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Looking For iPad, Police Find 750 Pounds of Meth
An anonymous reader writes "Hot on the trail of a stolen iPad using the 'Find my iPad' feature in iOS, Police in San Jose tracked the stolen device back to an apartment complex where they then stumbled onto 750 pounds of meth. All told, the meth is worth about $35 million on the street. The seizure was one of the largest drug busts in recent memory."
Wait, you mean investigating actual crimes leads to discovery of other, actual crimes?
SAY IT AIN'T SO
Even drug lords cannot afford the new insane iPad prices.
?????
There's an app for that!
Had found its way back to Apple HQ?
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
Wait, so there's a drug that's MORE addictive and in-demand than something Apple produces? Who'dathunk?!
Consistency is only a virtue if you're not a screw-up.
Makes you wonder how much more of this stuff is out there. Meth is a bad, bad drug.
Or was it under a commercial laundry?
Article doesn't say.
iRepairIT - iPhone, Mac, & PC Repair
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE iPAD!?!
Heisenbergh would be very upset!
Wait, you mean investigating actual crimes leads to discovery of other, actual crimes?
SAY IT AIN'T SO
I'm not sure theft of an ipad is really a "crime".. more like a "favor" in my opinion.
More shockingly, criminals (at least the ones who get caught) are not especially intelligent.
This kind of stuff seems quite popular here, as police need a metric tonne of evidence to investigate a possible grow op / drug operation .. you hear about police stumbling into grow ops while investigating other crimes more than you here about police directly investigating and finding them.
FTA:
>The officers didn't have a search warrant, so they knocked on the door of the apartment and asked the occupants for permission to come in. They consented, Tomkins said.
My. God. Hey, I'm glad that those drugs are off the market now, but are people with $35M in drugs that stupid? Even if they made the cops get a search warrant, the drugs are unrelated to the iPad, so they would not have gotten in trouble if they'd simply said no (right? I always thought illegal items unrelated to a search warrant cannot be confiscated).
I'm not sure theft of an ipad is really a "crime".. more like a "favor" in my opinion.
No no, it is a crime. The damned Apple device sells like hot potatoes on eBay. Its theft represents big bucks lost !
Write boring code, not shiny code!
So, why are stories like this on Slashdot in the first place? Just because an iPad was mentioned? Come on, editors.
New iPad theft awareness campaign?
I have trouble believing the police were looking for an iPad during their warrantless search.
This is so true. I live near a major highway and hear all the time about major drug busts that occurred because less-than-intelligent traffickers got pulled over because of something stupid like speeding. They never seem to learn. If you're going to haul a metric shitload of dope across the country, make sure all your lights work and stay close to the speed limit!
Sure they call em Apples but it is really a Gateway drug,
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
More to the point that Police should really put more effort into solving the small crimes. As it could lead them to going to the big ones.
Usually when someone is doing a big crime they will try very hard to cover up all their tracks. When they do a small one or probably more to the case someone else who is doing the small crime will make more mistakes. What probably happened was some dude who needed money for meth stole the iPad and then traded it for Meth to the dealer.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
And they found some meth as well.
Have gnu, will travel.
This would be funny if it was lost in the owners own apartment.
Why was there so much in one place? Apparently they stumbled upon a regional or perhaps even national distribution node. I can't believe tweekers are coming up with $35 million to support their habits in San Jose on a regular basis.
I think they said on the news that unrefined meth was moved up from Mexico and that they were doing the final step in the process to make it marketable. Why would the cartels risk so much on one distribution point though?
Can't break-down and buy an iPad at Best Buy up the street.
... because there was an iPad supposedly involved? Is that why ./ needs to hear about this?
Does this mean the next series is cancelled ?!
And when they ask for permission to search, say "NO!"
My local newspaper lists arrests every week, and it always start out with a speeding stop, then drugs found during a consent search. Even if you're not guilty, who knows if the previous owner of your car didn't hide a joint somewhere and forget about it.
:wq
Unfortunately for Apple, this is yet more proof that their products are a gateway drug.
