News briefing – Week of 3 July
G20 leaders pledged during the G20 Summit in Hamburg to focus their efforts on
News briefing – Week of 26 June
Drug-related violence has been on the rise in Mexico since the capture and extradition of
World Drug Report 2017 – A quarter of a billion people worldwide use drugs
According to the latest World Drug Report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), nearly a quarter of a billion people
News briefing – Week of 17 April
Colombian authorities arrested William Rafael Vargas Maestre in Armenia (Colombia), one of Spain’s most wanted suspects in drug trafficking, who had been on the run since February 2016. With the help of Spanish law enforcement, the Colombian drug trafficking ring led by Vargas was dismantled and led to the arrest of 24 suspects. Mauritius’ Prime…
News briefing – Week of 3 April
Venezuela’s capital Caracas has been ranked by the Citizen’s Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice (CCSPJP) as the world’s deadliest city for a second year in a row, with a homicide rate of 130 per 100.000 inhabitants. The city is notorious for its high rates of street and organised crime, becoming a major drug…
News briefing – Week of 27 March
Colombian police seized more than 6 tons of cocaine in the Caribbean port of Barranquilla bound for Spain. Colombian Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas confirmed that the shipment, worth €200 million, was carried out by several drug cartels, including El Clan del Golfo. The seizure represents the third largest cocaine seizure in the history of…
Weekly Briefing – Week of 22 February
Around 300 Ecuadorian fishermen have been arrested in the last three years by foreign authorities for being involved in international drug-trafficking rings. According to the Ecuadorian authorities, the fishermen are now under the custody in the United States, Guatemala or Colombia. The EMCDDA is currently developing estimates of the size of the drug market in the…
News Briefing – Week of 25 January
Ghana, Benin and Senegal are proposing a progressive approach to drugs in line with the AU Common African Position for UNGASS 2016. Rather than focusing on disproportionate law enforcement and repression, this common position will emphasise harm reduction over punitive measures. Ghana is currently reviewing its drug law, and it has set up an inter-ministerial…
News Briefing – Week of 4 January
Spanish authorities seized three tonnes of cocaine coming from Colombia and arrested 12 alleged traffickers from Spain, Britain and the Netherlands. Seven-hundred kilos of cocaine were hidden in the bottom of a van, while the other 2.3 tonnes were disguised in the form of wooden pallets. According to a statement from the Nigerian National Drug…
News Briefing – Week of 30 November
Closing event of the AMERIPOL-EU event held in Bogota. Financed under the ICsP and part of the flagship Cocaine Route Programme, the projects objectives focused on strengthening the cooperation of law enforcement, judicial and prosecuting authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean. During a regional workshop on Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing…