Drug Trafficking
Medical marijuana prices plunge in California
ARCATA, Calif. -- The pot market is crashing in California's legendary Emerald Triangle.
Date: 05/05/2012 | Nation & World
5-year term for Vancouver heroin overdose death
VANCOUVER, Wash. -- A woman who sold the heroin that killed a Vancouver man was sentenced Thursday to more than five years in prison.Brittany Sonnen of Vancouver had pleaded guilty to controlled-substance homicide in the overdose death last August of 24-year-old Adam Hurd.
Date: 05/04/2012 | Northwest
Army roots out heroin using soldiers in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army has investigated 56 soldiers in Afghanistan on suspicion of using or distributing heroin, morphine or other opiates during 2010 and 2011, newly obtained data shows. Eight soldiers died of drug overdoses during that time.
Date: 04/22/2012 | Nation & World
40 arrested as drug-ring sweep continues
A sweep of arrests continued across Western Washington on Thursday as federal and local police worked to dismantle two major drug trafficking organizations.More than 40 people have been arrested this week, said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle.
Date: 03/30/2012 | Local News
Police raid Lynnwood home during drug sweep
LYNNWOOD -- A Lynnwood-area home was raided by police Wednesday as part of a three county sweep into a suspected drug trafficking ring.
Date: 03/29/2012 | Local News
Marysville man gets 12 years for drug trafficking
SEATTLE -- A Marysville man was sentenced Friday to 12 years in a federal prison for his role in a multinational drug trafficking ring.
Date: 03/24/2012 | Local News
Court papers detail big pot farming operation
LYNNWOOD -- They would meet in parking lots along Highway 99 in Lynnwood and Edmonds.He'd pull up in his blue Mazda Miata or a red Lexus.She would be waiting with money to make the buy.
Date: 03/22/2012 | Local News
Police arrest at least 9 in pot raids in 2 counties
LYNNWOOD -- An investigation involving federal and local drug agents resulted in at least nine arrests Tuesday in Snohomish and King counties, officials said."This is an on-going marijuana investigation," federal Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Jodie Underwood said.
Date: 03/21/2012 | Local News
Drug thieves clean up with Tide detergent thefts
WASHINGTON — When police in suburban Washington raided the home of a suspected drug dealer last fall, they found the cocaine, all right, but also something unusual on the man's shelves: nearly 20 large bottles of liquid Tide laundry detergent.
Date: 03/14/2012 | Nation & World
Pat Robertson: Marijuana should be legal like alcohol
RICHMOND, Va. — Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government's war on drugs has failed.
Date: 03/08/2012 | Nation & World
Joe Biden heads to Latin America for debate on drugs
Vice President Joe Biden heads to Latin America today amid unprecedented pressure from political and business leaders to talk about something U.S. officials have no interest in debating: decriminalizing drugs.
Date: 03/04/2012 | Nation & World
Marijuana plants, explosives found in Lynnwood-area home
LYNNWOOD -- A search warrant served in the Lynnwood area Friday morning turned up marijuana plants, explosives and firearms, police said.
Date: 03/02/2012 | Local News
Authorities: Cocaine bust was Alaska's largest ever
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A federal grand jury has indicted three Fairbanks residents on charges of conspiring to distribute more than 50 kilograms of cocaine in what authorities say is the largest-ever haul of the drug bound for Alaska.
Date: 02/25/2012 | Northwest
U.S. meth lab busts increase in 2011
ST. LOUIS — Methamphetamine lab seizures rose nationally again in 2011, further evidence the powerfully addictive and dangerous drug is maintaining a tight grip on the nation's heartland, according to an Associated Press survey of the nation's top meth-producing states.
Date: 02/23/2012 | Nation & World
Stanwood man gets 8 1/2 years for 4 felonies, including assault of bound woman
EVERETT -- A Snohomish County judge on Wednesday called a Stanwood man a predator who used brute force and degradation to control drug-addicted and vulnerable women.
