HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam has sentenced 10 people to death for smuggling meth, ketamine and ecstasy across the country by train, state media reported Friday as the communist country deepens its crackdown on drugs. The gang shifted 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of drugs from northern Vietnam to the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City between 2015 and 2016, according to state-run media on Friday. Five men and five women were given the […]
Tag: Drug
Canadian drug smuggler to appeal China death sentence Thursday
by Eva XIAO BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Canadian man handed the death penalty for drug smuggling in China will appeal his sentence Thursday, in a case that has deepened the diplomatic rift between Beijing and Canada. The appeal comes against the backdrop of Beijing’s anger over the December arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei, who faces a US extradition hearing in Canada on Wednesday. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was […]
Police seize 600 kilos of meth in Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Police in central Vietnam have seized more than half a ton of methamphetamine in one of the largest drug busts in recent years in the communist country where synthetic drug use is on the rise. Four people were arrested after police stormed a house in central Nghe An province where they found 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of meth, some of it stuffed in speaker boxes. The meth shipment was “about to […]
Three US executions delayed over lethal injection drug
CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — The governor of the US state of Ohio on Thursday delayed three scheduled executions over concerns that a drug currently used in lethal injections could mimic the effects of “waterboarding,” widely considered a form of torture. Governor Mike DeWine delayed executions scheduled as early as May, in line with a court ruling that using the controversial sedative midazolam could cause pain and suffering. The state is seeking alternatives. “Governor DeWine […]
Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ convicted by NY jury
by Laura BONILLA CAL Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Mexican mobster Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was convicted Tuesday of crimes spanning a quarter-century in a trial that laid bare his lavish lifestyle and penchant for extreme violence as head of one of the world’s most powerful gangs. The 61-year-old former boss of the notorious Sinaloa cartel — famed for his brazen escapes from Mexican prisons — faces life in prison for […]
Massive drug bust exposes Mexico-Australia cartel ties
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian and US authorities on Friday announced they had seized around a billion dollars worth of methylamphetamine — or “ice” — in a bust that revealed new ties between Mexican cartels and Aussie biker gangs. The Australian Federal Police said that a joint investigation led the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to uncover 1.7 tonnes of drugs in California last month. US authorities said the illicit cargo — with a street […]
Arraignment of Espinosa, others over drug case reset to Aug. 29
(Eagle News) — The Makati City Regional Trial Court has reset the arraignment of self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa and his co-accused. Instead of Thursday, Aug. 2, Branch 64 Judge Gina M. Bibat-Palamos scheduled the arraignment of Espinosa, Peter Co, Lovely Impal, Marcelo Adorco and Ruel Malindangan to Aug. 29, after their lawyers said they would file a motion for reconsideration of the second Department of Justice panel that found probable cause for the filing of a conspiracy […]
DOJ reverses earlier decision; finds probable cause for charges vs Espinosa, others
(Eagle News) — The Department of Justice on Thursday, July 19, found probable cause for the drug charges against Kerwin Espinosa and others. In reversing the decision of a previous panel, the panel composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutors Juan Pedro Navera, Anna Noreen Devanadera and Prosecution Attorney Herbert Calvin Abugan said the “positive allegations of Marcelo Adorco identifying” Espinosa, Peter Co, Lovely Impal and Ruel Malindagan as his cohorts were “sufficient” to charge them […]
Muntinlupa court dismisses De Lima’s motion to quash drug case
(Eagle News) — A Muntinlupa court junked on Friday, June 22, Senator Leila de Lima’s motion to quash the case of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading filed by the Department of Justice against her. Boni Tacardon, De Lima’s lawyer, said the Branch 206 judge junked the motion, which was filed after the court allowed the prosecution to amend its original charge of illegal drug trading, on a technicality. Despite the denial, De Lima’s […]
Tackle graft, governance to stem ‘Golden Triangle’ meth trade: UNODC
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — “Golden Triangle” countries must address corruption and collaborate more closely to tackle record meth production and the gangs who traffic the drug across Southeast Asia and beyond, the UN said Monday. From Bangkok to Brisbane, authorities are raking in huge hauls of methamphetamine stimulant pills — better known as “yaba” — and the purer, more potent crystallized version known as “ice.” They hail from the “Golden Triangle,” a lawless wedge of […]
Aguirre says he will not resign; I did nothing wrong, he says
(Eagle News) — I will not resign. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre had this to say on Tuesday, in response to calls he step down following the dismissal of drug charges against Kerwin Espinosa and others by his agency’s National Prosecution Office. “There’s no reason why I should resign because wala akong kasalanan..Hindi mo naman masasabing nalusutan (ako) kasi di pa nakakarating (sa opisina ko),” he said. He said at the time news about the matter […]
De Lima arraignment deferred as prosecution seeks amendment of charge
(Eagle News) — The arraignment of Senator Leila de Lima was deferred on Friday after the prosecution moved for the amendment of the charge filed against her. The DOJ asked that the drug trading charge against the senator and her co-accused—former bodyguard Ronnie Dayan; former Bureau of Corrections director Franklin Bucayu; former aides Joenel Sanchez, Wilfredo Elli and Jose Adrian Dera; and convicted drug lord Jaybee Sebastian–filed before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206 be […]





