A shitload of cops and soldiers have been arrested today

And this is why the drug war will never be won.


Yahoo! News Story - FBI Nabs Troops, Officers in Drug Sting

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/fbi_cocaine_sting

By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN, Associated Press Writer 25
minutes ago

TUCSON, Ariz. - Pretending to be cocaine traffickers,
undercover FBI agents in Arizona snared 16 current and former law
enforcement officers and U.S. soldiers who accepted
more than $222,000 in bribes to help move the drugs
past checkpoints, the government said Thursday.
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Those charged include a former Immigration and
Naturalization Service inspector, a former Army
sergeant, a former federal prison guard, seven members
of the Arizona Army National Guard, five members of
the Arizona Department of Corrections and a police
officer, officials said.

All 16 agreed to plead guilty to being part of a
bribery and corruption conspiracy, said Noel Hillman,
a Justice Department official.

Eleven defendants entered guilty pleas Thursday
afternoon in U.S. District Court, acknowledging that
they used their positions as uniformed public figures
to assist in transporting cocaine for people they
believed to be drug traffickers.

Two other defendants were scheduled to enter their
pleas Friday with the remaining three on Monday,
authorities said.

Those who pleaded guilty were freed on their own
recognizance. Justice Department prosecutor John W.
Scott said all probably would start out facing
sentences of 34 to 36 months for a single conspiracy
count, but that the sentences could be less depending
on the defendants' cooperation. He said he would ask
for an indefinite delay in sentencing.

The defendants in the nearly 3 1/2-year-long sting
were not arrested and agreed to cooperate with an
investigation expected to bring more arrests and
involve people from additional agencies, said Hillman
and FBI Agent Jana D. Monroe, who is in charge of the
bureau's operations in Arizona.

Hillman said the defendants drove cocaine shipments
past checkpoints manned by the government while they
wore official uniforms, carried identification and
used official vehicles.

"Many individuals charged were sworn personnel having
the task of protecting society and securing America's
borders," Monroe said. "The importance of these tasks
cannot be overstated and we cannot tolerate, nor can
the American people afford, this type of corruption."

Hillman and Monroe said the FBI was tipped about an
individual and set up the fake trafficking
organization in December 2001. Military and police
personnel then were lured with money to help
distribute the cocaine or allow it to pass through
checkpoints they were guarding, Hillman said.

Authorities engaged in an elaborate effort to
determine that the defendants were predisposed to
taking bribes, he said.

One defendant, John M. Castillo, 30, was on duty as an
INS inspector at a border checkpoint in Nogales in
April 2002 when he twice allowed a truck he believed
was carrying at least 88 pounds of cocaine to enter
the country without being inspected, Hillman said.

Castillo later sold INS documents to an undercover FBI
agent that fraudulently provided for entry of
undocumented immigrants into the United States, he
said.

In another instance in 2002, several of those charged
met an aircraft flown by undercover FBI agents that
was carrying 132 pounds of cocaine at a remote desert
airstrip, he added.

In full uniform, they supervised the loading of the
cocaine into two military Humvees assigned to the
National Guard and another government vehicle, then
drove to a resort hotel in Phoenix ? where another
undercover agent posing as a trafficker paid them in
cash, Hillman said.

The FBI used real cocaine seized in other operations,
the officials said. The 16 suspects transported more
than 1,230 pounds of cocaine, the officials said.

The cocaine, with a street value of nearly $18.5
million, never ultimately left FBI possession,
officials said.

Also Thursday, a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Texas and
his brother pleaded guilty to accepting about $1.5
million to allow drugs through a checkpoint.

Agent Juan Alvarez, 35, and his brother Jose Guadalupe
Alvarez, 38, both of Laredo, pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to bribe a public official and conspiracy
to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and
cocaine.

The brothers admitted they accepted money to allow
drug dealers to move one or more loads of marijuana
per month through the checkpoint between June 2003 and
April 2005. Each load included 1 ton to 2 tons of
marijuana. They also admitted to conspiring to move
more than five kilograms of cocaine.

Conspiracy, the more serious count, carries a maximum
sentence of 15 years in federal prison. The men also
were jointly ordered to pay the government $1.5
million.

___

Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman in Washington
contributed to this report.

[SmoothHeavy]

Originally Posted by xiannaix

A fine example of what prohibition causes

I second that to the MAX!!!!

