[PSA/Article] A bunch of drug packages & controlled delivery news articles in the last week

So here it is (as requested last time I started posting individual articles about drug packages), a roundup of "controlled delivery" stories from about the last week (in sequential order by reported date) found (sans one already posted in this sub) by simply going to google news and typing in "controlled delivery". Anyone can do it, and I hope someone else will from now on, because this took me hours to copy/paste and make it reddit postable (reddit's markdown language is silly if you ask me), and I can't say I've enjoyed doing it. I enjoy having the info though. So that you can have the info too, here it is:

Mephedrone package from the Czech Republic (EU) intercepted in Malta (EU) ends in controlled delivery

Undercover policeman impersonated postman in delivery of suspicious parcel
Duncan Barry Thursday, 5 March 2015, 14:43

Romanian-born Ana-Maria Beatrice Ciocanel, 26, was acquitted of conspiring to sell psychotropic and controlled medicines (mephedrone) - also known as Meow Meow - which were found in a package addressed to the apartment she shared with her boyfriend and at the apartment itself.

The contents of the parcel were described as aromatherapy beads.

Prosecuting Inspector Pierre Grech testified that Customs Officials had intercepted a parcel sent from Prague on 5 March 2011 which was suspected to contain drugs. The addressee of the parcel was Rodney Andrew Molt. Inspector Grech also told a court that Ana-Marie Beatrice Ciocanel lived with Mr Molt.

After the parcel was discovered at the post office, a controlled delivery was made by undercover police, creating a decoy parcel to be delivered to the said persons. One of the policemen impersonated a postman and proceeded with the delivery of the parcel at the residential address displayed on the parcel. The parcel was delivered successfully.

When the package was delivered, other police officers swooped into the residence and found more substances in a 'Magic Bag'. The two were taken to the Police Depot and questioned. It resulted, when asked, that she consumed what she said are 'legal' drugs every so often and sold them during parties. The drugs in question are referred to as 'sensation' and 'magic' - which were purchased from a shop in Romania.

She denied ever selling cocaine or ecstasy, insisting she only sold 'legal' drugs, together with her partner. When the police asked her about green and pink pills found at the apartment, she said that she had never seen them. She suggested to police they were steroids.

An expert appointed by the court concluded that cocaine was found in swabs taken from a spoon. The white powder also contained traces of cocaine totalling 0.41 grams and the purity of cocaine was that of 30%. The street value of the cocaine found was 31.16 euros.

Mephedrone - a controlled drug - was discovered in the extracts taken from the white powder. The total weight of the powder was 506.17 grams. Under cross-examination, the expert, Godwin Sammut, said that 10 packets were found to contain mephedrone.

A police sergeant gave evidence and said that the parcel was not addressed to her but to her boyfriend - Mr Molt.

The court ruled that the parcel was addressed to Mr Molt. It also found that the crime of conspiracy to import mephedrone was not proved.

Magistrate Miriam Hayman presided over the case.

A mildly interesting article about New Zealand's custom agency:

Customs seek more power as dangerous weapons enter country
Nicholas Jones - 5:00 AM Friday Mar 6, 2015

More weapons are being intercepted at New Zealand's borders but the law limits investigations into those behind importations, Customs says.

Interceptions of weapons and objectionable material have increased in recent years.

Dangerous weapons, including a recent package of stun guns from Hong Kong, are often destined for gangs.

When the New Zealand Customs Service detects an importation of drugs it sometimes - usually with police help - releases the package or goods and tracks them to their destination. This allows the true importer to be identified.

However, under the law, prohibited or restricted weaponry and objectionable material cannot be subject to such a controlled delivery.

Customs has called for that to be remedied in a discussion paper on changes to the Customs and Excise Act.

The paper outlined a number of other changes Customs wants to boost its powers, including requiring a person to provide a password or encryption key to their electronic devices.

Customs' interceptions of prohibited or restricted weapons increased from just over 400 in the 2011/12 financial year to just over 700 in 2013/14.

