UNODC continues countering drug trafficking in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean by implementing Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces in the framework of AIRCOP project. As part of its continued support to counter illicit trafficking in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, UNODC, in partnership with the World Customs Organization and INTERPOL and with the…
German customs officials have reportedly found 257 kilograms of pure cocaine in a shipment of peanuts from Argentina. Around 21 kilograms of cocaine, estimated to be worth around US$600,000 has reportedly been found washed up on Destin beach in Florida. Pierre Lapaque, a top UN narcotics official, has said that Africa is “the market of…
SEACOP experts carried out scoping visits to Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago during April. Eleven countries in the Eastern Caribbean will be visited during April to June, in order to meet with relevant Law Enforcement Agencies and discuss in detail their training and equipment requirements. The first phase of specialist training for Maritime Intelligence Units…
On 15th April 2015 a yacht carrying more than two tonnes of cocaine to Europe was seized in the Eastern Caribbean. Coincidentally, the seizure took place during a scoping visit to the region by SEACOP experts to plan capacity building against maritime trafficking under Phase III of SEACOP. The Sailing yacht “SILANDRA” was intercepted by…
Yury Fedotov, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has said that the nexus between terrorists and criminals has strengthened over the last decade. A Coast Guard cutter reportedly arrived in San Diego with more than 14 tonnes of cocaine, following 19 separate seizures. This included a 10.5 tonne seizure…
A kingpin of the Sinaloa drug cartel, ‘La Señora’, responsible for large supplies of cocaine, has been arrested in Cancun, Mexico. Peruvian anti-drug police have released details of how narco-traffickers move cocaine through the Amazon. Bolivia has fired seven state prosecutors following investigations following complaints of irregularities, including corruption. The Colombian Navy has reportedly seized…
Seizing criminal assets and taking the profit out of crime is widely seen as one of the main weapons in the fight against transnational organised criminal organisations. For the Cocaine Route Programme asset freezing and seizing are both long term objectives and key indicators for successful interventions. The programme is therefore supporting regional networks like…
The premise of the Cocaine Route Programme, that international law enforcement need to work more closely together to keep apace of organised crime groups, was validated yet again by events in Bolivia. Last month, Óscar Niña, the anti-drug police chief was arrested together with his son for alleged offences of illicit profiteering, money laundering, and…
A Colombian drug gang who smuggled an estimated £25million worth of cocaine into the UK inside plastic bananas has been jailed for a total of 59 years. The Costa Concordia, which sunk in January 2012, was allegedly carrying a cocaine shipment sent by the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, according to investigators. A plane has crashed in Venezuela,…