First you get a free iTunes card, so you need some free software from Apple.
Then you realize that iTunes doesn't support yout Zune, so you get an iPod Nano next time around.
Before you realize it, you're knee deep in stolen iPads and $25M in high-grade meth.
Never ask for directions from a two-headed tourist! -Big Bird
The real tragedy here is to think of how many cold symptoms could have been avoided if that meth had been allowed to remain unadulterated in its beautiful unsullied pseudophedrine form.
Meth must really be a hell of a drug. People are willingly converting PSE into meth, which logically leads to the conclusion that meth is even better than NyQuil. I didn't think such a thing was possible.
Pound! Bang! Bin! Bash! is this a shell script or a Batman comic?
Why would you assume that when you know the dealer* could have stolen it as well?
I think you probably meant broker or something.
Brian Fundakowski Feldman
Minion: Sir, there's a story that the police found 750 pounds of meth while they were searching for the iPad
Tim Cook: But what about the iPad?
Minion: Errr... story doesn't say
Ghost of Steve Jobs: This is unacceptable Tim. People must be focused on the iPad
TC: Sorry my lord, but how will we draw their attention away from the meth?
GoSJ: Simple. Make the iPad even more addicting than 750 pounds of Meth!
Minion: Oh, how about we use it as our new marketing campaign? "For the LOW LOW price of 599, you can be just as addicted as paying 35 million dollars for meth!"
GoSJ: Good thinking minion. Tim, see to it that he gets promoted
Minion: Really? Dose that mean I get to...?
TC: Yes, minion. You're going to the Genius Bar.
Find My MethPad (NT)
One small correction, the amount of meth found was 780 pounds not 750 pounds as listed in the summary.
And hope the cop doesn't just lie on the report and say you consented to a search.
Or just trade up CIs.
Arrest someone for a petty crime.. give them a break for the name/evidence against a more serious criminal. Rinse and repeat. Druggie sells out his dealer, who sells out his supplier, who sells out someone else.. etc.
"Well, it IS white, overpriced, pushed heavily by dealers, and addictive to the point where criminal activity starts over it. But it weighs more than an iPad. Easy to get confused, boys. Let's head back to the station."
They were investigating the missing iPad 3.
Says a lot about the police corruption.. (obviously not referring to TFA's guys)
Often local police don't pursue small crimes like theft. They don't fingerprint cars that have stolen radios, or follow-up when you report your cell phone stolen (despite the fact that it probably broadcasts a GUID and is GPS trackable with a warrant).
However, going after small crimes can be a way to go after big crimes. Somebody who has stolen an iPad could very well be into some other crime, and when you walk into their house anything in plain sight is fair game. Plus there is the whole bit about nipping problems in the bud - the teenager stealing radios today could be trading in guns in a few years.
Sure, fingerprinting the car with a stolen radio costs more than replacing the radio, but the goal isn't to replace the radio - it is to deter real crime, and send the message that stealing is going to get you in trouble.
The dealer had 35M of meth, would hardly be bothered with stealing something "worth" $50.
They sell hot potatoes on eBay? How do they stay hot until I get them? They must have some super high efficiency insulation to wrap them in!
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
If you're going to haul a metric shitload of dope across the country, make sure all your lights work and stay close to the speed limit!
And make sure you don't get stuck in a tunnel!
.
They will never know the simple pleasure of a monkey knife fight
I'm sure that happens. But, I've refused to allow cops to search my vehicles, and so has my son. When I have refused, they threatened to bring a dog out to sniff my vehicle. The last time my son refused, they actually brought a dog out. The dog walked around the car three times, without alerting. The cop had the dog to "Sit" beside the driver's door, dog looked around for a few seconds, then slobbered on the door. "Ha, he's found something! That's what he does when he's alerting us!"
Bunch of losers found nothing of course - all they did was to waste their time, and the kid's time.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Yeah, but in their defence, it was an accident.
