Tag: Smuggling
State Prison Inmate Sentenced to 11 Years in Federal Prison for Smuggling Methamphetamine into...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Patrick Botello, 36, of Richmond, was sentenced today to 11 years and three months in prison for participating in a conspiracy...
Former San Quentin Prison Guard And Three Others Plead Guilty To Bribery And Smuggling...
SAN FRANCISCO - Keith Christopher, Isaiah Wells, and Dustin Albini pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to charges of conspiracy to commit honest...
South Bay Resident Charged With Smuggling And Exporting American Aviation Technology To Beijing University...
SAN FRANCISCO – The United States Attorney’s Office today unsealed a criminal complaint charging Jonathan Yet Wing Soong with smuggling and violating export control...
Former Corrections Officer Sentenced to 3 Years for Smuggling Drugs and Cell Phones into...
SAN DIEGO – Anibal Navarro, a former corrections officer at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, was sentenced in federal court today to 37 months...
Judge: R. Kelly to be moved to NYC for sex-trafficking trial
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge gave the green light Thursday to move jailed R&B singer R. Kelly to New York City to...
House GOP leader: Won’t punish Gaetz unless charges filed
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Matt Gaetz, under federal investigation for sex trafficking allegations, is “innocent until proven guilty" and Republicans don't plan to punish...
No. 2 House Republican says GOP would act against Gaetz
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans would “take action” on Rep. Matt Gaetz if the Justice Department formally moves ahead against him, the chamber's No....
Libyan officials say UN-sanctioned human trafficker freed
CAIRO (AP) — Libyan authorities released one of the country’s most wanted human traffickers less than four months after his arrest in Tripoli, security...
Migration activist says Spain, Morocco trying to silence her
MADRID (AP) — A renowned Spanish activist for migrants’ rights accused authorities in Morocco and Spain on Monday of trying to silence her by...
Gaetz faces House ethics probe; federal investigation widens
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation into Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as federal prosecutors probing sex trafficking allegations against him...
Gaetz vows to fight, tries to stay on offensive amid scandal
MIAMI (AP) — The mere whiff of a scandal once unraveled political careers with stunning speed. Not anymore.
...
Senegal, Spain leaders seek to encourage legal migration
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal and Spain signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday to discourage illegal migration that has been increasing amid the...
Gaetz associate working toward plea deal with prosecutors
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — An associate of Rep. Matt Gaetz's is working toward a plea deal with federal prosecutors investigating a sex trafficking operation,...
Howard Weitzman, lawyer for Jackson, Bieber, DeLorean, dies
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Howard Weitzman, an attorney whose clients included Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, and auto maker John DeLorean, has died. He was...
Fight over Ghislaine Maxwell’s jail conditions heats up
NEW YORK (AP) — The rancorous fight over jail conditions for Ghislaine Maxwell is reaching new lows, with prosecutors blaming the British socialite and...
Gaetz sex probe suddenly threatens a speedy Washington rise
WASHINGTON (AP) — Compared with most congressional newbies, it didn't take Rep. Matt Gaetz long. Phone calls from the president. Rides aboard Air Force...
Smugglers sentenced for journey that left 3 sisters dead
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Two smugglers were sentenced to federal prison on Friday for leading three sisters from Mexico into California, where they froze...
Few in GOP rush to defend Gaetz amid sex trafficking probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — The political peril for conservative Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz deepened Friday as the often outlandish, Trump-styled provocateur appeared politically isolated amid...
Greece accuses Turkey of escorting migrant smuggling boats
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece is reporting a series of brushes with Turkey's coast guard in the narrow stretch of water between the eastern...
Colombia midfielder Viafara gets 11 years on US drug charge
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) — A former midfielder for Colombia’s national soccer team has been sentenced in a Texas courtroom to more than 11 years...
Authorities: Smugglers drop 2 children over US border wall
SANTA TERESA, N.M. (AP) — Video released Wednesday by federal authorities show two Ecuadoran children being abandoned by smugglers after they were dropped over...
Gaetz staying on Judiciary panel, despite investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a prominent, outspoken conservative and a close ally of former President Donald Trump who has been under...
