Newsbriefing – Week of 21 January

Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) claimed responsibility for the car bomb attack which killed over 20 members of the Santander National Police Academy. Colombian president Ivan Duque promised to bring the perpetrators, deemed as terrorists, to justice. On January 23, the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó declared himself as interim president of Venezuela,…

Newsbriefing – Week of 14 January

The authorities of Trinidad and Tobago are considering the legalisation of cannabis. In late December, the government announced that the drug will be decriminalised in May or June 2019. To this, some groups of the society responded that only legal cultivation could prevent the violence linked to organised crime. In Colombia, criminal groups are taking…

Newsbriefing – Week of 29 October

A report by Euromonitor International shows that the illicit market of alcohol is a growing source of income for criminal organisation in Latin America. According to the report, the annual illegal sales of alcohol amount to $4.8 billion. Colombia Attorney General has proposed a new disruption policy to fight increasing drug production in the country,…

News Briefing-Week of 13 of August

Costa Rica’s government is struggling to stall worsening violence driven by local criminal groups battling for control of domestic drug markets. Costa Rica is a key transshipment point for Colombian cocaine heading to the United States and Europe. Instead of making payments in dollars, transnational criminal organizations often pay local criminal groups in drugs. With…

UNODC challenges Ghanaian, Liberian and Nigerian prosecutors to solve a fictitious organized crime and corruption case to strengthen their investigation management skills

CRIMJUST, the West African Network of Central Authorities and Prosecutors (WACAP) and the UNODC Project “Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria” held a Workshop on Strengthening Integrity in Investigation and Prosecution of Complex Cases, on 19-20 July in Lagos, Nigeria. For two days, the participants- 30 criminal justice practitioners, mainly prosecutors from…

CRIMJUST, WACAP and the Nigerian Drugs Project combat drug trafficking and organised crime together

CRIMJUST, the West African Network of Central Authorities and Prosecutors (WACAP) and the UNODC Project “Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria” delivered a three-day joint workshop in Lagos, Nigeria, on 16-18 July 2018. Thirty participants from Ghanaian, Liberian and Nigerian criminal justice agencies discussed good practices to increase the efficiency of investigations…

News Briefing- Week of 2 of July

The United Kingdom Border Force Unit has handed over two operational vans and equipment valued at $120,000 Dollars to the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) to boost Ghana’s fight against drug trafficking. Mozambique has become a significant heroin transit centre. Estimations suggest 40 tonnes or more per year are traded from Mozambique, making it a major…

UNODC supports Panama in strengthening institutional integrity of law enforcement

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – Regional Office for Central America and the Caribbean (UNODC ROPAN) has supported the National Aeronaval Service (SENAN) of Panama under the framework of the CRIMJUST project, in adopting a mandatory ethics training to prevent corruption on 28 May 2018. The training titled, “Basic Course on Ethics…