"we were seeing about $1,700 per pound. It’s now increased, we’re pushing about $4,000 per pound of methamphetamine."
Meth is flooding across the Mexican border at all-time highs, and cops say the coronavirus pandemic has affected its prevalence and price. In fiscal year 2019, some 68,585 pounds of meth was seized compared to 118,153 pounds so far this year with 2 months to go. As supply chains are restricted cops say prices have increased.
In Mexico authorities seized 19,079 kg of meth, which was listed as a 32% rise. The increase appears to be 50%.
75kg of meth was seized after smugglers tried to float it across the border by roping together packages and sending them through an underground drainage tunnel into Arizona.
Mexico's violence remains at record levels. The homicide rate is around 3,000 murders per month. The Department of State issued travel warnings to many Mexican states, including four bordering Texas.
Alzuarte and others were busted with 248 pounds of meth, more than $275k, and 10 firearms.
Cesar Alzuarte-Rodriguez, 43, an illegal felon from Mexico, has been sentenced to serve a federal prison term of 420 months for conspiracy to distribute meth and spearheading a multi-state drug trafficking ring. 23 have bought a collective total sentence of 168 years in prison.
Alzuarte was the head of an organization that imported meth from Mexico through Arizona, Colorado, and California. The organization maintained houses in Oklahoma City where meth was stored for distribution.
Sheriff’s deputy Alan Strickland has accused Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri of breaking NBA security rules and of taking advantage of “pervasive anti-law enforcement prejudices” and falsely alleging “racial animus” in a new court filing.
Alameda County sheriff's deputy Alan Strickland thought he hit the jackpot when he filed a lawsuit against the general manger of the Toronto Raptors for $75k in general damages, plus punitive damages, lost wages, current and future medical expenses and legal costs. He sued many, including the Toronto Raptors and the NBA. His claim was for $18m.
He claimed he suffered "injury to his head, body, health, strength, nervous system and person, all of which caused and continue to cause great mental, physical, emotional and psychological pain and suffering."
Strickland's lawsuit was dismissed.
Alan Strickland said he suffered facial swelling after he was shoved. According to his suit, Strickland suffered a “shock of injury to his nervous system” that he believes “will result in some permanent disability.” He has been on paid medical leave from his $210k position ever since.
In 1995 Strickland was convicted of insurance fraud.
Alameda County sheriff Greg Ahern (gahern@acgov.org) pushed for assault charges to be filed against Ujiri, which were dropped by the district attorney.
Ahern's twitter reveals he follows Trump and Fox News, along with other far right white power zealots.
Ahern made international news for his involvement in the Jan. 14 eviction of the Moms4Housing takeover of an abandoned building in Oakland. To evict the two unarmed black families, Ahern sent deputies on a pre-dawn raid decked out in riot gear, armed with automatic rifles and backed by a military-style armored vehicles with a helicopter.
Most recently Ahern is screaming for vastly increased funding for his storm troopers.
John Macris, 46, was gunned down while getting into his Smart car outside his home in Glyfada, a suburb of Athens, in Oct 2018. Cops believe the murder was a contract hit.
Yuliyanov J Raychev Serafim, 33, was found guilty and received a total sentence of 18 years. His brother, Milen Raychev, 36, was sentenced to 10 years.
The head of Guinea-Bissau’s migration agency has been arrested for involvement in cocaine trafficking. Colonel Alassana Diallo was taken into custody.
Military officers in Guinea-Bissau have often opposed efforts by the police to crack down on smuggling and have intervened to free traffickers.
The loot seized in Guinea-Bissau's largest ever drug bust last September included more than 20 vehicles, $3m, $90k worth of wine and porridge found in a warehouse, and 1.8 tonnes of cocaine hidden in sacks of rice. Operation Navara culminated in 12 men being arrested. They were sentenced to between 4 and 16 years in prison last month. The US, along with the UN, labelled the former Portuguese colony along the Atlantic Ocean a narco-state a decade ago.
