Latest from The Spokesman-Review

• 78-year-old pleads guilty in pot case

  May 19, 2012 in City on Page B2 A 78-year-old man who allowed drug traffickers to use his property just south of the Canadian border in Ferry County has pleaded guilty. Alvin Oliver Shields had 700 pounds of … 4

• Man, 77, faces trafficking charges

  September 28, 2011 in City on Page A6 A 77-year-old man who lived just miles from the Canadian border in Ferry County is accused of being a major drug trafficker. Alvin O. Shields was allowed to leave the …

• Two arrested after DEA finds pot near border

  November 3, 2009 in City Two Canadian men face drug charges in U.S District Court after federal agents say they were caught near the border with eight duffel bags of marijuana Sunday night. 1

• Drug-smuggling pilot pleads guilty

  June 23, 2009 in City, Idaho, Region A Canadian helicopter pilot busted as he landed in North Idaho with 150 pounds of marijuana has pleaded guilty.

• Canadian man to serve 8 years for smuggling

  August 2, 2007 in City on Page B3 A former Canadian union official was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Spokane to serve eight years in a U.S. prison for attempting to smuggle an estimated $4 million worth …

• Coast Guard Finds Cocaine And Colombian

  October 20, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A3 About 1,800 pounds of cocaine, a Colombian man and debris that could be boat wreckage were found floating in the Atlantic Ocean. The man, identified as Mario Martinez, was spotted …

• Smuggler Clan Had Pot Of Gold Marijuana Operation Scored Across The Border

  September 18, 1997 in City on Page B1 Going for as much as $1,750 a pound, it became one of the biggest cash crops in apple-rich Okanogan County. It was supposed to be a secret business, but a …

• Feds Seize 9 Tons Of Cocaine, $18 Million, Arrest 89 In Sweep Authorities Say 10-City Bust Shows Mexicans Have Coopted Colombian Markets On East Coast

  August 12, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A3 U.S. authorities said Monday they have have broken up wide-ranging Mexican cocaine transportation and distribution networks operating in New York and along the East Coast drug markets formerly supplied and …

• Top Cocaine Smuggler May Be Dead

  July 6, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A4 Amado Carrillo Fuentes, reputed to be Mexico’s most notorious drug trafficker and one of the first to use jetliners to smuggle cocaine, has died, local media said Saturday. Carrillo’s mother, …

• Mexican Officials Charged In Drug Heist Allegedly Aided Theft Of Half-Ton Of Cocaine Attorney General Held

  June 6, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A8 Seven Mexican law enforcement and military officers have been charged with assisting in the theft of a half-ton of cocaine three weeks ago from the attorney general’s office in a …

• Drug Cache Seized On N. Korean Ship Indicates Country Using Illegal Means To Raise Cash

  April 19, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A6 Japanese police seized almost $100 million worth of illegal drugs from a North Korean cargo ship Friday, the latest sign that the impoverished Stalinist nation is using illegal means to …

• Costly Drug War Hasn’t Worked, Study Shows

  March 30, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A5 For Oscar Sena, the difference between growing the coca used to make cocaine and stopping production of the illegal crop is clear: “My son is second in his eighth-grade class,” …

• Women Sent To Prison For Opium Smuggling

  March 26, 1997 in Idaho on Page B2 Two Northern California women have been sentenced to prison for smuggling some $1 million worth of opium from Bangkok, Thailand, to Idaho and Reno, Nev., in wooden parrots. Nai Chan …

• Cali Newspaper Says Narcotics Traffickers Killed Editorial Chief

  March 22, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A4 Narcotraffickers were behind the killing of a Cali editorial writer who had railed against Colombia’s chronic drug corruption in his columns, his newspaper colleagues said Friday. Gerardo Bedoya, 55, was …

• Mexico’s Anti-Drug Credentials At Risk Arrest Of Top Drug Fighter Raises Doubts In United States

  February 26, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A1 As Mexico’s attorney general announced that his office will be overhauled to root out corruption and improve the Mexican battle against the narcotics trade, a foreign policy battle erupted here …

