[FoxNews] Arizona is a major drug distribution center, accounting for more than half of all fentanyl pills seized by DEA agents in 2022.
A joint investigation between Tempe, Arizona, police and the Drug Enforcement Administration targeting the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel has culminated in 150 individuals charged and the seizure of millions of deadly fentanyl pills.
Speaking at a Thursday afternoon press conference, law enforcement said investigators have seized more than 4.5 million fentanyl pills, 66 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 138 kilograms of cocaine, 3,100 pounds of methamphetamine, 35 kilograms of hoeing, 49 firearms, and more than $2 million.
Investigators said the street value of the drugs is more than $13 million, while the fentanyl seized potentially represented 30 million lethal doses.
"There are few families in our state and across our country that haven't been touched in some way by the scourge of the opioid epidemic and fentanyl crisis," Attorney General Kris Mayes said.
In 2022, DEA seized more than double the amount of fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills that it seized in 2021. Arizona is a major distribution site of the deadly opioid, with the state accounting for more than half of all fentanyl pills seized by DEA agents nationwide in 2022, FOX 10 reports.
The DEA says the Sinaloa Drug Cartel is responsible for nearly all deadly narcotics flooding into Arizona and the nation.
"DEA Arizona is laser-focused on the Sinaloa Drug Cartel. We will not stop," DEA Special Agent in Charge Cheri Oz said in a statement. "This investigation is a testament to our strong partnerships, which enable us to gain the necessary advantage over these evil criminal networks."
The Sinaloa cartel is reportedly more powerful now than the infamous Medillin cartel was at the height of its power in the 1980s and 1990s. Its cross-border operations stretch deep into the United States, reaching states far from the border including Minnesota, Washington State, and Rhode Island, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
#2
It doesn't say where the captures took place. Tempe is next to Mesa, and recent reporting has it that it is a city under the control of the Sinaloa Cartel.
[AMUtv] Local sources in Nimroz say the Taliban ...Arabic for students... started house-to-house searches Sunday morning in Zaranj city, the center of Nimroz province.
Karim, a resident of Zaranj, said the Taliban started house-to-house searches at 6 am on Sunday in PD1 of Zaranj city.
"It was dark at 6 in the morning, there was a knock on the gate, I opened it and a group of Taliban including 15 men and 3 women with their faces covered entered our house without permission and searched all the rooms in the house," he said
According to the Taliban sources, all the alleys in this area were blocked by Taliban vehicles and intelligence members, and the area was cordoned off.
Fariba, another resident of Zaranj, said the Taliban started searches in the second district at 7 a.m. and carefully inspected every house for half an hour.
He said: "The Taliban searched inside boxes, storage, cupboards, kitchen utensils and even under the carpets. They told us that they are looking for weapons and ammunition and have nothing to do with us."
Fariba said three of the women who were with them, "ransacked the house and messed up all the furniture" and searched women and kiddies.
She added that the group that had come to their area consisted of 20 men and 3 women, who said they were looking for weapons and people affiliated with opposition groups.
Over the past few months, the Taliban conducted house-to-house searches in the cities of Kabul, Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... and Mazar-e-Sharif.
In the past there have been complaints of mistreatment by the Taliban during such searches and the absence of female forces.
SECURITY OPERATION IN KABUL POLICE DISTRICT 17 REPORTEDLY TARGET ISIS-K – Taliban officials launched a counter-ISIS security operation in the Khari Kane neighborhood of Kabul. The fighting went on for an extended period of time with both light and heavy weapons being used. Multiple explosions were also reported in the affected area. Taliban officials claim that 2 ISIS-K fighters were killed and 1 was injured and remains in custody. Some local eyewitnesses cast doubt on the men who were targeted and said they were not ISIS-K members. There are scattered reports of a second Taliban operation in PD 17 that was focused on suspected kidnappers and it is possible, the information is being misattributed.
TAJIK BORDER GUARDS KILL 3 AFGHANS – 3 Afghan men were shot by Tajik border forces as they attempted to enter Tajikistan from the Bostan crossing in the Darqad District of Takhar Province. 1 of the men was killed instantly while the other two were drowned after being shot and swept away by the Amu River (one body was recovered, but the other remains missing). The men were rumored to be transporting drugs and a pro-Resistance website claimed that 2 of the men were Taliban security force members. However, this information has yet to be confirmed.