Date: 02/23/2012 | Local News
U.S. drug war targets the bulk smuggling of cash
WASHINGTON -- Jeanette Barraza-Galindo conspicuously left her bags of teddy bears and throw pillows on a bus during an inspection at the Texas-Mexico border -- and professed ignorance about the $277,556 officers found hidden inside. The bags were handed to her at a bus station, gifts to be given to...
Date: 02/12/2012 | Nation & World
Marijuana users twice as likely to cause a car crash
LONDON — People who use marijuana before driving are nearly twice as likely to cause a car crash as those not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a Canadian analysis of previous studies.
Date: 02/09/2012 | Nation & World
Mexican army finds 15 tons of pure methamphetamine
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Mexican troops have made a historic seizure of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine in the western state of Jalisco, an amount equivalent to half of all meth seizures worldwide in 2009.
Date: 02/09/2012 | Nation & World
Tulalip tribal members fight against drug-trafficking
Roy Pablo was fed up with drug dealers.He posted as much on his Facebook page.He didn't know it'd start a movement.Pablo, 34, of Tulalip, now is helping organizing a grassroots campaign against drug-trafficking on the reservation, he said.
Date: 02/03/2012 | Sirens
Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson: Tiny town known for pot busts
SIERRA BLANCA, Texas — Nestled among the few remaining businesses that dot a rundown highway in this dusty West Texas town stands what's become a surprise destination for marijuana-toting celebrities: the Hudspeth County Jail.
Date: 01/28/2012 | Nation & World
$700,000 cash, drugs seized in raid
SEATTLE -- Federal authorities and local police raided several homes and businesses Wednesday, including locations in Snohomish County, in connection with a lengthy criminal investigation into a drug trafficking operation.
Date: 01/26/2012 | Local News
Detectives unraveling Marysville robbery that ended with body buried in Granite Falls
MARYSVILLE -- Investigators still are unraveling a messy home-invasion robbery in Marysville last year that left one man dead and put a half-dozen people behind bars.
Date: 01/19/2012 | Local News
Friday night standoff in Martha Lake netted two burglary suspects
EVERETT -- An overnight SWAT standoff on Friday in the Lynnwood area was connected to a violent burglary in Everett earlier this month.
Date: 01/18/2012 | Local News
Man hits deer and found with 23 pounds of pot
SUTHERLIN, Ore. -- A Washington man is in custody after an Oregon State Patrol trooper watched him hit a deer near Sutherlin, Ore., and keep driving for seven miles.At the stop on Monday night, the trooper found 23 pounds of marijuana in the man's car.
Date: 01/10/2012 | Northwest
Report: U.S. agents helped launder millions in drug proceeds
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's government allowed a group of undercover U.S. anti-drug agents and their Colombian informant to launder millions in cash for a powerful Mexican drug trafficker and his Colombian cocaine supplier, according to documents made public Monday.
Date: 01/09/2012 | Nation & World
Supreme Court to rule on search by drug sniffing dog
MIAMI -- In a case closely watched by law enforcement nationwide, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether a Florida police dog's sniff outside the front door of a house with a marijuana growing operation is an illegal search.
Date: 01/07/2012 | Nation & World
Justice Department documents describe Mexican gun probe
WASHINGTON — In a probe of arms trafficking during the George W. Bush administration, a federal prosecutor said it was wrong that law enforcement agents had allowed hundreds of guns to go into Mexico and into the hands of drug dealers, according to documents the Justice Department turned over...
Date: 01/06/2012 | Nation & World
Synthetic marijuana woes plague the military
SAN DIEGO -- U.S. forces are increasingly using an easy-to-get herbal mix called "Spice," which mimics a marijuana high and can bring on hallucinations that last for days.
Date: 12/31/2011 | Nation & World
Alaska teen who was injected with heroin dies
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- An Alaska teenager who was injected with heroin by a 26-year-old man died Thursday almost a week after the incident, Anchorage police said.
Date: 12/29/2011 | Northwest
Marijuana grow operation found in Mill Creek home
MILL CREEK -- A domestic violence call in Mill Creek on Tuesday morning led police to a house full of marijuana plants, drugs and a man hiding in a crawl space with a hunting rifle."It was a long, long operation," Sgt. Ian Durkee said Wednesday.
