The U.S. Department of Justice says Timothy Ripley was one of 11 people who were associated with a Mexican drug trafficking organization. Between July 2023 and January 2025, leaders arranged for large quantities of methamphetamine to be delivered to the Twin Cities area, where it was broken down into smaller parcels to sell.
In January 2025, someone owed a leader a “substantial amount of money” which they couldn’t pay for. Ripley and three of the others who were charged lured the person who owed money to a location in St. Paul, chained them to a pole and held them against their will, the justice department said.
Ripley, of Maple Grove, Minnesota, was federally indicted with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to kidnap. He pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of firearm possession. The state had charged Ripley with one count each of kidnapping for a reward and kidnapping to commit great bodily harm, but those charges were dropped in favor of the federal case.
Illinois inmate shot and killed at federal prison in Sumter County
WESH TWO NEWS. ALL RIGHT, HALEY, THANK YOU. MEANTIME, A FAMILY SAYS THEY HAVE QUESTIONS AFTER THEY SAY ONE OF THEIR OWN WAS SHOT AND KILLED IN PRISON. THIS MAN, 33 YEAR OLD DWAYNE TOTTLEBEN, DIED ON OCTOBER 10TH. WESH TWO. TONI ATKINS IS LIVE AT FCC COLEMAN IN SUMTER COUNTY, WHERE TOTTLEBEN WAS SERVING TIME AND TONY. HIS FAMILY JUST WANTS TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. WELL, IT’S BEEN 12 DAYS SINCE THE INCIDENT HERE AT THE PRISON RIGHT BEHIND ME. THIS FAMILY, HOPING TO FIGURE OUT SOMETHING SOON. 33 YEAR OLD DWAYNE TOTTLEBEN OF ILLINOIS WAS SHOT AND KILLED WHILE INSIDE U.S. PENITENTIARY COLEMAN IN SUMTER COUNTY. LOVED ONES POSTING ON GOFUNDME SAYING THEY’RE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION. NBC NEWS REPORTS. TOTTLEBEN WAS SERVING 15 YEARS AT THE FEDERAL PRISON FOR POSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAMINE WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE. THE CHARGES, RELATED TO A 2020 TRAFFIC STOP IN SAINT LOUIS. THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS, WHICH ALSO SHARES INFORMATION ON INMATES DEATHS, HAS NOT RELEASED INFORMATION ABOUT TOTTLEBEN. IN THE MEANTIME, LOVED ONES SPOKE WITH NBC NEWS DWAYNE TOTTLEBEN SENIOR SAYS OFFICIALS INFORMED HIM HIS SON WAS SHOT. HE SAID, QUOTE, I WAS DISTRAUGHT. I DIDN’T KNOW IF SOMEONE STABBED HIM. I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING. THE PRISON SENT THIS STATEMENT TO NBC NEWS SAYING THE FACILITY WAS PLACED ON ENHANCED MODIFIED OPERATIONS ON OCTOBER 10TH, AND THAT WARDENS MAY ESTABLISH CONTROLS OR IMPLEMENT TEMPORARY SECURITY MEASURES TO ENSURE THE GOOD ORDER AND SAFETY OF THE EMPLOYEES AND THE INDIVIDUALS IN OUR CUSTODY. END QUOTE. TOTTLEBEN SENIOR TOLD NBC NEWS, QUOTE, WHEN PEOPLE GET INTO FIGHTS IN PRISON, THEY LOSE TIME, CREDIT. THEY DON’T LOSE THEIR LIVES. AND I ALSO REACHED OUT TO THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS TO SEE IF THEY HAD A STATEMENT ABOUT HIS DEATH. THEY I DID RECEIVE AN AUTO REPLY, AND IT SAID THAT THEY WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO RESPOND DUE TO A LAPSE IN APPROPRIATIONS, WHICH IS RELATED TO THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. FOR NOW, I’
Illinois inmate shot and killed at federal prison in Sumter County
Dwayne Tottleben, a 33-year-old inmate from Illinois, was shot and killed while inside U.S. Penitentiary Coleman in Sumter County, according to loved ones who are trying to understand the situation.Tottleben was serving a 15-year sentence at the federal prison for possession of methamphetamines with intent to distribute, stemming from a 2020 traffic stop in St. Louis.The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which often shares information about inmate deaths, has not released details about Tottleben’s death.Meanwhile, loved ones spoke with NBC News, with Dwayne Tottleben Sr. saying officials informed him his son was shot.”I was distraught. I didn’t know if somebody stabbed him. I didn’t know anything,” Tottleben Sr. said.The prison sent a statement to NBC News, indicating that the facility was placed on enhanced modified operations on Oct. 10.It stated that wardens may establish controls or implement temporary security measures to ensure the good order and safety of employees and individuals in custody.”When people get into fight in prison, they lose good time credit… they don’t lose their life,” Tottleben Sr. said.
Tottleben was serving a 15-year sentence at the federal prison for possession of methamphetamines with intent to distribute, stemming from a 2020 traffic stop in St. Louis.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which often shares information about inmate deaths, has not released details about Tottleben’s death.
Meanwhile, loved ones spoke with NBC News, with Dwayne Tottleben Sr. saying officials informed him his son was shot.
