DEA news stories on Newser

DEA Agents Probed for Hiring Colombian Prostitutes

Rob Quinn — Tue, 22 May 2012 04:07:13 CDT

Looks like Secret Service agents weren't the only feds misbehaving in Colombia. The Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating three of its agents for hiring prostitutes in the country, sources tell CBS . The investigation of the agents—who have been removed from Colombia—was opened based on information from a Secret...

Student Forgotten in DEA Cell Wants $20M

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:43:04 CDT

The five days Daniel Chong spent, forgotten and with no access to food or water , in a DEA cell "constitute torture," his lawyers say in a claim filed yesterday. Chong seeks up to $20 million in compensation for the incident, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. "The deprivation of food and...

Student Left in DEA Cell: I Had to Drink Own Urine

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:14:55 CDT

A UC San Diego student who was left, apparently forgotten, in a 5'x10' Drug Enforcement Agency cell for five days says he had to drink his own urine to survive. Daniel Chong, 23, was at a friend's house to celebrate 4/20 when DEA agents raided the residence and took him...

Cops: LAX Screeners Let Drugs Go Through

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:39:05 CDT

The feds busted four TSA agents for allegedly helping drug traffickers smuggle suitcases packed with cocaine, marijuana, and meth through security at Los Angeles International Airport. The screeners are accused of accepting up to $2,400 in bribes for allowing the drugs to pass through X-ray machines and checkpoints, reports...

15 Tons of Meth Seized in Mexico

Rob Quinn — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:00:00 CST

Mexican authorities have busted a meth superlab and seized a staggering amount of pure methamphetamine—15 tons, more than double the amount of all meth seizures made at the border last year, and more than 100 times the biggest-ever meth bust in the USA. The sheer size of the bust—...

Feds Helped Mexican Drug Honcho Move Millions

Matt Cantor — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:48:44 CST

The New York Times last month revealed that undercover US agents have laundered and smuggled millions of dollars for Mexico's drug cartels—and today the paper shines a light on one such operation, in which federal agents helped one drug trafficker and his Colombian supplier move cash and cocaine across...

Governors Call on DEA to Reclassify Pot

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:17:00 CST

The governors of Washington state and Rhode Island are petitioning the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a drug with accepted medical uses. Washington's Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire and Independent Gov. Lincoln Chafee want pot switched from a Schedule I drug to Schedule II, which would allow it to...

Crotchety Inventor, 88, Wants DEA to Stuff It

John Johnson — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:18:05 CST

An 88-year-old tinkerer in California who invented a nifty water-purification product for hikers or disaster survivors is effectively out of business, all because of a DEA crackdown on meth dealers. As the San Jose Mercury News explains, Bob Wallace's "Polar Pure" bottles contain iodine crystals, and the feds think meth-makers...

Commando-Style DEA Squads Fight Cartels Abroad

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:31:10 CST

The war on drugs meets the war on terror: In 2008, George W. Bush started a DEA program called FAST (Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team), meant to investigate Afghanistan drug traffickers linked to the Taliban. The program continued under President Obama, and now includes five military-trained squads of special agents that...