The Global Report on Cocaine developed under CRIMJUST and presented during the CND in March 2023 provides an invaluable source of information on the global cocaine market, including trends in trafficking routes and modalities, criminal actors, cocaine production, related products and its relation to other drugs. On 19 April 2023, CRIMJUST provided a tailored presentation…
This week, SEACOP’s Deputy Regional Coordinator for Africa, Akizi-Egnim AKALA is conducting an evaluation mission of the Joint Maritime Control Units (JMCUs) in the ports of Takoradi and Tema, Ghana. This mission, carried out with the technical support of the French Customs, aims at evaluating the organisational, logistical and operational capacities of the two JMCUs. …
17.04.23 – Italy: Police seize 2 tons of cocaine floating off Sicily. Italian authorities have seized almost two tons (2,000 kilograms) of cocaine off the coast of Sicily, officials said Monday. The haul has a street value of about €400 million ($440 million). The drugs were stored in about 70 waterproof packages and carefully sealed,…
In the largest coordinated firearms operation ever led by INTERPOL via the EU funded GIFP project DISRUPT, Central and South American authorities made 14,260 arrests and seized over 8,263 illegal firearms, as well as 305,000 rounds of ammunition. Operation Trigger IX took place from 12 March to 2 April 2023, aimed at targeting key trafficking…
From 11 – 21 April 2023, as part of the AIRCOP support to the Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITFs) in West Africa, a mentorship programme was delivered in Praia, Cape Verde. AIRCOP aims to strengthen capacities at international airports to detect and intercept high-risk passengers and illicit commodities in origin, transit and destination countries.…
From 11 – 21 April 2023, as part of the AIRCOP support to the Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITFs) in West Africa, a mentorship programme was delivered in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. AIRCOP aims to strengthen capacities at international airports to detect and intercept high-risk passengers and illicit commodities in origin, transit and destination countries.…
This week, SEACOP was in Guyana 🇬🇾 to take part in the preparations for the upcoming Tradewinds 2023 exercise. More than 1,000 troops from 17 countries are expected to partake in the exercise, which will seek to further prepare Guyana to counter regional and security threats. Organisations such as CARICOM IMPACS, the Regional Security System, the Implementation Agency…
13.04.23 – Three charged over online banking scam. Three men have been charged with fraud offences as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into a website which enabled criminals to subvert banking anti-fraud measures. NCA cybercrime investigators began probing the paid for subscription website www.OTP.Agency in June 2020. The site provided a service to…
At the end of last month, SEACOP held its 2nd Maritime Intelligence Training for Argentinean officers in Buenos Aires 🇦🇷. Experts from the Colombian Navy, the Brazilian Federal Police and SEACOP’s Latin America Coordinator, Alfredo Diaz Sanchez, focused the activity on intelligence gathering in the maritime and river environment, analysed recently detected criminal patterns in…
03.04.23 – Money laundering couple caught smuggling criminal cash during lockdown. A husband and wife from Hertfordshire who tried to smuggle more than £200,000 out of the UK during the height of the Covid lockdown have been convicted of money laundering. Ardian Sharra, aged 51, and Valbona Laloshi, aged 41, from Tring were investigated by…
