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More than 1.3 tons of cocaine seized in the Caribbean Sea as suspects abandon ship
More than 1.3 million tons of cocaine was seized from boats during three separate operations in the Caribbean Sea off Colombia, the country’s Navy said Thursday, and the crew members of one of the suspicious vessels abandoned ship when they saw authorities closing in.
In total, the Colombian Navy and air force seized 1,342 kilograms of cocaine that would be valued at $45 million on the international illegal market, officials said in a news release.
Authorities said the first operation was carried out near Tintipán Island off the country’s north coast. Units from the coast guard working with an Air Force plane “detected a suspicious vessel” in the area. After noticing the authorities approaching, the crew members “fled the scene, leaving the boat abandoned,” the Navy said, without disclosing whether the suspects were captured or managed to escape. Officials who boarded the vessel said they found 21 packages containing 526 kilos of cocaine.
During a second operation in the Caribbean, marine and air force units detected a motor boat moving “at high speeds” near the border with Venezuela. Officials said they seized 736 kilograms of cocaine, divided into 22 bags. Two Dominican citizens who crewed the boat were arrested.
In a third operation, coast guard and naval units intercepted a boat that was sailing suspiciously near the border with Panama. Two crewmembers were arrested after 79 kilograms of cocaine was found on board.
The Colombia Navy released aerial video showing two of the seizures.
“These seizures directly affect the criminal organizations at the service of international narcotics trafficking, their capacity for coercion against the civilian population and more than 45 million dollars that will not enter their criminal coffers,” the military said in a statement.
In addition to regular speedboats, semi-submersibles, or “narco subs,” are popular among drug traffickers in Colombia as they can potentially elude detection by authorities. The vessels never go fully underwater, and they are sometimes intercepted in Colombian waters while heading to the United States, Central America and Europe.
Colombia produces about 60% of the cocaine found in the world. A report released in September by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that potential coca production in the country had risen by 24% since 2021.
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Wisconsin school shooter was in contact with California man plotting his own attack, court documents say
The shooter who killed a student and teacher at a religious school in Wisconsin brought two guns to the school and was in contact with a man in California whom authorities say was planning to attack a government building, according to authorities and court documents that became public Wednesday.
Police were still investigating why the 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday before shooting herself, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told the Associated Press Wednesday. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition on Wednesday.
A Southern California judge issued a restraining order Tuesday under California’s gun red flag law against a 20-year-old Carlsbad man. The order requires the man to turn his guns and ammunition into police within 48 hours unless an officer asks for them sooner because he poses an immediate danger to himself and others.
Carlsbad is located just north of San Diego.
According to the order, the man told FBI agents that he had been messaging Natalie Rupnow, the Wisconsin shooter, about attacking a government building with a gun and explosives. The order doesn’t say what building he had targeted or when he planned to launch his attack. It also doesn’t detail his interactions with Rupnow except to state that the man was plotting a mass shooting with her.
CBS’ San Diego affiliate KFMB-TV reported that law enforcement searched the man’s home Tuesday night after the order was signed by the judge.
Police, with the assistance of the FBI, were scouring online records and other resources and speaking with the shooter’s parents and classmates in an attempt to determine a motive for the shooting, Barnes told the AP.
Police don’t know if anyone was targeted in the attack or if the attack had been planned in advance, the chief said. Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
“I do not know if if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”
On a Madison city website providing details about the shooting, police disclosed Wednesday that two guns were found at the school, but only one was used in the shooting. A law enforcement source previously told CBS News the weapon used appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
Barnes told the AP that he did not know how the suspected shooter obtained the guns and he declined to say who purchased them, citing the ongoing investigation.
No decisions have been made about whether Rupnow’s parents might be charged in relation to the shooting, but they have been cooperating, Barnes told the AP.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.
The Dan County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two people killed Wednesday as 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
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