Results tagged “customsenforcement”

Forget medical marijuana storefronts, the feds have found a new kind of place to storm into -- museums. Today, four Southern California museums, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, were raided in an attempt to bust an "alleged illegal smuggling of Southeast Asian and Native American artifacts."

The search warrants, which were executed shortly after 7:30 a.m., gave agents the authority to search the museum's galleries, storage areas offices and computers. The targets of the investigation are Robert Olson, an alleged art smuggler, and Jonathan Markell, the owner of Silk Roads Gallery in Los Angeles, which also was raided Thursday.

Continue reading "Federal Agents Raid LACMA"

It seems the Valley isn't the place to be if you're a gang-affiliated criminal.

To some, Elvira Arellano is a leader among pro-immigration rights activists who think the federal government' immigration and trade policies are unfair. To others, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Arellano is just another attention-grabbing, "criminal alien and immigration fugitive," unfairly using her American-born son as an Elián González-like prop for pro immigration activism . Arellano spent an entire year inside Adalberto United Methodist Church on Chicago's West Side, defying a federal order to report...

Jason Jones used to own ACME, the super-hip video game store on Melrose and La Brea that catered to celebrity clients ranging from Snoop Dogg to David Arquette. In 2005 he was pinched by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who raided his store wearing full body armor and brandishing shotguns because Jones was suspected of selling “modded” Microsoft Xboxes that played pirated games. Seriously.

"We've located a massive, spectacular tunnel," Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told news organizations yesterday. Not only does the tunnel run for a half mile, from a Mexico warehouse to one in San Diego; it's got lighting, a drainage system and ventilation. Authorities believe it's the longest one ever discovered in the southwest. Let's find the people who built it and give them a municipal project: they sound quite ingenious. Oh, if you're a pot-smoker, we hope you've got a good stash: drug agents took 2 tons of marijuana from the Mexico end, waiting for tunnelized shipment to the US.