Man charged with smuggling after California crash kills 13
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Mexican man was charged Tuesday with coordinating a smuggling effort that left 13 people dead when their overloaded SUV...
Harvard punishes professor who had ties to Jeffrey Epstein
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A Harvard University professor who had close ties with Jeffrey Epstein and is accused of giving the disgraced financier an...
US prosecutors say Honduras president took bribes in 2019
NEW YORK (AP) — Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández accepted bribes from a drug trafficker as recently as 2019 — not just while running...
Greek police recover ancient statue of ‘exceptional artwork’
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A man has been arrested on suspicion of antiquities smuggling for trying to sell an ancient marble statue of “exceptional...
US wants life in prison for brother of Honduras president
NEW YORK (AP) — A brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández should be sentenced to life in prison for running a “state-sponsored drug...
Germany: Woman arrested in forced prostitution probe
BERLIN (AP) — Police raided sites in Germany on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a crime ring suspected of forcing Vietnamese people...
Accountant testifies he saw Honduras president take bribes
NEW YORK (AP) — A Honduran accountant testified Tuesday that he fled Honduras because he felt his life was in danger after witnessing two...
Hondurans await results in primary elections
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández’s name keeps popping up in the New York trial of an alleged drug trafficker. And...
Spain: Police bust major drug distribution network in Madrid
MADRID (AP) — Police in Spain have arrested 12 people and seized about 600 kilograms of cocaine in an operation that dismantled what investigators...
Spanish police sink drug smugglers’ submarine plans
MADRID (AP) — Spanish police announced Friday that they seized a homemade narco-submarine able to carry up to 2 metric tons (2.2 tons) of...
Drug trafficker says he bribed Honduras president
NEW YORK (AP) — A convicted Honduran drug trafficker and former leader of a cartel testified in United States federal court Thursday that he...
US prosecutors allege Honduras president helped move drugs
NEW YORK (AP) — An accountant witnessed meetings between Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández and a drug trafficker in which they planned the trafficking...
Belgian police hit organized crime with hundreds of raids
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian police made 48 arrests Tuesday during an operation of unprecedented scale targeting organized crime, after investigators cracked an encrypted communications...
North Macedonia police make big marijuana seizure, arrest 3
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Police in North Macedonia said Sunday they have cracked down on an international drug smugglers’ ring in two separate...
Israel suspects Iran connection to Mediterranean oil spill
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities said Wednesday that a Libyan-owned tanker suspected of smuggling oil from Iran to Syria was responsible for spilling tons...
California crash kills 13 of 25 people crammed into SUV
HOLTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are investigating whether human smuggling was involved after a crash Tuesday involving an SUV packed with 25 people and...
Human trafficking charges novel approach in gymnastics case
The human trafficking case brought against a former U.S. Olympics women’s gymnastics coach hours before he killed himself could signal a new approach to...
Olympics gymnastics coach kills himself after being charged
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A former U.S. Olympics gymnastics coach with ties to disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar killed himself Thursday, hours after being...
Honduras leader warns drug cooperation with US endangered
TEGUCIGALPÁ, Honduras (AP) — Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández says that antinarcotics cooperation with the United States could “collapse” if U.S. authorities believe “false...
Honduras leader warns drug cooperation with US endangered
TEGUCIGALPÁ, Honduras (AP) — Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández warned Wednesday that antinarcotics cooperation with the United States could “collapse” if U.S. authorities believe...
Judge says wife of drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ must stay in jail
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. judge ordered the wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to remain behind bars Tuesday after she...
Proposed US legislation would target Honduras president
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Newly proposed U.S. legislation targets Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow.
...
UN registers steep rise in murders of Colombian activists
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Slayings of human rights leaders and mass killings of civilians are increasing at a worrying pace in Colombia, according to...
US judge orders wife of Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ to remain temporarily jailed...
WASHINGTON (AP) — US judge orders wife of Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ to remain temporarily jailed after drug trafficking arrest.
Wife of drug kingpin El Chapo arrested on US drug charges
WASHINGTON (AP) — The wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested in the United States and accused of helping her...
Libya: Over 150 migrants freed in raid on traffickers
CAIRO (AP) — Libyan authorities raided a secret prison in a southeastern city used by human traffickers and freed at last 156 African migrants,...