Date: 12/22/2011 | Local News
Man who shot himself sentenced for gun possession
TACOMA -- Federal prosecutors say a Port Orchard man who was investigated after he accidentally shot himself at his home has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison for possession of a stolen gun.
Date: 12/16/2011 | Northwest
Former sheriff accused of offering meth for sex
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — An ex-Colorado sheriff known for his no-nonsense style and a concern about teenage drug use is facing charges of offering methamphetamine in exchange for sex and was being held Wednesday at a jail named for him.
Date: 11/30/2011 | Nation & World
New Calif. border drug tunnel found
SAN DIEGO -- U.S. authorities said they discovered a major cross-border tunnel Tuesday, the latest in a spate of secret passages found to smuggle drugs from Mexico.
Date: 11/29/2011 | Nation & World
Oregon police investigate Marsyville man for pot
ROSEBURG, Ore. -- A Marysville man is the focus of a criminal investigation in central Oregon after troopers discovered eight pounds of marijuana in the man's car.
Date: 11/29/2011 | Local News
Mexican trucker gets 16 years for drug tunnels
SAN DIEGO -- A Mexican trucker was sentenced Monday to nearly 16 years in prison for his role in two major drug tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border, marking the end of one of the most prominent cases since the secret passages began turning up about a decade ago.
Date: 11/28/2011 | Nation & World
Top Colombian drug trafficker captured
CARACAS, Venezuela -- A top Colombian drug trafficker reputedly responsible for shipping tons of cocaine to the United States through Central America and Mexico has been captured in Venezuela, officials said Monday.
Date: 11/28/2011 | Nation & World
Official: Drug cartel tried to skew Mexico vote
MEXICO CITY -- A Mexican official said Friday that drug traffickers tried to influence elections in the western state of Michoacan, a charge already made before the voting by some of the candidates and party leaders.
Date: 11/18/2011 | Nation & World
U.S. authorities find major drug tunnel in San Diego
SAN DIEGO -- An estimated 14 tons of marijuana were seized after the discovery of a cross-border tunnel that authorities said Wednesday was one of the most significant secret drug smuggling passages ever found on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Date: 11/16/2011 | Nation & World
Ex-lawyer ordered to addiction treatment
EVERETT -- In his 34-year career as a lawyer, Patrick Mullen stood in front of a judge many times to argue on behalf of his clients.On Monday, Mullen's challenge wasn't in making an articulate case. It was proving his sincerity.
Date: 11/14/2011 | Local News
New Hampshire college fraternity's charter revoked after drug raid
CONCORD, N.H. -- A University of New Hampshire fraternity where 11 students were arrested during a weekend drug raid had its charter revoked Monday by its national leaders.
Date: 11/08/2011 | Nation & World
Man who allegedly attacked three lawyers is convicted of drug charge
EVERETT -- A man accused of stabbing three of his attorneys and stuck representing himself at trial was convicted of drug possession Thursday.
Date: 11/03/2011 | Local News
Out of lawyers
Man must defend himself, after 3 attorneys allegedly attacked
Date: 11/02/2011 | Local News
Police, drug lobby clash over Oklahoma meth bill
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma authorities have been at the forefront of the nation's battle against methamphetamine, but they will soon have a tough new opponent: a politically connected, well-heeled pharmaceutical industry.
Date: 10/31/2011 | Nation & World
'Massive' smuggling ring dismantled in Arizona
PHOENIX -- Arizona authorities have dismantled a "massive" drug trafficking ring responsible for smuggling more than $33 million worth of drugs through the state's western desert every month for distribution nationwide, officials said Monday.
Date: 10/31/2011 | Nation & World
Mill Creek woman arrested following search warrant that turns up suspected heroin, meth
MILL CREEK -- A Mill Creek woman was arrested Thursday for investigation of possessing drugs after detectives and a Snohomish County SWAT team served a search warrant on her apartment.