“I was distraught. I didn’t know if somebody stabbed him. I didn’t know anything,” Tottleben Sr. said.
The prison sent a statement to NBC News, indicating that the facility was placed on enhanced modified operations on Oct. 10.
It stated that wardens may establish controls or implement temporary security measures to ensure the good order and safety of employees and individuals in custody.
“When people get into fight in prison, they lose good time credit… they don’t lose their life,” Tottleben Sr. said.
A Pakistani navy ship seized narcotics worth more than $972 million from sailboats in the Arabian Sea, U.S. Central Command confirmed on Tuesday.
The Combined Maritime Forces, a naval partnership that includes the United States, said the Pakistani naval vessel PNS Yarmook last week intercepted two different traditional sailing vessels, known as dhows, within 48 hours.
The crew seized several tons of crystal methamphetamine, worth over $960 million, and a smaller amount of cocaine, the partnership said in a statement.
“The narcotics were transported back to the ship for testing to confirm the contents and subsequently disposed of,” the partnership said.
The intercepted vessels were “identified as having no nationality,” it said without indicating where they had originated.
Pakistan’s navy touted the seizure on social media, posting video of the PNS Yarmook.
PNS YARMOOK, operating under the Saudi-led Combined Task Force 150, executed a successful counter-narcotics operation in the North Arabian Sea, seizing narcotics worth USD 972 million, reflecting Pakistan Navy’s enduring resolve against illicit trafficking at sea. pic.twitter.com/EdCZybApNo
“The success of this focused operation highlights the importance of the multi-national collaboration,” said Royal Saudi Naval Forces Commodore Fahad Aljoiad, commander of the task force carrying out the operation. “PNS Yarmook has had one of the most successful narcotics seizures for CMF, which is directly attributed to the expertise and collaboration of our naval forces within the organization.”
In a social media post, U.S. Central Command congratulated the Combined Maritime Forces, which includes 47 countries’ navies and patrols more than 3 million square miles of sea, including some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, to disrupt the smuggling of drugs and weapons.
Smugglers often use dhows to transport drugs quietly through the region. In 2021, the U.S. Navy rescued five Iranians suspected of smuggling drugs after they apparently set fire to their stash on board a dhow.
Large amounts of drugs have been confiscated from boats in the open sea around the globe in recent months. Last month, the French navy seized nearly 10 tons of cocaine worth more than $600 million from a fishing vessel off the coast of West Africa.
In April, the U.S. Coast Guard seized roughly 10,000 pounds of cocaine from a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean. That haul was worth an estimated $74 million.
The future of a Montana animal shelter remains uncertain after a cloud of smoke from two pounds of methamphetamine seized by the FBI and incinerated filled up the building and sent workers to the hospital.
The smoke started to fill the building of the nonprofit Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter in Billings on Wednesday while the FBI used an incinerator at the animal shelter to burn the drugs, city officials said.
Assistant City Administrator Kevin Iffland said Friday that the smoke was sucked in apparently because of negative pressure. A fan was supposed to be on hand in such situations to reverse the pressure so smoke would flow out of the building, but it wasn’t readily available.
The incinerator is used primarily to burn carcasses of animals euthanized or collected by the city’s animal control division. But every couple of months, local law enforcement or FBI agents use it to burn seized narcotics, Iffland said.
Fourteen animal shelter workers were evacuated and went to the hospital. The shelter’s 75 dogs and cats were relocated or put into foster homes, said Iffland and shelter director Triniti Halverson.
Animal crates sit outside the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Billings, Mont.
Matthew Brown / AP
The shelter shares space with Billings’ animal control division. When smoke started filling parts of the building, Halverson assumed it was from burning carcasses because she said they had never known about the drug burns.
Halverson said she had a very intense headache and sore throat, and others had dizziness, sweating and coughing.
“Not a party,” she said.
The workers found out it was methamphetamine smoke through a call from a city official while they were in the hospital, Halverson said. Most of the staff spent several hours in an oxygen chamber for treatment.
Symptoms have lingered for some workers, Halverson said.
They were also closely monitoring four litters of kittens that got more heavily exposed because they were in a closed room with lots of smoke, she said.
Izzy Zalenski, right, walks Paul outside the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Billings, Mont.
Matthew Brown / AP
The FBI routinely uses outside facilities to conduct controlled drug evidence burns, agency spokesperson Sandra Barker said. She referred further questions to Billings officials.
A city animal control supervisor who was present for Wednesday’s burn declined to go to the hospital, Iffland said. The FBI agents were told to go to the hospital by their supervisor.
The incinerator is meant to operate at a certain temperature, so it doesn’t emit toxins. Iffland said officials were trying to determine if it was at the appropriate temperature on Wednesday.
The shelter will remain closed until it can be tested for contamination. Shelter workers were tested for potential exposure, and Iffland said he did not know the results.
A sign is posted on the door of the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Billings, Mont.
Matthew Brown / AP
“We have no idea of how much we’ve lost,” shelter board member and attorney Frans Andersson told CBS affiliate KTVQ. “We don’t have inventory at the moment of what was in there.”
The company hired to assess and clean up the building told the station that they are doing air quality tests before any remediation can happen.
