NightBlogger

This week Inside USA travels to Mexico to look at the the drug war going on there, and to examine how the United States is involved. The bodies are piling up - over 1800 killings so far this year alone.

Two veteran police officers were charged Friday with providing protection for purported shipments of cocaine and stolen goods in what was actually an undercover FBI operation. Officer Geovani Nunez and Detective Jorge Hernandez are accused in court documents of helping protect shipments of what they thought were stolen televisions and computers and at least 12 kilograms of cocaine - sometimes by using their police cars to escort trucks.

Prosecutors said the 13-year veterans of the Miami Police Department were paid a combined $39,500 by a secret FBI informant they thought was involved in illegal businesses, prosecutors said. Nunez and Hernandez were released on bail after appearing briefly in court. Nunez’s attorney, Michael Catalano, said the allegedly illegal conduct was staged and not real because it was an FBI sting. Catalano also said the officers would fight the charges, which carry potential life sentences. More

Candy-Flavored Cocaine: the new designer drug
Federal drug agents say candy-flavored cocaine is a new and troubling development. This new Cocaine product is a full-strength powder into which strawberry, coconut, lemon and cinnamon flavors have been chemically synthesized. The flavored cocaine commands $1,100 to $1,400 an ounce on the street, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said after DEA agents and state investigators seized the flavored drugs at two homes in Modesto, Calif. Regular powder cocaine, by comparison, fetches $600 to $700 an ounce, the agency said. More