FORMER AFGHAN ARMY SOLDIERS FACE ARREST IN HELMAND – Taliban forces have reportedly arrested over 40 former Afghan Army soldiers from the previous regime over the past 72hrs in Helmand Province. It is not clear what charges have been levied against the men at this time.
SEARCH OPERATIONS IN NIMRUZ REPORTED – Taliban vehicles closed off ancillary roads in Zaranj City, and several teams of security personnel were seen manning checkpoints around the city. Home searches were conducted, but no reports of arrests have been received. It is not clear what prompted the security operation or what threat the Taliban was responding to.
800 PAKISTAN TRUCKS CROSS INTO AFGHANISTAN THROUGH TORKHAM IN 24 HRS – After the extended closure of the border crossing, local sources reported that trucks were passing through Torkham at an unprecedented rate. Both Pakistani and Taliban border forces allowed the vehicles to pass with minimal checks. Pedestrian traffic had returned to normal levels as well.
SEVERAL HUNDRED AFGHANS PROTEST SLOW VISA ISSUANCE FROM US – Hundreds of Afghans in Pakistan gathered at the National Press Club in Islamabad to draw attention to the tectonic pace of the US visa process. They demanded the US expedite their cases. No violence was reported.
NEXT 24 HOURS
HOUSE SEARCHES TO BEGIN IN POLICE DISTRICT 11 OF KABUL – Based on an unspecified threat, Taliban police, and GDI agents are expected to launch a search of houses in PD 11 today. It could be related to the recent counter-ISIS operation from yesterday. At-risk Afghans residing in PD 11 are encouraged to hide all documents and money as well as remove any paraphernalia from the former regime.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] African Union Mission in Somalia reveals death toll in military helicopter crash
At least three Somali soldiers have been killed in a helicopter crash in southern Somalia, the African Union Transition Mission in the African country (AUMA) said on February 26.
In total, there were 11 military personnel on board the aircraft, which was flying as part of the PMASS for the evacuation of the wounded. The helicopter crashed in the Balidogle area in the Lower Shabelle region.
Earlier, the Somali Guardian portal reported three victims of the incident. In addition, a number of other media reported information about the eight dead.
As REGNUM reported on January 23, at the airport of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, terrorists fired at a Russian helicopter of UTair - Helicopter Services JSC. As a result of the incident, no one was injured. The helicopter suffered minor damage. The aircraft belongs to the UN humanitarian mission.
Eight other were wounded in the tragic incident which took place in Baleddogle airfield, about 90 kilometers west of Mogadishu where US military trains elite Danab soldiers.
[Rudaw] Over 50 migrants colonists, including a baby just a few months old, died after their boat broke apart in a storm at sea off the coast of southern Italia’s Calabria region on Sunday, Italian media reported, as the number of fatalities is expected to rise.
Italia’s state channel Rai News reported said that 80 people were rescued while 59 corpses were found along the shore, including 33 women and 12 children. It added that the overloaded boat broke in two in the violent mostly peaceful waves at sea as it was approaching the coast of Crotone.
It is unclear where the boat originated from but local news reports suggest that the boat left the Ottoman Turkish port of Izmir four days ago, carrying around 200 migrants colonists from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.
Many others are still missing and the corpse count is expected to rise.
The survivors of the tragic boat wreck are reportedly all under the age of 30, with 21 of them hospitalized. Those in stable, pH balanced conditions are being sheltered at an asylum seeker center.
Italia’s rescue services said that the alarm was sound in the early hours of the day, with rescue efforts still underway.
Video footage of the wreckage shows parts of the boat being washed up along the shore as survivors wrap themselves in blankets.
"There had been landings but never a tragedy like this," mayor of Cutro, Antonio Ceraso, told Rai. "The sea keeps returning the bodies, it is something you would never want to see", he added.
One of the survivors told Italian media that a kaboom on board had caused the boat to snap in two, adding that some of the corpses have burns on them. The claims have not been confirmed.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her "deep sorrow" for the incident, blaming the tragedy on smugglers. Meloni was elected last year mainly due to her pledge to contain the flow of migrants colonists to Italia.