German police crack down on Berlin organized crime families
BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of German police and other investigators raided more than 20 buildings in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg early...
Policeman gets suspended jail term over migrant child death
BRUSSELS (AP) — A Belgian court handed a one-year suspended prison sentence to a police officer on Friday over the shooting death of a...
44 charged, half-ton of meth seized in California operation
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A massive crackdown on drug trafficking in the San Francisco Bay Area has ended with dozens of people being indicted...
New Mexico State Police officer shot and killed on highway
DEMING, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico was in mourning Friday over the shooting death of a State Police officer in a highway-stop confrontation linked...
450 held, dozens rescued in California trafficking crackdown
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A statewide operation to fight human trafficking in California led to 450 arrests and the rescue of dozens of victims,...
South Africa seizes rhino horns to be smuggled to Malaysia
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African customs officials have seized more than $3.5 million worth of rhino horns at the O.R Tambo International Airport in...
Feds: Woman charged in ex-con’s plot against college women
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York woman was charged Friday with conspiring with an ex-convict to extort and force into labor or prostitution...
In 2016, Maxwell said she grew unhappy with Jeffrey Epstein
NEW YORK (AP) — A British socialite criminally charged with aiding Jeffrey Epstein in his sexual abuse of teenage girls testified in 2016 that...
Epstein’s ex-girlfriend seeks dismissal of charges she faces
NEW YORK (AP) — A British socialite charged with recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse in the 1990s asked a...
Some Colombians fear ex-paramilitary leader deported from US
BUCARAMANGA, Colombia (AP) — On the north coast of Colombia there is anxiety over the return to the South American country of one of...
People smugglers jailed in UK for deaths of 39 in container
LONDON (AP) — Four people-smugglers convicted of killing 39 people from Vietnam who died in the back of a container truck as it was...
Turkish pilots, official face 12 years jail for Ghosn flight
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish prosecutors on Wednesday sought the maximum possible 12 years in prison each for a Turkish private airline official and two...
Boats emerge from Sahara sand to transport migrants to Spain
DAKHLA, Western Sahara (AP) — Beneath a star-packed sky in the Sahara, smugglers and handymen unearth a boat buried in the sand, a made-to-order...
Mexico publishes heavily edited probe of exonerated general
MEXICO CITY (AP) — One day after Mexico angered U.S. officials by publishing an entire 751-page U.S. case file against former Defense Secretary Salvador...
Mexico clears general, publishes US evidence against him
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of fabricating drug trafficking charges against the...
Mexico says US ‘fabricated’ charges, releases evidence
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had “fabricated” drug trafficking accusations against...
US executes Virginia gang killer despite COVID-19 infection
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The U.S. government executed a drug trafficker Thursday for slaying seven people in a burst of violence in Virginia’s...
Drug dealer convicted in 7 killings could face execution
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — It was one of the worst bursts of gang violence Richmond had ever seen. At least 11 people were killed...
Colombia struggles to keep social leaders safe
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Just taking a walk in the streets of Colombia’s capital can feel dangerous for Luz Nelly Santana.
...
US motions expand drug claims against Honduras president
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. federal prosecutors have filed motions saying that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández took bribes from drug traffickers and had...
Researcher gets time served for lying about vials inside bag
BOSTON (AP) — A medical researcher won't serve more time behind bars after pleading guilty to lying to a federal official about 21 vials...
Ukraine seizes ton of heroin destined for Europe
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukrainian officials say they have seized about 1 metric ton (1.1 tons) of heroin that smugglers intended to take into European...
3 nabbed at Johannesburg airport with gold in carry-on bags
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police are investigating a possible international gold smuggling syndicate after three suspects were arrested at O.R. Tambo International Airport...
Top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles resigns after 3 years
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The top federal prosecutor for the Central District of California announced Monday that he is resigning after three years in...
Dick Thornburgh, ex-governor and US attorney general, dies
Dick Thornburgh, who as Pennsylvania governor won plaudits for his cool handling of the 1979 Three Mile Island crisis and as U.S. attorney general...
Judge rejects Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s bail bid
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge rejected a $28.5 million proposed bail package for Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend Monday, saying her incarceration is necessary...
