Incomplete Tunnel Found Near Tijuana Airport, US Border

An incomplete tunnel near Tijuana’s airport and the U.S Border was discovered on Saturday resulting in the arrest of about 15 people and the seizure of nearly 300 pounds of marijuana.

The entrance to the tunnel was found Saturday in a house near the border fence just west of the Tijuana airport, and Mexican soldiers arrested six people, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The six-foot-high tunnel was about 400 feet long but still nearly 500 feet short of reaching the United States, according to Mexican authorities.

The investigation also led the seizure of pot and building supplies in Colonia 20 de Noviembre, where seven other men and two women were arrested.

Source

Worries Corrupt Border Officials Increasing US Terror Risk

The FBI is concerned that corrupt U.S. officials at the nation’s border crossings are placing Americans at risk. To combat the illegal activity, the Bureau is stepping up efforts to identify those involved. According to this report, some government officials have allowed anyone to cross the U.S. border for the right price. One of the primary concerns is obvious; terrorists or materials that could be used in a terrorist attack might also slip through.

From ABC News

“If you’re a corrupt border official, and you’re allowing illegal immigrants to come into the country, you’re not going to know who you’re letting in,” Kevin L. Perkins, assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division for the FBI, told ABC News.

In one instance at the U.S.-Mexico border, FBI video surveillance obtained by ABC News caught a truck full of illegal immigrants pulling up to Customs and Border Protection officer Michael Gilliland, and being waved through his border inspection lane for $100,000, officials said.

And in Texas, an undercover FBI operation allegedly caught a deputy sheriff in the act.

via Read Article.

Cancun – Aeromexico Jet Hijacked, Flown To Mexico City

UPDATE: Aeromexico Flight 576: Mexican security forces have boarded the hijacked plane and taken 5-7 suspects into custody.
Cancun – Mexican Plane Reportedly Hijacked Flown To Mexico City.

All passengers have left an AeroMexico passenger plane that was hijacked at the airport in the resort area city of Cancun and flown to the airport in the capital of Mexico City.

The hijacked plane, a Boeing 737, landed safely and is on the runway at the airport, according to Mexico’s Transport Minister Juan Molinar. Mexican security forces are at the airport.

At least three men, reportedly of Bolivian citizenship, seized control of the plane and threatened to blow it up unless they were allowed to speak to Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon, according to Web sites El Universal and Reforma.

Local television reports said that there were explosives onboard the plane.

The plane was carrying 104 passengers and was bound for Mexico City, according to Mexican network, TV Azteca.

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Hitmen Massacre 18 In Border Drug Rehab – Juarez Mexico

About a dozen hooded gunmen burst into a Mexican rehabilitation clinic near the U.S. border on Wednesday, lining up patients before killing 17 of them. Drug gangs have targeted rehab clinics in the manufacturing city of Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso, Texas, accusing them of protecting dealers from rival gangs.

The attack was one of the deadliest in President Felipe Calderon’s three-year war against drug cartels, despite the presence of 10,000 troops and federal police in Ciudad Juarez who constantly patrol the city’s streets.

The suspected hitmen stormed their way into the drug and alcohol rehab clinic in Ciudad Juarez and forced patients into a line in a corridor before shooting them, the army and the El Diario newspaper said.

“Armed men shot at about 20 people, killing 17 of them and injuring three,” said army spokesman Enrique Torres.

In a separate attack on Wednesday, gunmen killed the deputy police chief in Calderon’s home state of Michoacan in western Mexico.

Jose Manuel Revueltas, appointed just two weeks ago, was intercepted by heavily armed men in two vehicles as he drove down a busy avenue in the state capital, Morelia, a few blocks from police headquarters, police said.

Revueltas, 38, and his two bodyguards died in the intense gunfire that also killed a man traveling on a bus.

via Hitmen kill 17 in Mexico clinic on U.S. border | Reuters.

State Department Warns About Mexico Travel

Citing rising violence, the U.S. State Department’s latest Mexico alert urges travelers to delay trips to parts of Michoacan and Chihuahua states. The alert, issued Thursday, advises U.S. citizens to delay unnecessary travel to those areas and to exercise “extreme caution” if a visit is necessary.

From The State Department Travel Alert

Throughout Mexico, the State Department said, travelers should try to travel on main roads during daylight hours, especially toll roads, which are typically more secure. Officials also recommend that Americans avoid traveling alone, put away fancy jewelry, stay in well-known tourist areas and leave itineraries with friends or family.

