Feds Bust Ring that Hid Cocaine in Legos

Transferred cash, drugs across international borders

(NEWSER) - The New York Times last month revealed that undercover US agents have laundered and smuggled millions of dollars for Mexico's drug cartels—and today the paper shines a light on one such operation, in which federal agents helped one drug trafficker and his Colombian supplier move cash and cocaine across international borders. Over a period of months in 2007, US and Mexican agents worked with that supplier—Harold Mauricio Poveda-Ortega, aka "The Rabbit"—who fed cocaine to cartel leader Arturo Beltran Levya, the New York Times reports. More»

Obama administration willing to work more closely with Mexico

(NEWSER) - The US has hatched a plan to embed American intelligence agents in Mexican police units for the first time, in an effort to hunt down drug cartel leaders. In the past, the US has hesitated to share intelligence with Mexican police, viewing them as largely corrupt and incompetent. To avoid those pitfalls, the agents will work with recent graduates of the federal police academy, where FBI and DEA advisers now help train recruits, the Washington Post reports. More»

(NEWSER) - It's the biggest cocaine seizure on the high seas and the second biggest bust in US history: The Coast Guard boarded a Panamanian freighter and discovered, inside cargo containers on deck, 21 tons of cocaine with a street value of $300 Million. "It was fast and furious," says Joseph Evans, DEA attache in Panama. More»

But Maria Gonzalez was speeding when she clipped median: police

(NEWSER) - Yesterday's horrifying car crash near the Bronx zoo occurred at the Bronx River Parkway's "Bermuda Triangle," where accidents have happened before, a lawyer tells the New York Daily News . In fact, Eric Buckvar sued New York state and city for some of the six people who died in 2006 after hitting the median and barreling into oncoming traffic. And just last June, another car struck the median and went airborne, landing at street level—but both driver and passenger survived. More»

3 children among fatalities near Bronx Zoo

(AP) - Authorities say an out-of-control SUV plunged off a highway into a ravine on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo in New York City, killing seven people aboard, including three children. Police say the victims were an 84-year-old man; three women, ages 80, 45 and 39, and three girls, ages 3 to 10. Police say the 45-year-old woman was driving. More»