Cocaine

2023 - 2 - 17

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Reuters"

Ecuador turns surfeit of seized cocaine into concrete (Reuters)

Huge quantities of seized drugs in Ecuador are presenting the Andean country with an unlikely new construction material: cocaine.

Dublin plumber who agreed to hold cocaine and money to pay off ... (Sunday World)

Luke Byrne (25) told gardai after his arrest that a €350 debt he built up from using drugs was increased to €2,500. Luke Byrne — © Paddy Cummins - PCPhoto.

Counsel said his client had doting parents, and in his own words, “he was spoiled rotten”. Gardai initially estimated the street value of the cocaine to be €120,000, and when they put this to Byrne, he told them, “it's not that much”. Mr Staunton said that his client knows he has brought shame on his family. The cocaine was later correctly found to weigh 780g with an estimated street value of approximately €54,000. Luke Byrne (25) told gardai after his arrest that a €350 debt he built up from using drugs was increased to €2,500. The offence comes with a mandatory sentence of ten years imprisonment, which a judge can depart from in exceptional circumstances.

Ecuador decides to use cocaine as construction material (TVP World)

Ecuador's authorities seized so many drugs that they decided to use cocaine as a construction material substitute. After huge drug confiscations in recent ...

The so-called encapsulation method was developed with support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The idea is simple - in a special process, the drugs are minced which results in creating fine powder which is next mixed with cement, sand, and water to create concrete platforms. After huge drug confiscations in recent years, the government decided to use some of the excess cocaine in construction materials.

Man jailed for two years over €1m cocaine haul hidden in an air ... (LMFM)

Judge Elva Duffy was told the 37 year old is now drug free and on his way to qualifying as a drug counsellor.

Judge Elva Duffy described the offence as significant and the defendant's method of concealing the drugs as sophisticated, but noted his drug free status and imposed a sentence of four and a half years with the final two and a half years suspended. The Defence barrister told the court his client had developed a cocaine addiction after he began experimenting with drugs when he was 15 and had been under financial strain at the time because of the Covid lockdown, but he's now drug free and is on his way to qualifying as a drug counsellor. Judge Elva Duffy was told the 37 year old is now drug free and on his way to qualifying as a drug counsellor

Italian drug gang caught smuggling high-quality cocaine concealed ... (Sunday World)

Italian police have arrested two members of a criminal gang who have been smuggling vast quantities of cocaine concealed in Parmesan cheese imported from ...