Mexican police arrest alleged drug trafficker carrying drugs, jewelry and $3.6M in cash

September 30th, 2009 Spain: $6 million in drug money found under shackMADRID — Spanish police say narcotics investigators have found €4.3 million ($6.3 million) in cash buried in a shanty town on the island of Mallorca. The National Police say authorities trying to break up a drug ring used heavy construction equipment to rip up the concrete floor of a shack in the city of Palma and found seven boxes with the euros, plus 7.5 kilograms (17 pounds) of jewelry and gems and $8,000.

September 30th, 2009 DomRep extradites Colombian cocaine suspect to USSANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — A Dominican official says an alleged Colombian cocaine trafficker arrested in the Dominican Republic has been extradited to the United States. The official says Luis Alberto Santacruz Echeverri, known by the nickname "Lucho," was extradited Monday to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

September 30th, 2009 Spain: $6 million in drug money found shackMADRID — Spanish police say narcotics investigators have found €4.3 million ($6.3 million) in cash buried in a shanty town on the island of Mallorca. The National Police say authorities trying to break up a drug ring used heavy construction equipment to rip up the concrete floor of a shack in the city of Palma and found seven boxes with the euros, plus 7.5 kilograms (17 pounds) of jewelry and gems and $8,000.

September 26th, 2009 Clinton discusses fight against drugs with MexicoNEW YORK — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa have vowed to "keep strengthening" cooperation in the fight against drug violence and organized crime that spills across their countries' common border.

September 14th, 2009 31 Mexican police arrested for alleged drug tiesMEXICO CITY — Thirty-one police officers have been arrested in a central Mexican state on suspicion of collaborating with a gang of drug cartel hit men. The Public Safety Department says the officers were arrested as part of a months-long investigation into alleged ties between police and the Zetas in Hidalgo, a state north of Mexico City.

September 11th, 2009 Mexico police find over $5 million cash in cargoMEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities say they have found at least $5 million hidden in a shipment of ammonium sulfate at a Pacific coast port, and are still counting the cash. Authorities earlier said the estimated amount was at least $5.4 million.

September 11th, 2009 Mexican ex-officials to be tried for drug tiesMEXICO CITY — A Mexico judge ordered eight former top police and prosecution officials in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo to stand trial on charges of aiding drug cartels, the Attorney General's Office said Friday. The trial orders represent one of the most complete sweeps of top law enforcement officers in a Mexican state in recent memory, including the two highest officials of the federal Attorney General's Office in the state, who were arrested earlier this month.

September 11th, 2009 Mexico police find over $5.4 million cash in cargoMEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities say they have found at least $5.4 million hidden in a shipment of ammonium sulfate at a Pacific coast port, and are still counting the cash. The Mexican navy says the bundles of cash were hidden in large sacks of the granular chemical, most commonly used as a fertilizer.

September 9th, 2009 Journalists arrested for alleged drug gang payoffsVILLAHERMOSA, Mexico — Two rural journalists have been arrested for allegedly working as informants for a violent drug trafficking cartel, according to courts in the southern Mexico state of Tabasco. Newspaper correspondents Roberto Juarez and Lazaro Abreu Tejero Sanchez are being held on charges that they accepted thousands of dollars from the Zetas, a fierce drug gang aligned with the Gulf cartel, the state court system said in a news release.

August 20th, 2009 Mexican state lawmaker killedACAPULCO, Mexico — Gunmen have killed the presiding lawmaker of the state legislature in a drug-plagued Mexican state. Guerrero state's public safety department says the body of leftist congressman Armando Chavarria was found early Thursday in the passenger seat of a vehicle in the state capital of Chilpancingo.

August 5th, 2009 Mexico apologizes to Church after raid during MassMEXICO CITY — The Mexican government has apologized to Roman Catholic officials and parishioners after storming a church during Mass to arrest a drug suspect. But the Public Safety Department is standing by the decision to launch the raid, saying it was necessary to avoid a violent confrontation or escape.

July 20th, 2009 New charges, rewards in drug warWASHINGTON — The US government has filed new charges against top Mexican drug suspects and offered a total of $50 million in rewards for their capture. The Justice Department says an updated indictment made public Monday in Washington adds the names of three alleged lieutenants of the Mexican drug cartel called "The Company" and its offshoot, Los Zetas.

July 1st, 2009 BANGKOK - Thai police discovered about 10 million baht ($290,000) in cash hidden in the doors of a car belonging to an alleged drug trafficker which had been impounded and driven by officers for the past two years, media reports said Wednesday. Department of Special Investigation chief Thawee Sodsong told a press conference Tuesday that police in Udon Thani province had recently found 9,998,000 baht packed inside the back doors of a Toyota Fortuner that had been seized in a raid on a suspected drug dealer's house in Bangkok back in 2005.

June 30th, 2009 Venezuela deports top Mafia suspect to ItalyCARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela deported a convicted European drug trafficker dubbed the "Mafia's foreign minister" to Italy on Tuesday, where he has been wanted on drug smuggling charges since 2001. Salvatore Miceli, 63, was led in handcuffs to a sport-utility vehicle to be taken to a plane, which departed for Italy.

April 30th, 2009 Mexico nabs drug gang leader on most-wanted listMEXICO CITY — Mexican police have arrested suspected Zeta gang leader Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa, one of Mexico's 24 most-wanted drug traffickers. Federal police say Sauceda Gamboa was detained in the border city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas.