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Tag: Methamphetamines

  • Former customs officer sentenced to 15 years for helping drug traffickers

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    A former Customs and Border Protection officer has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to working with Mexican traffickers to bring drugs into the U.S. Diego Bonillo pleaded guilty in July to multiple charges, including conspir…

    LOS ANGELES — A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to working with Mexican traffickers to bring drugs into the U.S., officials said Thursday.

    Diego Bonillo, 30, pleaded guilty in July to multiple charges, including conspiracy to import controlled substances such as cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin.

    As part of his plea deal, he admitted to using his position to allow drug-filled cars into the U.S. from Mexico without inspection. He allowed at least 75 kilograms of fentanyl, 11.7 kilograms of methamphetamine, and more than 1 kilogram of heroin into the country, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego said in a news release Thursday.

    Prosecutors said in sentencing documents that Bonillo was using a secret phone to alert the drug trafficking group which lanes he would be overseeing at the Tecate and Otay Mesa border crossings so he could ensure their entry without inspection.

    Agents determined that Bonillo was part of the scheme no later than October 2023 and continued until April 2024, allowing at least 15 vehicles to enter uninspected, prosecutors said.

    Bonillo used his payments to travel internationally, purchase luxury gifts, attempt to purchase property in Mexico, and spend time at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club in Tijuana, Mexico, prosecutors said.

    He was sentenced Nov. 7 to 15 years in federal prison.

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  • Meth burn by FBI smokes out Montana animal shelter

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    BILLINGS, Mont. — A cloud of smoke from two pounds of methamphetamine seized by the FBI and incinerated inside a Montana animal shelter sent its workers to the hospital, city officials in Billings said.

    The smoke started to fill the building during a drug burn on Wednesday, apparently because of negative pressure that sucked it back inside, Billings Assistant City Administrator Kevin Iffland said Friday. A fan was supposed to be on hand in such situations to reverse the pressure so smoke would flow out of the building, but Iffland said 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 workers from the nonprofit Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter 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.

    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 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 also were closely monitoring four litters of kittens that got more heavily exposed because they were in a closed room with lots of smoke, she said.

    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 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 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.

    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.”

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  • Number of potentially lethal meth candies unknowingly shared by New Zealand food bank reaches 65

    Number of potentially lethal meth candies unknowingly shared by New Zealand food bank reaches 65

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    WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Police in New Zealand have so far accounted for 41 chunks of methamphetamine enclosed in candy wrappers — each a potentially lethal amount of the drug — that were unknowingly distributed by an Auckland food bank.

    The authorities were in the process of collecting two dozen more of the contaminated sweets from members of the public late Friday, police said in a statement, bringing the total number of candies accidentally shared in food parcels to at least 65. It was not known how many more were circulating, Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said.

    No one has been seriously harmed by the sweets.

    An unknown person donated the candies — which were in wrappers from the Malaysian confectionery brand Rinda and looked identical to boiled sweets — to the Auckland City Mission sometime in the past six weeks, the charity said Wednesday. A day earlier, staff frantically began tracking down the recipients of up to 400 food parcels after a client reported a “funny-tasting” sweet and drug testing revealed the candies were solid methamphetamine.

    Three people were treated in hospitals after trying the candies but were quickly discharged. The “revolting” taste led most who tried the sweets to immediately spit them out, City Missioner Helen Robinson said.

    The amount of methamphetamine in each candy was up to 300 times the dose someone would usually take and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation, the drug checking and policy organization that first tested the candies.

    Ben Birks Ang, a foundation spokesperson, said at a news conference on Wednesday that disguising drugs as innocuous goods is a common cross-border smuggling technique and more of the candies might have been distributed throughout New Zealand.

    Rinda Food Industries said its factory in Malaysia was inspected on Thursday by the Malaysian Ministry of Health and samples were collected for laboratory testing.

    “We would like to clarify that Rinda Food Industries does not directly export goods into New Zealand,” it said in a statement.

    New Zealand authorities still do not know how many contaminated candies were distributed by the Auckland City Mission, or whether the sweets might show up elsewhere, Baldwin said. There are about 40 Rinda pineapple candies in each retail-sized bag, suggesting at least two bags were donated to the charity.

    The contaminated sweets had a street value of 1,000 New Zealand dollars ($608) per candy, which suggests the donation was accidental rather than a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said Wednesday. The authorities said they were investigating whether the episode was an importation scheme gone awry — as well as reports that someone had attempted to sell one of the sweets on Facebook.

    The charity’s food bank accepts only donations of commercially produced food in sealed packaging, Robinson said. The pineapple candies, stamped with Rinda’s label, “appeared as such when they were donated,” she added.

    Rinda said in a statement Wednesday that the company would cooperate with authorities.

    “We want to make it clear that Rinda Food Industries does not use or condone the use of any illegal drugs in our products,” General Manager Steven Teh said.

    Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It takes the form of a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol.

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  • Food bank unknowingly distributes candy made from potentially lethal amount of meth

    Food bank unknowingly distributes candy made from potentially lethal amount of meth

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    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A charity working with homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand unknowingly distributed candies filled with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine in its food parcels after the sweets were donated by a member of the public.

    Auckland City Mission on Wednesday said that staff had started to contact up to 400 people to track down parcels that could contain the sweets — which were solid blocks of methamphetamine enclosed in candy wrappers. Three people were treated in hospital after consuming them, New Zealand authorities said, but were later discharged.

