SandBoxBlogs: WSET ABC 13 "APNewsBreak: Venezuelan judge talking to US"

BRADLEY KLAPPER and LUIS ALONSO LUGO:
"WASHINGTON (AP) - A former Venezuelan Supreme Court justice whose flight to the United States has enraged President Hugo Chavez's government is talking to federal law enforcement agents, U.S. officials said Wednesday, providing intelligence that could embarrass Chavez's anti-U.S. government and lead to tougher U.S. action against purported drug trafficking networks.

The former magistrate, Eladio Aponte, has been in the U.S. for almost a month, arriving from Central America after accusing Venezuelan officials of drug links and corruption and claiming he had evidence to back his allegations. Venezuela's National Assembly expelled him from the court in March for allegedly helping a drug trafficker.

A U.S. official said Aponte will speak publicly in the next weeks, once he arranges for family members to be relocated. The comments confirmed a rare example of a top Venezuelan official cooperating with the Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration and suggested Aponte may be arranging a deal with Washington for immunity or a new home......"  (Read more?  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBox Comments: KREX News 5 "Heroin Use Alarmingly High in Mesa County"

Cori Coffin:
"Mesa County - Heroin use is at an all-time high in the Grand Valley. That's according to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office. In fact, drug officials are so concerned that they're teaming up with a special task force to combat this rising trend in our community.

Officials have seen several arrests recently in connection with the drug, and police officers say they've been encountering heroin more and more on their stops as well.

The problem has gotten so bad, Sheriff's officials say from 2000 to 2010, they made six arrests in relation to heroin. In the last three months, they've made 19 arrests...."  (Read more?  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBox Comments: KJCT News 8 "3 Men Arrested In Eagle County On Cocaine Charges"

Very interesting to watch the major uptick in Eagle County drug, ICE and related crime busts ever since they caught Rascon.

KJCT:
"EDWARDS, Colo. -- Eagle County sheriff's officials have arrested three Avon residents suspected of distributing cocaine in the Vail area.


They say an undercover operator allegedly bought cocaine in Edwards from 25-year-old Oscar Gonzalez-Valadez and 31-year-old Alejandro Rodriguez-Serna, and information from the alleged sellers led to their alleged supplier. Officials identified that suspect as 39-year-old Ezequiel Galaviz-Roman.

SandBox Comments: Customs and Border Patrol "Texas CBP Officers Seize $3.7 Million in Marijuana Disguised as Lettuce"

Read this one closely.

One has to wonder how long they've gotten away with this and what other kinds of fruit and produce is used in this detailed way to smuggle dope in from Mexico?

A ton and a half of pot, street value of $3.7 million dollars.

One semi and one bust.

"On Jan. 17, CBP officers at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge encountered a Sterling tractor and utility refrigerated trailer at the cargo facility. The tractor and trailer were referred to CBP secondary screening for further inspection. Examination by CBP officers in the cargo secondary screening area revealed 1,348 packages commingled within the manifested commodity of fresh cabbage. CBP officers removed the 1,348 packages from the trailer which had a total weight of 1,661.5 kilograms, or 3,662.98 pounds, of alleged marijuana.

 

The alleged marijuana from this seizure has an estimated street value of approximately $3,662,980. CBP officers seized the narcotics and the tractor-trailer.

	click for hi-res More than 1,300 packages weighing more than 3,600 pounds were found in the shipment.

“Finding unique modes of concealment used in an attempt to smuggle illicit narcotics into the country is a daily occurrence for CBP officers on the frontline. This is a large load of alleged marijuana that has been stopped and will not make it into our nation’s cities thanks to the hard work of our CBP officers,” said Efrain Solis, CBP port director for Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas..."

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SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "Marijuana plantations threaten national forest resources"

This is very scary.  Fairly widely known that Colorado has these operations in our forests.  Not so widely known that many of them are tied to the recently exposed infiltration of Mexican drug cartels.

"SUMMIT COUNTY — Outlaw marijuana growers on national forest lands are polluting streams, killing native vegetation and leaving behind trash and dangerous debris that’s difficult and expensive to clean up, the agency’s top law enforcement official said in early December at a U.S. Senate hearing.

“The illegal cultivation of marijuana on our National Forest System is a clear and present danger to the public and the environment,”  said U.S. Forest Service law enforcement director David Ferrell, testifying before the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.

Ferrell detailed the impacts from sites in in 20 states on 67 national forests across the country, including California, where the Forest Service completed cleanup and restoration on 335 sites, removing  more than 130 tons of trash, 300 pounds of pesticides, five tons of fertilizer and nearly 260 miles of irrigation piping.

“Many marijuana sites found on national forests are under cultivation by drug trafficking organizations that are sophisticated and include armed guards, counter-surveillance methods, logistics support and state-of-the-art growing practices,” he said. “It is incumbent on the agency to do what is necessary to ensure that the resources we manage are protected and visitors as well as employees are safe....”
(Bob Berwyn)

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SandBox Comments: Vail Daily "Drug suspects arrested Monday in Eagle, Dotsero"

Well, finally they nab at least one long-time, major, major (alleged) trafficking coke dealer out of Glenwood Springs that most every construction site in the Valley has known about for years.

Thank you.

Thank you to the Eagle County Sheriff's Dept. for this major drug bust.  And any other agency, officers or agents who assisted.  You are appreciated.

"EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado — The Eagle County Sheriff's Office arrested two drug suspects in two separate drug operations Monday.

Sergio Alfredo Rascon Venegas, 35, of Glenwood Springs, was arrested while delivering two ounces of cocaine worth $1,500 to undercover personnel in the Dotsero area of Eagle County, police said. He was charged with felony possession and distribution of cocaine and is detained in the Eagle County Detention Facility with a $50,000 bond and an immigration “hold” due to his illegal status in the United States.

Fredrick Herman Holz, 44, of Gypsum, was arrested after attempting to deliver heroin to undercover personnel in the Eagle area of Eagle County, police said. Holz was charged with felony possession of cocaine, and possession and attempted distribution of heroin. He is being held in the Eagle County Detention Facility with a $50,000 bond. 

The Sheriff's Office continues to investigate this incident."

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SandBox Comments: Pueblo Chieftain "Drug dealer said he sold to protect family "

"DENVER — A Mexican national who admitted selling cocaine and marijuana on Pueblo streets claims he did it only because he was scared of a Mexican drug cartel that decapitated his half-brother as coercion.

Miguel Salais-Dominguez said last week he returned to Pueblo in 2009 from the state of Chihuahua, after being deported, to sell drugs for a cartel because it threatened his family there..."
(ROBERT BOCZKIEWICZ)

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