4 pregnant women among 20 migrants dead in Tunisia sinking
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Four pregnant women were among 20 migrants whose bodies were found off Tunisia's coast after their smuggling boat sank, Tunisian...
A look at the 29 people Trump pardoned or gave commutations
WASHINGTON (AP) — For a second night in a row, President Donald Trump issued a round of pardons and commutations in the final weeks...
A look at the 29 people Trump pardoned or gave commutations
WASHINGTON (AP) — For a second night in a row, President Donald Trump issued a round of pardons and commutations in the final weeks...
A look at pardons, clemency in waning weeks of Trump tenure
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the waning weeks of his presidency, Donald Trump has issued a slew of pardons and commutations, including former members of...
A look at pardons, clemency in waning weeks of Trump tenure
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the waning weeks of his presidency, Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a slew of pardons and commutations, including former members...
Lawyers: 2nd US inmate scheduled to be executed has COVID-19
CHICAGO (AP) — A second federal inmate scheduled to be put to death next month in a series of executions by the Trump administration...
Man sentenced for plan to smuggle generator from US to Iran
A U.K. citizen was sentenced Thursday in Florida to two years and six months in federal prison for violating an embargo and attempting to...
Model’s ‘tears of joy’ as agent held over alleged sex crimes
LE PECQ, France (AP) — A former model who testified to French police that she was drugged and raped as a teenager by an...
Credit Suisse indicted over alleged ties to Bulgarian mafia
GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss attorney general’s office said Thursday it has filed an indictment against bank Credit Suisse for allegedly failing to do...
Fashion mogul Peter Nygard arrested in Canada on sex charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard was arrested on charges alleging he sexually abused women and girls after luring them into...
Italian police hail Albania’s fight against drug traffickers
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Italian police officers on Monday hailed their Albanian counterparts for their fight against drug production and trafficking in the western...
Underground Southern California party ends in 158 arrests
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An empty house in the high desert. An Instagram ad touting exotic dancers. A stay-at-home order.
...
Chinese researcher pleads to lying in cancer-smuggling case
BOSTON (AP) — A medical researcher accused of trying to smuggle vials of cancer research material out of the U.S. to his native China...
Ex-Arizona politician gets 6 years in adoption scheme
PHOENIX (AP) — A former Arizona politician who admitted running an illegal adoption scheme in three states involving women from the Marshall Islands was...
Nobel laureate says pandemic raising violence, trafficking
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad said the coronavirus pandemic has increased trafficking of women and gender-based violence, leaving the...
Man with Aryan Brotherhood ties pleads guilty in drug case
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man affiliated with the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood prison gang pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to distribute heroin and...
German far-right party member charged with drug smuggling
BERLIN (AP) — A former regional official with the far-right Alternative for Germany party has been charged on allegations he was involved in smuggling...
Trial opens in death of toddler in migrant smuggling case
BRUSSELS (AP) — A trial opened Monday in the shooting death of a two-year-old toddler who was in a van during a high-speed chase...
Mexico says it wants its ex-officials tried in Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's foreign secretary said Thursday the country no longer wants officials accused of corruption to be put on trial in...
US drops case against ex-Mexican general after pressure
NEW YORK (AP) — The United States on Wednesday dropped a high-profile drug trafficking and money laundering case against a former Mexican defense secretary,...
US dropping case against former Mexican defense secretary
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is dropping its drug trafficking and money laundering case against former Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos,...
Spain searches for answer to migrants eyeing Canary Islands
MADRID (AP) — Spain’s government is stepping up its response to a surge in the number of migrants crossing the Atlantic from Africa to...
Senegal cops arrest dad of teen who died on boat to Europe
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Police in Senegal have arrested the father of a 15-year-old boy who died at sea in October while trying to...
DA: Couple forced man to work every day at liquor store
GILROY, Calif. (AP) — A husband and wife have been charged with human trafficking for allegedly locking a man from India in a liquor...
One killed in shooting by Border Patrol agent in Texas
LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol agent investigating suspected human smuggling with other agents in Texas fatally shot a person driving a...
Judge throws out extortion charges against megachurch leader
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Citing insufficient evidence, a judge on Wednesday threw out extortion charges against the leader of a Mexican megachurch but left...
