Shootings kill 15 in Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez; 6 bodies found in burning car in Tijuana

TIJUANA, Mexico — Firefighters found six bodies inside a burning car in Tijuana, and 15 people were killed in three separate shootings in another northern Mexican border town besieged by drug violence, authorities said Tuesday.

AP IMPACT: Indian reservation smoke shops face a crackdown over sale of untaxed cigarettes

NEW YORK — After doing time for possession and an accidental killing, crack dealer Rodney Morrison decided he was finished with drugs. He threw himself a “retirement” party in 1993 and got into a new line of work: tax-free cigarettes.

Shootings kill 10 in Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez; 6 bodies found in burning car in Tijuana

TIJUANA, Mexico — Firefighters have found six bodies inside a burning car in Tijuana, and 10 people were killed in two separate shootings in another northern Mexican border town besieged by drug violence.

Mexico celebrates Independence Day under heavy guard a year after grenade attacks on revelers

MORELIA, Michoacan — Mexicans celebrated their Independence Day under heavy police surveillance Tuesday and with a somber memorial for eight revelers killed last year in a shocking grenade attack on the public by drug traffickers.

US arrests American Airlines workers on suspicion of drug smuggling at Puerto Rico airport

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Nine employees of American Airlines have been charged with participating in a smuggling ring that shipped cocaine from Puerto Rico’s main airport aboard flights to the U.S. mainland, officials said Tuesday.

US arrests American Airlines workers on suspicion of drug smuggling at Puerto Rican airport

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Several employees of American Airlines are among those under arrest in a U.S. raid targeting a drug-smuggling ring based out of Puerto Rico’s largest airport.

US sec’y of state Clinton: Human trafficking flourishes in shadows of economic crisis

VIENNA — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warns that human trafficking is flourishing in the shadows of the global economic downturn.

To trust a thief: Naples hires ex-cons to escort tourists through crime-plagued Italian city

NAPLES, Italy — Luigi “Giggino” Nocerino once stalked tourists through the tight alleys of this southern Italian city, snatching bags and valuables to fuel his drug addiction.

Former top officials in Mexican Caribbean coast state to stand trial on drug charges

MEXICO CITY — A Mexico judge ordered eight former top police and prosecution officials in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo to stand trial on charges of aiding drug cartels, the Attorney General’s Office said Friday.

Death row chaplain smuggled letters out of prison from inmate who threatened lawmaker

HOUSTON — A death row chaplain is facing dismissal after he acknowledged smuggling out letters for a condemned inmate who has posted Internet messages threatening a state lawmaker and that man’s family, Texas prison officials said Friday.

Colombia seizes $55 million in properties, assets from alleged drug traffickers

BOGOTA — Police in Colombia have seized $55 million in properties and assets from drug traffickers, including shares in a popular soccer team.

Colombian drug kingpin pleads guilty to trafficking; forfeits more than $15 million in assets

TAMPA, Fla. — A Colombian drug kingpin reputed to be one of the largest cocaine traffickers in the world has pleaded guilty to trafficking charges in three federal cases.

Colombian customs officials seize over $11 million in cash, call it biggest such bust at port

BOGOTA — Colombian customs agents say they seized $11.3 million in cash from a shipping container in the nation’s largest cargo port.

Feds play global cat-and-mouse game with smugglers of weapons and equipment bound for Iran

WASHINGTON — The arrest of a reputed arms dealer known as “The Field Marshal” is the latest success in a global cat-and-mouse game between federal agents and a network of shadowy business figures trying to smuggle weapons and equipment to Iran from the country most determined to stop them: the United States.

Federal police in western Mexico arrest another mayor for alleged links to drug cartel

MORELIA, Mexico — Federal police detained a small-town mayor on Friday on suspicion of aiding drug traffickers in the same western Mexico state where eight other city chiefs have been arrested since May on similar charges.

Ticket agents, baggage handler in US Virgin Islands charged with smuggling illegal migrants

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A federal grand jury in the U.S. Virgin Islands has indicted two ticket agent contractors who worked for Delta Airlines and an airport employee on charges of conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S.

Delta employees, baggage handler in US Virgin Islands charged with smuggling illegal migrants

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A federal grand jury in the U.S. Virgin Islands has indicted two former Delta Airlines ticket agents and an airport employee on charges of conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S.

Retired immigration agent arrested in southern Arizona on suspicion of cocaine smuggling

TUCSON, Ariz. — Authorities say a former high-ranking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was stationed in Mexico before retiring in 2007 has been arrested on suspicion of cocaine smuggling.

Ambushers kill No. 2 security official and 3 others in home state of Mexico’s president

MORELIA, Mexico — Gunmen killed the No. 2 security official in President Felipe Calderon’s home state, where the government is locked in an intensifying battle with a ruthless drug cartel blamed for a string of assassinations of police and soldiers.

US arrests Belgian man on charges he broke Iran arms embargo selling fighter engines

WASHINGTON — Federal agents have arrested a Belgian man on charges he sought to buy fighter jet engines for Iran.

US asks Jamaica to extradite alleged leader of ‘Shower Posse’ gang on drug, weapons charges

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The United States has asked Jamaica to extradite a suspected crime boss to face federal drug and weapons-trafficking charges in New York, officials said Monday.

Mexican attorney for suspected drug traffickers killed, second such slaying in a month

TOLUCA, Mexico — A lawyer for a convicted Mexican drug kingpin was found stabbed to death in his home, authorities said Saturday.

Former Texas sheriff, teacher among those sentenced for helping Mexican drug traffickers

McALLEN, Texas — A former South Texas sheriff and a Houston elementary school teacher were among 11 people sentenced to prison Thursday for their role in a conspiracy that moved marijuana and cocaine from Mexico, through Houston and as far as Delaware.

California man driving truck carrying illegal immigrants indicted on smuggling charges

TUCSON, Ariz. — A man arrested in Arizona while driving a refrigerated truck carrying nearly 100 illegal immigrants has been indicted on federal smuggling charges.

Former Texas sheriff sentenced to 5 years in prison for helping Mexican drug traffickers

McALLEN, Texas — A former Texas sheriff was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison Thursday for helping Mexican smugglers move drugs through his county on the U.S.-Mexico border in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribes.

As military spending soars in South America, Venezuela-Colombia dispute is unwelcome news

BARILOCHE, Argentina — Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has raised the stakes for Friday’s meeting of South American presidents by threatening to break relations with Colombia over plans to give U.S. troops a 10-year lease on its bases.

US asks Malaysia to show results, not rhetoric, in controlling human trafficking

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The United States welcomes Malaysia’s crackdown on human trafficking, but wants to see “results rather than rhetoric” before it can remove the Southeast Asian country from a blacklist, a senior official said Thursday.

Police accuse Brazil TV crime show host of attempting to kill federal judge

BRASILIA, Brazil — A lead prosecutor on Wednesday accused a television crime show host of attempting to have a federal judge assassinated, adding to allegations that he set up killings to boost his TV ratings.

Mexico’s new drug use law scraps jail time for users, worrying US police

MEXICO CITY — Mexico now has one of the world’s most liberal laws for drug users after eliminating jail time for small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and even heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.

16 indicted in Southern California in drug smuggling probe targeting Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel

IMPERIAL, Calif. — Sixteen people were indicted and hundreds of pounds of cocaine seized in a sting against Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa drug cartel, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday.