CBS News
Inspection of shipping containers at Belgium port turns up 4.78 tons of cocaine, weapons and $193,000 in cash
Belgian authorities said on Friday they had seized almost five tons of cocaine stashed in shipping containers at Antwerp port, as part of a cross-border investigation into a drug-trafficking ring.
Prosecutors said eight people were detained following searches carried out in Belgium and the Netherlands earlier this month.
The inspections led to the seizure of $193,000 in cash as well as weapons, jewelry, luxury handbags, watches and 4.78 tons of cocaine.
The probe focused on a criminal organization involved in trafficking cocaine to Belgium from South America, Central America and Canada, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The group allegedly facilitated the clearing of suspicious containers in the port of Antwerp and, in return for payment, provided logistical assistance to other organisations, it said.
Antwerp’s port is one of the major gateways for drugs smuggled from South America to the European market, and busts in and around the vast facility occur frequently.
Cocaine seizures there hit a record 116 tons last year.
Last month, a Belgian court jailed dozens of people in the country’s biggest ever drug trial, with the ringleaders sentenced to up to 17 years behind bars.
ERIC LALMAND/Belga/AFP via Getty Images
Earlier this year, police announced the takedown of a major network transporting Latin American cocaine into Europe by boat in an international operation involving 50 arrests across eight countries. Around that same time, authorities in Paraguay announced the largest cocaine seizure in the country’s history, after officials were surprised to find more than 4 tons of the drug stashed inside a shipment of sugar bound for Belgium.
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The editors and writers of Food & Wine Magazine offer “Sunday Morning” viewers this tempting Thanksgiving dessert recipe.
Chris Simpson, Food & Wine Magazine; food stying by Julian Hensarling; prop styling by Claire Spollen
Brown Bag Apple Pie
By Joan Nalley Buchanan
Active Time: 30 mins.
Total Time: 3 hrs. 30 mins.
Servings: 8 to 10
Ingredients:
Dough:
2 2/3 cups bleached all-purpose flour (such as Gold Medal) (about 11 1/3 ounces)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
6 tablespoons whole milk
Filling:
4 medium (7-ounce) Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into thin (1/4-inch-thick) wedges (about 5 cups)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, divided
Additional Ingredients:
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed, divided
Brown paper grocery bag, preferably ink-free
Instructions:
Make the dough: Preheat oven to 425°F. Stir together flour and salt in a large mixing bowl using a fork. Add oil and milk; stir until dough comes together. Knead dough using your hands until dough is smooth and no dry streaks remain.
Divide dough in half, and flatten each half into a disk, keeping 1 disk slightly larger for bottom crust. Cover using plastic wrap, and set aside. Clean and dry bowl.
Make the filling: Gently toss together apples, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, allspice, cloves, and 1 cup sugar in cleaned bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside, and let mixture stand for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sugar is moistened.
Meanwhile, unwrap larger dough disk, and place between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Roll out to a 13-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. Peel off top sheet of parchment, and invert dough into a standard 9-inch pie plate; discard parchment. Gently press dough into corners; trim any overhang, and use scraps to patch any holes, if needed.
Transfer filling to prepared pie plate: Dot 1 tablespoon cubed butter over apples. Unwrap smaller disk of dough, and place between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Roll out to a 12-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick.
Peel off top sheet of parchment, and invert dough over filling. Peel off and discard remaining sheet of parchment. Trim any overhang; use scraps to patch any holes, if needed. Press edges of dough together, and crimp as desired.
Cut 3 small vents into top of pie, being careful not to cut too close to the edges. Dot pie with remaining 2 tablespoons cubed butter, and sprinkle with remaining 2 teaspoons sugar.
Place pie in a brown paper grocery bag, folding over the end of the bag to secure; transfer to a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Carefully cut the bag with scissors, and slide the pie out. Let pie cool completely on a wire rack before serving, about 2 hours.
Notes
You can use any brown paper grocery bag, but it’s important to ensure that the bag doesn’t touch the heating element.
Depending on the size of your oven, you may need to move the rack to the lower third position to prevent the bag from touching the heating element.