“This is a unique situation and project,” said Andrew Newman, owner and CEO of Newman Restoration. “Typically, what we’ll see is more on the residential side with, you know, kind of a meth lab that either caused a fire or triggered some type of needing remediation. With this being a larger commercial facility and what the intentions were, it makes it a unique situation and cleanup.”
Newman expects the lab results to come back by next week.
Billings resident Jay Ettlemen went to the shelter on Friday to donate dog food and said he was angry when he found out about the drug burns.
“Why the hell are they destroying drugs inside the city limits?” Ettlemen asked. “There’s so many other places in the middle of nowhere.”
A 42-year-old man fatally shot by Fort Collins police during an armed confrontation at Grandview Cemetery in July was a suspect in a 2019 cold-case homicide, police officials said Friday.
Pierce was involved in a single-vehicle rollover crash and left the scene armed with two “ghost guns,” or guns without serial numbers, which are illegal to own, sell or create.
Pierce was also carrying a bottle of bourbon with the words “His last day” written on it, according to the district attorney’s letter.
He pointed the rifle at responding police officers and shot one officer in the arm, according to the agency. He then walked into Grandview Cemetery, where he was fatally shot by police.
Pierce had twice the legal driving limit of alcohol as well as methamphetamine, THC and gabapentin in his system at the time of his death, according to the letter.
District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin found Fort Collins Police Services Sgt. Brian Mallory and Officers Peter Nolan, August Barber and Cole Giandomenico were legally justified in using deadly force “to defend themselves, other officers and the public at large” from the threat posed by Pierce.
At the time of Pierce’s death, Fort Collins police were “in the process of formalizing charges” against him in connection to a 2019 cold-case homicide, the police agency said Friday.
Detectives determined there was “sufficient evidence” to arrest Pierce on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of Joseph “Sonny” Brigman.
Brigman, 62, died from a gunshot wound after he was found unresponsive in his apartment in the 4100 block of Verbena Way the night of April 29, 2019, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
Dutch authorities seized a record haul of 3.2 tons of methamphetamines worth more than 22 million euros, the public prosecutor’s office said Thursday, marking the second time in two months that a record amount of crystal meth has been intercepted in Europe.
Customs officers discovered the haul in early March at the Rotterdam port in a cargo which arrived from Mexico and was destined for a company in the southern village of Den Hout, the office said in a statement.
“The haul was hidden in a sandy substance heavily contaminated with copper and PFAS,” a type of long-lasting chemical, said the prosecutor’s office, which released an image of the seized drugs.
Dutch authorities seized a record haul of 3.2 tons of methamphetamines, the public prosecutor’s office said on July 25, 2024.
Public prosecutor’s office
It took authorities four months to find a way to destroy the methamphetamines, which was why the announcement was delayed.
Weighing more than 3.2 tons and with a street value of $24.3 million, it was “the largest seizure of crystal meth in the Netherlands to date”, the office said.
A 55-year-old man from Den Hout was arrested and subsequently released but remains the main suspect in the case.
The major bust was announced two months after Spanish police said they had seized 1.8 tons of crystal meth that Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel was trying to sell in Europe, marking the country’s biggest-ever seizure of the narcotic.
The announcement also comes just days after authorities in South Africa said they discovered a
Methamphetamines are similar to amphetamines but far stronger and more addictive.
Also known as “yaba” or “ice,” the drug is sold in the form of crystals, powder, capsules or tablets.
Meanwhile, Dutch authorities also announced this week that 70 million euros worth of cocaine had been intercepted during an inspection in the port of Rotterdam. They said a bulk of the drugs were found hidden in shipments of mangos, avocados and bananas — a common tactic used by drug traffickers.
FARIBAULT, Minn. — A man who held up traffic on Interstate 35 near Faribault for hours on Sunday had more than 40 pounds of meth in his vehicle, charging documents filed in Rice County allege.
A 42-year-old man from Minneapolis is facing multiple felony drug charges and a charge for illegally possessing a firearm as a felon convicted of a crime of violence.
Charges say law enforcement attempted to stop the man’s vehicle on I-35 in Steele County by using stop sticks. The vehicle pulled over at one point and a 29-year-old woman exited before the man continued on the interstate.
The woman told police that the man had a gun in the car with him.
Shortly before 3 p.m., the vehicle came to a stop within the city limits of Faribault due to “debilitating damage,” charges say.
That’s when the man exited his car holding a gun and a standoff ensued, prompting authorities to shut down traffic in both directions of I-35 and issue a shelter-in-place alert for residents in the area.
Officers repeatedly ordered the man to drop his weapon and he did not comply. Throughout the encounter, the man fired his weapon multiple times, once at the ground near him and at a drone. He also attempted to shoot himself before losing the firearm, the complaint says.
The man fled into an open farm field nearby and police say they used a K-9 to take him down.
During a search of the man’s vehicle, police report finding hypodermic needles “littered” throughout it. Officers recovered from his vehicle 44 pounds of meth, nearly 300 pills — most containing fentanyl — and equipment for packaging drugs, charges say.
Riley Moser is a digital producer who covers breaking news and feature stories for CBS Minnesota. Riley started her career at CBS Minnesota in June 2022 and earned an honorable mention for sports writing from the Iowa College Media Association the same year.
