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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: smuggling

smuggling stories: 14 news summaries

 Airport Nabs Brit 
 With 1,000 Spiders 

Arachnid smuggler could get jail, $2M fine

Nov 13, 09 2:05 AM CST
(Newser) - A British pet shop owner was nabbed at the airport in Rio de Janiero this week after customs officers found 1,000 live spiders in his checked baggage. Police say it's the biggest seizure of wildlife ever made at the airport. The spider-smuggler now faces up to a year in... More »

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Brazil • airport • spiders • smuggling

 Aussies Stop 'Asylum Boat' 

60 suspected asylum-seekers to be sent to Christmas Island detention center

Sep 16, 09 6:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Australian navy stopped a vessel carrying 58 suspected asylum-seekers off the country's northwest coast today, the BBC reports. It was the fourth such boat stopped in the area in under a week. The passengers will be sent to a detention center on Christmas Island, 1,600 miles west of... More »

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Australia • illegal immigration • asylum • Kevin Rudd • smuggling

(Newser) - Improved security along the US-Mexico border has pushed enterprising smugglers to the sea in any manner of craft, the New York Times reports. Authorities have been catching twice as many illegal immigrants as usual—and seized 7 times the typical quantity of drugs—in recent months from boats and beaches,... More »

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Mexico • ocean • Mexican border • sea • illegal immigration • smuggling • drug smuggling

$134B in Bonds Seized in Italy 'Clearly Fake'

US debt office tells conspiracy theorists
to calm down

Jun 18, 09 8:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - Conspiracy theorists, take note: The US bonds seized near the Swiss border with a face value of $134 billion "are clearly fakes," a Washington spokesman tells Bloomberg. Most securities are now issued electronically, only about $105 billion in bonds have yet to be surrendered, and the "Kennedy... More »

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Italy • Switzerland • debt • bonds • counterfeiters • smuggling • Treasury note

OPINION

$134B Suitcase Could Be Huge Smuggling Scam

Italy arrests men with enough US bonds to buy a few countries

Jun 17, 09 8:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Last week, Italian authorities detained two Japanese men attempting to cross the border into Switzerland carrying a suitcase stuffed with $134 billion in US bonds. The men are either massive counterfeiters or—even scarier—the fourth-largest creditors of the US Treasury, with enough cash to buy three or four countries.... More »

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Ben Bernanke • Italy • Switzerland • debt • bonds • US dollar • counterfeiters • Treasury bills • Timothy Geithner • smuggling • Treasury note

  Massive Drug Tunnel
  Found Under Mexico Border

Elaborate smuggling tunnel to Arizona has electricity, ventilation system

Jun 12, 09 1:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - The US Border Patrol has uncovered one of the biggest and most sophisticated smuggling tunnels under the Mexican border it has ever seen, CNN reports. The 83-foot tunnel to Arizona from Nogales, Mexico, was still under construction when it was found after a tipoff from somebody who heard construction sounds.... More »

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Mexico • Mexican border • Border Patrol • drug cartel • tunnel • Nogales • smuggling • drug smuggling

 As Ariz. Housing Heads South, 
 Kidnappers Move In 

Failing housing market leaves homes abandoned for kidnappers to use

Jun 10, 09 6:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - Gangs of kidnappers preying on illegal Mexicans immigrants or drug rivals are turning Phoenix into the kidnap capital of the US, reports the Wall Street Journal. In one raid, 30 shivering, half-naked smuggled immigrants were discovered in an abandoned home. They had been shaken down for thousands of dollars.... More »

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illegal immigrant • crime • Arizona • housing market • kidnapping • Phoenix • drug cartel • kidnapper • smuggling • Mexican

(Newser) - A Mexican surfer off a California beach was busted for trying to smuggle 24 pounds of pot on his board, reports the Los Angeles Times. When suspicious cops on the beach close to the Mexican border ordered the surfer to come ashore, he heaved a duffel bag into the water.... More »

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California • crime • beach • Mexican border • San Diego • marijuana • surfboard • surfers • smuggling • drug smuggling • Mexican

 Smuggler Busted 
 With Birds Bound to Legs 

Droppings tip off feds to Vietnamese bird-smuggling racket

May 6, 09 7:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two men have been charged with conspiracy to smuggle songbirds from Vietnam after one of them was found with the cheepers strapped to his legs, TMZ reports. Inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport stopped a man with his shoes covered in bird droppings and discovered he had 14 live birds... More »

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birds • Los Angeles International Airport • songbird • smuggling • Sony Dong

 Israel Launches 
 Airstrikes on 
 Gaza Tunnels 

Smuggling tunnels pounded in response to renewed rocket attacks on Jewish state

May 2, 09 8:39 AM CDT
(AP) - Israeli jets struck three smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border today in the second day of renewed airstrikes, the AP reports. There were no reports of injuries. The Israeli military said the strikes—the first in almost two months—were in response to rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from... More »

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Israel • Gaza • Palestinians • airstrike • smuggling

 Baby Gorilla 
 Stashed in 
 Smuggler's Bag 

Had been inside for 6 hours; 'is responding to treatment'

Apr 28, 09 1:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - A live baby gorilla was found at the bottom of a smuggler’s plastic bag in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a 3-month undercover smuggling probe, MSNBC reports. The female eastern lowland gorilla, which has a street value of up to $20,000, had been in the bag for... More »

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wildlife • Democratic Republic of Congo • gorilla • smuggler • Eastern Lowland gorillas • smuggling

(Newser) - President Obama wants to add muscle to America’s promise to curb the flow of weapons to Mexico’s drug cartels. After meeting with Mexican leader Felipe Calderon today, Obama said he would push the Senate to ratify a decade-old treaty on the matter, the Washington Post reports. President Clinton... More »

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Latin America • Mexico • Senate • weapons • Organization of American States • arms trafficking • guns • President Obama • smuggling

 Mexican Cartels 
 Have Little Trouble 
 Getting US Guns 

Lax laws, difficult tracing system make smuggling easy

Apr 15, 09 7:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Thanks to lax gun laws that vary from state to state, smugglers providing arms to Mexican drug cartels can move vast quantities of weapons over the border for years without sparking suspicion. The subject may come up when President Obama visits Mexico tomorrow, but the political will to change US ... More »

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Texas • Mexico • gun control • gun sales • drug cartel • Second Amendment • National Rifle Association • firearms • border • gun laws • smuggling

 Vastly Corrupt 
 Afghan Cops 
 Await US Trainers 

Obama's plan to train cops faces tough challenge

Apr 9, 09 8:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The 4,000 troops President Obama is sending to train Afghanistan's police and army will run straight into a formidable wall of corruption that undermines national security at every turn, American soldiers tell the New York Times. Cops pilfer gas, judges take money, top officials profit from the drug trade,... More »

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corruption • drug trade • Afghanistan war • President Obama • Afghan police • smuggling

14 Stories


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