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U.S. NEWS Thursday 20 June 2019
Staggering drug bust

shows traffickers

turning to East Coast

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM law enforcement pressure
Associated Press along the country's south-
If drug interdiction can be west border, a develop-
compared to a giant game ment cited by the drug
of whack-a-mole, federal enforcement agency in its
law enforcement officials latest national threat as-
delivered one mighty wal- sessment. It was at least the
lop this week when they third major bust in Philadel-
raided a container ship phia and New York since
at Philadelphia's port and February.
discovered a staggering "As soon as interdiction puts
amount of cocaine. pressure on one place, it
Hidden inside seven ship- just pops up somewhere
ping containers were else. We've continually
33,000 pounds (15,000 ki- seen that," said Nicho- The MSC Gayane is moored at the Packer Marine Terminal in Philadelphia, Wednesday, June 19,
lograms) of the illicit drug, las Magliocca, a Univer- 2019.
one of the largest caches sity of Alabama researcher Associated Press
ever intercepted on U.S. who studies how traffick-
shores and a quantity that's ers adapt to interdiction. through thousands of con- caine aboard a ship, but Colombia, Peru, Panama
almost "beyond compre- "As long as the demand is tainers on MSC Gayane, a details of their case are and the Bahamas before
hension," as Patrick Trainor, there, and there's money cargo ship owned by Swiss sealed. An affidavit ob- arriving in Philadelphia ear-
a spokesman for the U.S. to be made, traffickers are firm MSC Mediterranean tained by The Associated ly Monday. Federal authori-
Drug Enforcement Agen- going to find a way." Shipping Co., but had not Press said that MSC Gay- ties raided the ship later
cy in Philadelphia, put it Cocaine use and overdose found any cocaine since ane was at sea off the west that day. The ship's second
Wednesday. Federal offi- deaths are on the rise in the their initial search on Mon- coast of South America mate was arrested after
cials estimated the seized U.S. after years of decline day, according to Stephen when it was approached agents swabbed his hands
drugs had a street value of as production has surged Sapp of U.S. Customs and by more than a dozen and arms and detected
more than $1 billion. to record levels in Colom- Border Protection in Phila- boats loaded with cocaine. traces of cocaine, an affi-
The feds' find was another bia, the source of about delphia. Crew members aboard the davit said."The 500 kilos that
sign that traffickers are turn- 90% of the U.S. supply. Two members of the crew larger ship helped transfer we got in March, good hit,
ing to East Coast seaports Agents were doing an- have been charged with the drugs, authorities said. good hit," said Trainor, the
as a result of increased other sweep Wednesday conspiracy to possess co- The cargo ship docked in Philadelphia DEA agent. q

72 officers off streets amid probe into social media posts

By RON TODT you at this point who's be- use social media, but he
Associated Press ing disciplined and how couldn't understand how
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police many may be terminated, police officers who come
Commissioner Richard Ross but I can tell you with a de- into contact with many dif-
says 72 Philadelphia police gree of certainty there are ferent people — and who
officers have been placed some people who will meet were themselves part of a
on administrative duty with that fate," Ross said diverse recruiting class —
amid an initial investiga- Wednesday. could make what he called
tion into a national group's The posts were uncovered "ridiculous assertions" about
accusation of officers in by a team of researchers whole groups of people.
at least five states posting who spent two years look- "It really makes me sick,
racist and anti-Muslim com- ing at the personal Face- because we are in a po-
ments on social media. book accounts of police sition to know better, we
Ross said he believed at officers from Arizona to Flor- are in a position by virtue
least "several dozen" peo- ida. They said they found of what we do every day,
ple would be disciplined officers bashing immigrants Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross speaks with and how many people you
and he expects some to and Muslims, promoting members of the media during a news conference in Philadel- see in different walks of life
be fired. The commissioner racist stereotypes, identify- phia, Wednesday, June 19, 2019. that people are the same
said the internal affairs divi- ing with right-wing militia Associated Press — people want the same
sion prioritized posts "clearly groups and, especially, thing out of life," he said. "...
advocating violence or glorifying police brutality. harder than we already training for officers and It angers me beyond belief,
death against any pro- All the posts were public. do to cultivate relation- preparation of a training because it just makes our
tected class such as eth- "We've talked about, from ships with neighborhoods video. job far more difficult than it
nicity, national origin, sex, the outset, how disturbing, and individual groups who "I can't think of any other needs to be."
religion and race." An inde- how disappointing and we struggle to work with or investigation that we've Following publication of
pendent law firm had been upsetting these posts are, struggle to maintain rela- undertaken, at least in the alleged posts, St. Louis'
hired to determine whether and they will undeniably tionships with now." my 30 years, where that top prosecutor added 22
posts were constitutionally impact police-community Ross also announced other many people were taken more names to a list of of-
protected before any disci- relations," Ross said. "There's steps, including measures off the street at one time," ficers in that city who are
pline is imposed. no question that this puts us to monitor social media Ross said. He said he was not allowed to bring cases
"I am not prepared to tell in a position to work even posts by officers, anti-bias a "dinosaur" who didn't to her office.q