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Cocaine-Smuggling Trucker Gets Eight Years’ Prison (BC)
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Cocaine-Smuggling Trucker Gets Eight Years’ Prison (BC)8 November 2011 The Province A trucker who pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle 65 kilograms of cocaine across the border has been sentenced to eight years in jail. Jose Dario Trigueros Sibrian, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of importation of cocaine after the drugs were found under the bunk in the sleeper compartment of his transport truck. At the time of his arrest, the father of two was driving back from the U.S. during a stop at the Pacific Highway border crossing. After being taken into custody, he admitted during a police cell plant investigation that he was transporting the narcotics. Sibrian, who had been working most of his life as a trucker, claimed that he committed the offense because of a possible threat toward one of his children by the organizers of the smuggling operation. In sentencing Sibrian, B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Grist said he did not give much credit to the accused’s claims, saying the motive was more likely that there was a substantial payment for being a drug courier. The Crown argued that the facts showed Sibrian had been involved in prior incidents of drug smuggling, but the judge rejected that submission. General deterrence was the primary principle on sentencing, the judge noted. Sibrian was also banned from possessing firearms for 10 years and ordered to provide a DNA sample. Source: [www.theprovince.com/news/Cocaine+smuggling+trucker+gets+eight+years+prison/5676684/story.html?cid=megadrop_story] (Return to Contents) Police Get Surprise in Erlton Drug Raid (AB)9 November 2011 Calgary Herald
(Return to Contents) INNER UNITED STATESFast and Furious 'Flawed,' US Agent's Death 'Regrettable,' Says Attorney General (DC)8 November 2011 Christian Science Monitor The “Fast and Furious” operation, which allowed guns from the US to 'walk' into hands of Mexican cartels, got the sharpest censure yet from the Attorney General on Tuesday. But he stopped short of apologizing for the death of a US border patrol agent. The shooting death of a US border patrol agent last December, which shined a light on a covert government "gun-walking" project called "Fast and Furious," was regrettable but cannot be tied definitively to wrongdoing by the current administration, the Attorney General said Tuesday. "I regret what happened to [the agent], and I can only imagine the pain that his family has to deal with," the A.G. testified, when asked by a Republican Senator from Texas whether he wanted to apologize to the agent’s family. "But it's not fair to say that the mistakes in “Fast and Furious” led directly to the death of [the agent]." Begun in 2009, “Fast and Furious” was an attempt to track guns purchased in the US by straw buyers into Mexico and the hands of the drug lords. The hope was that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (AFT) would be able to build cases against cartel kingpins, instead of nabbing just low-level couriers. At the time, the US was under pressure to stanch gun-trafficking that many believed to be fueling violence gripping Mexico. The problem is that ATF lost at least 2,000 guns before “Fast and Furious” was shut down last year. Many missing guns have since been linked to hundreds of crime scenes, dozens of civilian deaths in Mexico, and the deaths of the border patrol and an ICE agent, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who was killed in a roadside raid outside Mexico City in February. “Fast and Furious” guns have been linked to crime scenes where both men died, and their families are demanding answers from the administration about who knew what and when. Meanwhile, Mexico is threatening to extradite US officials who approved the program, straining relations between the two nations. Tuesday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was the 17th congressional inquiry related to “Fast and Furious”. Two Senators who are the primary inquisitors say the Justice Department has tried to smear whistleblowers and mislead Congress as oversight committees try to pinpoint who is accountable for “Fast and Furious” mistakes. Claiming deception, Republicans cite a 4 Feb. letter from the Attorney General’s office that stated, incorrectly, that ATF agents "used every effort" to interdict guns before they "walked" into Mexico. The Assistant Attorney General, whose office signed off on wiretaps for the operation, said last week he "regretted" not informing the A.G. sooner about the operation, though he said he was not involved in writing the 4 Feb. letter. The A.G. said Tuesday that the letter contained "inaccurate information" from sources inside the government, and that his staff used that information "in good faith." With 34 Republican lawmakers calling for his resignation and a Republican congressman from Texas calling for a special prosecutor, the A.G. made his strongest condemnation yet of “Fast and Furious”. "Any instance of gun-walking is simply unacceptable, and, regrettably, this tactic was used in “Fast and Furious” to combat gun violence," he said. "This operation was flawed in its concept and flawed in its execution, and we unfortunately will feel the effects for years to come as guns that were lost will continue to show up at crime scenes. This should not have happened and it must never happen again." The A.G. also argued that the focus on the botched operation has blurred a larger issue: that "the US is losing the battle against gun trafficking," partially because Congress will not give ATF more financial resources and statutory power (i.e., new laws to restrict gun access) to combat drug traffickers. He also decried "gotcha games" and "overheated rhetoric" by lawmakers, insisting that “Fast and Furious” was "the flawed response to and not the cause of illegal arms going from the US into Mexico." "Of 94,000 guns that have been recovered and traced in Mexico, 64,000 of those guns were sourced to the United States of America," the A.G. said. "The mistakes of Operation “Fast and Furious”, serious though they were, should not deter or distract us from the mission to disrupt the dangerous flow of arms across the southwest border." House Republicans have already voted to defund a post-“Fast and Furious” directive that requires gun shops along the border to notify ATF whenever anybody buys two or more assault rifles. The A.G. says that rule is an extension of one that already applies to handguns. …. Source: [www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/1108/Fast-and-Furious-flawed-US-agent-s-death-regrettable-says-Eric-Holder/%28page%29/2] (Return to Contents) Directory: gifiles -> attach -> 136 attach -> Adaptability Sustainment attach -> Pop-up 1 ("C" Chechnya) Header Text: Emir of the Caucasus Emirate Doku Umarov Image attach -> Russia and Islam are not Separate attach -> Chapter 13: The Northern Caucasus attach -> Russia 100209 Basic Political Developments attach -> The evolution attach -> The devolution 136 -> How the World will Change in the Next 30 Years: World Experts Talk about Global Trends and Forces that will Sweep the 21 136 -> Unclassified//for official use only Download 159.92 Kb. Share with your friends:
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