cocaine

“The Cocaine Buttons” Story…How a small town Canadian grandmother ended up in a Hong Kong prison

Published

2 years ago

March 7, 2023

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It was such an implausible story. How did a grandmother of six from Barrie, Ont. get caught up in an international scheme that ended with her behind bars, potentially for the rest of her life?

The short answer is: loneliness, naivete and a desire for love. The long answer is more complicated.

Five years after she became a widow, 64-year-old Suzana decided to try to find love online. She was flattered by all of the attention she received. She quickly fell in love with a man who, over the course of a few months, drained her of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

They never met in person.

Her friends and family believe that same man then re-entered her on-line life, using a new name and a new photo. But instead of trying to get money from her, this time he had another plan.

He paid for her to fly to Ethiopia, ostensibly to meet him. But he never showed. So he had some friends drop off presents: new clothing and a new suitcase. He then bought her a ticket to meet him in Hong Kong, where she now sits behind bars.

It turns out those gifts were loaded with cocaine inside the buttons of the clothes.

Our investigation, “The Cocaine Buttons,” spans from Canada to Ethiopia and Hong Kong where lawyer Michael Arthur says Suzana’s only hope is to prove that she was caught up in an international crime syndicate.

“There are pretty severe sentences here. She is looking at serious jail time,” he told W5.

Her case isn’t expected to even go to trial for another two years. In the meantime, Suzana only gets one 10-minute phone call a month.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/how-a-small-town-canadian-grandmother-ended-up-in-a-hong-kong-prison-1.6298110

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cocaine

ABC (Australia News) Victorian men jailed over attempted ‘astronomical’ cocaine import into South Australia

Published

4 weeks ago

January 30, 2025

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In short:

Two men have been sentenced to three years’ jail with a non-parole period of 18 months for trying to import more than 100 kilograms of cocaine into South Australia.

The judge said the pair had followed the drugs from WA to SA on the instruction of their drug dealers in order to pay off drug debts they had accumulated.

What’s next?

The men’s sentences have been backdated to when they were first imprisoned last February and they will both be eligible for parole in August.

Two young Victorian men who were involved in the attempted importation of an “astronomical” amount of cocaine into South Australia have been labelled “muppets” and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

Rayn Sadik, 20, and Yousif Al-Asadi, 23, were sentenced in South Australia’s District Court on Wednesday after they each entered a guilty plea to one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug last year.

The maximum penalty for that offence is life imprisonment or a fine of $2,347,500.

More at

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-29/victorian-men-sentenced-over-attempt-to-import-100kg-of-cocaine/104870476

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Military-trained narcos arrested in three tonne cocaine bust in south of Spain: Kalashnikov assault rifles among weapons seized

Published

1 month ago

January 18, 2025

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NEARLY three tonnes of cocaine and four military-grade weapons have been seized in a major drug bust along the Guadalquivir River in Sevilla.

Spanish police reported that the men had ‘paramilitary training’ and were armed with what appeared to be Kalashnikov assault rifles.

The presence of such weapons suggests a level of organisation and capacity for violence far beyond typical drug smuggling operations.

Military-trained narcos arrested in three tonne cocaine bust in south of Spain: Kalashnikov assault rifles among weapons seized

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Shipment of grapes entering Canada hid massive stash of suspected cocaine

Published

4 months ago

November 3, 2024

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More than 600 kilograms of suspected cocaine — roughly the weight of a concert grand piano — was discovered inside a shipment of grapes intercepted by border officers earlier this month.

The seizure took place on Oct. 15 at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont.

A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency says an investigation is underway with law enforcement partners.

The agency declined an interview and said it doesn’t comment on the status of ongoing investigations.

CBSA hasn’t provided an estimate of the street value of the 615 kilograms, but earlier this year estimated the value of a cocaine seizure less than half this size at $6.5 million.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/ambassador-bridge-cocaine-grapes-1.7368639

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