- Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road marketplace on the dark web, through which more than US$200 million worth of drugs has been sold online, has been jailed for life in the United States.
- The Spanish police, in conjunction with the country’s navy, have seized almost 2 tonnes of cocaine headed from the Caribbean. Reportedly, 200kg of this was found hidden inside hollowed-out pineapples.
- Ecuadorian police have seized 3.4 tonnes of cocaine from a container bound for Mexico, at the port city of Guayaquil.
- A joint operation by the British and the French has led to an estimated €70 million worth of cocaine being seized in the Azores islands, hidden on a yacht. The French government have reportedly said that a Serbian organised crime group were behind the drug’s transportation.
- La Republica has published a report on how Colombian organised crime groups infiltrate sea ports for the purpose of smuggling cocaine, citing the port of Callao as the main trafficking route out of the country.
- The Tico Times has published an article on the issue of cocaine packages being found washed up on beaches throughout the Caribbean.
- ‘Flakka‘, a cheap new designer drug that is believed to be in the second generation of drugs to mimic khat, has been described as ‘ridiculously easy to buy’.
