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$1 billion cocaine ring dubbed “The Commission” busted in Australia, police say
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Australian police said Thursday they had busted a drug trafficking ring dubbed “The Commission” that brought more than a ton of cocaine into the country in just a few months.
Six men aged between 25 and 34 were arrested in raids that turned up more than 30 kilograms of cocaine, including 20 kilograms that had been stuffed in a bag and tossed over a fence, New South Wales Police Force said in a news release.
Police alleged this was a mere fraction of the total supply, alleging the group had shifted 1.2 tons of cocaine between February and July this year.
Police claimed that the street value of the drugs was about US$1 billion.
Police said detectives executed 20 search warrants at homes across Sydney early Wednesday morning. In addition to the cocaine, detectives allegedly seized 10 cars, $800,000 in cash, a Rolex watch, four guns, two ballistic vests and multiple electronic devices. Police said officers allegedly found 12 kilograms of cocaine in hidden compartments in the vehicles.
NSW Police
Organized crime detective Peter Faux said the group had “played the role of government, bank and economy to Sydney’s criminal underworld,” through an ambitious pace of cocaine imports.
“These arrests today will result in many criminals becoming unemployed as the large-scale drug supply that finances their crimes dries up,” said Faux.
Photos showed police seizing plastic-wrapped bundles marked with four-leaf clovers, Toyota logos and fighter jets.
“The supply of cocaine to Sydney has continued to poison this city for years and has fueled and funded the organized tit-for-tat violence police see today,” NSW Police Force Commissioner Karen Webb said in a statement. “I am confident that today’s arrests will make the community safer and make this dangerous drug harder to find.”
NSW Police
The raids did not appear to be linked to the recent arrest of the alleged criminal mastermind behind the encrypted “Ghost” app.
In that case, a 32-year-old Australian man allegedly designed an encrypted channel for foreign criminals to arrange drug deals and contract killings.
In a separate case earlier this year, an alleged drug trafficker was charged after being linked to bricks of cocaine that mysteriously washed up on Australian beaches.
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Teacher, student killed in Wisconsin school shooting identified
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A teacher and student killed in a shooting earlier this week at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, were identified Wednesday by authorities.
The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a news release provided to CBS News that 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara were fatally shot Monday morning at Abundant Life Christian School.
Preliminary examinations determined the two died of “homicidal firearm related trauma.” Both were pronounced dead at the scene, the medical examiner said.
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.
The medical examiner also confirmed that a preliminary autopsy found that the suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow — a student at the same school — was pronounced dead at a local hospital Monday of “firearm related trauma.” Madison Chief of Police Shon F. Barnes had previously told reporters that Rupnow was pronounced dead while being transported to a hospital.
Police had also previously stated that she was believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting at the private Christian K-12 school was reported just before 11 a.m. Monday. In addition to the two people killed and the shooter, six others were wounded.
Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
A handgun was recovered after the shooting, Barnes said, but it was unclear where the gun came from or how many shots were fired. A law enforcement source said the weapon used in the shooting appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
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Last-minute government funding bill in limbo after opposition from Trump, others
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