illegal drugs – News Stories About illegal drugs - Page 1

In 'Coconut Water' Bottles, a $140M Stash of Liquid Meth

Those Weren't Bottles of Water
That Arrived in Hong Kong

Oct 29, 2022 5:30 AM CDT

Those Weren't Bottles of Water That Arrived in Hong Kong

City makes biggest-ever meth bust, seizing $140M worth of liquid meth labeled as 'coconut water'

(Newser) - Hong Kong customs seized 2 tons of liquid methamphetamine in the city's biggest-ever meth bust, authorities said Saturday. The drugs, which were seized Oct. 23, had been concealed in bottles labeled as coconut water in a cargo shipment that arrived in Hong Kong by sea, according to a government...

'Narco-Submarine'
Seized in Spain

Mar 13, 2021 9:40 AM CST

'Narco-Submarine' Seized in Spain

It was capable of carrying 2 tons of cargo

(Newser) - Spanish police announced Friday that they seized a homemade narco-submarine able to carry more than 2 tons of cargo. Police came across the 30-foot-long craft last month while it was being built in Málaga, on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol, during a broader international drug operation involving five...

Chicago Cops Blame Facebook for Illegal Gun, Drug Sales

Chicago Cops Say Facebook
Is 'Harboring Criminals'

Dec 4, 2019 9:24 AM CST

Chicago Cops Say Facebook Is 'Harboring Criminals'

More than 50 arrested after investigation

(Newser) - Private Facebook groups have "emboldened" sellers of illegal drugs and guns to connect with potential buyers over the social media site, Chicago police said Tuesday, as leaders announced that a two-year undercover investigation led to more than 50 arrests. Police leaders, including former LAPD chief Charlie Beck, who's...

Cops: He Tried to Smuggle $400K of Drugs—in Goat Guts

Troopers Searched the Fish
Box. There Wasn't Fish Inside

Nov 23, 2019 5:30 AM CST

Troopers Searched the Fish Box. There Wasn't Fish Inside

Cenen Placencia accused of trying to smuggle $400K of drugs in spoiled goat intestines

(Newser) - An Alaska man found with $400,000 in illegal drugs hidden in spoiled goat intestines at an airport has been arrested. Per the AP , Cenen Placencia of Kodiak was arrested Wednesday at Anchorage’s international airport, authorities said. Investigators with Alaska State Troopers searched a large fish box the 71-year-old...

44 Pounds of Meth Mistakenly Sent to Elderly Couple

44 Pounds of Meth Delivered
to 'Quite Elderly' Couple

May 3, 2019 2:55 AM CDT

44 Pounds of Meth Delivered to 'Quite Elderly' Couple

They received package in error

(Newser) - An elderly couple in Australia who received a large quantity of methamphetamine in error decided to contact police instead of going the Walter White route. Police say the couple mistakenly signed for a parcel sent to their west Melbourne home that turned out to contain around 44 pounds of the...

Gang Puts Big Bounty
on Head of a Dog

Jul 27, 2018 9:25 AM CDT

Gang Puts Big Bounty on Head of a Dog

Drug-sniffing Sombra has been relocated in Colombia because Urabeños clan is after her

(Newser) - A drug-sniffing Colombian police dog with nearly 250 arrests under her collar recently tracked down more than 10 tons of coke from a major drug gang. The gang's reaction: a bounty on the pooch's head that may be up to $70,000. The Telegraph reports that Sombra (Spanish...

'China's Walter White' Convicted in $600K-a-Month Drug Scheme

'China's Walter White'
Tried to Solve
Australia's
Drug Dearth

Dec 7, 2016 12:00 PM CST

'China's Walter White' Tried to Solve Australia's Drug Dearth

$600K-per-month make-and-export business was going well until he got busted

(Newser) - A 46-year-old chemistry professor identified only as Zhang, but who Time notes has been called "China's Walter White" in reference to the lead character of AMC's Breaking Bad, was convicted Tuesday of whipping up and selling 32 kilos of drugs—though prosecutors think the amount produced was...

Cocaine Makes Your
Brain Eat Brains

NEW STUDY

Jan 19, 2016 5:51 AM CST

Cocaine Makes Your Brain Eat Brains

Researchers autopsied brain cells killed by drug

(Newser) - Much like rampaging zombies, brain cells on cocaine can't stop eating brains, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Scientists already knew that the drug killed brain cells, but "autopsies" on the dead brain cells of mice given '70s-rock-star levels of cocaine revealed that...

One County Illustrates Just How Bad Heroin Epidemic Is

Aug 24, 2015 3:31 PM CDT

One County Illustrates Just How Bad Heroin Epidemic Is

In one recent 70-minute span, 8 overdoses were reported

(Newser) - The Washington Post takes a look at the country's surging heroin epidemic by zeroing in on Pennsylvania’s Washington County, a place one local detective refers to as "ground zero" for heroin in the area. Last Sunday, in less than 70 minutes, eight heroin overdoses were recorded in...