Mexican drug cartels are engaged in violent conflict – both among themselves and with Mexican security services – for control of narcotics trafficking routes along the U.S.-Mexico border.  In order to combat violence, the government of Mexico has deployed military troops in various parts of the country.  U.S. citizens should cooperate fully with official checkpoints when traveling on Mexican highways.

Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades.  Large firefights have taken place in towns and cities across Mexico, but occur mostly in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City, Monterrey and Ciudad Juarez.  During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area.  The U.S. Mission in Mexico currently restricts non-essential travel within the state of Durango, the northwest quadrant of Chihuahua and an area southeast of Ciudad Juarez, and all parts of the state of Coahuila south of Mexican Highways 25 and 22 and the Alamos River for US Government employees assigned to Mexico.  This restriction was implemented in light of the recent increase in assaults, murders, and kidnappings in those three states.  The situation in northern Mexico remains fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements cannot be predicted.

A number of areas along the border are experiencing rapid growth in the rates of many types of crime.  Robberies, homicides, petty thefts, and carjackings have all increased over the last year across Mexico generally, with notable spikes in Tijuana and northern Baja California.  Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales are among the cities which have experienced public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centers and other public venues.  Criminals have followed and harassed U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles in border areas including Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, and Tijuana.

The situation in the state of Chihuahua including Ciudad Juarez is of special concern.   The U.S. Consulate General recommends that American citizens defer non-essential travel to the Guadalupe Bravo area southeast of Ciudad Juarez and to the northwest quarter of the state of  Chihuahua including the city of Nuevo Casas Grandes and surrounding communities.  From the United States, these areas are often reached through the Columbus, NM and Fabens and Fort Hancock, TX ports-of-entry.  In both areas, American citizens have been victims of drug related violence.

Mexican authorities report that more than 1,000 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez in the first six-months of 2009.  Additionally, this city of 1.6 million people experienced more than 17,000 car thefts and 1,650 carjackings in 2008.  U.S. citizens should pay close attention to their surroundings while traveling in Ciudad Juarez, avoid isolated locations during late night and early morning hours, and remain alert to news reports.  Visa and other service seekers visiting the Consulate are encouraged to make arrangements to pay for those services using a non-cash method.

U.S. citizens are urged to be alert to safety and security concerns when visiting the border region.  Criminals are armed with a wide array of sophisticated weapons.  In some cases, assailants have worn full or partial police or military uniforms and have used vehicles that resemble police vehicles.  While most crime victims are Mexican citizens, the uncertain security situation poses serious risks for U.S. citizens as well.  U.S. citizen victims of crime in Mexico are urged to contact the consular section of the nearest U.S. consulate or Embassy for advice and assistance.

See Full Travel Alert

US Indicts Ten Alleged Mexican Drug Cartel Leaders

Forty-three defendants in the United States and Mexico, including 10 alleged Mexican drug cartel leaders, have been charged in 12 indictments unsealed yesterday and today in U.S. federal courts in Brooklyn and Chicago, the Department of Justice, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced. The alleged leaders and other high-ranking members of several of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels are charged with operating continuing criminal enterprises or participating in international drug trafficking conspiracies.

“Breaking up these dangerous cartels and stemming the flow of drugs, weapons and cash across the Southwest border is a top priority for this Justice Department,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “The cartels whose alleged leaders are charged today constitute multi-billion dollar networks that funnel drugs onto our streets and what invariably follows is more crime and violence in our communities. Today’s indictments demonstrate our unwavering commitment to root out the leaders of these criminal enterprises wherever they may be found. We will continue to stand with our partners in Mexico to dismantle the cartels’ insidious operations.”

“Realizing that neither of our two countries can win over drug traffickers on its own, we have built up the bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico to allow us to combine our investigative and legal resources to dismantle these transnational drug organizations and bring the leaders to justice,” said Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora. “We can only protect the right of our societies to live in peace and harmony through our governments’ mutual trust and shared responsibility.”

