Adilson Antonio Reyes, a truck driver from Utah, entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond to a charge that he conspired with two others to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.

One of the three men authorities are linking to a Mexican drug cartel pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge that he conspired to traffic cocaine in Rhode Island.

Adilson Antonio Reyes, a truck driver from Utah, entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond to a charge that he conspired with two others to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.

Court records show that Reyes is scheduled to change his plea to the charge before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi on May 11. His lawyer, Steven DiLibero, said the date for the plea-change hearing had been canceled, which was not reflected in the court record.

“We’ll know by the end of the week what we’ll do,” DiLibero said.

Reyes and Rodrigo Armando Saucedo and Andrew Rios, both of California, have been held without bail since they were arrested after state police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a storage unit on Dry Bridge Road in North Kingstown on Jan. 29. Authorities said they seized bricks of cocaine worth an estimated $6.6 million, $1.2 million in cash and a 9mm handgun. The DEA linked the men to Mexican drug cartels that feed narcotics and marijuana into cities throughout Southeastern New England.

All three men were first charged in state court, but those counts were dismissed late last month when federal charges were brought against the men.

Authorities allege in the affidavit supporting the search warrant that Saucedo was operating an interstate drug-trafficking operation shipping drugs into Rhode Island by tractor-trailer from the West Coast.

According to the police, Reyes told them after his arrest that he worked for Saucedo, who is also known as Roy, and drove a tractor-trailer from California at least nine times in the past year. He was paid up to $6,000 per load, the affidavit says. Saucedo would then fly into Logan Airport in Boston and take control of the drugs once the truck arrived at the Best Western Hotel in West Greenwich.

Rios and Saucedo, who have pleaded not guilty, are due to return to court May 2 for a bail hearing.

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Waldemar Lorenzana Lima was captured by Guatemalan police on April 26, while driving on a dirt road in the municipality of El Jicaro

Waldemar Lorenzana Lima was captured by Guatemalan police on April 26, while driving on a dirt road in the municipality of El Jicaro, located in the eastern state of El Progreso. Although authorities have long accused Lorenzana of being the patriarch of a powerful drug trafficking family, he has proven difficult for them to pin down. 

In December 2008, the 71-year-old was arrested on charges of illegally possessing an AK-47 rifle. However, Lorenzana was released almost immediately after being taken into custody.

Since then, the Lorenzana family has enjoyed relative immunity from law enforcement officials in the country, allowing them to develop into a large-scale criminal enterprise. In just a few years, the group significantly strengthened its control of illicit activities in the eastern Guatemalan states of Izapal and Zacapa, and even extended their sphere of influence to stretches of the Pacific coast, including the western city of La Reforma.

The Lorenzanas have used this influence to become crucial players in the cocaine trade, acting as middlemen between Colombian producers to the south and Mexican distributors to the north. Once shipments of cocaine arrive in Guatemala, the Lorenzanas reportedly work with the Sinaloa Cartel to move the drugs into Mexico and, from there, to the United States.

Lorenzana’s criminal empire became so powerful, in fact, that it developed a kind of grassroots following. According to the Prensa Libre, when U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials raided La Reforma in July 2009 in an effort to locate Lorenzana, hundreds of protesters staged a massive rally in the city to support the family.   The protests succeeded in partially interfering with the operation, allowing the kingpin and his family to escape.

This period of expansion finally came to an end in April 2010, when the U.S. Treasury designated the drug boss and his three sons (Eliu Lorenzana Cordon, Haroldo Lorenzana Cordon, and Waldemar Lorenzana Cordon) as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs). This move allowed officials to freeze the Lorenzana’s assets, and increased the pressure on Guatemalan authorities to arrest him.

Ultimately, pressure from U.S. authorities may have been the sole reason behind Lorenzana’s capture. According to Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, the charges against Lorenzana by American officials were key motivators in the arrest.

"He could be accused of committing crimes in Guatemala, but he was captured on the basis of a U.S. extradition request," Paz y Paz told the local elPeriodico newspaper. The prosecutor admitted that there was some U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) involvement in the operation, but she was vague about the specifics.

This evasion is likely due to official embarrassment over the country’s weak judicial system.  The fact that Guatemalan police are incapable of effectively addressing corruption and drug trafficking unassisted does not bode well for future anti-drug efforts in the country. 

 Indeed, heel-dragging on the part of Guatemalan authorities seems to be a trend in the country. In late March officials arrested another top drug trafficker in the country, Juan Alberto Ortiz Lopez, alias "Juan Chamale," also with substantial support from U.S. agencies, including the DEA. While Ortiz is facing an extradition order in the U.S., he is not technically wanted on any charges in Guatemala, reflecting the entrenched level of impunity there.

Like Ortiz, Lorenzana now sits in a maximum security prison, waiting for a court ruling on his extradition order. His sons remain at large, although the U.S. Treasury has offered $200,000 for information leading to each of their arrests.

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Posted in: Waldemar Lorenzana Lima was captured by Guatemalan police on April 26,while driving on a dirt road in the municipality of El Jicaro

Malaysian court sends Indian to gallows for drug trafficking

High Court found Samad Mohamad Sultan guilty of trafficking in 3.9 kg of ketamine, a party drug, at the KL International Airport two years ago, national news agency Bernama said.