A cleaning crew arrived at an Airbnb residence in Alhambra last month where they found boxes that contained about 235 pounds of methamphetamine, police said Sunday.
Officers arrived at the home in the 1400 block of South Ethel Avenue around noon on May 24 where they discovered boxes full of the drugs, according to an Instagram post from the Alhambra Police Department.
Shortly after they arrived at the scene, police said they saw a U-Haul van returning to the location, according to Alhambra Police Sgt. Efren Tamayo.
Police said the van “quickly” made a U-turn — “thinking they would get away” — but two people were later arrested on suspicion of transporting narcotics.
Tamayo said that details on the case were limited but said a Ring camera captured footage of the pair using the same van to transport the narcotics.
Law enforcement officials — with the help of sniffer dogs — seized nearly six tons of methamphetamine hidden within a shipment of green squash this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
The illicit substance was discovered inside 1,419 packages within the squash shipment, the agency said in a news release.
The shipment was found in a commercial tractor-trailer being driven by a 44-year-old man on Monday evening. When CBP officers at the Otay Mesa port in San Diego, California encountered the man, they requested that his truck undergo further examination, the agency said.
After scans of the tractor trailer detected “irregularities,” a canine team responded and alerted officers to the presence of narcotics.
The 11,469 pounds of meth found have an estimated street value of over $18 million, the CBP said.
A package of methamphetamine found among green squash.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
The drugs were seized, as was the vehicle. The unidentified driver, who had a valid border crossing card, was turned over to the custody of Homeland Security for further investigation.
The seizure was done as part of Operation Apollo, a CBP operation working to target fentanyl smuggling in southern California and Arizona. The operation connects local CBP officers with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners, the agency said, increasing collaboration between the groups and allowing them to share resources and intelligence.
“Our officers’ commitment to duty, excellence, and the safety of our nation is truly commendable. These results serve as an outstanding display of effectiveness in thwarting the illegal importation of narcotics,” stated Rosa E. Hernandez, the Otay Mesa Area Port Director, in the news release. “Their exceptional efforts truly embody the highest standards of service.”
Nearly six tons of methamphetamine were found by officers.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
It’s far from the first time a massive shipment of illicit drugs has been found inside a food shipment. More than 750 pounds of fentanyl pills were found hidden among a shipment of green beans being transported through the Otay Mesa port in April 2023. The deadly synthetic opioid has also been found smuggled in flour bags and candy boxes, CBS News previously reported.
CBP agents found more than 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine hidden in bins of jalapeño paste being transported over the border in December 2023.
Since Oct. 1, 2023, CBP agents have seized over 12,000 shipments of illegal drugs at border checkpoints. That includes over 3,300 methamphetamine seizures.
Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.
MEXICO CITY — Mexican law enforcement agencies said Monday they seized over 40 tons of methamphetamine at the biggest drug lab found during the current administration.
The Mexican navy said Monday that the lab was located in Quiriego, a township in a remote part of the northern border state of Sonora.
It said the 91,000 pounds (41,310 kilograms) of meth found there was equivalent to about half of the 162,000 pounds of the drug Mexico has seized all year so far. Another 28,000 pounds (12,705 kilograms) of meth chemicals were found, the navy said.
Photos distributed by the navy showed a series of large metal boilers and chemical reactors arranged in a line amid the brush and low trees of the site, which was visible from the air. Over 200 centrifuges, boilers and condensing chambers were discovered, according to the navy.
The navy said its personnel destroyed the equipment by blowing it up. The Navy said the raid Thursday involved helicopters and suggested the meth was bound for export to Europe, Asia and the United States. But Mexico also has a big problem with domestic use of meth.
The 72 boilers indicated the facility was capable of producing multiple times the amount of drugs than the second-biggest meth lab uncovered during the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. That lab, in neighboring Sinaloa state, had 13 boilers.
López Obrador, who took office on Dec. 1 2018, frequently claims that Mexicans are culturally immune to drug addiction.
A year ago, soldiers seized more than a half-million fentanyl pills in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, in what the army at the time described as the largest synthetic drug lab found to date.
Soldiers found almost 630,000 pills that appeared to contain the synthetic opioid fentanyl, the army said. They also reported seizing 282 pounds (128 kilograms) of powdered fentanyl and about 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of suspected methamphetamine.
Two days later, the Mexican army seized almost 1,400 liters of liquid methamphetamines and nearly a half-ton of solid crystal meth, which it said at the time was the biggest seizure of meth in a year.
Troops found the drugs at a half-finished house in the town of Angostura, Sinaloa. The state is home to the drug cartel of the same name.
Previously, most big meth labs had been found in Sinaloa, but it appears the increasingly violent state of Sonora has become a center of production, and not just a smuggling route.
The RTD will reopen the Downtown Boulder Station lobby on Feb. 19 after over a year of renovations to replace the building’s interior ductwork, which was contaminated with methamphetamines last year.
The inside of the station at 1800 14th St. in Boulder was closed last January after an investigation into strong odors emitting from a restroom revealed levels of meth exceeding Center for Disease Control limits, according to Regional Transportation District news releases. Residue was also detected in the ductwork and was impossible to clean out, necessitating a full replacement of the ventilation system.
