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FL police, drug task force team to seize drugs, arrest 3

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:45:54 +0000

Three men have been arrested in a Washington County Narcotics Task Force probe in Forest Lake. Authorities also seized 62 pounds of khat, a leafy controlled substance narcotic, during a joint effort with the Forest Lake Police Department.
The drugs were seized and the arrests were made at 1:40 p.m. on Tuesday at the UPS Store, 2009 W. Broadway Ave. where officers from the two police agencies converged.
During the arrest, police recovered 62 pounds of the drug and found additional boxes containing the drug in a rented Ford Explorer the three men were driving. The khat had been packed in 225 bundles making up the 62 pounds, authorities said.
Chief of Police Clark Quiring said authorities believe the Forest Lake store was being used as a drop point for illegal drugs that are being smuggled into the country.
Quiring said the drugs recovered in Forest Lake on Tuesday had street value ranging in price from $8000 to nearly $12,000.
“Certainly, this is a pipeline to downtown Minneapolis,” Quiring said. “They are using our community as a passing zone.”
The three men arrested are all from Minneapolis.
•Abdimajid Said, 33, of 1819 Elliot Ave. S.
•Abdikarin M. Suleiman, 26, of 1600 S. 6th St.
•Jamal M. Ibrahim, 28, of 2500 Blaisdell Ave. S.
All three were booked in the Washington County Jail, Stillwater, on probable cause of felony fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance.
Khat is a leafy substance that is grown largely in Eastern Africa. Police said that the leaves are harvested, wrapped in banana leaves and shipped in bundles to the West. In many cases in the past, Quiring said, authorities in the United States have intercepted drugs that were shipped from England.
The arrests were made without incident and authorities received cooperation from store employees, Quiring said.
The investigation was carried out by two members of the drug task force who were assisted by four Forest Lake officers, Quiring said.
Quiring said it is possible that the other boxes of drugs found in the vehicle had been picked up earlier in the day from other stores.

Salem police seize drugs, money and guns in raid

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:53:39 +0000

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Mason deputies seize stolen property, drugs from Apple Grove residence

admin — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:52:27 +0000

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Portugal's airport customs seize 70 kg of drugs in January

admin — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:35:32 +0000

LISBON, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) — Portugal’s customs authorities seized a total of 70 kilograms of drugs at Lisbon and Porto airports in January and arrested 18 people suspected of drug trafficking, Lusa News Agency reported on Thursday.
The agency quoted a statement by the customs authorities as saying the seized drugs came from Brazil, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau.
Sixteen men and two women were arrested for suspected drug trafficking, aged from 25 to 50, according to the statement. Among them there were two Portuguese nationals. The drugs were hidden in their handbags, luggage, underwear or shoes.

Turkish security forces seize 3550 kg drugs

admin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 01:56:14 +0000

ANKARA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — Turkish security forces
confiscated around 3,550 kg of hashish in operations conducted across the
country, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Saturday.
Acting on a tip-off, the security forces seized 3,500
kg of hashish in an operation conducted in Lice town of southeastern province of
Diyarbakir on Saturday, said the report, adding that a drug producing facility
has also been discovered.
Meanwhile, in counter-narcotics operations launched
in the southern provinces of Mersin and Hatay on Friday, the security forces
impounded 50.6 kg of hashish stashed in automobiles.
A total of 12 people were detained for their alleged
involvement in drug trafficking.
Turkey is a key transit route for smuggling drugs
from Asia and the Middle East to markets in western Europe.

Cops seize drugs, guns

admin — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:33:02 +0000

BANTAM — Drugs and guns were found in a New Harwinton Road home Tuesday night, police said.
Paul J. Dadomo, 21, 296 New Harwinton Road, was charged with possession of less than four ounces of marijuana, use of drug paraphernalia and non-student in possession of drugs near a school.
Dadomo was ordered held on $5,000 bond in Bantam Superior Court Wednesday. He is on a two-year probation following two convictions in Waterbury Superior Court for possession of marijuana in 2007.
Torrington police accompanied state probation officers on a routine search of Dadomo’s home. Dadomo told police the marijuana found in his dresser drawer in a “Gummy Bear” tin box was his girlfriend’s. The box contained syringes, new and used packaging baggies with sayings on them, which is typical for packaging narcotics, police said. Also in the tin was a film case containing marijuana and a small wad of rock hard black substance. Dadomo told police the drugs weren’t his, but his girlfriend’s, according to a report.
Police went to the New Harwinton Road home on information Dadomo was trading guns for drugs. Dadomo told police he had “a few guns.” Police seized nine guns — four shot guns, two .22 cal. rifles, a 30-60 rifle and a 30-30 rifle — from a closet in Dadomo’s home. Dadomo told police the weapons were owned by his father.
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Police seize guns and drugs in East Palo Alto