"As criminal syndicates develop more advanced and complex ways of importing illegal goods, Customs will need to adapt," the paper states.

A recent package arrived in New Zealand from Hong Kong containing 12 stun guns, Customs noted.

Previous seizures of goods destined for the same address contained weapons intended for gang-related activity.

"If a controlled delivery had been used, Customs would have been able to carry out a more thorough investigation and obtain evidence of the actual importer."

On the electronic device proposal, Customs Minister Nicky Wagner said of more than 10 million passengers across our borders in the past year, only about 1500 had their electronic devices examined.

"If you are Joe Bloggs public [the password change] is really of no consequence to you, because you are very unlikely to be 1500 out of 10 million."

However, NZ Council for Civil Liberties chairman Thomas Beagle said from a civil liberties perspective, it was "more snooping" for what appeared to be a small pay-off in terms of border protection.

Man gets CD of 25 lbs of marijuana in Ulster, NY, USA

Town of Ulster man busted after 25 pounds of pot delivered to his home

By Freeman staff

Posted: 03/07/15, 12:21 PM EST

TOWN OF ULSTER - A town man is facing felony drug charges after he signed for and accepted a package containing a substantial amount of marijuana, state police said Saturday.

Kurt T. Quarantino, 25, was arrested at 1:50 p.m. Friday and charged with felony marijuana possession, according to Investigator Andrew Kinderman. The arrest came after members of the state police Community Narcotics Enforcement team made a controlled delivery of the package, containing 25 pounds of marijuana, to Quarantino's residence at [NUMBER REDACTED] Flatbush Road, Kinderman said.

Police had intercepted the package, sent from California and addressed to Quarantino, from a private shipping company, Kinderman said.

Quarantino was arraigned and sent to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.

US Postal Inspectors tip local police to multi-lb marijuana packages from California, local police conducts 2 controlled deliveries
This occurred in Two Rivers, a town in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, USA.

Man arrested for marijuana shipments in Two Rivers
HTR Media 5:49 p.m. CDT March 10, 2015

Christopher Nagle, 28, was arrested Monday for allegedly sending and delivering marijuana to two residences in Two Rivers, according to Lt. Dave Remiker of the Manitoiwoc County Metro Drug Unit.

At a Tuesday hearing, his bail was set at $1,000 cash. It also includes a stipulation he not travel outside Wisconsin, and a no-contact provision with a man authorities expect to charge in the future as a co-defendant in the case.

Remiker said in a news release Tuesday that investigators received information recently from the U.S. Postal Service that they had intercepted two large packages originating from California intended to be delivered to the two men's residences in Two Rivers.

They also discovered that Nagle was allegedly having pot shipped to his 21st Street residence intended for distribution in Manitowoc County.

A "controlled" delivery of the package was followed by a search warrant, in which a 7-pound package of marijuana, receipts and additional packaging "indicative of numerous prior shipments of narcotics to the residence," were uncovered, Remiker stated.

Remiker in the release said a second package was delivered and accepted by the other man, also 28, at his residence in the 2200 block of Jefferson Street.

A search warrant executed there found the package contained approxiametely 6.75 pounds of marijuana. Investigators estimate the seized pot to have a street value of approxiametely $47,000.

Two Rivers police assisted the Metro Drug Unit in its investigation.

In 2012, LE in Los Angeles make an undercover CD of a UPS package with 17 lb marijuana and GPS device inside to suspect in one side of a duplex, watch suspect, he leaves, they follow him, then arrest him. Then, same investigator intercepts a USPS marijuana package to man living in the other side of the duplex, gives him a CD and arrests him after a device in the box alerts them that the package was opened. A search of one side of the duplex reveals ~200 lbs of MJ in boxes and bags in one of the sides of the duplex.
This story is a little confusing. I wish journalists were better these days.

