The Centre for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship (CESeC) of Rio de Janeiro is trying to develop a new approach using public arts to educate people about drug war’s failure. In late April, the organisation launched an antiprohibition ad campaign, Da Proibição Nasce o Tráfico (“Trafficking Is Born of Prohibition”) which consists of five comic book-style public service announcements placed on 40 city buses concisely depicting the nature of the drug war.
During a nationwide tour, the Gambian Minister of Interior has warned against drug trafficking developing in the country, especially among youths. He declared that any person arrested with drugs will be prosecuted and the infrustructures in which he/she operated will be confiscated.
According to a UN special envoy, the United Nations should impose economic sanctions on drug traffickers financing jihadist groups in the Sahel region of Africa. He suggested that the committee tasked with imposing financial sanctions on Al-Qaeda-linked groups and individuals should have the authority to blacklist drug dealers.
Following a joint military police security surge launched in March 2015, the Bolivian authorities have made significant progress in discouraging drug traffickers using Lake Titicaca as one of routes to transport cocaine from Peru to Bolivia.
The authorities of the Dominican Republic issued three arrest warrants against a Member of the European Parliament and two French nationals for helping two French pilots fleeing the island after being accused of drug trafficking in March 2013.
Colombian police seized 639 kilos of cocaine, presumably stashed by the FARC guerrilla group, in a joint operation with the navy in a rural area outside Tumaco in Nariño province. The cocaine allegedly belonged to Juan Carlos Caicedo, a member of FARC.
The deputy Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, Alexey Moiseev, exposed the dangers of Bitcoin as a means for facilitating payments citing the digital currency’s association with money laundering and terrorism financing.
The United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published a new report, “Drug money: the illicit proceeds of opiates trafficked on the Balkan Route“. The launch of the report coincides with a new UNODC Regional Programme for South East Europe to assist the countries in the region in interdicting illicit financial flows.