Three of the suspected leaders were charged in both Brooklyn and Chicago. Joaquin “el Chapo” Guzman-Loera, Ismael “el Mayo” Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva, who are allegedly among the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexico, are alleged to be present and former heads of an organized crime syndicate known as the “Sinaloa Cartel” and “the Federation.” Each of these three is designated as a Consolidated Priority Organization Target or CPOT by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

Also charged in the Brooklyn indictments were seven other cartel leaders, including CPOT Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal, Hector Beltran-Leyva (Arturo’s brother) and Jesus Zambada-Garcia (Ismael’s brother), each alleged leaders within the Federation; CPOT Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the alleged head of the Juarez Cartel; CPOT Luis and Esteban Rodriguez-Olivera, alleged leaders of Los Gueros; and CPOT Tirso Martinez-Sanchez, the alleged head of his own international drug trafficking organization.

Together, the four Brooklyn and eight Chicago indictments charge that between 1990 and December 2008, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia, Arturo Beltran-Leyva and others were responsible for importing into the United States and distributing nearly 200 metric tons of cocaine, additional large quantities of heroin, and the bulk smuggling from the United States to Mexico of more than $5.8 billion in cash proceeds from narcotics sales throughout the United States and Canada.

The indictments unsealed today collectively seek forfeiture of more than $5.8 billion in drug proceeds. Also, more than 32,500 kilograms of cocaine have been seized, including approximately 3,000 kilograms seized during the Chicago investigation, approximately 7,500 kilograms seized during the New York investigation and 22,500 kilograms seized previously that were later linked to the activities of the Federation. The indictments also detail seizures of 64 kilograms of heroin and more than $22.6 million in cash during the course of the investigation.

As part of the coordinated actions, eight defendants have been arrested in the Chicago and Atlanta areas in the last week.  Earlier this year, 10 additional defendants, all customers of or couriers for the organizations, were charged separately in Chicago. Five defendants, all New York-based wholesale distributors or logistics coordinators for the cartels, were charged separately in Brooklyn. In all, 58 individuals have been charged in the investigation coordinated between the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in Brooklyn and Chicago. All but one of the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the charges against them.

“The indictments announced today are the result of a sweeping national and international effort to stem the flow of drugs across the U.S./Mexico border and into our communities,” said Benton J. Campbell, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “We will apply all available resources to win this battle.” Mr. Campbell extended his grateful appreciation to ICE and the DEA Task Force in New York, the agencies responsible for leading the Eastern District’s investigation, and to the assistance provided by ICE and DEA in Miami, Houston, Mexico and Colombia.

“These indictments are among the most significant drug conspiracy charges ever returned in Chicago,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “They charge two major international supply organizations with importing many tons of cocaine and large quantities of heroin into the United States, often to wholesale distribution customers in Chicago, as well as to customers in other major cities. The defendants allegedly used practically every means of transportation imaginable to move these large amounts of drugs and to funnel massive amounts of money back to Mexico. I applaud the efforts of the DEA investigators who worked hard to put these cases together.” Mr. Fitzgerald also thanked the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division agents in Chicago and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for their assistance.

“Today’s indictments are yet another strike against the leadership of the Mexican drug cartels,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “Our relentless investigations penetrated deep into these pervasive criminal organizations, connecting street operations in U.S. communities like Chicago and New York to the top drug kingpins calling the shots in Mexico.  Make no mistake; along with our courageous partners in Mexico, we will break these cartels and pursue their leaders.”

“Law enforcement agencies in the Americas are working closer than ever before and setting up a united, borderless offense against drug cartels,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE John Morton.  “This is a significant step in breaking down the infrastructure of these criminal organizations.”

According to one of the Brooklyn indictments, between 1990 and 2005, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and Arturo Beltran-Leyva, together with Hector Beltran-Leyva, Jesus Zambada-Garcia and Villareal as leaders of the Federation, conspired to import more than 120 metric tons (264,000 pounds) of cocaine into the United States through the cooperative arrangements and coordination that the Federation provided. Members of the Federation shared drug transportation routes and obtained their drugs from various Colombian drug organizations, in particular, the Colombian Norte Valle Cartel. For example, in 2004, two shipments totaling 22,500 kilograms of cocaine were seized by the U.S. Coast Guard off the coast of Mexico. The indictment alleges that the defendants employed “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out hundreds of acts of violence in Mexico, including murders, kidnappings, tortures and violent collections of drug debts, at their direction.