Court: Hole in wall was suspect's tough luck
Linda Martz 1:19 p.m. EDT March 11, 2015

MANSFIELD - An appeals court has ruled that if police search for illegal drugs on the other side of a duplex you live in -- then happen to spot evidence on your own premises through a hole in a crawlspace -- that's your bad luck.

The Fifth District Court of Appeals has upheld Ronnie Perry's convictions in two drug cases brought against the 39-year-old in Richland County in 2012.

Perry is serving a nine-year prison sentence at Lake Erie Correctional Institution, on a third-degree felony drug trafficking charge and a second-degree drug possession charge.

METRICH looked at Perry while investigating tips that commercial delivery services were being used to drop marijuana from Los Angeles off to homes around Mansfield.

According to the appeals court, METRICH intercepted a package containing 17 pounds of marijuana that was intended for delivery by UPS to a house on Hedges Street.

METRICH then sent an undercover officer to the residence with the package, posing as a UPS delivery person. About 15 minutes after it was delivered, a car arrived and the man who accepted the package allegedly brought it out to an orange car and placed it on the driver's seat.

Detectives then followed the orange car, which they say Perry was driving, to an auto repair garage. Investigators realized the package had been transferred to a different vehicle, a maroon SUV, based on a GPS signal from the package, and stopped the SUV a short distance away. Perry, a passenger in the maroon SUV, was arrested.

Investigators alleged Perry may have been involved in a similar deliveries, at least one involving FedEx.

METRICH learned another package of marijuana was expected to arrive by U.S. Postal Service addressed to "Advanced Saterlite Systems" to a house on Wayne Street. After a controlled delivery was made to that location, an alarm detectives had placed inside the package went off, indicating it had been opened. Officers arrested Layton Dawes, now 35, running through the back yard of the residence. An opened package of marijuana was in the kitchen.

Dawes lived at [# REDACTED] Greenfield Drive and Perry at [similar # REDACTED] Greenfield, in different sides of a duplex.

After METRICH got a warrant and searched Dawes' side of the duplex, investigators found more than 200 pounds of marijuana in vacuum-sealed bricks stored on the premises in cardboard boxes and trash bags, along with paperwork from Los Angeles related to "Saterlite Systems."

During the search on Dawes' side of the duplex, detectives found a basement crawlspace area below the stairs containing boxes of bricks of marijuana. An investigator noticed a hole in the wall of the crawlspace with unattached paneling partially covering the hole, then spotted trash bags and brown cardboard boxes on Perry's side of the crawlspace, according to court records.

METRICH later obtained a search warrant for Perry's side of the duplex, where they found a large amount of marijuana and cash, along with paperwork related to "Advanced Saterlite Systems" and the house on Wayne.

Perry was sentenced to 12 months in the first case, involving a third-degree felony charge.

In the second case, facing a second-degree felony charge of possession of marijuana, he was sentenced to eight years in prison.

In an appeal, Perry's court-appointed attorney, Robert Goldberger, argued that the search of Perry's side of the duplex was illegal because officers should not have been permitted to look into the crawl space from their position in the adjoining unit.

In a ruling filed March 2, though, the appeals court said the officer's look into the other side of the crawlspace did not constitute a search. "The contraband (on the other side) was in plain view," Judge Patricia Delaney wrote.

"In this case, METRICH investigators were lawfully present in 806 Greenfield pursuant to a search warrant which permitted them to look anywhere in the residence where drugs might be found. ... The existence of a hole permitting a view from the adjoining unit means the expectation of privacy is lessened," she said.

California Sheriffs intercept UPS 1.3 lb meth package, mail it to Virginia State Police, VA State Police put a dog on it, open it, reseal it with UPS' help, then conduct CD at intended delivery address

State police arrest men in meth sting that began in California
Posted: Wednesday, March 11, 2015 8:53 am

By SUSAN LIGHT | Star-Tribune Staff Writer

Virginia State Police arrested three local men on Feb. 27 on drug charges following an investigation that began in San Bernardino, Calif., and ended in Dry Fork.

