Court documents say U.S. knew about coke

UPI

Vicente Zambada-Niebla

EL PASO, Texas, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. officials let the Sinaloa drug cartel smuggle tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for intelligence about rival cartels, court documents say.

The claim was made by attorneys in defense of Mexico's Vicente Zambada-Niebla, who was extradited to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges in Chicago, the El Paso (Texas) Times reported.

If the claim is true, it could prove to be as damaging to federal investigators as the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm's "Operation Fast and Furious," that let U.S. weapons get into Mexico, the report said.
 
Documents filed in U.S. federal court said the Sinaloa cartel was allowed to bring tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for information about rival cartels, The Houston Chronicle reported.

The documents also said Zambada-Niebla worked as an informant for the U.S. government while he was a known fugitive.

Zambada-Niebla's legal team wants a U.S. judge to drop charges against their client because his alleged agreement with the government reportedly promised him immunity from prosecution.
Federal prosecutors and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency declined to comment on the case.

Zambada's lawyers said as recently as 2008 his client and a top cartel lawyer allegedly met at a Mexico City hotel with two DEA agents, where he was reportedly promised immunity.

In "Fast and Furious," the ATF botched a sting to catch weapons traffickers by allowing a load of illegally purchased guns slip into Mexico. The shipment was lost and some of the guns turned up at crime scenes, including one where a U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed.

U.S. Air Force C17 transport caught smuggling arms and drugs into Argentina

Aletho News

Argentina’s foreign ministry has issued a press release stating that it will be making a formal protest over undeclared weapons and drugs brought into the nation at Ezeiza last Thursday.

A manifest provided by the US did not list war materiel and drugs which were seized by Argentine authorities.

Among the confiscated materiel were communications interception equipment , encrypted communications equipment, sophisticated GPS devices, high power rifles, a machine gun and narcotics as well as a full trunk of expired pharmaceuticals including stimulants. All boxes had the stamp of the 7th Army Airborne Brigade based in North Carolina.

The Argentine government estimates the value of the goods and the C17 transport expenses to exceed $2 million.

The unreported contents also included an odd brochure with the phrase “I am a United States soldier. Please report to my embassy I have been arrested by the country.” translated into fifteen languages.
US documents described the shipment as intended for an Argentine government approved Federal police training course.

Argentina reiterated that it does not wish for the internal security practices of Rio’s favelas or El Salvador’s gangs to be the model for the Argentine nation.

The Argentine government will be suspending the police training program.

Argentina’s ambassador to the US described the situation as “a shameful embarrassment” before returning the cargo to North Carolina.

It is noted that any Argentine, civilian or military, who attempted to smuggle weapons and drugs into the US would be arrested immediately.