[Ash]

that is EXACTLY why the drug war will never be won. Money corrupts, it doesnt matter who you are.

[molecule]

so , just a question, for you guys that feel that the War on Drugs is wrong. Are these guys corrupt people who just be prosecuted, or are they your heros for fighting within a corrupt system? You can't be against the "War on Drugs" and for prosecuting these guys, can you? Just a question.

[Krash]

Originally Posted by molecule

so , just a question, for you guys that feel that the War on Drugs is wrong. Are these guys corrupt people who just be prosecuted, or are they your heros for fighting within a corrupt system? You can't be against the "War on Drugs" and for prosecuting these guys, can you? Just a question.

Who's up for prosecuting them?

[Suckimus Maximus]

Originally Posted by molecule

so , just a question, for you guys that feel that the War on Drugs is wrong. Are these guys corrupt people who just be prosecuted, or are they your heros for fighting within a corrupt system? You can't be against the "War on Drugs" and for prosecuting these guys, can you? Just a question.

Pfft, you tell me, the Kennedys are considered to some as "Americas Royalty"

[molecule]

Originally Posted by Krash

Who's up for prosecuting them?

not me! thats what Im saying. Except I think its hypocritical of them if they have been involved in arresting others for drug crimes, just like i think its hypocritical for someone to want punishment for these people and at the same time be against the "Drug War", thats it.

[Krash]

Originally Posted by molecule

not me! thats what Im saying. Except I think its hypocritical of them if they have been involved in arresting others for drug crimes, just like i think its hypocritical for someone to want punishment for these people and at the same time be against the "Drug War", thats it.

Who's "them"?

[molecule]

the people who where arrested

[Krash]

Originally Posted by molecule

the people who where arrested

ah right ok haha, sorry - u had me reet confuzzled ye did.

Anyway, yeah - hypocrites. But, that's money for you.

And power.

[transparentaura]

Originally Posted by molecule

so , just a question, for you guys that feel that the War on Drugs is wrong. Are these guys corrupt people who just be prosecuted, or are they your heros for fighting within a corrupt system? You can't be against the "War on Drugs" and for prosecuting these guys, can you? Just a question.

I believe you can. Just because you disagree with the war on drugs doesn't mean you support the cartels,that the agents pretended to represent. They are a product of prohibition. They represent the ruthless,bloody business model that tends to thrive in a lucrative underground industry and generally are not very nice people. However, from what I've read the agents were basically subjected to an honesty test in the form of enticement with huge sums of cash. I didn't see any mention of their being involved in anything before this. They probably were able to nab these guys because they were previously clean, judging by their lack of savvy in the drug game and gullibility. So if thats the case they didn't accomplish anything more than to remove a link in the chain that may weaken eventually. I think its interesting to compare things like corrupt border agents and the cartels to ethically challenged pols and special interest lobbys. At the root, theres not a huge difference. Change the law and the bagmen become businessmen and corruption becomes business as usual.

[Krash]

Originally Posted by xiannaix

Breaking the law is breaking the law. They profitted from it. They owe a debt.


What I was saying is that only because of prohibition was this carrot available to be placed in front of them.


These guys are not "heros" in any sense of the word.... they're criminals

Hey, bringing good shit to the masses is a community service!

[Funkenstein]

Originally Posted by Krash

Hey, bringing good shit to the masses is a community service!

Reading this the first thing that came to mind was Nino Brown from "New Jack City".

HA X 3.

[alexican]

hell yes prosecute them! why should they get any kind of special treatment b/c of their uniforms? if they had been civilian drug traffickers they'd have gotten their asses canned in the worst way.

[IrishRaver]

Originally Posted by xiannaix

Breaking the law is breaking the law. They profitted from it. They owe a debt.


What I was saying is that only because of prohibition was this carrot available to be placed in front of them.


These guys are not "heros" in any sense of the word.... they're criminals

for once we agree 100%....

look we know this drug war is fuckin retarded but that is inconsequential to breaking the law....they broke the law and are expected to have consequences for their actions....

the drug war is a HUGE waste of gov't funds and is making dealers rich out of their wildest dreams....we know this....im completely against the drug policies that are set down, however they are laws, and as being a citizen you have to abide by them regardless of if they are total bullshit or not....change will come...it just takes time...