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:59:22 +0000

A submachine gun, crack cocaine, night vision goggles and a pistol were among the items a strike team hauled in this week during two separate busts in East Palo Alto.
The first seizure occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday on the 1100 block of Saratoga Avenue when a strike force of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park police officers approached a sport utility vehicle parked in a driveway with three passengers inside, East Palo Alto police Detective Ed Soares said.
He said the officers stopped to talk to the men because they were parked in an area known for drug trafficking.
The men had a police scanner radio, which Soares said drug dealers often use to monitor police activities to avoid arrest. A check of the men’s identities revealed that Lorenzo Soolefai, 25, was wanted on a warrant for driving with a suspended driver’s license and Faaitua Logo, 27, was on probation for a gun charge.
During the check, officers spotted a pair of night vision goggles, a digital scale and bags used for packaging drugs sitting on the seat of a Lincoln Town Car parked alongside the SUV in the driveway of Logo’s house, Soares said.
Because Logo was on probation, police were allowed to search his house and did.
Inside they found an Uzi submachine gun and approximately 300 rounds of ammunition. Soares said it is too early to tell whether the weapon had been used in any of the city’s recent shootings, but the gun has been sent for ballistics testing.
Soolefai and Logo were arrested and the third man was released.
After police transported Soolefai and Logo to San Mateo County Jail, they found seven grams of crack cocaine in Soolefai’s clothing, Soares said. Both suspects have been charged with conspiracy to sell narcotics, and Logo also was charged with possessing the gun.
In the second incident, which happened at 7 p.m. Wednesday, police stopped to talk to a group of men because they were gambling in front of a house on the 1200 block of Sevier Avenue, Soares said.
One man ran toward the house. After a short chase, police caught Danny Darnell Coleman, 19, who was allegedly carrying a .45-caliber pistol. He is a documented member of the Taliban street gang, Soares said.
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Oakland police seize 33 guns in raids Friday

admin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:43:08 +0000

OAKLAND — Police on Tuesday displayed 33 guns seized in two unrelated investigations last week, and highlighted a significant drop in major crimes this year.
Sixteen of the recovered guns, along with marijuana and cash, came from a downtown medical marijuana dispensary operating illegally, police said.
An owner and operator of the Lemon Drop Cafe, at 1736 Telegraph Ave., was arrested during Friday raids that included one at his San Ramon home about 4 p.m., police said.
The owner was identified as Steven Smyrni, 36. The raid came after information was received saying the dispensary was operating without proper permits, officials said. Undercover officers made two purchases of marijuana from the dispensary without being required to provide a medical marijuana card, authorities said.
Some of the weapons recovered were found inside the Oakland business and others at Smyrni’s San Ramon residence, police said.
Smyrni was arrested for sales of marijuana, cultivation of marijuana, and possession of a firearm while in commission of a felony. Officials said Smyrni had a gun in his waistband when he was arrested, and a shotgun was found elsewhere in the cafe.
Police also found nearly $4,000 in cash at the cafe and about $12,000 in a safe at Smyrni’s home, where he lives with his wife and three children, officials said. Police reported finding 10 guns in the master bedroom there, and four others around the rest of the
house.
The Oakland City Council passed an ordinance in 2004 approving medical marijuana dispensaries but limiting the allowable number of permits to four.
The city received seven or eight applications for permits, according to administrator Barbara Killey, who processed all of them.
Of those applicants, only four were able to pass a test on local and state medical marijuana laws, Killey said. The Lemon Drop Cafe owners were not among them.
Mark Belote, who was listed as an owner of Lemon Drop Cafe at one time, said in 2004 that the coffee shop would continue to sell its traditional wares such as coffee and pastries but stop pot sales.
“I want to do everything legally. I’ve always been honest with (city officials), so we’ll see what happens,” Belote said then. “I have an eight-year lease here, so the cafe will stay open.”
The cafe continued to make illegal medicinal marijuana sales off and on after that, Killey said, leading her to send a cease-and-desist letter in April 2008. She said she’d dealt with Belote the whole time and first heard Smyrni’s name reading media reports of the arrest Tuesday.
“I’m glad the police did it,” Killey said. “If people are serious about medical marijuana, it’s very detrimental for these rogue aberrations to come up that don’t buy into the program. If all you want is to do marijuana sales, you don’t really have to be interested in the patient or go along with any high-quality standards of a medical facility, then we’re really making ourselves targets for federal prosecution.”
Calls to a phone number for Belote pulled from public records went unanswered Tuesday. Neither the cafe nor Smyrni have publicly listed phone numbers. Police did not identify Belote as a target of the arrests.
Also at Tuesday’s news conference, police displayed 17 firearms and a large quantity of cocaine found in another raid, Friday morning at a house in the 1400 block of 81st Avenue.
Three males were arrested in that raid, including a 41-year-old and a 21-year-old believed to be father and son and a 17-year-old juvenile.
One of the reasons for the news conference, Kozicki said, was to counter some recent criticisms directed at the department by residents, city officials, current and former officers, and media organizations.
“We consider the criticism an insult to the men and women of Oakland Police Department consistently working very hard,” Kozicki said.
To highlight that effort, police pointed out that major crimes are down in Oakland this year 28 percent compared with the same date last year. Though 2009 is less than two months old, homicides are down 70 percent, with firearm-related assaults down 13 percent.
Robberies and burglaries are down 23 percent and 27 percent, respectively, compared with the same time last year, police said.
City officials have called on the department to increase the rate at which crime drops in the city. Police reported an overall 4 percent drop in major crimes from 2007 to 2008, which City Council President Jane Brunner said was not nearly fast enough.
“We see a direct connection between illegal marijuana sales and firearm violence in the city,” Kozicki said. “These cases are part of a larger effort to stop gun-related violence. We don’t know if anyone has found a long-term solution, but we’re doing the best we can.”

