REPORT: GERMANS SEIZE COCAINE ADDRESSED TO VATICAN
Source: AP
BERLIN (AP) The drug haul was unremarkable, but the destination raised eyebrows.
German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday that customs officials intercepted a cocaine shipment destined for the Vatican in January.
Officers at Leipzig airport found 340 grams (12 ounces) of the drug packed into 14 condoms inside a shipment of cushions coming from South America.
The paper says the package was simply addressed to the Vatican postal office, meaning any of the Catholic mini-state's 800 residents could have picked it up.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/report-germans-seize-cocaine-addressed-vatican
Champion Jack
(5,378 posts)Way to harsh the Popes buzz...
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)into the Vatican.
okaawhatever
(9,469 posts)JudyM
(29,294 posts)aquart
(69,014 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)ya got to wonder about the OMG condoms! Oh ...and I guess the Vatican postal office knows who its users are.
On the other hand this might be a prank? Hmmm If it is then it is an expensive one. 12 Oz of good cocaine is a lot of money. Isn't the street level price still about $80 a gram?
bigworld
(1,807 posts)to get a package addressed to Poste Restante (General Delivery). Anyone travelling through could claim it.
sabbat hunter
(6,838 posts)for someone in the Italy customs office that was expecting the item, knew to pull it.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Gore1FL
(21,158 posts)...one of your "Cardinals" can tell you.
Orrex
(63,234 posts)dflprincess
(28,086 posts)Orrex
(63,234 posts)JudyM
(29,294 posts)Fozzledick
(3,860 posts)Vin Mariani (French: Mariani's wine) was a tonic and patent medicine created circa 1863 by Angelo Mariani, a French chemist who became intrigued with coca and its economic potential after reading Paolo Mantegazzas paper on coca's effects. In 1863,[1][2] Mariani started marketing a wine called Vin Tonique Mariani (à la Coca du Pérou)[1] which was made from Bordeaux wine treated with coca leaves.[3]
The ethanol in the wine acted as a solvent and extracted the cocaine from the coca leaves, altering the drinks effect. It originally contained 6 mg of cocaine per fluid ounce of wine, but Vin Mariani that was to be exported contained 7.2 mg per ounce, in order to compete with the higher cocaine content of similar drinks in the United States. Advertisements for Vin Mariani claimed that it would restore health, strength, energy, and vitality.
Vin Mariani was very popular in its day, even among royalty such as Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland. Pope Leo XIII and later Pope Saint Pius X were both Vin Mariani drinkers. Pope Leo awarded a Vatican gold medal to the wine, and also appeared on a poster endorsing it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Mariani
dhill926
(16,373 posts)tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)Beacool
(30,253 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)"inside a shipment of cushions"
LiberalLovinLug
(14,178 posts)condoms, blow, and nice cushions for rock 'n and rolling!
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,374 posts)... condoms?
kickysnana
(3,908 posts)Feral Child
(2,086 posts)12 ounces is a lot of blow.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)12 ounces isn't that much for traffickers.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)...after all, he's got to find SOME way of augmenting his pension...
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)Really, you believe that someone would go to those lengths to discredit the Catholic Church?
What reward is there? What would be accomplished?
Why is it easier for you to believe in a convoluted plot than the simpler likelihood that some priest likes to get his blow on?
There are lots of priests and nuns with substance abuse problems.
dogknob
(2,431 posts)This is not going to contribute in any significant way to eradicating the stereotype that Germans are no fun.
dogknob
(2,431 posts)"The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."
AAO
(3,300 posts)Either look on the label in the delivery address, or if it only says "Deliver to the Vatican", it's obviously someone in the mail-room working as the drug dealer for someone (or many) in the Vatican.
gopiscrap
(23,765 posts)Last edited Mon Mar 24, 2014, 10:15 AM - Edit history (1)
burrowowl
(17,653 posts)Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)...the narc who reported the stash to the German officials is a descendant of Martin Luther.
Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)So God created cocaine. . .so the Pope should love cocaine.
And I have no problems with it. Everyone must get stoned!
Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)Beacool
(30,253 posts)I guess that he had been missing his regular delivery since he became Pope.