11.08.23 – Scots drug kingpin jailed for more than nine years after extradition from Brazil. A Scots fugitive who was on the UK’s most wanted list before being extradited from Brazil has been jailed for more than nine years after admitting involvement in serious organised crime. James White, 46, was sentenced at the High Court in Stirling on Friday after previously admitting a charge of directing serious organised crime, the Crown Office said.
11.08.23 – Candidate in Ecuador’s presidential election Fernando Villavicencio shot dead. A candidate in Ecuador’s forthcoming presidential election who campaigned against corruption and gangs has been shot dead at a campaign rally. Fernando Villavicencio, a member of the country’s national assembly, was attacked as he left the event in the capital, Quito, on Wednesday. He is one of the few candidates to allege links between organised crime and government officials in Ecuador. President Guillermo Lasso said organised crime was behind the killing.
11.08.23 – 5 arrested in Poland for running bulletproof hosting service for cybercrime gangs. This week, the Polish Central Cybercrime Bureau (Centralne Biuro Zwalczania Cyberprzestępczości) under the supervision of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice (Prokuratura Regionalna w Katowicach) took action against LolekHosted.net, a bulletproof hosting service used by criminals to launch cyber-attacks across the world. Five of its administrators were arrested, and all of its servers seized, rendering LolekHosted.net no longer available. This latest success in the fight against cybercrime follows a complex investigation supported by Europol and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
13.08.23 – Authorities moved the leader of one of Ecuador’s most powerful gangs into a maximum-security prison Saturday, three days after the assassination of a presidential candidate who had denounced threats from the feared criminal. President Guillermo Lasso said the relocation of Los Choneros leader Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” was meant “for the safety of citizens and detainees.” The gang boss was moved out of jail with lighter security into a maximum-security prison in the same large complex of detention facilities in the port city of Guayaquil. “Ecuador will recover peace and security,” Lasso tweeted. “If violent reactions arise, we will act with full force.”
13.08.23 – 19 arrests for smuggling migrants within the EU. An investigation led by the Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional), supported by Europol and involving the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei) led to the dismantling of an organised crime group facilitating the secondary movements of irregular migrants from Spain to Germany and Norway. The criminal group is part of a larger network involved in the smuggling of Syrian nationals via the route Syria – Sudan/UAE – Libya – Algeria – Spain, which the Spanish National Police took down earlier in 2023.