"It is criminal to put a boat that is barely 20 metres long out to sea with as many as 200 people on board and with bad weather forecast," she said in a statement.
Just a few days before, Meloni’s right-wing government pushed through parliament a new law on rescuing migrants colonists which obliges aid ships to rescue one person at a time.
What is the benefit of such a law?
The route in the Mediterranean Sea is considered to be the most perilous journey for those seeking asylum in Europe. A large number of those fleeing poverty and war cross from Africa and the Middle East via Italia in hopes for a better life on the European continent.
A large proportion of people fleeing conflict and poverty, for what they hope will be a better life in Europe, cross from Africa via Italia.
According to the interior ministry, nearly 14,000 migrants colonists have arrived in Italia by sea so far this year, up from 5,200 over the same period last year and 4,200 in the first two months of 2021.
Charities rescuing people in difficulty at sea bring only a fraction of migrants colonists ashore.
Most of those who are rescued are plucked from the treacherous seas by coastiess or the navy.
Despite this, the government in Rome accuses rescue charities of encouraging migrants colonists to attempt the crossing and boosting the fortunes of human traffickers.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the latest disaster "shows how absolutely necessary it is to staunchly combat illegal immigration".
Centrist former economy minister Carlo Calenda reacted on Twitter: "People in difficulty at sea should be rescued, whatever the cost, without penalising those trying to help them."
Allows enforcement of the 'one at a time' rescue rule. Panicked paddlers must wait their turn rather than swarming and possibly swamping a rescue vessel.
#3
Thank you for explaining, Skidmark. 8 knew someone would know. :-)
From your BBC article:
At least 62 migrants are confirmed to have died, with 12 children said to be among the victims, including a baby.
The vessel, thought to have carried some 200 people, broke apart while trying to land near Crotone on Sunday.
People from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Iran were said to be on board.
Bodies were recovered from the beach at a nearby seaside resort in the Calabria region.
The coastguard said 80 people had been found alive, "including some who managed to reach the shore after the sinking", meaning many more remain unaccounted for.
One survivor was arrested on migrant trafficking charges, customs police said.
Many of those on board were thought to be from Pakistan. Its Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said more than two dozen Pakistanis were believed to have been among the dead.
[Shafaq News] Four members of Iraq's Tribal Mobilization Forces (TMF) were killed in an ISIS blitz on a security checkpoint in the western governorate of Anbar, a police source reported on Sunday.
The source told Shafaq News Agency that a group of ISIS turbans attacked a security checkpoint in the Khouda village in the Heet district.
At least four fighters of the Tribal Mobilization were killed, the source said.
The Tribal Mobilization Forces, also known as Hashd al-Asha'ari, are a paramilitary group in Iraq that was formed in 2014 in response to the threat posed by ISIS.
It comprises mainly Sunni tribal fighters who have organized themselves to defend their communities against the turban group. These fighters receive training and support from the Iraqi government, as well as from the United States and other international partners.
The Tribal Mobilization Forces has been involved in several military campaigns against ISIS, including the liberation of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... in 2017.
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[Jpost] Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian villages in the northern occupied West Bank, after two settlers were shot dead by a Palestinian gunman.
One Palestinian man was killed and more than 100 others were injured in the overnight violence near Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said. Dozens of cars and houses were also burnt, according to a local official.
It followed the killings of the two Israelis - brothers from a nearby settlement - along a highway. The two men were driving through Hawara when a Palestinian man rammed their car and then shot them both several times.
The Israeli military said it was continuing to search for the Palestinian who shot Hillel Yaniv, 22, and Yagel Yaniv, 20, and that it had moved in hundreds of extra troops.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials had pledged to de-escalate tensions at a summit in Jordan.
Videos posted hours after the summit ended showed a large crowd of Israeli settlers entering the village of Hawara, about 4 miles (6km) south of Nablus, lighting fires and throwing stones.
A Palestinian official who monitors settlements in the Nablus region, Ghassan Daghlas, told Palestinian Wafa news agency that 30 houses were damaged by stones or burned down in Hawara, and that 15 vehicles were torched. Settlers also set a barn and three vehicles on fire in nearby Burin, as well as a house and a water tank in Asira al-Qabaliyya, he said.
