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Luxury Cruise Crew Busted With 50 Kilos of Cocaine

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Feb 26, 2011 at 02:55:54 PM EST
Tags: cocaine bust (all tags)
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In the Smugglers Blues department: Two crew members of the Royal Caribbean cruise ship were busted after more than 50 kilos of cocaine were found in their cabins and on one of their persons. The ship had been in Cartegena, and was docked at Montego Bay when the drugs were discovered. According to this news video (no commercials), the first crew member had exited the ship wearing "rather roomy clothing" drawing police suspicion. He was searched, and after the coke was found on his body, was taken back to the ship where more was found in his cabin. Then they got a second crew member.

Is it a new trend? Two weeks ago, a Jamaican waiter on the cruise ship Explorer of the Seas was sentenced to 15 years for bringing four kilos of coke into Bermuda. [More...]

The waiter, Ricardo Stewart, 32, of Ochos Rios, said he was innocent and framed, and pointed out he had worked on the ship for 9 1/2 years, and was married with children, but the Court found he was the organizer of the operation. How? The other crew members caught in the scheme put the blame on him when trying to get lighter sentences for themselves. And $4,900.00 was found stashed in a laundry box in his cabin.

There's a big difference between 4 kilos and 50 kilos, but this may be just the tip of the iceberg as authorities say drug busts on cruise ships are on the rise. In December, there was a bust on another Royal Caribbean ship, Enchantment of the Seas.

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    Luxury Cruise Crew Busted With 50 Kilos of Cocaine | 5 comments (5 topical)

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    Working for the competiton is unhalthy... (none / 0) (#1)
    by Yes2Truth on Sat Feb 26, 2011 at 03:44:57 PM EST

    in the noze candy business.  Only certain cronies
    are allowed to freely import large quantities of Peruvian Marching Powder.  The rest are dangerous
    drug cartels - or, in today's vernacular, al Qaeda
    terrorists.

    So... (none / 0) (#4)
    by ScottW714 on Mon Feb 28, 2011 at 12:57:29 PM EST
    ... the point is ?  That they were ratted out by the Cartels or the mysterious un-named cronies who are free to import large quantities of cocaine ?

    Seems like you just like typing cool drug related words because your post has a lot of them, but no content.

    Parent

    Not new! (none / 0) (#2)
    by polizeros on Sat Feb 26, 2011 at 04:30:57 PM EST
    A friend who was in the Merchant Marines for several years once said, the pay was low but the smuggling was intense.

    Opiate use goes up... (none / 0) (#5)
    by kdog on Mon Feb 28, 2011 at 01:08:16 PM EST
    cocaine use goes down...opiates are hot right now...Oxy, or horse if the Oxy is too pricey or unavailable.

    Give it a year or two and cocaine use will be up, and opiates down...think loose jeans/skinny jeans.

    Those Numbers are a Nixonian Wet Dream (none / 0) (#6)
    by ScottW714 on Mon Feb 28, 2011 at 03:08:14 PM EST
    The number of American cocaine users over the age of 12 has meanwhile dropped 21 percent in three years from an estimated 2.1 million users in 2007 to an estimated 1.6 million users in 2009, according to the White House.

    1.6M people use cocaine, right, and 3000 use marijuana, 50 heroin, and the two dudes down the street are on LSD.

    I looked and the DEA doesn't publicly estimate imports, but I bet the numbers are inflated, as these are certainly under-reported.  

    21% of cocaine users just quit last year, sure.  From crack to smack, not buying it, not 21%.

    They do lists busts, and using both sets of numbers, a kilo is confiscated for every 82 users by the DEA.  No way, no how, IMO.

    Where do they get these estimates, no one beside an employer has ever asked me if I am on drugs.

    Luxury Cruise Crew Busted With 50 Kilos of Cocaine | 5 comments (5 topical)

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