Newsbriefing – Week of 25 March

Nearly 750 military staff, mostly low-ranking officers, have reportedly perished since the Mexican government launched the “war on drugs” in 2006. Tamaulipas, a state located on the US-Mexico border accounts for the state where most of the most military deaths occurred. The Romanian police seized more than a ton of high-quality cocaine in a boat…

CORMS Mission in Latin America

The mission of the Cocaine Route Monitoring and Support (CORMS) on seaport cooperation’s state of play in five Latin American countries kicked-off in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the team attended the second Regional Workshop for Maritime Intelligence Units (MIUs) organised by the SEACOP project from March 19 to 21.  The event was opened by a representative of the EU delegation to…

Newsbriefing – Week of 18 March

During the ministerial segment of the 62nd session of the CND, the Gambian Minister of the Interior announced that his government firmly opposed the decriminalisation of cannabis use highlighting that the drug was responsible for most of the drug-connected crimes in the Gambia. On Monday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro started off his official visit to…

Newsbriefing – Week of 11 March

On Monday, the U.S Customs and Border Protection announced the seizure of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine, the biggest shipment of cocaine seized in New York and New Jersey in 25 years, in the Port of New York-Newark. The cocaine, which has an estimated street value of $77 million, was hidden in a shipping container originating…

Newsbriefing – Week of 4 March

In coordination with the National Gendarmerie of Argentina, the Bolivian police arrested in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, an Argentinian drug-trafficker dubbed the “Chapo Guzmán” of South America. The man was reportedly trafficking drugs from Bolivia to Argentina using small planes and he had managed to escape from jail several times with the help…

SEACOP delivers Maritime Intelligence Units course in Buenos Aires

The second Maritime Intelligence Unit Course organised under the framework of SEACOP – phase IV in Argentina was held from February 11 to 15 at the Superior Academy Facilities of the Naval Prefecture in Buenos Aires. At this occasion, the local authorities and SEACOP discussed the current situation of the project in the country. The…

Newsbriefing – Week of 25 February

Nigeria’s president in office Muhammad Buhari won the 2019 election with 15.2 million votes compared with 11.3 million votes for his opponent. At the announcement of the results, the opposition party claimed that the vote was manipulated by the ruling party. Iván Duque announced that the government of Colombia’s new security plan will not include…

Newsbriefing – Week of 18 February

The trial of the “Air Cocaine” drug-trafficking case started on 18 February in Aix-en-Provence, France. The case involves the seizure of 680 kilos of cocaine on board of a private jet in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic back in 2013. Both the pilots and passengers are facing up severe sentences. The kidnapping and assassination of three…