Well we are assuming the dealer wasn't also an idiot who would risk $35M worth of drugs for an electronic device you can get brand new for $500, $800 tops with all the options. At this point we don't know the details of who stole the iPad and everyone is speculating. But what is known is that the police asked to be let in the apartment without a warrant. And the tenants agreed even though they had 750 lbs of meth "lying around". The article makes it sound that the drugs were in plain sight.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
My elderly mother has an iPad, the best that has happened to her in a long while. She uses Skype on it to keep in touch with relatives in other cities, keeps all her photos on it, and plays games on it when idle. Stealing it from her wouldn't be just a crime, it would be downright cruel.
You think you're being funny, but for every show-off and zealot that waves their iPad around as a sign of their superiority, there's another human being who quietly makes good proper use of it.
They sell hot potatoes on eBay? How do they stay hot until I get them?
With Nathalie Portman!
*realizes* Damn. Grits. It's hot grits, not potatoes...
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Police looking for an iPad? Must have been a special customer to get the police on the case for their iPad. And that much meth? Did they stumble into a CIA supply house? Can't imagine any dealer having that much....sounds government sized.
Lets see I'll have that big bag of Meth over there, and here is the agreed price of a Million Dollars and an IPad.
It's not what your Sig can do for you, but what you can do for your for your Sig.
I need to apply for a grant to study this.
21st Century Renaissance Man
Good point, that is \i am sure what happened, yet the ipad gps does not worry about who stole it, only that it is stolen and needs to be found.
I think there should be a cyber unit dedicated to this sort of thing, where the ipad will be used as a decoy to setup the perps, and then track it to the HQ of those perps, of course you need some pretty grungy looking peeps to make the dealer take the ipad from them for a meth trade off.
750 pounds is 35 million dollars? Has the value of the dollar against the pound slipped again?
"The bust was worth...
throws dart at board full of absurd, freshly ass-pulled numbers
$35 million dollars!!"
See, there's the problem with these iPads.. Elderly mothers should be making cookies and knitting scarves, sweaters and hats that we will never wear! Not playing Angry Pidgeons or working on eCrochet or iCrossStitch!!
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
or if someone stole an ipad and placed it in their apartment as a high tech way to give an anonymous tip to the police!
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Most criminals in the jail are really, really stupid. I wonder sometimes about the ones who don't get caught; how many of those are there?
Example:Another guy broke into our office and left his Lockheed employee badge on the floor. He stole some checks to pay for gas nearby and used his own drivers license as ID. Since the drivers license and the employee badge belonged to the same person, San Jose PD was able to crack the case.
Example: Another guy charged with armed robbery went to visit his lawyer. The case was weak enough that he might have gotten off. But he was caught for using slugs in the building's pay phone--a federal crime.
"But it is not an iPad!"
I live near a major highway and hear all the time about major drug busts that occurred because less-than-intelligent traffickers got pulled over because of something stupid like speeding.
In the majority of those cases, the officer (or his intel) knew that there was a high probability that the vehicle was hauling drugs. Fortunately, police cannot pull you over based on the intel alone. They have to find a reason to pull you over. Fortunate for the cops, it's absolutely impossible for a human to drive anywhere without committing a violation. Example: The un-posted speed limit of Seattle is 25mph. If you turn onto a 35mph roadway, you can only drive 25mph until you are in view of a 35mph sigh, even if you have prior knowledge that the speed limit is 35. I've seen cases where a van (carrying drugs) was pulled over because their tinted windows were too tinted... At 11PM. On a highway. By four squad cards.
Once they have the car pulled over, they are entitled to a plain sight search. They will also try to compel/coerce the driver into consenting to a search. If the driver does not fall to their interrogation, they can release the hounds as a means to circumvent the 5th amendment.
It's an interesting game.
I realize you're joking, but I think that mothers (elderly or not) should be doing things that exercise their minds and are fun. If that means she reads the Wall Street Journal, plays Angry Birds, or even keeps up on facebook (and skype/facetime), more power to her! I'd rather have monthly video chats with my mom than get something knitted for christmas anyway.
Criminals are often dumb and greedy. If you search around you'll be amazed at the number of stories of people carrying lots of drugs getting busted for speeding, or having expired tags, or equally stupid shit. You'd think they would be real careful, but they often aren't.