The Palestinian health ministry said 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash died after being shot in the stomach during an attack by settlers in Zaatara. iiMr Aqtash's brother, Abdul Moneim, said they had been standing outside a blacksmith's when they were attacked by settlers.
"They left the area and then came back with the occupation [Israeli] army," he told AFP news agency. "The army shot my brother, not the settlers."
However, the Israeli military said Mr Aqtash was not shot by an Israeli soldier.
This part of the West Bank falls under full Israeli control, and Palestinians criticised Israeli security forces for failing to protect them. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he held the Israeli government fully responsible for what he called "the terrorist acts carried out by Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces".
Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appealed for calm and urged settlers to allow the Israeli military and security forces to focus on finding the gunman who killed the two Israelis.
"I ask that when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don't take the law into your hands," he said in a video statement.
Settlers had called for a march to Hawara in order to "seek revenge" for the deadly attack on the brothers, who lived in the settlement of Har Bracha, which is 1.2 miles south of Nablus.
No Palestinian militant group has so far claimed they were behind the attack, but the gunman was reportedly wearing a shirt bearing the insignia of the Nablus-based Lions' Den.
#2
The settler ideology they subscribe to is being brought to its logical conclusion. Surely if this is not the case, they will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
The punishment will be harsh and set an example so that this will never recur.
#3
Basic tit-for-tat: Note that it started when a local Palestinian smashed his car into a Jewish one, then got out and killed the two Jews he’d trapped. Palestinian society is communal rather than individualistic, so the Jewish neighbours punished the community the killer came from.
#7
So the Israelis are no better than the savage Arabs, and aren't capable of behaving like civilized people.
The Israelis behaved like civilized people for three generations, for which they got not credit from people like you, Thor Grumble2858.
The problem is that responding to vicious barbarism in a civilized way turns out to be counterproductive; it drives more of the bad behaviour instead of reducing it. So the truly civilized response is to respond to barbarity with greater barbarity so that the barbarians finally — after three generations — learn to choose to behave as if they were civilized.
Nice to see it admitted out loud for once.
Strategy, tactics, the basic approach of the culture — three very different things.
#8
TW, you seem to have evolved over the years. Or maybe less tolerant?
Israel should have taken the west bank at the peak of the Syrian civil war when Hamas and Hezbollah were at their weakest. They had a US administration who would have tolerated the incursion.
[IsraelTimes] Footage shows cars and homes set on fire in West Bank town where two Israeli were killed; Netanyahu, Herzog urge public not to take law into own hands
Dozens of Israeli settlers rioted in the West Bank town of Huwara on Sunday evening, allegedly setting fire to Paleostinian property, hours after two Israeli brothers were rubbed out in a terror attack there.
The Paleostinian Health Ministry said one man was rubbed out by Israeli fire during the riots in the town of Za’tara, south of Huwara and close to the settlement of Kfar Tapuach. The Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy medical service said two other people were shot and maimed, a third person was stabbed and a fourth was beaten with an iron bar. Some 95 others were being treated for tear gas inhalation.
Continued on Page 49
[NPASyria] A commander within Ahrar al-Sharqiya, a Ottoman Turkish-backed faction within the Syrian National Army (SNA), is stealing humanitarian aid meant for earthquake victims in Jindires, northwest Syria, a local source told North Press on Saturday.
Abu al-Aina’ al-Deri, a commander within Ahrar al-Sharqiya, established a shelter housing his button men in the town of Jindires for the purpose of "stealing humanitarian aid" by using fake names, according to the source.
On February 6, a devastating earthquake hit southern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... and northwestern Syria, killing about 50.000 and injuring many more, in addition to leveling thousands of buildings under which thousands were trapped.
Al-Deri takes NGOs to the shelter to register the names of people unaffected by the earthquake in order to get aid, which is already in short supply, the source added.
The commander stole winter supplies which he received from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD), in addition to vouchers, handed out by NGOs, for $150 per family. al-Deri has registered 180 fake families so far.
