News briefing – Week of 6 May

06/06 International Maritime Organization adopts new guidelines to combat wildlife smuggling. The 46th Meeting of the Facilitation Committee (FAL46) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted new ‘Guidelines for the Prevention and Suppression of the Smuggling of Wildlife on Ships Engaged in International Maritime Traffic’. 06/06 Team Europe strengthens cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean…

News briefing – week of 28 February

28/03 Criminal network distributing fake dark web documents busted. An investigation by the French Border Police (Police aux Frontières/Police Judiciaire which forms part of the National Police) and the Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional), supported by Europol, led officers to the dismantling of an organised crime group involved in the procurement and distribution of forged…

News briefing week of 17 January

17/01 NDLEA intercepts cocaine, cannabis, 1.5m tramadol tablets, others in nationwide raids. The NDLEA spokesman also said the same day, 425,000 Diazepam tablets were recovered at Segemu, Kano. He said in the past week, N1,413,344 was seized along with arms and ammunition from a suspected bandit and a drug kingpin in Plateau State while over…

News briefing week of 10 January

10/01 Virtual currencies are being used increasingly in human and drug trafficking, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report. 10/01 Cocaine with a street value of over 5 billion euros was intercepted in the port of Rotterdam last year. A collaboration of customs, FIOD, Seaport Police, and Public Prosecution Service in Rotterdam found…

News briefing week of 27 December

27/12 The National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) indicated that more than 25,300 kilos of different drugs had been seized during the operations carried out throughout this year in the Dominican Republic. 27/12 English authorities seize 1.2 tons of cocaine from Costa Rica. The value of the seizure was estimated to be 120 million U.S. dollars.…

News briefing week of 20 December

20/12 Interpol: illicit fishing trade fuels transnational organized crime. A global investigation showed that the illicit fishing trade fuels transnational organized crime activities such as the trafficking of humans, drugs, and explosives, Interpol reported. 21/12 Mexican cartels are turning to meth and fentanyl production. Mexican drug cartels are turning to bigger, more productive labs to…

News briefing week of 13 December

13/12 Ukraine arms-trafficking into Poland on rise. Attempts to smuggle illegal firearms into Poland from the Ukraine are on the rise, according to an internal EU document. “Although large-scale trafficking of firearms has not yet become apparent, an increasing number of attempts to smuggle firearms from Ukraine to Poland has already been observed,” notes the…

News briefing week of 06 December

06/12 Cocaine Comrades: The Balkan ties of a fallen Colombian drug trafficker. From Marcos and Soldado to Tito and Chiquito, the drug trafficking ties between Colombia and the Balkans run deep. 08/12 Europol Pandora Papers report warns of ‘parallel underground system’ exploited by criminal networks. In an interview with ICIJ member Kristof Clerix, Europol director…

News briefing week of 29 November

29/11 Global coalition seizes 145.3 tonnes of cocaine – Colombia’s navy. Military and police authorities from more than 40 countries across Europe and the Americas confiscated 145.3 tonnes of cocaine in the eighth phase of Operation Orion, a multinational naval operation against drug trafficking, Colombia’s navy said on Monday. 29/11 12 online fraudsters arrested in…