$350m Cocaine Seized in World's Biggest Drug Bust

[chlamor]

$460m cocaine seized in world's biggest drug bust
May 15, 2005
The Sun-Herald


Colombian authorities have seized $US350 million ($460 million) worth of cocaine stashed on a jungle riverbank by far-right paramilitary groups in what police called the biggest cocaine bust in history.

Police and navy personnel confiscated 13.8 tonnes of cocaine hidden on the banks of the River Mira, near the Pacific Ocean port of Tumaco in southern Colombia, in an operation that ended on Friday.

<snip>

"This is the biggest haul ever seized in the world in a single operation, in a single day and in a single place," Colombia's national police chief General Jorge Castro said.

The drugs belonged to members of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, an outlawed far-right militia known by its Spanish initials AUC that has killed thousands of people in its brutal campaign against Marxist rebels, police said.

http://smh.com.au/news/World/460m-cocaine-seized-in-worlds-biggest-drug-bust/2005/05/14/1116024408655.html?oneclick=true

[Runcible Spoon]

1. oops, hard hit on the CIA's operating budget eh?

:evilgrin:

[MADem]

2. Diverted for government use, perhaps??? n/t

[dmr]

5. That's what I was going to say

Sure will put a crimp on their budget. Guess they'll have to put in for additional taxpayer funding, or dig deeper into other clandestine operations.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Good.

Cocaine is the stupidest and one of the most destructive drugs on the planet.

I stand by my contention that a lot of the people who are making decisions in this administration, today, have a history of cocaine abuse. So much of what they do screams "cocaine decisions".

[LdyGuique]

9. Are you suggesting that this is the WH personal stash?

Stashed and waiting for Blackhawks to pick it up?

Since one doesn't just find a 13.8 ton stash of bundled cocaine waiting alongside the river -- wonder who ratted who out?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. "This just in. Unmarked van seen pulling up to Oval Office back entrance."

:evilgrin:

[ET Awful]

6. Damn right-wing drug dealers.

I bet that any US media reference to this story leaves out "far-right militia" from the story.

[0007]

7. You can bet heads are rolling! n/t

[MGKrebs]

8. Right wingers flouting the law?

I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you.

[OKthatsIT]

10. The poor CIA lost their stash before they could get it out

Could be a real blow to our Black Projects Budget

[Straight Shooter]

11. There are a lot of "Dead Men Walking" in Columbia right now.

And in the U.S., too.

Somebody screwed up, big-time. Not that I care. The less cocaine snorted in this world, the better. Look at that brain-damaged nitwit in the White House. He's the poster boy for the effects of cocaine.

[AP]

12. That'll probably take heat off some liberal governments those "far right

paramilitary" groups were going to try to burn with the profits from selling those drugs.

[Zorra]

13. Hmm, bet these boys are in PC. SOA + Special Forces = Cocaine For Arms:

US To Let Colombia Question American Soldiers
May 10, 2005

Bogota, Columbia -- The United States said Colombian prosecutors could question two US soldiers accused of selling arms to far-right death squads.

The US concession came amid growing anger in Colombia over Washington's refusal to allow the suspects to be tried in Colombia. But US Ambassador William Wood said the soldiers will be severely punished if found guilty by a US military court.

The United States has denied secretly helping the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, which has been blamed for countless atrocities in its two-decade dirty war against Marxist rebels. Washington has labeled the AUC a terrorist organization.

http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/local_state/local_article.aspx?storyid=40640

Ft. Bragg Soldiers Accused of Dealing Ammo in Columbia

05/10/05 -- BOGOTA, COLUMBIA) — Two U.S. soldiers detained for allegedly attempting to sell ammunition to Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups have been flown to the United States, where they were placed in custody, officials said Tuesday.

The Fort Bragg soldiers' quiet departure for the United States came despite widespread calls from Colombian lawmakers and senior officials for them to face trial here. The case has embarrassed Washington, coming less than two months after five U.S. service members were detained for allegedly smuggling cocaine aboard a military aircraft to the United States.
snip---
Tanquary and Hernandez are members of the 7th Special Forces Group based at Fort Bragg, N.C., spokesman Lt. Col. Hans Bush said Tuesday.
snip----
The two soldiers were arrested May 3 at a luxury estate near a military base southwest of Bogota and accused of plotting to deliver 40,000 rounds of ammunition to a paramilitary group. The outlawed paramilitary factions have been waging a war of assassinations and massacres against leftist rebels and their suspected collaborators.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/051005_APstate_braggsoldiers.html

U.S. Soldiers, Law Officers Snared in Border Drug Sting

A brazen conspiracy among U.S. law enforcement officers and soldiers to smuggle cocaine from Mexico was disclosed Thursday by the Justice Department, adding to concerns that public corruption north of the border was growing.

Wearing uniforms and even driving U.S. military vehicles, 16 suspects were caught in a sting run by an FBI-led task force. Eleven entered guilty pleas Thursday in Tucson; the other five have agreed to do so soon.
snip----
The defendants "used their color of authority to prevent police stops, searches and seizures of narcotics as they drove the cocaine shipments on highways that passed through checkpoints," the Justice Department said in a statement. The defendants pleaded guilty to transporting 1,232 pounds of cocaine and accepting $222,000 in cash for their activities.
snip---
The 16 defendants are or have been employed by a variety of agencies, including the U.S. Army, the Arizona Army National Guard, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the Arizona Department of Corrections, the local police department in Nogales, Ariz., and the immigration and naturalization service.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bribes13may13,1,7190852.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

[da_chimperor]

14. Just think how many helicopters the CIA could have bought with that!

:wow:

[Nostradamus]

15. obviously didn't pay their fees to the appropriate intel agencies

the world is run by criminals

these guys didn't know that they were supposed to pay the man