Well we are assuming the dealer wasn't also an idiot who would risk $35M worth of drugs for an electronic device you can get brand new for $500, $800 tops with all the options.
Don't bet against the stupidity of criminals. From the FBI report on the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing:
In the rubble investigators uncovered a vehicle identification number on a piece of wreckage that seemed suspiciously obliterated. A search of our crime records returned a match: the number belonged to a rented van reported stolen the day before the attack. An Islamic fundamentalist named Mohammad Salameh had rented the vehicle, we learned, and on March 4, an FBI SWAT team arrested him as he tried in vain to get his $400 deposit back.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Dude this happened like, almost two weeks ago, and has already been reported on every major news headline. Very old news.
Even if the perp isn't involved in a single big-crime, there's also the question of whether the perp is involved in a *lot* of small crime.
So while you might not find a meth op every time you bust some dude for a stolen iPad, you may find an apartment full of other stolen stuff, with a large total value.
One stolen iPad is worth about $400-600. If the thief stole about 100 of similarly-priced items, then you're looking at 40000-60000 worth of stolen goods, not an inconsiderable amount. Perhaps the possibility of leading to big busts (drugs, chop-shops, etc) will push police to focus more on the lesser-value-but-easily-solved type crimes.
I feel sorry for your mom and anyone associated with you for that matter. Narrow-minded people like you who stereotype everybody are simply a waste of oxygen.
Wow, slashdot (or submitters) are getting slow. This happened at least 11 days ago (the article cited was posted 11 days ago). I read about it in the paper then (yes, dead tree stuff).
Small crimes ... like speeding?
It's a popular theory that speed traps and other traffic stops are only used to generate cash for the police department. While this is true to some extent, it's also a rather effective method for the police to catch people involved in more significant crimes. Run the plates, check for arrest warrants, and so forth.
Ever heard of Timothy McVeigh, Ted Bundy, or Dennis Rader? All caught during routine traffic stops.
At first glance, I read:
Looking For iPad, Police Find 750 Pounds of man
to which I thought, "naturally. I confuse the two all the time."
Well we are assuming the dealer wasn't also an idiot who would risk $35M worth of drugs for an electronic device you can get brand new for $500, $800 tops with all the options.
So you're suggesting the dealer is an idiot who accepts a $500/$800 gadget as payment from someone who's likely to have stolen it and bring the probably stolen gadget to his $35M worth of drugs?
Or perhaps he believed his customer when the customer offered his shiny gadget, since he was currently out of cash?
And when they ask for permission to search, say "NO!"
On this weeks "Southland" there was this sub-plot about a guy hiding a camera in a coffee shop toilet. The cops asked to look at his laptop and he consented. On his screen was the live feed from his site. Why would the dumbass consent?
I used the opportunity to instruct my wife to never consent to search or answer cops questions about a crime. They are not there to help you. They are there to catch someone, and if they decide it's you, any help you give them is helping them to convict you.
Ceci n'est pas un sig.
It's viral marketing for upcoming season of Breaking Bad sponsored by Apple
My elderly mother has an iPad, the best that has happened to her in a long while. She uses Skype on it to keep in touch with relatives in other cities, keeps all her photos on it, and plays games on it when idle. .
I hope you've told her about the importance of back ups.
In truth, a lot of those coincidental pull-overs that result in big drug bust are due to the work of informants and other surveillance. The bust is executed as a routing traffic stop in order to protect the method the police used to learn about the drug operation. This is in order to continue to use that method against the same organization or to protect the life of an informant.
In the case of this iPad, it's very possible that it was planted there by an informant at the request of the police in order to cover the real tracks that led them to the drug cache.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Of course, the person's memory would have gone back so much further, had all that meth not been confiscated :-P
Umm they will pull you over if you actually go the speed limit. Trust me on this. I had a cop behind me who pulled me over for... wait for it.... having a frame around my license plate. Yea- at least that was the excuse for the stop. There was nothing on that car which was non-standard on every other vehicle sold at any dealership in the state. Technically I was violating the law for 'covering any words on the plate' (or something like that- the way the law is written). However at least 50% of the cars with the state license plate have this dealer frame on them. This is a $50 fine. Point being they pulled me over because of my age, car choice (sporty little car), and/or speed (was actually going the speed limit down main street in my town).