“The collective goal of all employees involved in this project was to ensure the station could be reopened in a safe condition,” said RTD General Manager and CEO Debra Johnson in a Monday release. “While illicit drug abuse is a societal issue that is not unique to RTD, it is our responsibility to provide employees and the public with a space that is clean and welcoming to inhabit.”
The agency spent $295,000 on external contractors to remediate the methamphetamine contamination, including testing for contamination, repairing areas affected by replacing all ductwork and repainting the station interiors, said Project Manager Pauline Haberman.
The new ducts installed in the station have exterior insulation, allowing for the insides to be cleaned, the release noted. Additionally, restroom ventilation was improved with more powerful exhaust fans that will keep smoke within those spaces.
The RTD also gave the lobby of the station a refresh, repainting the walls, adding a new coating to the benches and deep cleaning and sealing the main tile floor.
The agency will use its police department — now made up of many sworn officers instead of a traditionally contracted security agency — to proactively reduce potentially dangerous situations, Haberman said.
Driving south along Highway 6 in Clifton, Texas, you pass a Subway, a Sonic and a Dairy Queen, where until a few weeks ago, several employees allegedly sold meth in addition to Blizzards and dipped cones.
According to a press release from the Clifton Police Department, tips started coming in June 2023 that individuals were selling meth in the small town of about 3,500, about an hour and a half south of Fort Worth. Their investigation led them to the local Dairy Queen, giving rise to the name “Operation Blizzard.”
The police department set up undercover drug buys, and officers confirmed meth sales were being made at Dairy Queen and other locations around the town.
With help from the McLennan County SWAT team and two Texas game wardens, Clifton Police executed three search warrants between Jan. 16 and Jan. 26.
They arrested 10 individuals on charges including manufacturing and delivering controlled substances and possession of controlled substances in a drug-free zone, which includes proximity to a public park and preschool.
The press release clarified, “Those individuals are no longer employed there [Dairy Queen] as of this report.”
“We always encourage small businesses in Clifton,” Chief of Police Chris Blanton said in the press release, “however we would encourage these types of entrepreneurs to take your criminal enterprise elsewhere.”
Dairy Queen did not respond to our request for comment. However, Facebook had a lot to say, in addition to the Clifton PD who, while not coordinating drug busts, surely dabble in stand-up comedy:
They covered themselves with hazmat suits, gloves and masks and put plastic bags over their boots. That’s how dangerous the substance was that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were examining Wednesday morning.
A cadre of agents — veterans who had seized fentanyl, heroin and other illicit narcotics in previous raids — dug deep, hands and boots in a sea of pungent material, before hitting pay dirt.
What agents said they found was almost 2 tons of methamphetamine and cocaine — valued at $10.4 million — buried within dozens of vats of fiery jalapeño paste. The cargo was seized from a commercial tractor-trailer near the Otay Mesa border.
“It was an extremely spicy situation,” Michael Scappechio, a CBP spokesperson, told The Times. “You never really know what you’re dealing with just in terms of dangerous narcotics and then you throw in there all that organic material; we had to break out the full PPE,” or personal protective equipment.
A 28-year-old man with valid border-crossing credentials was stopped Wednesday around 10:36 a.m. by agents while hauling his cargo. The individual was a Mexican national, according to Scappechio.
His electronic shipment manifest listed only vats of jalapeño paste among his consignment.
Customs officers decided to review the man’s haul.
In total, 349 packages of methamphetamine and cocaine weighing 3,684 pounds were seized.
(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
“We won’t expose the reasons that led to the further examination,” Scappechio said, “but agent suspicion is often used.”
The truck was moved from the border to the nearby screening facility, where a K-9 unit then screened the cargo and alerted agents for a full inspection.
There, they poured out barrel-sized drums of jalapeño paste, removing 349 suspicious packages from the vats. About 3,161 pounds of methamphetamine and 523 pounds of cocaine were extracted from the haul.
The driver was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security for arrest and processing while the CBP seized the drugs and trailer.
Never underestimate the power of a dog’s nose.
“Our K-9 teams are an invaluable component of our counter-narcotics operations, providing a reliable and unequaled mobile detection capability,” said Rosa Hernandez in a statement. The Otay Mesa port director said the CBP had stepped up its efforts “to secure communities and stifle the growth of transnational criminal organizations, one seizure after another.”
Last month, San Diego’s field office seized more than 14,000 pounds of narcotics at California’s land borders.
But what’s going to happen to all that jalapeño paste?
Scappechio said he couldn’t say for certain but noted that the agency was “not going to hold organic material for too long” before destroying it. He did say the owner could petition to retrieve the property.
“Since the jalapeño paste was laden with dangerous drugs,” Scappechio said, “I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
Thousands of pounds of illegal narcotics were found hidden in vats of jalapeño paste and seized at the U.S.-Mexico border last week, authorities said, thanks in part to K-9 dogs that sniffed out the suspicious cargo. The drugs altogether are worth an estimated $10.4 million.
