WORLD IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Life Support Ended; Cocaine Victim Dies
A Miami man who slipped into a coma after drinking a Colombian soft drink that had been laced with cocaine in an apparent smuggling scheme died after doctors disconnected life-support equipment. Maximo Rene Menendez, 25, collapsed on July 26 after drinking from a six-ounce bottle of Pony Malta de Bavaria. FBI experts have discovered at least 45 contaminated bottles containing 20 to 40 grams of the drug in a 1,000-case shipment of the soft drink. Federal officials warned consumers that hundreds of cases of Pony Malta distributed in southern Florida are unaccounted for.
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