Former navy chief Bubo Na Tchuto is one high-profile official to have been convicted of drug trafficking. Involved in several failed coup attempts, he was designated a "drug kingpin" and was arrested in a sting in 2013. The military has been influential in Guinea-Bissau since independence from Portugal in 1974. It has staged at least nine coups. This has made the country a fertile ground for drug barons.
Braima Seidi Ba has evaded capture.
Ricardo Ariza Monje is thought to have returned to Latin America.
Drug traffickers are entrenched in the country. Newly installed President Embaló replaced the policing chief, but after concerns about the nominee he gave the post to a respected former deputy attorney general, Teresa Alexandrina da Silva.
Drugs remain a "pernicious injection" into Guinea-Bissau's domestic politics.
A gangster who shot and killed prominent Hells Angel Bob Green during an all-night, drug fueled party in 2016 has been denied parole. The Parole Board ruled that Jason Francis Wallace’s release from prison would leave the community at risk. Wallace pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2017 and was sentenced to just under seven years in prison.
Wallace said he doesn’t think the Hells Angels will come after him because they know the shooting of Green was accidental.
Green was shot and killed at 11:39 a.m after an all night party.
That may not be wise thinking as Shaun Clary, who brought the gun Wallace fired to the party, was found dismembered in a Surrey ditch 10 days later.
Angela Collingbourne, 52, was ‘second-in command’ of a 16-strong drug gang headed by her sons. The cocaine dealer was jailed for six years after being found guilty of drugs offences on the streets of Newport in Wales.
Collingbourne ran a mobile telephone trading line with 4,000 customers. She kept the operation going when both of her sons were in prison. Collingbourne’s sons were also jailed – Jerome Nunes, 28, for 12 years and Blaine Nunes, 26, for 14.
The judge had harsh words for Collingbourne.
‘You took no responsibility for your actions or those of your criminal family. ‘During your trial you portrayed yourself as a victim, fighting bigotry and injustice – but the jury saw through you. You dismissed your crimes as evidence of your own victimhood. ‘You were counting and banking the vast profits from this operation. You knew many of those involved and the scale of the it. You began to believe that you were unstoppable.’
On February 26, 2020, Danny Smith, 47 of Allardville, N.B. plead guilty to conspiracy to traffic in cocaine, trafficking in cocaine, laundering proceeds of crime and possession of the proceeds of crime. Smith was sentenced to nine years for the drug offences, and three years for the proceeds of crime offences. Cocaine was peddled on the Acadian Peninsula and in Restigouche, Madawaska and Victoria counties.
Cops seized $900k in cash and 5.5 kg of cocaine. The cocaine was linked to the Hells Angels in Québec. The bust lassoed members and prospects of the Red Devils and the HA. 9 were arrested in total.
60% of the narcotics market in Europe is run by criminal structures from the Balkans. The Balkans Cartel specializes in drug-smuggling on various yachts and sailboats.
The African smuggling route, south of the Canary Islands and towards the shores of West Africa is used often. That's where 980 one kilo packages of high-purity cocaine was intercepted. In 2019 cops from across the globe teamed up against a Balkan organized crime network using private planes for large-scale cocaine trafficking.
An Oz drug courier who crashed a van packed with meth into two marked police cars has been jailed. Simon Tu, 27, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison in a New South Wales district court. The Toyota HiAce van yielded 273 kg of meth.
Simon Tu
The incident unfolded in 2019, when the van hit vehicles belonging to the New South Wales Police right in front of the Eastwood Police Station.
"we were seeing about $1,700 per pound. It’s now increased, we’re pushing about $4,000 per pound of methamphetamine." 
75kg of meth was seized after smugglers tried to float it across the border by roping together packages and sending them through an underground drainage tunnel into Arizona.
Strickland's lawsuit was dismissed.
Alameda County sheriff Greg Ahern (gahern@acgov.org) pushed for assault charges to be filed against Ujiri, which were dropped by the district attorney.
Ahern's twitter reveals he follows Trump and Fox News, along with other far right white power zealots.
Yuliyanov J Raychev Serafim
Green was shot and killed at 11:39 a.m after an all night party. 
Simon Tu