News briefing – Week of 10 April

German police seized more than 800 pounds of cocaine (380 kilograms) in Cologne, dissimulated in cases of bananas shipped from Ecuador. The haul represents the biggest seizure in the history of the city. 26 employees of American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and DHL, as well as airport cleaning services and restaurant workers have been arrested at…

News briefing – Week of 20 March

According to the latest International Narcotics Control Strategy Report on Drug and Chemical Control, released by the U.S. State Department, a list of five Caribbean nations has been sent to the U.S. Congress by US President Trump, naming ‘major illicit drug producing and/or drug-transit countries.’ This includes the Bahamas, Haiti, Belize, the Dominican Republic and…

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…

News briefing – Week of 28 November

Data from Argentina’s Attorney General Office reveals that more than a third of money laundering cases since 2013 were linked to drug trafficking, informs Insight Crime. According to one of the two prosecutors of the Economic Crime and Money Laundering Bureau (Procuraduría de Criminalidad Económica y Lavado de Activos – PROCELAC), the fact that such…

News briefing – Week of 19 September

During his address at the UN General Assembly, the President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, highlighted the need to combating drug trafficking and violence associated with organized crime. Countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region are still facing important challenges, despite important progresses, including the peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary…

News Briefings – Week of 21 March

The Spanish police arrested a number of Dutch citizens smuggling between Malaga and the Netherlands. More than 500 kilos of drugs were seized. In total the Spanish police seized 242.7 kilos of marijuana and 420 kilos of hashish. A recent report on drug trafficking in Venezuelan border state Zulia draws attention to a key cocaine corridor that…

News Briefing – Week of 7 March

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the European Union and International Police (INTERPOL) have jointly launched a Euro 1.3-million programme to fight money laundering. INTERPOL will support investigative capacity building of law enforcement agencies in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) Region in the area of financial crimes at national and international…