Holy shit, heads will be rolling. Escobar who?

More than 16 tons of cocaine intercepted at Philadelphia port, nearly a record haul

More than 16.5 tons of cocaine were seized from a ship at a Philadelphia port on Tuesday in what some officials say was among the nation's largest drug busts.

The billion-dollar bust, in which several crew members were arrested, occurred aboard the MSC Gayane, a cargo ship that originated in Chile and traveled through Panama and the Bahamas before docking at the Packer Marine Terminal in Philidelphia, a senior official at the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) told CBS News.


"This is one of the largest drug seizures in United States history," U.S. Attorney William McSwain, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, tweeted on Tuesday. "This amount of cocaine could kill millions – MILLIONS – of people. My Office is committed to keeping our borders secure and streets safe from deadly narcotics."


The Mediterranean Shipping Co., responded to the drug raid by saying it's "aware of reports of an incident at the Port of Philadelphia in which U.S. authorities made a seizure of illicit cargo. MSC takes this matter very seriously and is grateful to the authorities for identifying any suspected abuse of its services."

The company reiterated that it's "committed to working with authorities and industry groups worldwide to improve the security of the international supply chain and ensure that illegal practices are dealt with promptly and thoroughly by the relevant authorities."

Several other cocaine busts over the last several months included $38 million worth of the drug sniffed out by drug dogs in Philidelphia in March, resulting in 1,185 pounds of coke being confiscated by authorities. But Tuesday's bust trumped that haul.

Another huge drug raid went down in February, when customs agents seized 3,200 pounds of cocaine at the Port of New York and New Jersey totaling about $77 million -- the largest bust at a port since 1994.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum,

Yeah this isn't the small sacrifice so the feds look good and the big haul goes through...this was the big haul.

Good, all the LE and prosecutors involved can actually feel like they made a dent in the "drug war" at least for a little while...

Were there hookers?? did they find the hookers??

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Holy shit, heads will be rolling. Escobar who?

That's actually a pro tip commonly given to low-end couriers that get caught.

"You know, they WILL kill you over a lost $25K load."

And that's actually come true.

I can't even conceive of a smuggler/s losing a load that size and not having their geneaology charts develop some serious revisions.

Wall Street is gonna be bummed.

quote:

Originally posted by cgode:
Were there hookers?? did they find the hookers??

They won't find the hookers. But all of the time spent looking may delay the rest of the investigation.

Ya ship sixteen tons
And whaddaya get?
The Feds come seize it
And they ain't done yet...

Couldn't resist.

Next week is gonna be rough.

Time to flood the crime industry with rumors of who screwed up, and who let the load get caught for a pile of money. Let the cartels kill their own.

It would be interesting to see if this will effect street prices.

And even if they don't get good plea deals, some people will be talking just to get witness protection.

As a side note in the interest of acccuracy in journalism, the A in DEA is for Administration, not Agency.

Not that we should expect either accuracy or truth from today's journalists...

Trust me, tomorrow, a new shipment will leave Columbia...or another country’s shore.

Population of S. America drops suddenly over night.

The bigger the bust, the bigger the boost

So, I wonder if they take the ship under the forfeiture law? That would put a dent in the transporters and perhaps make them pay closer attention to what goes in their cargo holds.

The boss is not happy and then he goes after the rest of the mob. He kills their kids, he kills their wives, he kills their parents and their parents' friends. He burns down the houses they live in and the stores they work in, he kills people that owe them money.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Trust me, tomorrow, a new shipment will leave Columbia...or another country’s shore.

That shipment already left.

New York, DC/Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston... hell, even Philly!

The DEA nailed the BIG shipment to Philadelphia, not the ones (on a boat) to all the other ports, or the smaller ones into Philly!

quote:

Originally posted by Ragnar:
The boss is not happy and then he goes after the rest of the mob. He kills their kids, he kills their wives, he kills their parents and their parents' friends. He burns down the houses they live in and the stores they work in, he kills people that owe them money.

And like that, he's gone.

I can't imagine risking that much product by shipping it all at once on one ship.

Maybe that's the standard size for shipments these days. Wouldn't it be weird if our perceptions are behind the times?

V.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
It would be interesting to see if this will effect street prices.

More ODs as dealers turn to borax cut with fentanyl.