Similarly, the SNA’s Sham Legion is imposing royalties on each NGO vehicle that enters the town through their checkpoint in the village of Tel Sellor, in Jindires, the source said.
On Saturday, a source on the field said that the SNA’s Jaish al-Sharqiyah, Sham Legion, and Sultan Suleiman Shah (also known as al-Amshat) are colluding with the local council of Jindires in order to add the names of their button men to the list of earthquake-affected people, making them eligible to receive humanitarian aid and food parcels.
[NPASyria] Two young men were killed on Sunday by unidentified button men in the western countryside of Daraa, a governorate south Syria.
Local sources told North Press that Qasem Muhammed al-Masri and Bahaa Ibrahim al-Masri were killed on al-Alan road near the town of Hayt in the western countryside of Daraa.
The two victims had not joined any military formations affiliated with the opposition or others, the sources added.
Bahaa worked in firewood and olive oil business whereas Qasim worked in a bakery, according to sources.
The locals speculated that the targeting was for robbery purposes as that the area has previously witnessed many armed robberies by unknown assailants.
In July 2018, opposition factions and Syrian government forces reached an agreement, mediated by Russia, for the opposition-held areas of Daraa.
According to the deal, opposition bully boyz who agreed to hand over heavy weapons, were handed special cards to protect them from prosecution, and allowed to stay in Daraa. Those opposed to the agreement were forced to leave for Idlib, which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS — formerly al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front).
[NPASyria] Aleppo northern countryside has been witnessed military mobilization by Ottoman Turkish-backed opposition factions for two days after a convoy of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS, al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front) entered the town of Kafr Janneh in Afrin countryside, northwest Syria.
A field source told North Press that an HTS convoy entered the vanguard camp, which is run by Sultan Murad faction, in Kafr Janneh near a Ottoman Turkish base. The convoy accessed the camp without any festivities and it was handed over to the HTS by a security official in Sultan Murad faction called Abu Haydar, who was dismissed by the faction days ago.
After the HTS entry into the camp, military convoys, including groups of the Ottoman Turkish-backed factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), entered the city of Azaz and headed towards Kafr Janneh, according to the source.
The SNA factions asked for military reinforcements to force the HTS to withdraw towards Afrin following orders by the Ottoman Turkish base for the withdrawal, according to the source.
The source said that changes in the leadership of the Ottoman Turkish-backed Third Legion took place where "Modar Najar" was assigned to be the military commander of the Legion and "Isam Bowaydani" as deputy of the military commander.
Since July 2012, Azaz and its countryside have been under the control of the SNA.
Afrin and its countryside have been under the occupation of the Ottoman Turkish forces and the SNA factions since March 2018 following the so-called "Olive Branch" military operation to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting "Ottoman Turkish national security."
[NPASyria] In a fourth attack of its kind, button men affiliated with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) attacked on Saturday the house of an oil well investor in a town east of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria.
A local source from the town of Hawaij Diban, 50 km east of Deir ez-Zor, said that unknown button men, riding cycle of violences, targeted the house of "Ghanam al-Jadi," an oil wells investor in Deir ez-Zor, with two RPG missiles and machineguns under the pretext of not paying zakat (royalties) to ISIS.
Following minutes of festivities, the attackers withdrew, causing material damage in the site, the source said.
ISIS snuffies targeted the house of al-Jadi three days ago, confirming that the attack was merely a warning in turn for not paying royalties, as they returned yesterday to target his house again, the source noted.
ISIS is waging an economic war by imposing royalties on the oil investors to finance itself. This followed the issuance of a statement in Iraq, in which ISIS declared the decline of its economy, stressing the start of the economic war against its opponents.
The majority of traders and investors in oil wells are forced to pay royalties to ISIS for fear of being killed under the constant threats, while others resort to moving outside the region for fear of ISIS’ tyranny.
On Feb. 23, ISIS sleeper cells rubbed out an oil investor, after refusing for the third time to pay royalties in the town of al-Hariji in the town of al-Suwar, 70 km north of Deir ez-Zor,
Recently, ISIS sleeper cells have intensified their actions in Deir ez-Zor countryside despite security operations carried out by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/27/2023 01:20 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Arabic for 
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
