Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, son of the Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” Guzmán, is reportedly in Medellín, Colombia under the protection of a criminal gang. He is allegedly controlling two laboratories in the city and coordinating the shipment of around 400 kg of cocaine per week to Mexico from the Colombian port of Buenaventura, highlighting the…
Mexican drug lord Héctor Beltrán Leyva died of a heart attack on November 19. He was the last of his brothers at the head of the Beltrán Leyva cartel before he was arrested and jailed in 2014. The cartel started by operating in the state of Sinaloa and it controlled some of the main smuggling…
Operation Lionfish, an INTERPOL-led global effort against trafficking of illicit substances and drugs, was launched between 17 September and 8 October 2018, simultaneously across 93 countries. The operation resulted in the seizure of more than 55 tonnes of illicit substances including 35 tonnes of cocaine, five tonnes of heroin, 15 tonnes of cannabis and 430,000…
A report by Euromonitor International shows that the illicit market of alcohol is a growing source of income for criminal organisation in Latin America. According to the report, the annual illegal sales of alcohol amount to $4.8 billion. Colombia Attorney General has proposed a new disruption policy to fight increasing drug production in the country,…
A report from the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) critically analysed the UNODC 10-years plan to tackle drug trafficking and highlighted the human cost of the international war on drugs. According to the IDPC, despite UN efforts, drug-related deaths have increased 145% in the last decade. The US Department of Justice revealed a list of…
CRIMJUST and the Brazilian Federal Prosecution Services gathered on 15-19 October 2018 in Vienna, Austria, at the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (COP9) to announce the implementation of joint working groups aimed at fighting transnational crime in Latin America. …
On September 22, 2018 the Barbados Coast Guard (BCG) together with HM Customs Enforcement, the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) Drug Squad and the Police Canine Unit successfully conducted an operation which resulted in a seizure of 148.8 kgs of cannabis. SEACOP trained officers from both the Joint Maritime Control Unit (JMCU) and the…
Britain announced a 2 million pound ($2.6 million) scheme to help authorities stop at risk children falling into the grip of traffickers and gangs who force them to move drugs over ‘county lines’ from cities to rural areas. A historic summit between the President of Colombia, Duque, and his political rivals took place at La…
Authorities in Mexico have made what is almost certainly the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country’s history, approximately 50 metric tons, along with precursor chemicals and equipment in the western state of Sinaloa. This seizure suggests that growing US demand has encouraged Mexican crime groups to increase production. In one of the largest drug…
Costa Rica’s government is struggling to stall worsening violence driven by local criminal groups battling for control of domestic drug markets. Costa Rica is a key transshipment point for Colombian cocaine heading to the United States and Europe. Instead of making payments in dollars, transnational criminal organizations often pay local criminal groups in drugs. With…