    The amount of methamphetamine in each candy was up to 300 times the level someone would usually take and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation — a drug checking and policy organization, which first tested the candies.

    Ben Birks Ang, a Foundation spokesperson, said disguising drugs as innocuous goods was a common cross-border smuggling technique and more of the candies might have been distributed throughout New Zealand.

    The sweets had a high street value of NZ$ 1,000 ($608) per candy, which suggested the donation by an unknown member of the public was accidental rather than a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said.

    The authorities’ “initial perceptions” were that the episode was likely an importation scheme gone awry, said Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin, but the nature and scale of the operation was unknown. Officers have recovered 16 of the candies, but do not know how many are circulating, he said.

    The City Missioner, Helen Robinson, said eight families, including at least one child, had reported consuming the contaminated candies since Tuesday. The “revolting” taste meant most had immediately spat them out.

    The charity’s food bank only accepts donations of commercially produced food in sealed packaging, Robinson said. The pineapple candies, stamped with the label of Malaysian brand Rinda, “appeared as such when they were donated,” arriving in a retail-sized bag, she added.

    Auckland City Mission was alerted Tuesday by a food bank client who reported “funny-tasting” candy. Staff tasted some of the remaining candies and immediately contacted the authorities. One staff member was taken to hospital after sampling the sweet, Baldwin said, adding that a child and a “young person” were also treated in hospital before being discharged.

    The candies had been donated sometime in the past six weeks, Robinson said. It was not clear how many had been distributed in that time and how many were made of methamphetamine.

    Rinda said in a written statement the company had learned through New Zealand news reports that its candies “may have been misused” and would cooperate with authorities.

    “We want to make it clear that Rinda Food Industries does not use or condone the use of any illegal drugs in our products,” said General Manager Steven Teh.

    Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It takes the form of a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol.

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  • Orange County Adopts CDC Initiative to Reduce Fatal & Nonfatal Overdoses

    Orange County Adopts CDC Initiative to Reduce Fatal & Nonfatal Overdoses

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    In order to address the increasing number of overdose deaths related to prescription opioids and illicit drugs, Orange County has engaged with the Centers for Disease Control and recently was awarded a grant funded by the CDC to implement its Stop Overdose campaigns locally.

    The series of campaigns focuses on four key areas: the dangers of illicitly manufactured fentanyl, the risks and consequences of mixing drugs (polysubstance use), the lifesaving power of naloxone, and the importance of reducing stigma around recovery and treatment options. The messaging highlights drug-use trends and encourages harm-reduction practices.

    “We worked with CDC staff to determine the best messages for our community, and they helped us identify our priorities,” explained Dr. Thomas Hall, director, Orange County Drug-Free Coalition. “The campaigns are based on best-practice marketing strategies, and the messages are simple and direct. Each message has an action associated with the information presented.”

    The connecting feature of the campaigns is the Stop Overdose website, which was launched as a resource library for people who use drugs and their loved ones. Each subpage on the website features campaign messaging, support data and resources for the intended audience – those who use drugs between the ages of 18-34.

    “There’s a big stigma attached to addiction, so we need to get specific messages out to people who use illicit drugs, including that the community offers access to free medicine that reverses opioid overdoses and free treatment,” asserted Megan Giddens, senior program manager, Orange County Drug-Free Office. “This campaign really helps get these messages to its intended audience.”

    Three hundred people die of a drug overdose every day in this country, and the availability of illicit fentanyl significantly increases the likelihood of opioid overdoses and overdose deaths. In our community and across the nation, deaths related to mixing fentanyl with other drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamines, are most prominent.

    For more about local strategies, programs and resources, visit Orange County Responds.

    “The Drug Enforcement Administration reported 7 out of every 10 pills seized by the agency contain a lethal dose of fentanyl, yet drug users may not know the risk of fentanyl being present,” said Dr. Hall. “Raising awareness of these risks is a priority for Orange County, and the Drug-Free Coalition is committed to expanding harm reduction strategies to reduce drug-related deaths in our community.”

    Giddens agreed the priority is saving lives. “We have high overdose rates in this region, so Stop Overdose is a critical education piece,” she said. “We want to be proactive, and this represents an effective preventive measure.”

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  • Drug suspect takes off with sheriff’s meth after sting fails

    Drug suspect takes off with sheriff’s meth after sting fails

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    Authorities say a suspected drug trafficker is on the run with nearly 60 pounds of methamphetamine belonging to a California sheriff’s department

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A suspected drug trafficker is on the run with nearly 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of methamphetamine belonging to a California sheriff’s department after an undercover sting went wrong, authorities said.

    The Press-Enterprise reported Friday that the Sheriff’s Department in Riverside County, southeast of Los Angeles, is now trying to get its drugs back.

    Authorities set up the sting Wednesday in an attempt to identify drug traffickers. Undercover deputies met with the suspect for the drug sale, and the suspect later drove away, the newspaper reported.

    Deputies from the gang task force then attempted to pull over the suspect, who refused to yield and sped off, the department said in a statement.

    “Due to the high speeds and suspect’s disregard for public safety, deputies lost sight of the vehicle,” the statement said.

    In response to an emailed request for comment sent by The Associated Press, the sheriff’s department declined to release additional details.

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