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Drug turf war advances into 'safest city in Mexico'

Location: 
San Pedro Garza Garcia
Mexico
Publication/Source: 
The Kansas City Star
URL: 
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/16695933.htm

Drug-fuelled violence takes toll on Mexico

Location: 
Mexico
Publication/Source: 
Toronto Star (Canada)
URL: 
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/179501

7 slain in Mexico police stations. The two Acapulco attacks are carried out by gunmen dressed as soldiers. Authorities see a link to drug cartels.

Location: 
Acapulco, GRO
Mexico
Publication/Source: 
Los Angeles Times
URL: 
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexshooting7feb07,1,241860.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Ah, the drug war -- what a cornucopia of corruption it generates. Week in, week out, law enforcement officers fall prey to temptation. This week is no different. Let's get to it:

In New York City, a former NYPD officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for plotting to rob a drug dealer of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Former officer Porfirio Mejia, 31, was part of a six-man group who planned to rob a man they thought was a Colombian dealer in the Bronx of 10 kilograms of heroin and $450,000 in cash. At the time of the planned robbery, Mejia was in uniform. Mejia and the others were arrested by members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force. He was sentenced January 31.

In Roanoke, Virginia, the Henry County Sheriff's Department implosion into corruption-related scandal continues to work its way through the courts. In the latest news, a former department dog handler and two civilians charged in the case pleaded guilty to taking part in a scheme involving the sheriff and 11 deputies to re-sell drugs seized from dealers. That makes 13 out of 20 defendants who have now copped pleas in a case where deputies are charged with peddling tens of thousands of dollars worth of seized drugs, along with stolen guns and other evidence. Department dog handler Walter Hairston pleaded guilty February 2 to one count of racketeering conspiracy. He was accused of passing along drugs he used for drug dog training to deputies who would then resell them. Former Sheriff H. Franklin Cassell, who is charged with covering up his deputies' misdeeds, is seeking to have his trial moved outside the Roanoke area.

In Youngstown, Ohio, a former Mahoning County sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty last Friday to three counts of drug trafficking and three counts of drug possession. Michael "Beef" Terlecky, 51, was caught peddling Oxycontin tablets along US Highway 224 by undercover agents, and the cops found more Oxycontin and Valium at his home. Terlecky is in ill health and had been taking post-surgery pain medications, which prosecutors said could have affected his judgment. Prosecutors will recommend a two-year prison stretch at his March 29 sentencing. His defense attorney, who argued that Terlecky sold some of the drugs to pay his medical expenses, is urging probation.

In Saranac Lake, New York, a state prison guard pleaded guilty last Friday to trying to smuggle heroin into the prison where he worked. Michael Bradish, 34, pleaded guilty to attempted promoting prison contraband and attempted criminal possession of controlled substance, plus misdemeanor official misconduct. Bradish, who worked at Bare Hill Correctional Facility in Malone, is being held without bail at Franklin County Jail. He could receive up to four years in state prison when he's sentenced in March. He was caught on videotape in September being handed 37 bundles of heroin as part of an investigation into prison contraband by the state police, the state Department of Corrections, the Inspector General, and the Franklin County District Attorney's office. Police stopped Bradish on his way to work the next day and found the drugs. Two other prison guards, Lt. Timothy Flint, 40, and Daniel Oakes, 32, face criminal charges in the probe. An unknown number of other guards have quit or been fired.

In Council Bluffs, Iowa, a prosecutor has been fired after evidence from a drug case was "mishandled." Assistant Pottawattamie County Attorney Jeff TeKippe was put on paid leave last week, but got the ax this week as an investigation by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation gets underway. They were called in by Council Bluffs police and County Attorney Matt Wilber after "they discovered evidence from a narcotics case appeared to have been mishandled," a terse DCI statement said. TeKippe was a 10-year veteran of the prosecutors office who handled primarily drug cases.