The indictments in Chicago allege that in approximately early 2008 Arturo Beltran-Leyva split his alliance with Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the Federation due to various issues, including control of lucrative narcotics trafficking routes into the United States and the loyalty of wholesale narcotics customers, including the alleged leaders of a Chicago distribution cell. The indictments charge that Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia, together with seven other high-ranking associates, including two of their sons, Alfredo Guzman-Salazar (Guzman-Loera’s son) and Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla (Ismael Zamada-Garcia’s son, who is in custody in Mexico), coordinated their narcotics trafficking activities to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Central and South American countries, through Mexico, and into the United States using various means of transportation, including Boeing 747 cargo aircraft; submarines and other submersible and semi-submersible vessels; container ships; go-fast boats; fishing vessels; buses; rail cars; tractor trailers; and automobiles

Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia allegedly coordinated their cocaine and heroin smuggling activities to wholesale distributors throughout the United States, including a large distribution cell in Chicago of which 16 individuals were charged in an indictment unsealed today. On average, the Chicago cell allegedly received 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms of cocaine per month, at times obtaining all or a large portion of that quantity from Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the factions of the Sinaloa Cartel they controlled, while also obtaining a substantial portion of that quantity from the Arturo Beltran-Leyva Cartel. From Chicago, the indictments allege that large quantities of cocaine and heroin were further distributed to customers in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Milwaukee; New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Vancouver, British Columbia; and elsewhere.

Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and the factions of the Sinaloa Cartel they controlled allegedly used various means to evade law enforcement and protect their narcotics distribution activities, including obtaining guns and other weapons; bribes; engaging in violence and threats of violence; and intimidating with threats of violence members of law enforcement, rival narcotics traffickers and members of their own drug trafficking organizations. According to the indictment, Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia and his son, Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, discussed obtaining weapons from the United States and using violence against American and/or Mexican government buildings in retaliation for each country’s enforcement of its narcotics laws and to perpetuate their narcotics trafficking activities.

In one of the indictments unsealed today in Brooklyn, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes is alleged to be the leader of the Juarez Cartel, which operates in the Juarez-El Paso corridor, one of the primary drug smuggling routes along the border between the United States and Mexico running from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas. The DEA estimates that approximately 90 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States comes through Mexico. The Juarez Cartel allegedly received multi-ton cocaine shipments in Mexico from the Colombian Norte Valle Cartel and from the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a Colombian paramilitary organization and a major drug trafficking organization. According to the indictment, the Juarez Cartel maintained its power through the payment of bribes and through numerous acts of violence, including murder.

In another Brooklyn indictment, brothers Luis and Esteban Rodriguez-Olivera are charged with leading Los Gueros, a drug trafficking organization that rose to prominence within the Federation. According to court documents, Los Gueros operated a narcotics supply route that originated in Mexico, stretched into Texas and then branched off to various points, including the New York metropolitan area. Between 1996 and 2008, Los Gueros allegedly imported more than 100,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. The DEA estimates that between 2004 and 2006, the organization was responsible for shipping more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine to New York City alone. In January 2006, Mexican authorities seized approximately 5,200 kilograms of the organization’s cocaine destined for the United States.

Tirso Martinez-Sanchez is alleged in one of the Brooklyn indictments to be an organizer and leader of an extensive international narcotics importation, distribution and transportation organization that is responsible for the distribution of multiple tons of cocaine in the United States. Martinez-Sanchez’s organization allegedly imported cocaine into the United States from Mexico through California and Texas, and then transported the cocaine overland to large distribution centers, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. In addition to coordinating the distribution of his own organization’s cocaine, Martinez-Sanchez also allegedly transported and distributed narcotics for members of the Juarez Cartel and the Federation.

The cases in the Eastern District of New York are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Goldbarg, Claire Kedeshian, Bonnie Klapper, Stephen Meyer, Walter Norkin, Patricia Notopoulos and Carolyn Pokorny.

The cases in the Northern District of Illinois are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Shakeshaft, Michael Ferrara, Greg Deis, Lindsay Jenkins, Renai Rodney, Angel Krull and Halley Guren.

The cases were investigated by the DEA, ICE and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, in cooperation with Mexican and Colombian law enforcement authorities. Additional assistance was provided by U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Milwaukee, Miami and Houston. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance in these cases. The investigative efforts were coordinated with the Special Operations Division, comprised of agents, analysts and attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS); DEA; FBI; ICE; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; and Internal Revenue Service. Certain individuals named in indictments unsealed today have also been charged by other U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country and by NDDS.