Border security officers uncovered the illicit cargo inside a commercial tractor-trailer being examined at an inspection site in San Diego, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Thursday in a news release. The vehicle said to be carrying a shipment of jalapeño paste had actually brought with it 349 packages of methamphetamine and cocaine, which officers removed from the vats of paste themselves after K-9 dogs screened and flagged the trailer.
CBP identified the driver as a 28-year-old man with a valid border crossing card — a visitor’s visa that the U.S. issues to people who are citizens and residents of Mexico. The agency said border security referred the driver to the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility for inspection after he passed the entry point into California on Wednesday morning.
Thousands of pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine were found hidden inside vats of jalapeño paste near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Testing on the suspicious packages found inside his truck revealed the vats of jalapeño paste contained about 3,161 pounds of methamphetamine and 522 pounds of cocaine, CBP said. Officers seized the drugs and turned over the driver to Homeland Security Investigations for processing.
In total, 349 packages of methamphetamine and cocaine were seized from the shipment, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
“Our K-9 teams are an invaluable component of our counter-narcotics operations, providing a reliable and unequalled mobile detection capability,” said Rosa Hernandez, Otay Mesa Port Director.
Officers at the CBP field office in San Diego seized more than 14,000 pounds of narcotics at border crossing points in the area in November alone, according to the agency.
In addition to drug shipments seized on land, the U.S. Coast Guard said earlier this month that a crew operating in waters off the Southern California coast offloaded roughly 18,219 pounds of cocaine, which has an estimated street value of almost $240 million. The cocaine was seized from several vessels suspected of running drug smuggling operations off the coast of Mexico, Central America and South America in November.
It’s not uncommon for drug traffickers to hide narcotics in unusual places. Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in central California announced that four were charged for allegedly running a transnational drug trafficking operation that exported wholesale amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine to Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. The drugs were hidden in commercial products like instant noodle packets, car parts, emergency kits and subwoofers, authorities said.
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
Now’s your chance to own a luxury California home — complete with “meth lab and meth “contamination” — for sale at $1.55 million.
The six-bedroom house in tony San Jose offers a “great location” with easy access to the freeway, according to a realtor’s listing, which notes it affords more than 2,700 square feet of living space.
The listing for the property notes: “Home has inactive Meth lab and meth contamination.”
Redfin
That might appeal to anyone needing an easy commute into Silicon Valley, with Apple’s Cupertino campus just 20 minutes’ drive, and Google’s Mountain View home less than half an hour away.
It’s in a quiet neighborhood, part of a good school catchment area and has a backyard planted with orange, apple and lemon trees.
There are three-and-a-half bathrooms, a swimming pool, a luxury spa, garage parking for one car, solar panels and air conditioning throughout.
It also has a big patio that is just perfect for entertaining.
Oh, and a place you can cook up deadly and addictive illegal drugs.
“Great opportunity to own a large home on a large 6,000sqft lot,” says the listing on property website Redfin before sheepishly noting: “Home has inactive Meth lab and meth contamination.”
“Home has not been cleared of contamination and will be transferred to the new buyer in its current state.”
A listing on Zillow notes the property’s seller increased the price $125,000 on Oct. 21.
Previous owner accused of attacking electricity transformers
The San Jose home’s previous owner was 36-year-old Peter Karasev, the Los Angeles Times reported, who was arrested in March on suspicion of attacking electricity transformers.
According to police, the investigation into Karasev began on Jan. 5, when officers with the San Jose Police Department responded to a report of an exploded transformer at 3:16 a.m. local time. Windows were broken at a dental office nearest the transformer. Officers believed it was just a malfunction, but later in the day were summoned back to the scene when “evidence of an explosive device was located.”
San Jose explosives suspect Peter Karasev.
San Jose Police Department
Video surveillance reviewed by investigators and officers showed a person, later identified as Karasev, approaching the area on a bicycle while wearing a backpack. The footage showed Karasev place the backpack at the bottom of the transformer box, appear to use an “ignition source,” and then get back on the bicycle and ride off. Moments later, the backpack and transformer exploded. The transformer appeared to burn for several minutes before causing a large explosion.
PG&E employees then told police that a similar incident had occurred on Dec. 8, 2022, when the company was alerted to a power outage at around 4 a.m. local time. That incident was also believed to be a malfunction, but detectives found “very similar details” and “similar visual residue” at both scenes, according to the San Jose Bomb Squad.
The investigation soon led to Karasev. Police identified him using cell phone information.
As well as the meth lab, police searching his house also found a weapons stockpile including guns and “homemade liquid explosive, multiple energetic homemade destructive devices,” according to a police press conference at the time.
Karasev, who the paper said lived there with his wife and three young children, has been hit with a raft of charges, including possession of a destructive device, igniting a destructive device and child endangerment.
For those who don’t mind taking on a bit of a project, the $1.55 million price tag makes the house good value by California’s expensive real estate standards.
A nearby four-bedroom house sold in May for $1.725 million.
Arizona authorities targeting the Sinaloa drug cartel have seized narcotics estimated to be worth more than $13 million, including more than 4.5 million fentanyl pills, 3,100 pounds of methamphetamine and large quantities of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl powder, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In a news release, the agency said the seizure was the culmination of a three-year-long investigation during which 150 people had so far been charged.
