning for what could come to Mexico City, where extortion is widespread and out of any livable proportions. https://t.co/PAImeIosJw
— Luis Chaparro (@LuisKuryaki) November 10, 2024
What Luis says here is very true. I spoke a few years ago for @americamag with a social worker who tries to re-integrate (former) gang members in society in Querétaro - he warned that the social fabric in one of Mexico's fastest growing cities is tearing. https://t.co/sWr64vuEf3 https://t.co/daLQINZYEK
— Jan-Albert Hootsen (@jahootsen) November 10, 2024
CNN:
Chilpancingo is the capital of Guerrero, a state with a reputation for violent crime which is also home to the tourist hot spot Acapulco
...
During campaign season, at least 34 political candidates were assassinated by criminal organizations
NYPost has the graphic details on the murder. Also:
The city’s previous mayor . . . was videotaped allegedly holding a meeting with leaders of the gangs at a restaurant. She was subsequently expelled from her party, which gave [her just-killed replacement] the opening to run.
Fortune this week:
“The ZYN Rewards program was modeled after loyalty programs for consumer products and services offered across a variety of industries to reward a loyal consumer base of strictly age-gated, legal-age nicotine users,” ZYN parent company Philip Morris International said in a statement to Fortune.
Mel:
THE MOST SINISTER CIGARETTE PROMOTION OF ALL TIME
Inside the Marlboro Miles marketing campaign — and the dark history behind today’s popular vintage Marlboro merch
AP:
Nearly 400 police dogs in Ohio trained in the detection of marijuana will need to be retired because they cannot be reliably retrained. That means any alert they give to the presence of drugs could be challenged in court because they cannot unlearn the smell of cannabis.
...
the dogs on staff live with their handlers and the handlers will be able to buy the dogs from the city for $1 when they’re retired
An article by Kate Linthicum (much of the article focuses on a veterinarian who never asks the owners what they do for a living):
They walk tigers on leashes down city streets and parade them in the backs of luxury cars. Socialites have formed private “monkey clubs,” gathering for extravagant Christmas posadas and pool parties.
...
“So many people here have them,” ... “It’s fashionable. It says: ‘I have the money to have a monkey.’”
Vice:
they were not expecting to also find ... the ex-wife of ... a top Bosnian judicial official and a key advisor to Milad Dodik, president of the Republika Srpska
...
Under Bosnia’s complex government, the country is divided into semi-autonomous sections partially based on religion. [The fugitive] and [the ex-wife] were detained in the Republika Srpska, which is run by the autocratic-leaning Dodik, who has been sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury for corruption and attempts to destabilise Bosnia’s fragile government.
...
“The Kotor clans have essentially wiped themselves out”
Tampa Bay Times with the colorful write-up:
There was something in the water, black and bobbing.
The package adrift in the Atlantic caught the eye of a family enjoying a day of mahi-mahi fishing off the Florida Keys on a Sunday in late July.
“Hey, look at that,” said Kelly Castor, a 61-year-old boating enthusiast.
“Cocaine,” replied his older sister, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, as the package came closer, speaking with the assurance of someone who spent three decades in the Tampa Police Department, including about eight years in narcotics and six as police chief.
Over the weekend, Border Patrol agents in the Miami Sector seized 70 lbs. of cocaine that was discovered by a recreational boater in the #FloridaKeys. The drugs have an estimated street value of approx. $1.1 million dollars. #miami #florida #drugbust #Mondaymorning pic.twitter.com/etaiuwXrcK
— Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar (@USBPChiefMIP) July 24, 2023
An explosion at a homeless encampment outside Harborview Medical Center in Seattle was the result of "multiple explosive devices" being detonated, possibly in connection to an ongoing battle for control of the drug trade among the homeless, according to a newly-released police report.
...
People who survived the bombing told investigators that the former leader of the encampment had recently been replaced and had returned with a gun to rob people inside the fentanyl tent, the report states.
A witness said the former leader of the camp was known to make explosive devices from plastic buckets and had been teaching people in the encampment how to make the improvised explosive devices. The suspect is also connected in court filings to the drug trafficking operations in the area of 12th Ave and Jackson Street in Seattle.
Vice (reminds me of the type of caper Garreth would have pulled off in William Gibson's novels):
The wetsuit-clad, unconscious form of ... a professional scuba diver and adrenaline junkie from Brazil, was found floating in the industrial port of Newcastle, Australia, surrounded by 54 kilos of cocaine bricks in May last year.
It’s alleged that [the diver], 31, and another diver he knew ..., had been smuggled into Australia days before to undertake a risky underwater mission.
They were reportedly there to carry out a nighttime dive to retrieve 108 kilos of cocaine – worth around $30 million to Australian crime gangs – attached to the outside of the hull of the Areti GR, a huge 34,000-tonne cargo ship that had sailed into Newcastle the night before from Argentina.
...
After [the diver] died, [a] superyacht agent ... from Cairns in Australia was arrested while trying to fly to Singapore. Court documents allege [the agent] smuggled the two Brazilians into Cullen Bay
The article goes into detail on the technology used in such operations, including "The Torpedo, a cocaine-packed parasite drone designed to attach itself by magnets to the hull of cargo ships."
A lot of great pics on Instagram:
"LAPD initially told us on Friday the officers were in distress, but now say that was not the case."
ABC:
For years, police have been unable to locate the more than 110,000 missing people in Mexico, but they accompany volunteer search groups that look for such hidden graves. The volunteers, usually the mothers of missing people, often get anonymous tips about where their relatives may be buried.
...
the governor of Jalisco state, said an anonymous caller who gave a volunteer search group a tip about a clandestine burial site near the roadway set “a trap” for the officers.
...
a total of eight “improvised explosive devices” were planted on the roadway.
Hop-latent viroid, or HLVd, shrivels pot plants and reduce how much weight they produce by as much as 30%. It also destroys the amount of THC, pot’s most common active compound, that a plant produces, greatly reducing the value of affected plants.
...
It’s now infected at least 90% of California’s cannabis grows, according to a 2021 estimate. It’s spreading globally
FWIW, a Reddit discussion
Don't worry Hemp contains no THC and makes up about 2% of the soap, crucial to smooth after feel. U won't fail drug test either.
— Dr. Bronner's (@DrBronner) May 5, 2017
All four have reached plea agreements with the government and are cooperating with the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office
...
“This is just the start"