An indictment is a formal charging document notifying the defendant of the charges. All persons charged in an indictment are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Copies of indictments can be found at: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/cartel-indictments.htm

Mexico Sacks Border Officers, Brings In The Army

More than 700 customs officers at airports and land crossings have been replaced in Mexico in a crackdown on corrupt agents who allow drugs and weapons to flow across the country’s borders, a spokesman for the customs service said yesterday. Reforma newspaper had reported earlier that the contracts of 1,100 agents were allowed to expire on Saturday as part of a plan to modernise the customs service, according to tax and customs sources.

A new force of 1,470 agents is being sworn in to replace the former workers. Soldiers took control of at least one border crossing at Ciudad Juárez, across from Texas, to assist with the transition, the paper reported.

Pedro Canabal, a spokesman for the tax administration service, said the agency had decided not to rehire the officers when their contracts expired. They were replaced by agents who had undergone months of training and background checks to ensure they had no criminal records. “This change is part of our response to new demands in the fight against contraband,” he said.

Mexico’s rival drug cartels are fighting for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the US. More than 13,000 people, mostly gang members, police and soldiers, have died in the violence since Felipe Calderón became president in December 2006, pledging to crush the smugglers.

Read Full Article

17 Charged With Brutal Kidnappings, Slayings In San Diego

Authorities announced charges Thursday against a Mexican gang that took Tijuana-style violence to the upscale suburbs of San Diego County, kidnapping, torturing and killing well-to-do residents, even after some families paid large ransoms.

The gang, a rogue cell of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel, moved across the border in 2002 and posed as U.S. law enforcement, donning FBI and police uniforms and caps while snatching victims outside homes and public places, said San Diego County prosecutors.

Nine victims were killed from 2004 to 2007, and the bodies of two of them were dissolved in chemicals at a rented house in San Diego. Gang members were also charged with trying to murder a Chula Vista police officer in September 2005, peppering his car with high-caliber bullets before fleeing in a car.

The gang targeted people it suspected of having links to organized crime, although some victims had no known ties, authorities said. Prosecutors charged 17 defendants, including gang leader Jorge Rojas Lopez, who is serving a life sentence for one of the abductions. Eight of those charged Thursday remain at large. The others are in custody on previous charges.

“This rogue group of individuals is responsible for a string of brutal murders and kidnappings that demonstrate the ugly reality of cross-border violence,” said San Diego County Dist. Atty. Bonnie M. Dumanis.

Spillover crime from Tijuana’s gang wars is relatively small, given the scale and brutality of the violence there. Nevertheless, the gang’s migration to the San Diego area reinforces concern that border vigilance is no match for Mexican organized crime.

via 17 charged in string of brutal kidnappings and slayings in San Diego suburbs — latimes.com.

Cartel Member Killed In El Paso Feared For His Life

A Mexican man who was allegedly killed on orders from his own cartel believed they were hunting for him after he began working as an informant and was fearful for his life, according to court documents. Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana began to worry after he began working as an informant for immigration officials in the United States.

“The victim was concerned for his own well-being and the safety of his family,” the documents said, referencing statements the victim made to a witness.

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials gave Gonzalez a visa so he could live in El Paso, Texas, his fellow Juarez cartel members began to get suspicious, El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said at a press conference.

Allen said Gonzalez’s exit from Mexico, combined with a raid on a cartel warehouse and the arrest of cartel lieutenant Pedro “El Tigre” Aranas Sanchez led cartel members to believe he might be working as an informant, Allen said.

Then, a Mexican newspaper named Gonzalez as an informant in the arrest of the high-ranking cartel member, according to court documents. Police say Gonzales quickly became the target of his own cartel.

Police said Gonzalez knew if his fellow cartel members found him, he would likely be killed, police said.

On May 15, the cartel found him.

Read Full Article.

U.S. And Mexico Probe Oil Thefts Linked To Cartels

U.S. and Mexico authorities are investigating the purchase by U.S. companies of millions of dollars worth of petroleum products stolen from Mexican national oil company Pemex and smuggled across the border. The operation appears to have been led by Mexican drug cartels expanding their reach.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency will host a news conference with U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Mexican officials in San Antonio to discuss the scheme. The U.S. is returning $2.4 million in funds generated from smuggling to the Mexican government, a spokeswoman for ICE said.

