smuggling

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'Dinosaur Smuggler' Pleads Guilty

Tyrannosaurus fossil sold for $1M

(Newser) - A man from Florida has admitted to smuggling some prehistoric cargo. Eric Prokopi yesterday told a Manhattan federal court that he'd "forwarded a few shipments of fossils of Mongolian origin from Great Britain to the US that were mislabeled." Among the shipments in question: a Tyrannosaurus bataar...

Smuggler Swallowed 220 Diamonds: Police

Man caught trying to leave South Africa

(Newser) - A diamond smuggler is accused of the impressive, painful-sounding feat of swallowing 220 of the gems in an attempt to get them out of South Africa. The Lebanese man was arrested at the Johannesburg airport as he was waiting to fly to Dubai, the BBC reports. Scans of his body...

Canadians Bust Cheese-Smuggling Cops

Trio made $165K selling cheap cross-border cheese

(Newser) - First the great maple syrup heist , now this: Police in Canada have sniffed out a large-scale cheese-smuggling ring involving a serving police officer, an officer who resigned this summer, and an American accomplice. Cheese is a lot cheaper in the US than it is in Canada, and officials believe the...

Smugglers Busted With Primates in Their Skivvies

Lorises headed to Dubai from Bangkok

(Newser) - Is that a slender loris in your pants, or are you just happy to see me? In this case, it was the former: Three United Arab Emirates men headed to Dubai from Bangkok were caught with small primates in their underwear. Two were carrying mammals called slender lorises, Sri Lanka...

Iraq Helping Iran Skirt Sanctions: Officials

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki 'in the middle of this'

(Newser) - While Western nations pressure Iran with sanctions , Iraq is helping its neighbor by smuggling oil and letting Iran secretly move cash through daily bank auctions, the New York Times reports. President Obama has already reprimanded one Iraqi bank that helped Iran, but now a Treasury official says the US is...

S. Korea Busts Smuggled Pills—Made of Baby Flesh

Some believe substance to be cure-all

(Newser) - South Korean customs authorities have made a highly disturbing find: Thousands of capsules made of powdered baby flesh, believed by some to have healing powers. Smugglers have attempted to get nearly 17,500 such capsules into the country since August, officials say. Made in northeastern China, the pills contain diced...

Afghan Asylum Seekers Reach 10-Year High

Human smuggling in Afghanistan, Pakistan worth $1B annually

(Newser) - In the tenth year since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, more Afghans sought asylum abroad last year than any time since the war began, reports the AP . A UN report says that more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum around the world from January to November, a 25%...

NYPD Cops Accused in Gun-Smuggling Sting

They allegedly tried to move weapons they thought were stolen

(Newser) - A sting operation resulted in the arrest today of five New York Police Department officers on charges that they smuggled firearms, cigarettes, and slot machines they thought were stolen, federal authorities said. The officers were among 12 people charged in a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan. Three...

Rev.: Give GPS to Human Smugglers

Human rights activist aims to make border crossing safer

(Newser) - Rev. Robin Hoover, a human rights activist, wants to give GPS devices to human smugglers along the dangerous Mexico-Arizona border, reports the Christian Science Monitor . “It’s like giving a life preserver to somebody that’s using a boat,” and would allow the "coyotes" to alert search...

Leopards, Monkeys, Bear Found in Airport Bags

Anti-trafficking officials tracked Dubai-bound carrier to Thai hub

(Newser) - Thai officials today nabbed a Dubai-bound man who was hauling “a virtual zoo” of endangered creatures around the Bangkok airport. When they opened his bags, they found a yawning bunch of sedated newborns: two leopards, two panthers, two macaque monkeys, and an Asiatic black bear, the AP reports. Anti-trafficking...

Tiger Cub Found in Luggage
 Tiger Cub Stuffed in Luggage 
Aug 27, 2010 2:01 AM CDT

Tiger Cub Stuffed in Luggage

Drugged cub packed with stuffed animals

(Newser) - Thai authorities have seized a 2-month-old tiger cub from a woman who tried to smuggle it out of the country in a suitcase. The drugged cub was found in a checked bag full of stuffed-tiger toys, MSNBC reports. Bangkok authorities became suspicious after seeing the woman struggling with a large...

Drug Money Gushes Across Border

Crackdown on security fails to put a dent in cartels' wallets

(Newser) - Drug cartels are shuttling money across the US/Mexico border with relative impunity, despite an unprecedented effort to crackdown on the trade. According to a Washington Post analysis, authorities manage to snag no more than 1% of the cash crossing the border. That’s still a lot of money—the US...

Man Caught Smuggling Monkeys Under Clothes

Rare titi monkeys were held around his waist

(Newser) - In what may be one of the weirdest airport security busts of all time, Mexican police have arrested a man caught trying to smuggle 18 rare titi monkeys through customs in a girdle around his waist. The tiny animals were each kept inside a sock. The man said the monkeys...

Smugglers Make Fake World Cup Out of Coke

Colombian police seize illegal replica after noticing peeling paint

(Newser) - Colombian investigators didn't like the "bad condition" of the gold paint on what at first appeared to be a World Cup trophy, so they had it checked—and found that the trophy seized at the Bogota airport consisted of 24 pounds of cocaine. The real thing is solid gold...

Al-Qaeda Linked to 'Air Cocaine' Network

Rogue trans-Atlantic aviation set-up sparks security fears

(Newser) - A rogue aviation network with links to al-Qaeda has security analysts seriously worried. The network, believed to consist of at least 10 aircraft, including several Boeing 727s, transports huge amounts of cocaine from South America to West African smugglers who slip it into Europe. Islamic militant groups in Africa reap...

Airport Nabs Brit With 1,000 Spiders

Arachnid smuggler could get jail, $2M fine

(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...

Aussies Stop 'Asylum Boat'
 Aussies Stop 'Asylum Boat' 
Sep 16, 2009 6:06 AM CDT

Aussies Stop 'Asylum Boat'

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

(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...

Drug Smugglers Head to Sea on .... Surfboards?

(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,...

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

US debt office tells conspiracy theorists to calm down

(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...

$134B Suitcase Could Be Huge Smuggling Scam
$134B Suitcase Could Be Huge Smuggling Scam
OPINION
Jun 17, 2009 8:40 AM CDT

$134B Suitcase Could Be Huge Smuggling Scam

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

(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....

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