Newsbrief – week of 28 November

Belgium, Bolivia, EU, EUROJUST, EUROPOL, News, Newsbriefings, Peru, The Netherlands

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/international-operation-shuts-down-websites-offering-counterfeit-goods-and-pirated-content – International operation shuts down websites offering counterfeit goods and pirated content https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/heat-rising-european-super-cartel-taken-down-in-six-countries – Heat is rising as European super cartel is taken down in six countries https://insightcrime.org/news/lake-titicaca-smugglers-paradise-bolivia-peru/ Lake Titicaca: A Smuggler’s Paradise in Bolivia and Peru https://insightcrime.org/news/super-cartel-controlling-europe-drug-trade/ Was a Super Cartel Really Controlling Europe’s Drug Trade? https://www.eurojust.europa.eu/news/serbian-led-drug-smuggling-network-halted-belgium-luxembourg-and-netherlands Serbian-led drug smuggling network halted in…

News briefings week of 20 June

Belgium, Brazil, EUROJUST, EUROPOL, Human trafficking, Money laundering, Newsbriefings, Paraguay, The Netherlands, Wildlife trafficking

21/06 Phishing gang behind several million euros worth of losses busted in Belgium and the Netherlands. The suspects sent emails and text messages with phishing links to bogus banking websites. A cross-border operation, supported by Europol and involving the Belgian Police and the Dutch Police, resulted in the dismantling of this organised crime group involved…

News briefing – Week of 18 of April

Belgium, Caribbean, Cocaine, Cooperation, EU, EUROPOL, Newsbriefings, Nigeria, The Netherlands

18/04 The global environmental impacts of cocaine. The environmental impacts of cocaine have long been known. Studies raised alarm bells in the 1990s over narco-driven deforestation, soil degradation and pollution in Latin America. Today, the impacts all along the illegal drug supply chain are even better understood and documented but remain underrecognized and underreported. 21/04…

News Briefing – Week of 17 August

Cannabis, Cocaine, Colombia, Cooperation, Heroin, Newsbriefings, Organised Crime Organisation, Publication, The Netherlands

18/08/2020 – 600kg of cocaine were seized in Rotterdam. The drugs were hidden in a containerised chemical shipment from Brazil. 19/08/2020 – Brazilian authorities dismantled a large drug trafficking ring during an operation mobilising about 600 officers in 13 regions. During this operation, seven aeroplanes and five helicopters as well as other assets linked to the network were confiscated.  21/07/2020 –…

News Briefing – Week of 1 June

Belgium, Cannabis, Cocaine, Ecuador, Heroin, Illegal pesticides, Newsbriefings, Publication, Seizure, The Netherlands

  1/06/2020 – As law enforcement focuses of the Coronavirus lockdown measures, a substantial increase in cannabis cultivation in Albania is anticipated. Recent seizures indicate that the Balkan route remains a favoured trafficking route for Europe destined cannabis. Albania is also about to conclude a draft law which allows for the cultivation of medical cannabis in…

News Briefing – Week of 30 March

Brazil, Cocaine, Guinea Bissau, Newsbriefings, Pangolin, Seizure, The Netherlands, Wildlife trafficking

Malaysian customs discovered six tonnes of African pangolin scales hidden beneath a layer of sacks containing cashew nuts. This was the first seizure at Port Klang since September 2017 and may indicate that  traffickers are responding to greater security at other Malaysian ports as well as ports in Singapore where, last year, 40 tonnes of pangolin scales was…