Mary and Joseph used to smuggle cocaine

A fourty seven-year-old British man is accused of filling religious statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph with cocaine in a failed smuggling try.

Stephen J. Ingle, of London, was arrested at Washington Dulles International Airport. Ingle, who was making his way to London from Argentina, has been charged with importing a controlled substance.

At a secondary screening area, authorities detected that his shoulder bag and two ceramic religious statues seemed heavier than typical items of their size, according to court records and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Customs officers found items stitched inside the shoulder bag.

X-rays revealed that both the bag and statues contained organic material, court records say.

The items stitched within the inner lining of the bag were one-pound bricks of a white, powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine, authorities say.

A white substance found inside the statues also allegedly tested positive for cocaine.

One of the religious statues is about a foot tall, weighs nearly 10 pounds and depicts Mary holding a baby Jesus, customs spokesman Steve Sapp said.

He described the other statue as an 8-inch-tall figurine of Joseph that weighs nearly 6 pounds.

Both statues show the figures standing up, on a small, oval platform.

The estimated street value of the alleged cocaine bricks is $65,000.

It's unknown how much cocaine was in the statues. Sapp said the substance would be taken to a Drug Enforcement Administration lab so authorities could determine the purity and exact amount of cocaine.

Ingle allegedly told officers when he arrived at Dulles that he was Argentina on a business trip and that he owns a boating company.

He faces a preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on Wednesday.

He is in custody pending further court proceedings.

Geremy Kamens, the federal public defender representing Ingle, declined to comment on the case.

Christopher Hess, the customs port director for Washington, said in a statement that the arrest "is a prime example of how Customs and Border Protection relies heavily on officer training and intuition as well as advanced technology to stop suspected illicit narcotics at our nation's ports of entry."

Argentina Offering Customers Free Accounts

July 20 attack in the city of La Plata spurred the central bank to introduce regulations that take effect this week to encourage Argentines to use the financial system instead of paying cash for real estate, cars and other big-ticket items. Banks must now offer free accounts and, from Nov. 1, charge no more than 5 pesos ($1.27) on transfers of up to 50,000 pesos.

“This requirement is going to help us protect our clients,” said Juan Carlos Nougues, president of Banco Supervielle SA. While he was meeting with a Bloomberg reporter in his downtown Buenos Aires office on Sept. 28, Nougues was informed that a branch in the capital’s suburbs had just been robbed. “We have to encourage people to be aware of all the tools available” in the financial system to reduce crime, he said.

Robberies of people leaving banks, known as “salideras,” rose to 4,998 in the first half of this year, 24 percent more than the 4,012 that took place in the whole of 2009, according to the office of Francisco De Narvaez, a congressman for the Peronismo Federal party that opposes President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s Victory Front alliance.

Armed robberies in the country of 42 million totaled 398,361 in 2008, according to the Justice Ministry, which doesn’t offer comparative data for earlier years.

‘Crime Map’

De Narvaez’s office maintains an online “Crime Map” that enables citizens to report robberies, suspected drug sales and rape.

The new measures may not be enough to convince Argentines to drop their mistrust of banks and overcome their reluctance to make personal finance information available to tax authorities, said Federico Rey-Marino, a bank analyst at Raymond James in Buenos Aires.

“Argentines are notoriously adverse to bank transactions,” Rey-Marino said in a Sept. 22 phone interview. “About 80 percent of all savings are in dollars in Argentina, some in local banks, some in foreign banks and a lot ‘under the mattress.’”

About 39 percent of adults in Argentina use banks, compared with 45 percent in Brazil and 90 percent in European countries, said Federico Juan, an analyst at Banca & Riesgo, a Buenos Aires research company. Bank lending in relation to the size of the economy is 14 percent in Argentina compared with more than 50 percent in neighboring Brazil, Juan said.

Bank Deposits

Bank deposits in Argentina are equivalent to 23 percent of gross domestic product compared with 40 percent in Brazil, Juan said.

Argentines have a “cultural” mistrust of banks thanks to a history of losing bank savings, said Emilio Lanza, general manager of the Banco de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

Argentina Sept industry output seen up 9.5%

Argentina's industrial output is seen growing briskly in September, driven again by the steel, and automobile sectors, analysts said. Auto production ADEFA02 grew 37.8 percent in September from the same month last year and could reach record levels by year-end.

Analysts say, however, some sectors are showing signs of a slowdown.

"The chemical, agrochemical, paper and refinery sectors, as well as manufacturers of plastic, beverage and cigarettes produced less than (in September) last year," said Buenos Aires-based consultancy Orlando Ferreres and Associates.

Analysts say further investments are needed to maintain strong industrial output growth in the medium term because some sectors are working at maximum production capacity.

The figure will get a boost from the low base of comparison registered in September 2009, when industrial activity shrank 0.2 percent year-on-year amid the global economic crisis.

Industrial production rose 10.1 percent in August 2010. ARECI10

MARKET IMPACT: Investors will want to see whether industrial production growth slows slightly or if it remains a key driver to economic growth in Latin America's No. 3 economy. This would mean higher payouts on Argentina's GDP-linked warrants.

The government forecasts the economy will expand around 9 percent this year.

