Disguised Cocaine

Spanish police say they have seized dozens of pallets made out of 1.4 tonnes of compressed cocaine that was made to look like wood.

Spanish customs officials say in recent years they have found cocaine in breast implants, a wig and even a plaster cast encasing a man's broken leg.

Spain is seen as the main entry point in Europe for drug smugglers from South America.

Argentina says it has foiled a plan to produce and ship liquid cocaine to the United States and Europe. 

At least eight people are suspected of having sent two tonnes of the drug, mixed with insulating oil inside large transformers, to Mexico.

A Mexican chemist and several Argentine police officers are among the arrested, Argentine Security Minister Sergio Berni told reporters.

It was the second seizure of liquid cocaine in Argentina this year.

Police suspect this type of trafficking is on the rise, the Argentine media reported.

In February, liquid cocaine was found hidden in a tanker lorry.

The transformers made it through customs controls in Argentina and in Mexico, Mr Berni said.

But on closer inspection, a team of Argentine investigators who had been on the gang's trail since 2012 found the drugs.

The shipment, seized in the Yucatan Peninsula two weeks ago, had a reported street value of $40m (£24m).

From Mexico, the drugs would allegedly be smuggled into the US and Europe.

The authorities also seized computers, weapons and cash, Mr Berni told a news conference in Buenos Aires.

"The important thing is to investigate, to not be afraid, to show courage like this judge did," Mr Berni praised the investigating judge in charge of the case, Sandra Arroyo Salgado.

On 22 April, a Mexican chemist was arrested in the Buenos Aires district of Belgrano after a shootout with the police.

Mr Berni said Cesar Cornejo traveled to Argentina after his partners – most of them serving and former policemen – procured enough cocaine in other South American countries.

The drug was then mixed with insulating oil and hidden in transformers.

Need 50K of Cocaine

 John Rizzo (above), 34-year CIA employee, is breaking the organization’s code of silence to expose the government organization’s darkest secrets for the very first time.

Chief among his bombshell revelations is the suggestion that Hollywood and Washington are much closer than anyone has previously thought: exchanging money, information — and in one staggering case — a request for $50,000 of cocaine!

In his new book, Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in CIA, whistleblower Rizzo, who served as the acting general counsel for the entire CIA, admits,  “the CIA has long had a special relationship with the entertainment industry, devoting considerable attention to fostering relationships with Hollywood movers and shakers: studio executives, producers, directors and big-name actors.”

“There are officers assigned to this account full-time,” he reveals, adding many Hollywood denizens offer up information to their country — at a price.

Movie industry vets are “receptive to helping the CIA in any way they can,” Rizzo claims, “probably in equal parts because they are sincerely patriotic and because it gives them a taste of real-life intrigue and excitement.”

On the other hand, for the government, “their power and international celebrity can be valuable,” Rizzo explains. “It gives them entrée to people and places abroad. Heads of state want to meet and get cozy with them.”

“But things can get complicated,” he admits.

In one instance, Rizzo claims, the agency was approached blindly by “a major film star at the time” who “somehow knew that another big star’s production company had an association with the CIA’s clandestine service over the years … Now this guy was offering his own name and services to us. Free of charge. Anything he could do. Just out of patriotic duty.”

But it wasn’t exactly a case of no-strings-attached, Rizzo would soon find out.

“As our guy related his story, I wondered to myself, why is he telling me this?” he admits. “It all sounded perfectly fine to me. It was kind of cool actually. And then he got to the kicker.”

 “There is one little kicker,” Rizzo claims his underling said. “The actor refuses to take any money, but he told us that instead all he wants of us is to score him the best fifty-thousand-dollar stash of cocaine we can find. He seems to think we can get the real primo stuff. 

So that’s why I’m here. Is it ok for us to do it?”

What do you think happened?