“The fentanyl seized represents more than 30 million potentially lethal doses,” the DEA said, announcing the seizure in partnership with the Tempe Police Department and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
Authorities displayed some of the recovered narcotics at a joint news conference Thursday, attended by CNN affiliate KNXV.
“The sample you see here today is staggering. There are over 4.5 million fentanyl pills, over 140 pounds of fentanyl powder, over 135 kilos of cocaine, over 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 35 kilos of heroin, 49 firearms and over $2 million in cash,” Interim Tempe Police Chief Josie Montenegro told reporters.
Montenegro said the substances recovered “would be poisoning members of our community, including our youth and vulnerable population,” had the seizures not been made.
“In addition, the dangers and crimes associated with illegal drugs would be plaguing our community,” Montenegro added.
According to authorities, “numerous” people were taken into custody in the bust. At this time, authorities do not plan on releasing the names of those involved because it is a continuing investigation, according to Montenegro.
Phoenix DEA Special Agent in Charge Cheri Oz said investigators are “laser-focused” on the Sinaloa cartel.
“I want to be crystal clear, the drugs in this room and the drugs that are flooding Arizona every single day are sourced primarily by one evil as the Sinaloa drug cartel,” she said at the news conference. “We are laser-focused on the Sinaloa drug cartel and we will defeat them. We will not stop.”
Oz also praised the efforts of DEA agents and other officers over the last three years. “Their hard work and tenacity is responsible for removing these deadly drugs before they poisoned our family, our friends and our neighborhoods,” she said.
Pharmaceutical fentanyl is a synthetic opioid intended to help patients manage severe pain. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and typically prescribed in the form of skin patches or lozenges. But most recent cases of fentanyl-related harm, overdose, and death in the United States are linked to illegally made fentanyl, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Deaths involving synthetic opioids increased by 22% in 2021, according to CDC data, and in 2022, there were about 181,806 nonfatal opioid overdoses recorded in the United States.
A Buddhist temple in central Thailand has been left without monks after all of its holy men failed drug tests and were defrocked, a local official said Tuesday.
Four monks, including an abbot, at a temple in Phetchabun province’s Bung Sam Phan district tested positive for methamphetamine on Monday, district official Boonlert Thintapthai told AFP.
The monks have been sent to a health clinic to undergo drug rehabilitation, the official said.
“The temple is now empty of monks and nearby villagers are concerned they cannot do any merit-making,” he said. Merit-making involves worshippers donating food to monks as a good deed.
Boonlert said more monks will be sent to the temple to allow villagers to practice their religious obligations.
Thailand is a major transit country for methamphetamine flooding in from Myanmar’s troubled Shan state via Laos, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
On the street, meth pills, called Yaba, sell for less than 20 baht (around $0.50).
“Meth and particularly Yaba can be easily found in every corner of [Thailand] — supply is up everywhere, and at this point a tablet is cheaper than a beer,” UNODC’s Jeremy Douglas told Thai Inquirer.
Authorities across Southeast Asia and around the globe have made record meth seizures in recent months.
Last month, Hong Kong reportedly made its biggest ever seizure of meth, finding 1.8 metric tons of liquid meth hidden in cartons of coconut water en route for Australia.
In August, authorities found 2 tons of meth hidden in marble tiles shipped from the Middle East to Sydney in what police describe as the largest-ever seizure of the illicit drug in Australia.
Also in August, Mexican soldiers seized almost 1.5 tons of meth and 328 pounds of apparent powdered fentanyl at a checkpoint in the northern state of Sonora.
MONDAY, Sept. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Biking while stoned leads to thousands of serious crashes each year, a new study suggests.
Between 2019 and 2020 alone, more than 11,000 people were treated in U.S. emergency rooms for injuries that happened as they rode a bicycle while high on methamphetamine, marijuana or opioids, researchers found.
“The people affected by these injuries likely have substance use disorder, may be more likely to be homeless and may not have access to other types of transportation,” explained lead researcher Bart Hammig, a professor of public health at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. “This is an often overlooked and ignored population when addressing serious injuries related to bicycle crashes.”
One way to curb these crashes is to get these drugged individuals off their bikes, he said.
“Better and easier access to transportation for persons who may use bicycles as their main mode of transportation is needed in order to aid in the prevention of injuries among this population,” he said. “In addition to treatment of injuries, drug referral systems need to be readily accessible in emergency departments.”
Hammig and his University of Arkansas colleague Robert Davis, an assistant professor of public health, found that bicyclists who crashed while high often had more serious injuries than those who weren’t using drugs.
Most of those injured were men (86%), according to the study. Of those, 22% had broken bones; 19% injured internal organs; and almost 33% had to be hospitalized. In all, 1% suffered a concussion.
Some likely resulted in deaths, but because the data came from emergency room records, researchers couldn’t report on fatalities.
The most common drugs found were methamphetamine (36%); marijuana (32%); and opioids (19%). Nearly a quarter of injured bikers had also been drinking alcohol, the study found.
For the study, researchers used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. Of more than 480,000 injuries reported between 2019 and 2020, about 3% involved drugs.
Dr. Eugene Vortsman, an emergency room physician at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., said that riding a bike stoned can greatly increase the risk for crashes and serious injury.