Alfonso Barajas Monterrey, 39, and Hector Flores Gomez, 26, both of Sandy Creek Road in Dry Fork, and Noel Rodriguez-Montes, 21, of Iris Lane in Danville are each charged with transporting more than a pound of methamphetamine into Virginia with the intent to distribute.

The men also face two charges of possessing 100 grams or more of the drug.

All three were arraigned on the charges March 2 and are being held without bond.

In February, a deputy sheriff with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office in California contacted Virginia State Police special agents about a package marked for shipment to Dry Fork(, Virginia).

According to General District Court papers, the deputy's K-9 partner had alerted her to the package that contained approximately 1.3 pounds of methamphetamine.

The California deputy shipped the package via UPS to a state police special agent in Roanoke instead of the Dry Fork address and state police got a search warrant and tested the contents, which allegedly came back positive for methamphetamine.

Special agents then resealed the package, and with UPS's help, made a controlled delivery to the house on Sandy Creek Road on Feb. 27.

According to the arrest warrant, Monterrey and Gomez allegedly acknowledged and accepted the package, and Rodriguez-Montes allegedly admitted to knowing the package was being sent from California and that it contained methamphetamine.

The package was addressed to Christina Delgado at the Sandy Creek Road residence.

During a search of the residence, multiple identifications for each of the three men were found.

Court paperwork shows that Rodriguez-Montes has lived in California and Mexico.

Monterrey just moved to Virginia from Kentucky four months ago.

And Gomez came from the state of Washington three months ago.

These other two stories involve controlled deliveries of drugs in the mail (I think), but I can't load the articles because I don't dare allow the running of javascript through a tor exit node without at least SSL. The stories don't show up on the site without running javascript and neither site has SSL (because why would a modern news site need SSL?). So you can visit the links yourself, maybe do us a favor and post the articles here. Here they are:

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1735122/customs-seize-3kg-suspected-ketamine-woman-held-lo-wu-border-control

http://www.godanriver.com/news/danville/three-suspects-arrested-charged-with-mailing-meth-into-county/article_d73f9598-c839-11e4-9dbd-974577bb449e.html

This second one may be about the same 3 guys arrested for meth from above, but we may never know because coders insist on using GOD DAMN DANGEROUS, silly, cursed javascript.


Comments


[13 Points] darknetQuest:

What makes me feel better is that most of these say POUNDS. If I ever start ordering pounds of things, I would hope I have a better way of doing it than the mail.


[6 Points] DNMShopper:

Advanced Saterlite Systems

Fucking moron, sounds like a drunk hick. Yall got dem saterlites from nersa flyin round' caught me circumcise'n ma son billy by kickin ma daughter in the jaw dee hee hoo


[3 Points] dnmsafety:

In what specific ways does sending 1lb of weed cause you to more likely get caught than 1oz of weed? If they are both send USPS with stealth, shouldn't they both have the same amount of risk?


[2 Points] kr3wmonk3y:

Thanks for the read :)


[2 Points] iGetSpankShit:

To my knowledge its not smart to do more than 2-3lb per package, right? These people seem to be lowering their odds in this game of chance by getting 10-20+ in one package


[2 Points] None:

Advanced Saterlite Systems

lololol these guys were winners for sure


[1 Points] gwern:

These other two stories involve controlled deliveries of drugs in the mail (I think), but I can't load the articles because I don't dare allow the running of javascript through a tor exit node without at least SSL.

The article text is visible in the page source, believe it or not.


[1 Points] dankrussian:

These guys got caught for trying to acquire MAJOR weight, most likely for resale on the streets. Which makes it a high priority for the local authorities in your area. That's going to get caught eventually I don't give a shit how good you're opsec is. If you're ordering POUNDS of product you WILL get caught eventually. Hell even ordering personal amounts you have a chance at getting caught.


[0 Points] None:

What kind of person thinks they can for sure get away with placing a mail delivered order of 25 POUNDS of pot?? Ridiculous.