A Houston executive pleaded guilty in connection with investigation after admitting that he and others conspired to buy the stolen products, which were loaded onto a barge in Brownsville, Texas, said Nancy Herrera, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney in Houston. “We’re working with the Mexican authorities,” Ms. Herrera said.

Donald Schroeder, the president of Trammo Petroleum, is set to be sentenced in December. Mr. Schroeder, court documents say, purchased the product knowing it to be stolen. Mr. Schroeder’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

Ms. Herrera declined to identify what U.S. companies bought the stolen products from Mr. Schroeder. Court filings describe the buyers as “larger companies.”

Read Full Article

Mexico Seizes 1 Ton of Cocaine Hidden In Frozen Sharks

Mexico’s navy has seized more than a ton of cocaine stuffed inside frozen sharks, as drug gangs under military pressure go to greater lengths to conceal narcotics bound for the United States.

Armed and masked navy officers cut open more than 20 shark carcasses filled with slabs of cocaine after checking a container ship in a container port in the southern Mexico state of Yucatan, the navy and Mexican media said Tuesday.

“We are talking about more than a ton of cocaine that was inside the ship,” Navy Cmdr. Eduardo Villa told reporters after X-ray machines and sniffer dogs helped uncover the drugs.

Read Full Article

Swine Flu Pandemic – WHO Preparing To Announce?

The World Health Organization is preparing to declare a swine flu pandemic, officials hinted Tuesday, saying that the goal now is to prevent countries and populations from panicking.

“One of the critical issues is that we do not want people to panic if they hear that we are in a pandemic situation,” Feiji Fukuda, WHO’s acting assistant director-general, said in a media call Tuesday.

“We know the virus is spreading and we are now seeing activity picking up in a number of countries. We know that we are getting closer to probably a pandemic situation,” Fukuda said.

The number of countries reporting lab confirmed cases of human swine flu stood at 73 Tuesday, with 26,563 cases, including 249 deaths.

Fukuda says WHO “has been working extremely hard in terms of preparing countries, preparing populations for what a potential move to Phase 6 would entail.” The virus continues to be sensitive to anti-viral drugs, he says. The majority of infections are occurring in younger people, under age 60, which is different than normal season flu.

WHO is concerned about the “disproportionate number” of serious cases occurring in the outbreak of HIN1 at St. Theresa Point, a remote First Nation in northern Manitoba, where hundreds of people have reported symptoms in the community of 3,200 and at least 20 have been treated in hospital.

These are observations of concern to us,” Fukuda said.

Source

11 Bodies, Some Mutilated Found In Car Near US Border

Mexican police found 11 bodies in an abandoned vehicle near the U.S. border on Thursday, some with their hands and legs cut off and left with threatening messages scrawled by suspected drug hit men.

The bodies of the men, who were shot to death, were found in the northwestern state of Sonora in a stolen SUV with Arizona plates, the state attorney general’s office said.

A state attorney general’s office spokesman said drug cartels were likely behind the attack, although he declined to give details about the messages left on the bodies.

The killings came a day after drug gangs shot up a police station in a nearby town as violence flared in the state dominated by Mexico’s top trafficker, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman.

Read Full Article

WHO Says Swine Flu Verging on Pandemic

The World Health Organization said Tuesday it is “getting closer” to declaring a global outbreak of the swine flu virus as the infection appears to be taking hold outside of North America.

WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the disease has reached 64 countries and infected 18,965 people, causing 117 deaths.

The overwhelming majority of cases and deaths have been reported in Mexico and the United States, but increasingly the virus is spreading from person to person in countries as far apart as Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia.

“We still are waiting for evidence of really widespread community activity in these countries, and so it’s fair to say that they are in transition and are not quite there yet, which is why we are not in phase 6 yet,” Fukuda said.

Phase 6 is the highest alert on WHO’s scale, signaling a pandemic _ a global epidemic. In terms of the geographic spread of swine flu, the world is “at phase 5 but getting closer to phase 6,” Fukuda said.

WHO is now debating whether to add a second measure that indicates how dangerous the virus is _ rather than just how widespread _ after several countries raised concerns that declaring a global pandemic could cause mass confusion and panic even though it is still unclear how dangerous the virus will be.

Some nations have already imposed costly trade and travel barriers, “drastic actions” that Fukuda said WHO would seek to prevent.

Source

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