He suspects that the number of crashes identified in the study is only the tip of the iceberg.
“Due to the limitations in data, this study is underestimating the true severity of the incidence, as well as the severity of injury associated with any intoxicant,” Vortsman said. “Even with the data available, it is clear that the risk of injury is elevated.”
More study is needed to learn about bikes for primary transportation and to find ways to lower the risk, Vortsman said.
Some examples include evaluating social factors affecting health to better earmark resources. Improving access to public transportation, better roadside safety measures, and education about the dangers of operating any mode of transportation while under the influence are key, he said.
“Proper education allows patients to better understand their risk of injury and can provide a safer road for them as well as other bicyclists,” Vortsman said.
SOURCES: Bart Hammig, PhD, MPH, professor, health, human performance and recreation, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; Eugene Vortsman, DO, emergency room physician, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, N.Y.; Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Aug. 1, 2022
THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Using marijuana increases the risk of developing the heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation (a-fib), a new study suggests.
It’s been known that drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine and opiates can directly affect the heart and cause abnormal rhythms like a-fib, but weed can increase the risk by 35%, researchers found.
“There is a common perception that cannabis may be healthy because it’s ‘natural,’” said lead researcher Dr. Gregory Marcus, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “But as laws become more lenient in allowing use of these substances, it’s important to recognize adverse consequences that may substantially impact the lives of users.”
This study doesn’t prove drug use causes a-fib, only that users seem to be at greater risk.
“These data are sufficiently compelling to suggest that cannabis users suffering from atrial fibrillation should at least experiment with cessation to see if it indeed has a meaningful effect on their particular arrhythmia,” Marcus said. “Once one has had an episode of atrial fibrillation, I find that patients are often especially eager to identify anything they can do to avoid subsequent episodes.”
A-fib reduces quality of life and increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, kidney disease, heart attack and dementia, he said.
“We used to think that a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation was just bad luck, but we now recognize this common and sometimes devastating disease can actually be prevented, largely with lifestyle interventions such as reducing alcohol consumption or enhancing physical fitness,” Marcus said. “Although various treatments are available, avoiding the disease in the first place is always better.”
Methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids and cannabis use were each associated with a heightened risk for a-fib in the study, even after adjusting for multiple established risk factors for the disease.
Methamphetamine increased a-fib risk by 86%, researchers found. For cocaine, the risk rose 61%, and for opiates, 74%.
For the study, Marcus and his colleagues collected data on more than 23 million people treated in California emergency rooms from 2005 through 2015.
Of 1 million patients who had no preexisting a-fib but developed it later, nearly 133,000 had used marijuana. Nearly 99,000 had used methamphetamines; nearly 49,000 had used cocaine, and 10,000 had used opiates.
How marijuana increases a-fib risk is unknown, Marcus said.
“There are several candidates, and they may act in concert,” he said.
Inhalation of combustible products is known to trigger an inflammatory response, and acute inflammation heightens a-fib risk, Marcus said. In addition, blood from the lungs flows directly to where a-fib begins — the pulmonary veins and left atrium of the heart. As such, lung irritants such as pot smoke could aggravate areas of the heart that are particularly vulnerable to arrhythmia.
All of the drugs studied can have dramatic effects on the link between the nervous system and the heart, Marcus noted. “Rapid fluctuations occur with the use of these substances and can also trigger atrial fibrillation,” he said.
A-fib is an abnormal pumping rhythm caused by electrical disturbances in the heart’s upper chambers, the atria. In severe cases, clots can form in the atria and then break off into the bloodstream, causing strokes. Strokes related to a-fib claim more than 150,000 Americans a year.
In addition, cocaine and meth can lead to sudden cardiac death from disruptions in the electrical signaling and pumping in the ventricles, the heart’s lower chambers. Researchers said there is no way, however, that pot causes these life-threatening arrhythmias.
Dr. Laurence Epstein, system director of electrophysiology at Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., said many factors can trigger a-fib. Therefore, it’s not easy to predict which will trigger an episode.
“I don’t think it’s like, oh my God, nobody should ever smoke weed because they’re going to develop a-fib,” said Epstein, who wasn’t part of the study. “Everybody’s different. I have patients I treat for atrial fibrillation, and we talk about triggers, and everybody’s different.”
For some patients, coffee or chocolate may trigger an episode, and for some, the trigger may be marijuana, Epstein said. Patients who are sensitive to it should avoid it, he advised.
“My recommendation to patients is know thyself,” Epstein said. “Moderation is the key. If you find every time you get high, you start having palpitations, maybe that’s not for you. If you’re not having issues with it, then I’m not sure that puts you at increased risk.”
With the other drugs discussed in the study, the risk is known, Epstein said.
“It’s not only the risk of a-fib, but the risk of other bad things, which can give you an acute heart attack or cardiac arrest,” he concluded.
The findings were published Oct. 18 in the European Heart Journal.
More information
Learn more about atrial fibrillation from the American Heart Association.
SOURCES: Gregory Marcus, MD, professor, medicine, University of California, San Francisco; Laurence Epstein, MD, system director, electrophysiology, Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital, Manhasset, N.Y.; European Heart Journal, Oct. 18, 2022
