Spanish authorities seized more than three tons of cocaine and broke up an international drug trafficking ring in Madrid. According to the Spanish police, the organisation was composed by a group of Serbian ex-soldiers that brough cocaine from Latin America to Europe. Sixty-nine people were arrested.
The Austrian police arrested a father and a son for allegedly transporting 600kg of cocaine on a yacht from Brazil to Europe. Their alleged drug racket came under intense police investigation after a plane carrying 350 kg of cocaine crashed near the Brazilian border.
A 26-year old student was sentenced to three years in prison for money laundering in Accra, Ghana. The Court declared the offence of money laundering is serious and cripples national economies.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Trinidad and Tobago has noted an increase of small intra-island money transfers. According to the authorities, these transfers could be indicative of drug trafficking and the possible presence of “runners” who collect proceeds from drug retailers.
One of the leaders of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel was arrested in Mexico City. He allegedly used warehouses in Mexico City as cover for his drug trafficking activities.
Colombian authorities arrested Magaly Chavez Ante, alias “La Faraona”, who allegedly coordinated boat shipments of cocaine moving from Ecuador and Colombia’s Pacific coast to the United States.
A senior paramilitary leader and one of Colombia’s most notorious drug traffickers, Salvatore Mancuso Gomez, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was accused of being the leader of an international drug trafficking organisation and directing the manufacture and shipment of more than 100,000 kg of cocaine to the United States.
