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…
Eighty seizures of drugs and 70 people were arrested during an INTERPOL operation targeting drug trafficking routes from Latin America via Africa to Europe. The operation was realised in collaboration with AIRCOP JAITFs that were able to share information via INTERPOL’s system I-24/7 and CENcomm, WCO’s communication tool. Argentinian President Macri declared a one-year national…
The Nigerian civic group called the Civil Society Network against Corruption (CSNAC) submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a reported case of money laundering that would have involved the National Assembly between 2009 and 2015. According to the civil society, several members of the National Assembly repeatedly violated the…
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…
Twenty judges of the Ghanaian Lower Court were arrested after months of investigations following the release of a documentary film in September that showed judges and magistrates accepting bribes to influence their verdicts in court. However, the judges will not be tried for their crimes. Ghana’s Chief of Justice Georgina Wood declared that resolute measures…
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…
The Centre for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship (CESeC) of Rio de Janeiro is trying to develop a new approach using public arts to educate people about drug war’s failure. In late April, the organisation launched an antiprohibition ad campaign, Da Proibição Nasce o Tráfico (“Trafficking Is Born of Prohibition”) which consists of five…
Following the increasing efforts of the Argentinian government to combat aerial drug trafficking, traffickers have allegedly started using amphibious aircrafts into the country. According to the Argentine Anti-Drugs Association, several planes depart from Pilar in Paraguay and arrive on Parana and Uruguay rivers in Argentina. The Colombia Armed Forces dismantled a massive cocaine processing lab allegedly…
Bolivian Defense Minister signed an agreeement to buy radar equipment designed to detect drug planes. The equipment was purchased from the French company Thales Air System. This agreement could help the government reduce Bolivia’s role in the “cocaine air bridge” from Peru to Brazil. Indigenous groups on the Caribbean coast of Honduras are denouncing distress…
Two French pilots who fled from Dominican Republic as accused of alleged cocaine trafficking, were arrested in France. Dominican Republic’s prosecutor general announced tht he had requested an international arrest warrant for the two pilots. UNODC and other stakeholders called the Federal Government of Niigeria to review its drug laws, focusing more on the rehabilitation…