Justice Siti Mariah Ahmad handed down the sentence on the 44-year-old trader after finding that the prosecution had succeeded in proving the case against the accused. The trader was charged with trafficking in the drugs at the arrival hall of the airport on February 25, 2009.

He was carrying the ketamine in a jewellery box. The judge said Samad, in his defence, had told the court that he had received an order from a Malaysian trader identified as Jaafar to send some goods from India to Malaysia.

The judge said the defence had failed to call Jaafar to testify. She said Samad had claimed that he met a friend named Ismail in Mumbai who had given him some goods to be handed over in Malaysia. Samad had claimed that he did not check the goods.

"The Court finds that the goods ordered by Jaafar is merely fictitious," she said. The judge also said that the other defence submitted by the accused were fictitious.

 

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Neil Tindling drug trafficker said to have made £7m from his evil trade now faces court moves to strip him of his ill-gotten gains.

On Tuesday (April 26) a Chelmsford Crown Court  judge gave the green light for a hearing which could lead to the confiscation of the assets of 35-year-old Neil Tindling, who is serving a 22-year-jail sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering.
A Proceeds of Crime hearing has been scheduled for June 27 in respect of Tindling, 35, of Dimsdale Close  and his wife Louise,  34, of the same address, who was given a suspended sentence at an earlier court hearing for money laundering.
However, Judge Christopher Ball QC refused to order an in-depth probe into the financial affairs of Tindling in the run-up to the hearing, saying: “He is not a drug baron nor is he a member of a crime family. But he is a drug trafficker in a major way."
When he jailed Tindling at the earlier hearing, Judge Ball described him as a "mid-ranking participant", but continued, referring to the offence with which Tindling was charged: "This was a huge importation of cocaine - one of a small handful of cases where truly significant amounts of cocaine are successfully seized.
"Sentences of those involved with such a massive importation must reflect the evil they are doing with highly addictive substances. Parties were playing for high stakes and, in Tindling's case, he lost."

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Posted in: Neil Tindling drug trafficker said to have made £7m from his evil trade now faces court moves to strip him of his ill-gotten gains.

Brian W. Young, 39, admitted that William H. Cornman, who later was convicted of drug trafficking, came to him for advice on how to make cash from marijuana sales appear as though it was legitimate income.

Brian W. Young, 39, admitted that William H. Cornman, who later was convicted of drug trafficking, came to him for advice on how to make cash from marijuana sales appear as though it was legitimate income. In 2005, Young accepted $15,000 in drug money from Cornman and invested it in real estate, federal prosecutors said.

After Cornman’s arrest on drug trafficking and firearms charges, prosecutors said, Young received more than $60,000 in cash from Cornman’s drug partners. Young deposited most of that money into his law firm’s account and then issued checks to other attorneys to represent Cornman and a co-conspirator in federal court, according to court papers.

Young asked one of his law partners to hide $15,000 cash of the remaining drug money, and the partner buried the money on property in Aquasco, Md., prosecutors said.

In the courtroom Tuesday, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee asked Young, “How do you plea?

“I plead guilty your honor,” answered Young, wearing a dark gray suit as he stood at the lectern.

Young also made false statements on two IRS forms documenting the receipt of the drug money in an attempt to try to cover up the illegal funds, prosecutors said.

Young faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for July 15.

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ONE of Italy's most notorious mobsters - dubbed The Tyre for his horrific assassination technique - was behind bars last night.

Camorra crime clan bookkeeper Vincenzo Schiavone, 37, was arrested by anti-mafia cops.
The thug has been known to soak his victims in petrol, cover them in tyres and set them on fire.
Schiavone has become a key figure in organised crime working with the Camorra's notorious Casalesi clan.
He was made famous in the film and book Gomorrah and was one of Italy's most 100 wanted men. Police arrested him at a clinic near Naples on Monday.
Schiavone is believed to know every bribe, bung, racket and assassination carried out by his bosses.
At the time of his arrest, he had no identity document and was only identified after police took fingerprints.
None of the staff at the hospital - where he was being treated for a leg injury - are thought to have been aware of who he was.
Schiavone has been "missing" since 2008, when he escaped a police raid in which other clan members were detained. Officers found accounts for hundreds of Camorra businesses.
A computer is also believed to have contained a list of all merchants and businessmen who were being forced to pay protection money.
Italy's interior minister Roberto Maroni hailed his arrest.
He said: "This is another great success against the Camorra. With the arrest of its accountant, the Casalesi clan are weaker because their financial interests have been hit in the heart."

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Savannah man arrested in Macon, charged with trafficking cocaine

Macon police have arrested a 35-year-old Savannah man and charged him with drug trafficking after allegedly finding three kilograms of cocaine in his car.

Officers pulled Keith Huntley, of the 1700 block of Delesseps Avenue, over for speeding on I-16 about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday. Police say drug dogs found three kilos of cocaine, which Macon police give a street value of $90,000, in his car.

Macon police spokeswoman Jami Gaudet said officers are not releasing any further information on the arrest, including where Huntley was coming from, where he was going, or whether he is suspected to be part of a drug trafficking operation.

Huntley is being held without bail at the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center.

 

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Posted in: charged with trafficking cocaine,Savannah man arrested in Macon