Date: 10/28/2011 | Local News
Ind. man, 87, stopped in Mich. with cocaine
DETROIT -- An 87-year-old Indiana man arrested in Michigan with 104 bricks of cocaine in his pickup truck has told a judge he was forced at "gunpoint" to carry the load.
Date: 10/24/2011 | Nation & World
Feds bust drug and gun dealing in Seattle area
SEATTLE -- Federal agents led a three-month investigation of illegal drug and gun dealing in the White Center neighborhood of south Seattle.The U.S. attorney's office says operation "Center of Attention" wrapped up this week with 50 arrests on federal and state charges.
Date: 10/21/2011 | Northwest
Bremerton police say drug deal ended in shooting
BREMERTON -- Bremerton police say a 26-year-old man who was shot multiple times Tuesday night in a parking lot is in critical condition at a Seattle hospital.
Date: 10/13/2011 | Northwest
Parents encouraged to attend Marysville forum about drug use
MARYSVILLE -- A series of community forums begins Tuesday with a focus on illegal drugs.People can learn how to recognize and report illegal drug use at a forum set for 7 p.m. in the Marysville Pilchuck High School auditorium.
Date: 10/07/2011 | Local News
Update: Feds announce medical marijuana crackdown
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Federal prosecutors announced an aggressive crackdown against California pot dispensaries Friday, vowing to shut down dozens of operations and saying that the worst offenders are using the cover of medical marijuana to act as storefront drug dealers.
Date: 10/06/2011 | Nation & World
Sentencing rescheduled for former attorney who tried to smuggle drugs to inmate
EVERETT -- Sentencing was postponed Thursday for a former Lynnwood attorney who pleaded guilty to attempting to bring heroin to an inmate inside the Snohomish County Jail.
Date: 09/30/2011 | Local News
Video: Dozens arrested in drug raid at Boeing plant
PHILADELPHIA — Federal agents on Thursday raided a Boeing plant that makes military helicopters in a Philadelphia suburb and charged more than three dozen people with distributing or trying to get prescription drugs, among them powerful painkillers.
Date: 09/29/2011 | Nation & World
5 severed heads found in Mexico resort of Acapulco
ACAPULCO, Mexico -- Mexican police have found five severed heads in front of a primary school in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.
Date: 09/27/2011 | Nation & World
Edmonds man sentenced 10 years for possession of 30 pounds of heroin
SEATTLE -- An Edmonds man was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking.
Date: 09/23/2011 | Local News
Marysville police seek homicide charge against man who supplied drugs to teen who died
MARYSVILLE -- Police are recommending a Marysville man, 22, be charged with controlled substance homicide in connection with a 17-year-old girl's overdose in June.
Date: 09/22/2011 | Local News
Crackdown on heroin continues in Snohomish
SNOHOMISH -- Police in Snohomish are continuing to crack down on heroin.
Date: 09/22/2011 | Local News
Gunmen dump 35 bodies on busy avenue in Mexico
MEXICO CITY -- Masked gunmen blocked traffic on a busy avenue in a Gulf of Mexico coastal city Tuesday and dumped the bodies of 35 slaying victims as horrified motorists watched, authorities said.
Date: 09/20/2011 | Nation & World
Former Mongols biker gang boss gets 14 years
LOS ANGELES — A judge sentenced the former leader of the Mongols motorcycle gang to a 14-year prison sentence in a case accusing members of murder, drug trafficking and violent attacks, the Associated Press learned after inquiring about last week's secret hearing.
Date: 09/14/2011 | Nation & World
Hydrocodone abuse on the rise, officials say
NEW YORK -- Health agencies and drug counselors are warning of a dramatic and dangerous rise in the abuse of medicines containing the narcotic hydrocodone, including Vicodin, Norco and Lortab.
Date: 08/21/2011 | Nation & World
Suspected Snohomish County drug runners linked to violent drug cartel, officials say
LYNNWOOD -- Suspected drug runners living in Snohomish County have ties to one of the largest and most-violent drug cartels in the world, authorities announced Friday.
