Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez faces street protests calling for his ouster after a US court found his brother guilty of cocaine and weapons trafficking. The US Justice Department also concluded narcotraffickers had bribed the president and his party for his 2014 election campaign. The Financial Action Task Force, the intergovernmental body dedicated to combatting…
Drug trafficking in Central America is damaging the Amazon forest. Traffickers are cutting down trees to build illegal roads and airstrips to transport cocaine. Narco-deforestation now affects large tropical forests in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Protected wetlands and coastal areas are also used to supply maritime routes. Environmental degradation caused by drug trafficking leads to…
Venezuela’s state prosecutor opened an investigation into Juan Guaido’s pictures with members of a Colombian organised crime group. Analysts say the images have the potential to cause severe harm to the Venezuelan opposition leader’s credibility, especially at the international level, and his quest to force Maduro out of power. Frontex co-led an international operation against…
Bolivian security forces seized a Brazilian-registered helicopter carrying almost 300 kilos of drugs near the border with Peru. Officials say cocaine processing is increasingly being fractionned in different countries. They are at least two air bridges that have been established between Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, and 38 small clandestine planes used for narcotrafficking were seized…
The largest drug trafficking gang in Dominican Republic has been dismantled according to the Dominican Attorney General. More than 40 raids were carried out across the country in connection with the case. The Mexican government efforts to bring down violent crime will not include talks with organised crime groups or armed self-defense groups. The President…
Senegalese customs have seized over a tonne of cocaine hidden inside cars on a ship in Dakar port. The ship was traveling from Brazil to Angola. Authorities first seized 238 kilos of cocaine, before discovering an additional 750 kilos of the drug. Drug seizures are on the rise in West African countries, which are used…
On 19-20 June, the Pompidou group held the 34th Airport Cooperation Group held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. 29 countries were represented. Representatives donor funded projects in the field of airport cooperation were represented, including the Cocaine Route Programme through CORMS and AIRCOP, but also UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme initiative. For two days, the…
Turkish police have arrested twenty alleged smugglers, members of one of Europe’s largest human trafficking ring, as part of joint intelligence operations across Turkey. The organisation smuggled migrants from Afghanistan and northern Iraq to European countries, in exchange for large sums of money. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will provide support to countries of…
7,4 tonnes of cannabis were seized in the Mediterranean by French customs. The French Navy also took part in the operation, spotting and escorting the racing boat to Toulon military base. Three Turkish nationals suspected of drug trafficking were arrested in the operation.
Peru tries to curb illegal gold mining in the Amazon with new Operation Mercury. Since February 2019, authorities evicted 25.000 illegal gold miners and deployed hundreds of policemen and military troops for the long term in the Tambopata region, a centre for illicit mining. Illegal mining Madre de Dios is linked with drug trafficking and prostitution.