FAQs
What is the difference between green apples and Granny Smith apples?
Granny Smith apples are green apples with crisp, firm skins and a lemonlike acidity. All Granny Smith apples are green apples, but not all green apples are Granny Smith. There are other green apple varieties out there like Pippin and Crispin.
What kind of oil should I use in a pie crust?
During the Great Depression home cooks began to use more vegetable oil and lard in cooking and baking when butter became more expensive. Buchanan initially used vegetable oil for this recipe, then changed to canola oil when it was created in the 1970s. Generally, it’s best to use neutral-flavored oils for pie crust and avoid oils like olive or flavored oils. The goal is for the oil to blend seamlessly into the crust, helping to bring the dry ingredients together to make a dough without impacting the final flavors of the pie or the pie’s filling.
Make ahead
Baked pie can be stored in an airtight container or covered at room temperature for up to three days.
For more info:
Check out the “Sunday Morning” 2024 “Food Issue” recipe index
Americans planning to do some holiday baking this year may have to scramble to track down a key ingredient.
Some stores around the U.S. are running short of eggs, especially those operating in states that require eggs from cage-free hens, as cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) flare and the virus spreads from wild birds to commercial flocks. More than 40% of the nation’s roughly 300 million egg-laying hens are raised in cage-free facilities, but roughly 60% of “bird flu” cases recently detected involved cage-free farms.
“After two months of no outbreaks, we had them recently in Utah, Oregon, California and Washington, and three of those states are exclusively cage-free,” Emily Metz, chief executive and president of the American Egg Board, told CBS MoneyWatch. “Where we are hearing reports of shortages it’s at stores like a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe’s.”
After a brief respite from bird flu among commercial-egg producers, HPAI struck again starting in mid-October, resulting in the loss of 2.8 million birds. The nation’s egg production fell 2.6% last month from a year ago and is projected to be down 1% this year versus 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service recently said in a monthly report.
The outbreaks, which began in January of 2022, have affected nearly 110 million chickens, turkeys and other birds, including wild, commercial and backyard flocks in 49 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was the first time HPAI, also known as H5N1, had been detected in the U.S. since 2016.
The return of bird flu is wiping out poultry populations at commercial facilities in multiple states, most recently striking more than a million egg-laying hens in California’s Kern County, where HPAI had been confirmed in 2.2 million egg-laying hens the prior week, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
More than 790,000 egg layers were also culled last week at a commercial operation in Arizona’s Pinal County.
How long do shortages last?
The tighter egg supplies means the U.S. is experiencing “hyper-localized shortages that are very temporary and intermittent and that are corrected sometimes within a day,” said Metz, whose board markets and promotes eggs and egg products.
“There are local areas where supplies aren’t quite as strong, so you might see pockets where shelves get picked over,” said Brent Nelson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation.
After HPAI-related shortages drove up egg prices in the spring, the virus is having the same impact this winter. Experts forecast that egg prices could stay elevated for the rest of the year and into 2025.
As with the cost of other commodities, egg prices fluctuate with supply and demand, the latter of which has remained fairly stable over the year, regardless of cost, according to the Farm Bureau’s Nelson. The egg board, however, said America’s appetite for the protein has grown of late, rising steadily for 20 consecutive quarters.
“We see egg prices ride the wave as bird flu comes and goes,” Nelson said. Right now, “Bird flu infections are by far the biggest factor impacting egg prices.”
The national average for a dozen eggs is $3.37, up 30% from a year ago but lower than the January 2023 average of $4.82, the economist said. But some regions are seeing even higher prices. In California, white cage-free eggs were selling for about $5.26 a dozen last week — up nearly 90% from $2.81 during the same time in 2023, according to the USDA.
Despite the price spikes, Nelson and Metz advised consumers against hoarding a perishable product like eggs, emphasizing that shortages typically pass quickly as retailers replenish their supplies.
“Eggs keep in the fridge really well — if you need them, go and get them,” said Nelson.
Added Metz, “There is a hen for almost every person in the U.S., if they are not in the supermarket today, come back tomorrow.”
