South African police bust international drug smuggling syndicate; 3 Britons face charges

October 1st, 2009 Venezuela turns over drug suspect wanted by USCARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's top security official says an American pilot wanted in the United States on cocaine-smuggling charges has been turned over to representatives of the U.S. State Department to be taken home.

September 22nd, 2009 Venezuela captures drug suspect wanted by USCARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's justice minister says police have captured an American pilot wanted on cocaine smuggling charges in the United States. Justice minister Tareck El Aissami says the 38-year-old suspect, Julio Mendez, has been sought by the U.S.

August 21st, 2009 Venezuela helps US seize cocaine-laden shipCARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela says its collaboration with U.S. authorities led to the seizure of about a ton of cocaine aboard a ship in the Caribbean Sea.

August 14th, 2009 NAWANSHAHR - Punjab Police claimed to have busted a drug racket with the arrest of three Punjab residents and a non-resident Indian (NRI) here Friday. Police also seized 1.8 kg of heroin from their possession.

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 5th, 2009 Drug bust nets heroin stuffed in Build-A-Bear toysNEW YORK — A dozen people have been arrested, and 33 pounds of heroin worth $30 million and stuffed inside Build-A-Bear toys has been seized in a drug bust in the Bronx. The arrests late Friday afternoon were announced Saturday by the New York office of the Drug Enforcement Administration along with city and state police.

July 1st, 2009 2 more face charges in Vegas boy abduction caseLAS VEGAS — Two more defendants have been named in a federal cocaine trafficking case stemming from the kidnapping of a 6-year-old boy from his Las Vegas home last October. The U.S. attorney's office in Nevada says a revised indictment brings to four the number of defendants in the federal criminal case involving the abduction of Cole Puffinburger.

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.

June 24th, 2009 Canadian man gets 7 1/2 years on smuggling chargesDETROIT — A Canadian man who tried to drive nearly 200 pounds of the drug Ecstasy, worth an estimated $6.5 million, into the United States has been sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison. A federal judge in Detroit sentenced Joseph Bennett of Scarborough, Ontario, on Wednesday.

June 24th, 2009 Hotel suicide suspect pleads innocent to smugglingMcALLEN, Texas — A man suspected of aiding in a woman's suicide in a Mexican hotel last month has pleaded not guilty to U.S. drug smuggling charges.

June 8th, 2009 Mexico captures drug cartel suspect wanted in USMEXICO CITY — Mexican police have captured a woman wanted in the United States for allegedly smuggling $2 million in cocaine-trafficking profits for a powerful drug cartel. The Attorney General's Office says Olga Lerma was arrested in western Jalisco state after police spent three months tracking her movements.

May 10th, 2009 Gunmen kill 9 in western Mexico, shoot horsesMORELIA, Mexico — Gunmen killed nine people in three separate attacks in the Mexico's drug-plagued western state of Michoacan, authorities said Sunday. The state attorney general's office said gunmen broke into a ranch in a rural area and shot dead five employees, along with four horses and a bull.

April 30th, 2009 Elderly man arrested in Italy for coke in orangesROME — The elderly man claimed he needed the oranges in his suitcase to keep up his vitamin C level, but Italian police soon realized the "C'' stood for cocaine. Customs officers in Rome on Thursday arrested a 76-year-old Dutch man who tried to smuggle in more than 13 pounds (six kilograms) of cocaine packed into oranges that had been emptied of their pulp.

April 23rd, 2009 Australia charges 2 with people smugglingPERTH — Australia has charged two Indonesian men with attempting to smuggle people into Australia in separate incidents earlier this month. The charges brought by the Australian Federal Police on Thursday allege that the men operated boats carrying asylum seekers into Australian waters.

April 22nd, 2009 Sierra Leone sends 3 to US to face drug chargesFREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone authorities say three men convicted of drug smuggling have been sent to the U.S. where they are wanted on similar charges.