In Greenville, South Carolina, a former Anderson police officer has been charged with misconduct in office after making off with the evidence in drug cases. Former officer Clint Fuller, 31, was arrested Saturday for failing to log in evidence from twelve 2006 arrests he made where he seized "a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana." Some of Fuller's cases have been dismissed because of lack of evidence, others because he failed to show up for court, the department said. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Op-Ed: Limits on drugs a boon to cartels

Location: 
United States
Publication/Source: 
The Daily Breeze (CA)
URL: 
http://www.dailybreeze.com/opinion/articles/5574261.html

Afghanistan losing war on drugs, general says

Location: 
London
United Kingdom
Publication/Source: 
Baltimore Sun
URL: 
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.afghandrugs04feb04,0,1453666.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

GUINEA-BISSAU: Fears of an emerging narcostate

Location: 
Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
Publication/Source: 
IRIN (United Nations)
URL: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57292&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Guinea-Bissau

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Here's a new twist for you: This week, we have a prison guard charged with smuggling drugs OUT of a prison. Of course, there are several more charged with smuggling drugs in, as well as a teenage military policeman gone bad, a retirement age former cop gone bad, and yet another Nashville officer found guilty of drug corruption. Let's get to it:

In White Plains, New York, a Yonkers Police Department jail guard was arrested January 25 for helping an inmate smuggle drugs out of the Alexander Street Jail. Patricia Streams-Correa, 39, is charged with sale and possession of drugs and promoting prison contraband in the first degree. When a new prisoner was brought to the jail for possessing eight bags of heroin, she allegedly had another 36 bags hidden on her. A friend brought a change of clothes to the jail, and Streams-Correa is accused of helping hide the 36 bags of smack in the prisoner's dirty clothing and letting the friend take the clothes and heroin from the jail. Streams-Correa was popped after the department's Narcotics Unit and Internal Affairs Division "developed information" about the incident. The heroin was recovered. Streams-Correa now faces nine years in prison.

In Phoenix, a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office detention officer is accused of smuggling drugs to two prisoners with whom she had a personal relationship. Officer Michele Samaniego, 27, faces charges of promoting prison contraband and possession of dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia after Sheriff's officers found her with suspected marijuana, methamphetamine, and a needle and syringe. Detectives also searched Samaniego's home and arrested her roommate on related drug conspiracy charges.

In Darlington, South Carolina, a state Department of Corrections employee was arrested Saturday on drugs, contraband, and misconduct charges. Adrian Concepcion, 20, allegedly told an undercover agent he would bring marijuana to an inmate at the Lee Correctional Institution, where he worked. He is now being held at a different jail.

In Stateline, Nevada, a 17-year-old military police officer was arrested in a casino parking lot January 25 on charges he sold cocaine. Nevada National Guardsman Elliot Paul Liebowitz had his military uniform in his car at the time of his arrest. The Douglas County Sheriff Street Enforcement Team says Liebowitz sold at least 83 grams of cocaine during its month-long investigation of him. Authorities say they will seek to try him as an adult, and if convicted, he could face 25 years to life in prison. Meanwhile, he has been booked into a juvenile detention facility.

In Wilmington, North Carolina, a former Long Beach (now Oak Island) police officer was arrested last Friday on drug sales charges after police executed a search warrant at his home. William Sisk Sr., 71, is charged with possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver cocaine and other controlled substances as well as maintaining a dwelling to keep a controlled substance. He was raided after a year-long investigation, and police found crack cocaine, 109 hydrocodone tablets, 57 alprazolam tablets, 28 diazepam tablets, a .410-gauge shotgun and $6,277 in cash, as well as drug paraphernalia. Sisk, who retired in 1996, is a former candidate for sheriff and registrar of deeds in Brunswick County. He was out on bail as of last Saturday and denied any wrongdoing.

In Nashville, a Nashville Metropolitan Police officer who failed to report a fellow officer's involvement in a cocaine heist was found guilty in federal court January 29. Officer Charles Williams III, a 16-year veteran of the force, was convicted of misprision of a felony for conspiring with fellow officer Ernest Cecil and Cecil's nephew Corey to arrest a man carrying three kilograms of cocaine and allow Corey Cecil to get away with the stash. Officer Cecil is currently awaiting trial on drug trafficking and false arrest charges. Williams, who resigned from the force Wednesday, faces up to three years in prison.

EU Pledges Aid to Afghanistan to Fight Corruption, Drug Trade

Location: 
Afghanistan
Publication/Source: 
Deutsche Welle (Germany)
URL: 
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2330632,00.html

AP Interview: Former Afghan customs chief says Afghanistan losing war against drugs

Location: 
London
United Kingdom
Publication/Source: 
International Herald Tribune (France)
URL: 
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/29/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Afghan-General.php

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