Date: 08/19/2011 | Local News
Feds bust Iraqi-Mexican drug ring
SAN DIEGO -- Federal officials said Thursday they've busted a drug trafficking ring involving Mexico's most powerful cartel and members of an Iraqi immigrant community in the U.S. who were caught selling illegal drugs, assault rifles, grenades and homemade explosives.
Date: 08/19/2011 | Nation & World
'Wire' actress pleads guilty in drug case
BALTIMORE -- An actress who played a Baltimore drug gang assassin in HBO's "The Wire" pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to distribute heroin, caught by a wiretap in a joint federal-state drug probe of an alleged drug gang.
Date: 08/08/2011 | Nation & World
Former Lynnwood lawyer pleads guilty in attempt to smuggle heroin into jail
EVERETT -- A former Lynnwood attorney admitted Wednesday that last year he attempted to smuggle heroin to an inmate inside the Snohomish County Jail.
Date: 08/03/2011 | Local News
County Council won't impose moratorium on marijuana gardens
The Snohomish County Council has decided to take no action toward imposing a moratorium on collective medical marijuana gardens.
Date: 07/28/2011 | Local News
Gang member headed to prison
SEATTLE -- The third gang member busted last year in a federal drug sting is headed to prison for 5 1/2 years.
Date: 07/23/2011 | Local News
Mexico captures U.S.-born Tijuana drug lieutenant
MEXICO CITY -- Federal police have captured a U.S.-born drug lieutenant who joined the Tijuana cartel after a crackdown on the notorious Arellano Felix brothers caused the group to splinter and emerge with a younger leadership, officials said Monday.
Date: 07/11/2011 | Nation & World
40 are dead in Mexican drug war
MEXICO CITY -- Fighting among the Zetas gang and other vicious drug cartels led to the deaths of more than 40 people whose bodies were found in three Mexican cities over a 24-hour span, an official said Saturday.
Date: 07/10/2011 | Nation & World
Medical-marijuana raids violate Obama pledge, critics say
A new Obama administration memo approves federal prosecution of anyone in the business of growing or supplying marijuana for medical patients even if they are complying with state law.
Date: 07/08/2011 | Nation & World
Everett police warn about the dangers of ‘bath salts’
They won't scent a steamy tub with lavender, but they could cause organ failure and profuse bleeding.That's right -- bath salts have come to Snohomish County.
Date: 07/08/2011 | Local News
Everett police warn smoke shops about bath salts
Turns out “bath salts” weren't an urban myth. That's why Everett cops were visiting smoke shops around town Thursday.
Date: 07/07/2011 | Sirens
Fireworks take a toll
South Everett home damaged, several people injured
Date: 07/05/2011 | Local News
Everett man charged for selling 'bath salts' drug
EVERETT -- An Everett man was charged Tuesday in federal court in connection with the mass distribution of the drug known as "bath salts."
Date: 06/29/2011 | Local News
Seven arrested on heroin charges appear in court, two others fail to appear
EVERETT -- Seven people suspected of dealing heroin in Snohomish parks, outside a high school and at the city library were in court Monday to answer to numerous felony drug charges.
Date: 06/07/2011 | Local News
Mexico seizes 154 rifles from buried drug cartel cache
MEXICO CITY -- Mexican soldiers found a buried cache of weapons apparently stockpiled by a drug cartel, including 154 rifles and shotguns and more than 92,000 rounds of ammunition, the Defense Department said Friday.
Date: 06/04/2011 | Nation & World
Two members of Waco Boys gang sentenced for drug trafficking
SEATTLE -- Two Everett gang members were sentenced Friday in federal court for their part in a drug trafficking operation that peddled highly addictive painkillers in Snohomish County.
Date: 06/04/2011 | Local News
Local, federal agencies investigating drug activity in rural Snohomish
A flurry of police activity outside of Snohomish on Friday morning was part of an ongoing federal and local investigation.
Date: 06/04/2011 | Local News
Ex-Granite Falls mayor convicted of selling pot
GRANITE FALLS -- A Snohomish County jury Wednesday convicted a former Granite Falls mayor of dealing marijuana.
Date: 06/02/2011 | Local News
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