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Subscribe to RSSA cocaine shipment spotted by customs officers in Newark, N.J., helped lead to the arrest of three people in Barcelona, Spain, U.S. officials said Friday.
Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), along with the Spanish Guardia Civil, said they arrested Oleksii Stepanets, a Ukrainian national; Eduard Medvedev, a Russian national; and Edgar Palma Bofill, a Spanish national.
Customs and Border Patrol officers at Newark Liberty International Airport intercepted a shipment of pulleys containing approximately 2.23 kilograms of cocaine on Aug. 21, ICE officials said. The shipment originated in Costa Rica and arrived in Newark on a commercial aircraft, they said. The shipment’s manifest said it was auto parts destined for an auto shop in Barcelona.
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HSI Newark agents coordinated with agents in Madrid to assist the Spanish Guardia Civil in the arrests, officials said.
Besides the arrests, police seized a total of 2.99 kilograms of cocaine and “precursor chemicals” used to process the drug, officials said.
The arrests were linked to a previous seizure of 10 kilograms of cocaine at the Newark airport, officials said.
The total wholesale value of the cocaine is over $500,000, they said.
"This cooperation with foreign governments represents HSI's broad footprint that extends beyond our border," said Andrew McLees, special agent in charge of HSI Newark.
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The investigation was the latest in a series of drug-smuggling interceptions reported by ICE. Among others, which yielded larger drug seizures:
- Two U.S. citizens were arrested and 1,048 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $72 million were seized Aug. 6 from a boat towing a vessel off the southern coast of Puerto Rico.
- Two U.S. citizens were arrested and 450 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $10 million were seized July 31 from a suspicious 30-foot fiberglass boat with two outboard engines sinking off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico.
- Six Dominican Republic nationals aboard a 25-foot unmarked fiberglass boat heading toward Puerto Rico were arrested and 330 kilograms and 1 kilogram of heroin with an estimated street value of $8 million were seized in early June.
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Leave a Comment:
2.99 kilograms? Either somebody is dipping into the profits or there is a supplier with his thumb on the scale.
Spain and Newark this is distribution. Why are we not dealing with source. Oh, that would look bad for Obama's amnesty thing ok. And if you do not see the "connection" you are not intelligent enough to comment.
What does "0bama amnesty" has to do withe this?????
By the way, Spain is an European country that receives inmigrants, there is not a problem with Spaniards entering USA ilegally, they only come to USA for shopping...
Can you say stupid...not just because he is dark and looks Hispanic he is an illegal, your kind just don't and can't get any dumber...HEE HAW,
Spaniards don't look Hispanic, Spain is a Western European country, they are WHITE
Jim Gold of NBC news seems to have failed to check what he wrote. He created a new Bureau within the US Government. The Bureau of Customs and Border Patrol. Since there is already a Customs and Border Protection and a separate Border Patrol this new Bureau will have overlapping authority.
Sad that reporters cant report things correctly.