Sure it seems dumb now, in hindsight. When I see an ipad, I think "That's the device I played Fruit Ninja on once". I maybe heard of the "Find my ipad" feature, but I sure don't think about it. The fact (well supposition) that he took the deal suggests that he didn't have one already and unsurprisingly was unaware of the feature.
The trouble is that even if you are going under the speed limit they'll still pull you over if their bored or need to meet their quota. I'm friends with one of the bailiffs down at the county court house. The last time I got a bs ticket I asked him if their was any point to contesting it. He said he could not recall someone ever winning, provided the officer shows up to the hearing, which is most of the time.
>p>So you're suggesting the dealer is an idiot who accepts a $500/$800 gadget as payment from someone who's likely to have stolen it and bring the probably stolen gadget to his $35M worth of drugs?
You bet! There is something called criminal stupidity. Most of us don't have it, and some who become criminals don't have it. But there are many criminals who lack the impulse control to avoid doing things that are really stupid.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I hope you've told her about the importance of back ups.
Ah backup is an easy one and it happens automatically... scroll down to the "backup section".
http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/apps-books-backup.html
iCloud backs up your:
Purchased music, TV shows, apps, and books
Photos and video in the Camera Roll
Device settings
App data
Home screen and app organization
Messages (iMessage, SMS, and MMS)
Ringtones
Umm they will pull you over if you actually go the speed limit. Trust me on this. I had a cop behind me who pulled me over for... wait for it.... having a frame around my license plate.
A few months back, I was pulled over by a policeman on my way home one night. I was driving through a development that is notorius for people driving 20 or so mph over the limit (25). Seeing him behind me, I went exactly 25 mph by my calibrated speedometer the whole way through the neighborhood. After asking me if I'd had anything to drink, I showed him my extra large coffee. He figured out pretty quickly that I was no one that he was looking for, in fact he let me go after I showed him my license, but before I got my registration out. He told me "Oh, never mind, it's okay" then "Well you do know why I pulled you over sir - you didn't use your turn signal back there". I let it go at that. "Oops, sorry Officer!" But I knew, and he knew that I knew that as I was the only person in probably months who used the actual speed limit, I was driving suspiciously. It's a funny world.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
That theory requires there to be an actual cop there doing the stopping, and not just a camera and a ticket in the mail.
You misunderstand. This means meth dealers don't make enough to buy their own iPhone.
Police find IPad!
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
Just think how many iPads they would have found if they instead searched for some meth.
one of my exes still works in a retirement nursing home. i probably interacted with more seniors during that 7 months than you have in your entire life. now go write your mommy a letter and tell her i love her, i mean, you love her.
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
No no no he was referring to the branding Iron Apple will use to ensure you remain a customer for life by doing their damnedest to enclose you in their content net that is iTunes.
People with that quantity of meth do not deal with street level ipad thieves looking for a hit
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
Unless you expect to actually be ticketed for doing 30 in that 25, then why not just do 30? It wouldn't be in the least irresponsible or reckless to do 30 MPH in a residential neighborhood, regardless of what the speed limit is set at.
Most likely the speed limit is set at 25 so that they can gut the guy who did 40 for 15+ MPH over (which gets him a much more serious citation). 30 MPH would be the reasonable speed; anything over 35 is probably borderline unsafe under most conditions.
Note that the laws really fail to properly deal with low-speed streets: the same law penalizes you for going 15 MPH over the speed limit in a 65 MPH zone where the reasonable speed limit is actually 65 MPH won't penalize you for going 10 over in a zone where the reasonable speed should be 35 MPH. But going 45 when the reasonable speed is 35 is probably at least as unsafe as going 80 when the reasonable speed is 65, and since the laws usually aren't written to treat low-speed streets differently, they have to set the speed limit lower to correct for this.