• Salinas Ties To Drug Lords Alleged

  February 17, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A8 Former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, his family and top officials in his administration met and developed relationships with powerful drug kingpins, Mexico’s investigative magazine Proceso reported Sunday. Proceso …

• U.S. Aide Lambastes Colombia Drug Terms

  January 20, 1997 in Nation/World on Page A4 President Clinton’s narcotics adviser harshly criticized prison sentences a Colombian judge gave two notorious drug traffickers as evidence of drug money’s power to corrupt the Andean nation’s legal system. Brothers …

• 22,000 Ecstasy Pills Carried Into Israel

  December 17, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A4 Israeli detectives discovered 22,000 ecstasy pills inside an electric organ carried by a passenger at Ben-Gurion International Airport. The passenger - Donashvili Rafael, an Israeli who lives in Belgium - …

• Cia Accused Of Using Drug Dealers As Pilots While Supporting Contras Ex-Dea Agent Describes Mix Of Arms, Narcotics And Money In Covert War

  December 1, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 Ten years ago, El Salvador’s Ilopango Air Base served as the major depot for American aid pouring south into a secret war against Nicaragua’s Marxist Sandinista regime. A former federal …

• Anti-Drug Measure Signed By Clinton

  October 20, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A5 President Clinton signed legislation Saturday that is designed to strengthen the Coast Guard’s ability to help fight illegal drugs by limiting foreign drug runners’ ability to challenge arrest at sea. …

• L.A. Crack Epidemic Not Result Of Plot, Paper Claims

  October 20, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A16 The crack epidemic in Los Angeles followed no blueprint or master plan. It was not orchestrated by the Contras or the CIA or any single drug ring. No one trafficker, …

• International Heroin Ring Smashed, Feds Say Nigerian Women Were ‘Queenpins’ In Charge Of Operation

  October 12, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 Federal authorities said Friday they had smashed an international heroin ring stretching from Southeast Asia to middle America, run mostly by Nigerian women who rose from the ranks of drug …

• Report Rebuts Extent Of Contra Drug Connection Newspaper Also Discounts Cia Role In Bringing Crack To Ghetto

  October 5, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 The CIA admits it deals with some unsavory people - possibly even drug dealers - as it collects secrets. But investigators so far have been unable to prove - or …

• British Columbia Grows As Source Of Marijuana Smuggling To U.S. On Increase Despite Seizures, Crackdown Rhetoric

  September 30, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A7 The smuggler’s BMW slows as it nears the rendezvous point on H Street, the darkened rural road that runs parallel to the Canada-U.S. boundary on the outskirts of this town. …

• Black Lawmakers Promised Independent Probe Of Cia-Drug Link

  September 20, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A7 CIA Director John M. Deutch traveled to Capitol Hill on Thursday to personally assure members of the Congressional Black Caucus that an independent investigator will pursue allegations that the CIA …

• Congressional Black Caucus Seeks Probe Of Crack Scandal

  September 14, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A5 The Congressional Black Caucus wants President Clinton to order a formal inquiry into allegations that the CIA was involved with drug trafficking to the Nicaraguan Contras. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., …

• Deutch Orders Probe On Drug Allegations

  September 6, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 Insisting that he has found no evidence of wrongdoing, CIA Director John Deutch has ordered his inspector general to investigate allegations that the CIA was involved in drug trafficking to …

• Elderly Drug Trafficker Gets 15 Years In Jail

  August 31, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A4 A judge sentenced an 88-year-old man to 15 years in jail on drug trafficking charges Friday, telling him he was getting off lightly because of his age. He should have …

• Black Americans Became Casualties Of Contra War While Crack Enslaved Thousands, Man Who Brought It Here Went Free

  August 23, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 “Freeway Rick” Ross faces life without parole at his sentencing today. Photo by Patrick Tehan/San Jose Mercury News

• Professor Gets Education In Politics Of Cocaine

  August 23, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A11 David Morrison, a former San Francisco Bay Area economist, got his introduction to cocaine politics in the spring of 1984. He hasn’t been the same since. “I had crossed over …

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