Longer-term prospects for local industry are clouded by high inflation. Analysts forecast annual inflation at over 25 percent this year. Such a result would fuel wage demands by trade unions, eating into the country's competitive edge over key trade partners such as Brazil.

Business leaders have also complained about the strength of the local peso currency ARSB=, which they say hurts Argentina's competitiveness, and could drive foreign companies to invest elsewhere.

LINKS: Argentina's bureau of statistics website: www.indec.gov.ar/

Argentine bonds are posting the second-biggest monthly

The South American country’s dollar bonds returned 7 percent this month, the biggest advance after Ecuador’s 15 percent gain, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s benchmark EMBI+ index.

A record 55-million metric ton soybean harvest helped push reserves up 8 percent this year to $51.7 billion, an all-time high. Soy exports, the largest source of dollar inflows, may rise $700 million this year to $8.4 billion, said Gustavo Lopez, a former director of the government’s agricultural markets office who is now an analyst at Agritrend SA. Fernandez took $5 billion of reserves this year to pay bondholders and plans to use another $7.5 billion in 2011.

“Higher exports due to larger harvests and higher prices extend the horizon of the current account and allow you to continue to tap reserves,” said Marina Dal Poggetto, a partner at Estudio Bein & Asociados, a Buenos Aires research company founded by former Deputy Economy Minister Miguel Bein.

Revenue from Argentine commodity exports, including soybeans, corn, wheat and sunflower seeds, will increase 8 percent to $28 billion during the 2011 harvest, Agritrend’s Lopez said in an interview in Buenos Aires.

Corn prices rose to a two-year high last week of $5.88 a bushel, while soybeans climbed to $12.145, a 16-month high, on the Chicago Board of Trade. Argentina is the world’s second- biggest corn exporter after the U.S. and the third-largest soy exporter.

‘Constructive Elements’

The 2010-2011 corn harvest, which is being planted in Argentina, will reach a record 26 million tons, Agricultural Undersecretary Oscar Solis said Oct. 4.

“Good harvest and high prices are constructive elements as never seen before,” said Guillermo Nielsen, a former finance secretary who oversaw Argentina’s defaulted debt exchange in 2005 and is now a consultant in Buenos Aires.

Policy makers finance these reserve purchases by issuing local debt paying about 12 percent to 14 percent, above the official inflation rate of 11.1 percent, according to Miguel Kiguel, the 56-year-old former finance undersecretary who runs research company Econviews, said in a phone interview from Buenos Aires.

Paying debt with reserves also fuels inflation by freeing up budget money for other uses, said Claudio Loser, a former International Monetary Fund official, in a Sept. 22 interview.

GDP Warrants

Warrants linked to growth in South America’s second-biggest economy fell 0.35 cent yesterday to 12.43 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Argentina’s economy will expand 9.5 percent this year, the most since 1992, according to the central bank.

The peso dropped 0.1 percent to 3.9571 per U.S. dollar.

The cost of protecting Argentine debt against non-payment for five years with credit-default swaps climbed 16 basis points to 748, according to data provider CMA. Credit-default swaps pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a government or company fail to adhere to debt agreements.

Arcor SAIC, the country’s biggest candy maker, plans to sell $200 million of overseas bonds due in 2017, Fitch Ratings Inc. said Oct. 18.

The extra yield investors demand to hold Argentine dollar bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries widened 18 basis points to 602 yesterday, according to JPMorgan. It is down from 846 on July 1. Argentine debt is the highest yielding in JPMorgan’s EMBI+ index after Venezuela and Ecuador.

Argentine bonds will extend their rally after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled more so-called quantitative easing is likely, boosting demand for higher- yielding emerging-market assets, Nielsen said.

Aegis acquires Argentinian BPO

Aegis has forayed into Latin America by acquiring Argentina-based BPO company Actionline. The financial details were not disclosed. Actionline is Aegis’ 16th acquisition in the last five years.

Jointly held by Y&R Inversiones Publicitárias, S A and its business partner, Actionline is one of the largest BPOs in Argentina, with about 5,000 staffers, spread across seven centres in five cities.

Argentina Bonds Drop As China Rates Hike

BUENOS AIRES --Argentine bonds tumbled Tuesday after China raised interest rates, fueling a round of profit taking in Buenos Aires.

After holding rates steady for almost three years, the People's Bank of China surprised markets Tuesday, raising its benchmark 1-year lending and deposit rates by one quarter of a percentage point each.

That was just the sign local investors needed to consolidate recent moves towards cashing.

Pakistan Argentina to improve bilateral trade

ISLAMABAD: The relationship between Pakistan and Argentina are moving in the right direction and with the passage of time it will get further improve, with the hope that bilateral trade volume would increase in different fields and sectors Sheikh Humayun Sayeed, Chairman FPCCI Standing Committee on Trade and Investment said these remarks, while paying a courtesy call yesterday to Eduardo Bustamante, Deputy Head of Mission, Economic and Commercial Section, Embassy of Argentina here in the Capital.

Eduardo Bustamante deputy 

high commissioner in Islamabad

Currently bilateral trade between the two countries stood 

at US  $ 116.75 million and is in favor of Argentina with imports from Argentina US $ 80.06 million and exports to Argentina US $ 30.69 million. 

See also

Argentina National Football Team