Jersey Shore's
New Problem:
Heroin Overdoses

Jan 14, 2014 8:17 AM CST

Jersey Shore's New Problem: Heroin Overdoses

Fatal overdoses more than doubled last year in Ocean County, NJ

(Newser) - It's been a rough week for New Jersey , and an NBC News investigation only adds to the state's woes: It found that fatal heroin and prescription drug overdoses at the Jersey Shore more than doubled last year, with 112 deaths in Ocean County compared to 2012's 53...

Teen's Lesions Linked to Cheap Heroin Substitute

Jan 3, 2014 5:13 PM CST

Teen's Lesions Linked to Cheap Heroin Substitute

Clinic says Houston girl injected Krokodil

(Newser) - Another medical case linked to the nasty heroin knockoff Krokodil has surfaced in the US, reports the AP . This time, a 17-year-old girl in Houston ended up in the hospital with the telltale skin lesions after injecting the drug for two months, reports the Independent . The unidentified girl actually went...

Planet Losing
the War on Drugs

REPORT SAYS

Oct 1, 2013 6:00 AM CDT

Planet Losing the War on Drugs

Substances getting purer as prices drop: report

(Newser) - In countries around the world, law enforcement is losing the war on drugs, researchers say. Their evidence: Across two decades of data, purity of illegal substances is up and cost is down, the BBC reports. "These findings suggest that expanding efforts at controlling the global illegal drug market through...

World's Most
Popular Drug: Pot

study says

Aug 29, 2013 12:03 AM CDT

World's Most Popular Drug: Pot

But painkillers behind most deaths

(Newser) - Researchers have, for the first time, conducted a worldwide survey on illegal drug use, and they learned that the most popular one on the planet is marijuana. But the drugs that are killing the most people are strong painkillers, Vicodin, OxyContin, and codeine among them, the AP reports, as per...

N. Korea's Latest
Demon: Crystal Meth

N. Korea's Latest Demon: Crystal Meth

Country is in throes of 'drug epidemic,' says journal

(Newser) - Illegal drugs are a growing problem in North Korea—and some users are turning to the substances to cure common illnesses, the BBC reports. "The whole of North Korean society is being affected by illegal drugs," a defector tells South Korea's Chosun Ilbo . "Some wealthy people...

86% of Teens Say Peers Smoke, Do Drugs ... at School

survey says

Aug 22, 2012 11:51 AM CDT

86% of Teens Say Peers Smoke, Do Drugs ... at School

New survey finds drugs are widely available at schools

(Newser) - Not only are teens drinking and doing drugs, they're drinking and doing drugs at school. Some 86% of US high-schoolers say their peers use alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs "during the school day on or near school grounds," according to the head of a group that ran...

Poorer Nations Seeing
a Rise in Drug Use

Jun 27, 2012 4:35 PM CDT

Poorer Nations Seeing a Rise in Drug Use

Globalization erases a historic trend: UN report

(Newser) - It used to be that poor nations in South America and elsewhere shipped drugs to richer nations while their own residents largely avoided using them. That has changed in the last decade as the economies of developing nations have improved, according to a new UN report. Now these rising nations...

Drug Prohibition
Not Working,
Brand Testifies

Apr 25, 2012 2:22 AM CDT

Drug Prohibition Not Working, Brand Testifies

He speaks to British lawmakers about addiction

(Newser) - Drug addiction should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal one, Russell Brand told lawmakers in Britain yesterday. The flamboyant actor, wearing a torn vest top, testified before a parliamentary committee, saying he had beaten his own addiction to heroin but had been arrested around a dozen times...

68K Pot Plants Found
in California Mountains

Jul 18, 2011 2:49 PM CDT

68K Pot Plants Found in California Mountains

Authorities call it a record seizure

(Newser) - Call it a pot bust with a capital "B." Authorities in California discovered the largest outdoor grow operation in Ventura County history last week: some 68,500 plants worth an estimated $205 million growing in the mountains of the Los Padres National Forest. That's not all investigators...

‘California Grannies’ Busted for Growing Weed

May 4, 2011 7:26 PM CDT

‘California Grannies’ Busted for Growing Weed

Two women, ages 65 and 72, arrested with 800 pot plants

(Newser) - Authorities have dubbed them the "marijuana grannies." Police in San Bruno, California, arrested Aleen Lam, 72, and Virginia Chan Pon, 65, after officers found 800 pot plants and a bypass to steal electricity from PG&E in the women's house, reports AP . The senior duo faces a...

Not Just Drugs Anymore:
DEA Now a Vast, Global Spy

WIKILEAKS CABLES

Dec 26, 2010 9:55 AM CST

Not Just Drugs Anymore: DEA Now a Vast, Global Spy

WikiLeaks cables reveal the growing reach of the DEA

(Newser) - It's not your daddy's Drug Enforcement Agency: The DEA reach is now so vast and global that it extends far beyond illegal drugs into global intelligence gathering, reports the New York Times . The DEA, with 87 offices in 63 countries, has developed strong ties with foreign governments, including those that...