Agents seize drugs, guns

admin — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:08:20 +0000

COTTONWOOD – 1.2 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 550 grams of marijuana, 21 guns and more were seized from couple in their 60s Thursday.
About 20 agents, including members of the Tehama Inter-agency Drug Enforcement Task Force, Special Agents with the California Department of Justice, officers from the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and Tehama County District Attorney Investigators served a search warrant on Basler Road, Acting Special Agent Supervisor Eric Maher said.
With a home, a barn and two trailers on the property, the goal was to clear everything at once, Maher said.
“We didn’t expect a lot of people, but when you’ve got a lot of structures, you want to clear them all at the same time,” he said.
In addition to the drugs, agents found a short-barreled shotgun, packaging material and drug paraphernalia.
Gene Aurther Sovereign, 65, Cottonwood, was arrested on suspicion of transporting, importing, selling, furnishing or giving away a controlled substance, being a registered felon or addict with a gun, possessing marijuana for sale and manufacturing, importing, giving away, selling or possessing illegal firearms, according to Tehama County Sheriff’s Department booking sheets. Bail is $70,000.
Gene Sovereign has tattoos on his right arm that say “women” and “white,” while his left arm says “power,” according to booking sheets.
Nothing was found at the residence to suggest his involvement in a supremacist organization, Maher said.
probably just prison tattoos,” Maher said.
Sharon Lee Sovereign, 62, Cottonwood, was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale, possessing a controlled substance and manufacturing, importing, giving away, selling or possessing illegal firearms. Bail is $45,000.
Staff Writer Geoff Johnson can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114, or at

Police seize guns and drugs in East Palo Alto

admin — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:01:09 +0000

A submachine gun, crack cocaine, night vision goggles and a pistol were among the items a strike team hauled in this week during two separate busts in East Palo Alto.
The first seizure occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday in the 1100 block of Saratoga Avenue when a strike force of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park police officers approached a sport-utility vehicle parked in a driveway with three passengers inside, said East Palo Alto police Detective Ed Soares.
He said the officers stopped to talk to the men because they were parked in an area known for drug trafficking.
The men had a police scanner radio, which Soares said drug dealers often use to monitor police activities to avoid arrest. A check of the men’s identities revealed that Lorenzo Soolefai, 25, was wanted on a warrant for driving with a suspended driver’s license and Faaitua Logo, 27, was on probation for a gun charge.
During the check, officers spotted a pair of night vision goggles, a digital scale and bags used for packaging drugs sitting on the seat of a Lincoln Town Car parked alongside the SUV in the driveway of Logo’s house, Soares said.
Because Logo is on probation, police are allowed to search his house and did.
Inside they found an Uzi submachine gun and approximately 300 rounds of ammunition. Soares said it is too early to know whether the weapon had been used in any of the city’s recent spate of shootings, but the gun has been sent for ballistics testing.
Soolefai and Logo were arrested and the third man released.
After police transported Soolefai and Logo to San Mateo County Jail, they found seven grams of crack cocaine in Soolefai’s clothing, Soares said. Both suspects have been charged with conspiracy to sell narcotics, and Logo also with possessing the gun.