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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.
Had found its way back to Apple HQ?
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
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!
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.
I've been diagnosed with ADHD for the past 12 years or so. For the last 6, I've gone untreated. As an illustration of how screwed-up my body chemistry is, consider that I drink 4 cups of caffeinated coffee daily at work, primarily to reduce the jumpy focus. A short while (30-60 minutes) after my first cup, focusing on a single idea becomes much easier. I'll drink more to maintain that focus through the day. In the late afternoon, I'll sometimes switch to caffeinated soft drinks, mostly for taste. In the evenings, I'll have another caffeinated soft drink, to relax me for sleep. I'll often be happily unconscious by 11.
ADHD is weird. Stimulants (like caffeine and more potent drugs like methamphetamine) even out the brain chemistry, making people like me closer to normal. For myself, I spent much of my time in college training myself to focus, so the slight assistance of caffeine is all I usually need, but I'm a pretty mild case now. It doesn't surprise me at all that some people are prescribed methamphetamines to slow down.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
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.
My sister has ADHD. When she was younger (under 12) we used to have to give her hot chocolate or even mochas before bed in order for her to fall asleep. You get some weird looks from people when you say that ("You give her caffeine so she can sleep?"). But it works.
It's strange how you have to give someone stimulants in order for the body to catch up to the brain, thus evening things out and allowing them to concentrate and "be normal".
She's now on Dexedrin and , both amphetamines, both stimulants, both used to relax/calm her down enough to get on with her day.
Yeah, ADHD is a weird chemical imbalance.
Except that it takes years of heavy drinking to start turning your insides into mush (mainly liver/kidneys, which are easily repairable), and only a few months of heavy meth use to turn your brain into mush (which is extremely hard to repair).
Alcoholism tends to grow slowly over time. Meth addiction tends to go from nothing to "holy shit, the bat people are everywhere man, you gotta protect me" in no time flat. Especially if you start smoking it.
And if you quit drinking, your body can recupurate and recover from most of the damage. If you quit meth after years of hardcore use, your body is still messed up.
Alcohol is bad. But meth is 1000s of times worse.
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!
750 pounds is 35 million dollars? Has the value of the dollar against the pound slipped again?
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. . . .