Thursday, January 04, 2007
98 BAGS OF COKE IN MODEL
Julissa Mercedes, 24, who has starred in cosmetics and clothing ads, was found to have 98 bags of the drug inside her after landing in Sicily.
It is thought she was on her way to a Catania hotel to meet Mafia mobsters who she said had paid her £2,800 to be a mule.
Local police captain Sergio Cerra, acting on a tip-off, said: "She knew exactly what she was doing and we suspect she has brought consignments into Italy in the past.
"She has told us she was to check into the hotel and wait to be contacted."
Mercedes, mother of a child of six, was held on Christmas Eve after taking a Ryanair flight from Charleroi in Belgium.
She initially denied carrying cocaine but confessed before a body scan revealed the 98 packets.
Captain Cerra said: "It took until Boxing Day evening for the last ones to pass through her body.
If charged, she faces a maximum 20 years in jail.
Cocaine on 94 percent of Spanish banknotes
Traces of cocaine can be found on 94 percent of banknotes in Spain, a country that has one of the world's highest rates of users, according to a study published on Sunday.
The 100 notes tested were collected in gyms, supermarkets and pharmacies across Spain, where increased affluence and falling street prices have made the drug more and more accessible.
Cocaine now sells for as little as 60 euros ($80) a gram, or 5 euros ($7) a line, and it is regularly used by 1.6 percent of Spaniards, up from 0.9 percent in 1999, a government report said this month.
Law enforcement agencies say cocaine is getting cheaper and more popular in Europe because of efforts to boost production by Colombian paramilitaries and rebels who need money for weapons. Spain is a major entry point to Europe for the smugglers.
It was not clear how many of the notes had been used to snort cocaine and how many had picked up traces from other bills, according to the study by the Sailab laboratory, published in the daily El Mundo.
Vaginal bear trap protects women against rape
The anti-rape female condom (aka vaginal bear trap) was invented by Sonette Ehlers, a South African woman. It is intended to prevent rape by hooking onto an attacker's penis, hurting and disabling him.
Vaginal bear trap protects women against rapeThe device is a latex tube fitted internally with shafts of sharp, inward-facing plastic barbs that could be worn by a woman in her vagina, similar to a tampon. Should an attacker attempt vaginal rape, the penis would be hooked by the barbs, causing the attacker pain and giving the victim time to escape. The condom would remain attached to the attacker's penis and, according to the device's creator, could be removed only surgically, which would alert hospital staff and police that an attempted rape could have taken place.
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People seeing Saddam’s ghost in Baghdad public areas
In a most bizarre stories ever heard, some people in Baghdad are claiming that they are seeing Saddam’s ghost in Baghdad public areas. Sources say, this may be a plot by the Baathists to keep Saddam ‘alive’ among the Sunni communities.
Some claim he is seen in restaurants, markets and so on. It is possible many Saddam look-alikes are now more prominent and people are mistaking these look-alikes as possible Saddam. It is also possible that Saddam was such a threat that people just cannot believe he is dead and not coming back.
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