- Benny Palmeri-Bacchi, a former Venezuelan judge, has been sentenced to over six years in prison for his role in ‘a major cocaine trafficking case’ that helped move Colombian cocaine through Venezuela, and was reportedly linked to the government of former president Hugo Chávez. In November he pleaded guilty to charges of extortion, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and money laundering conspiracy.
- The US Coast Guard, the US Border and Protection Agency, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have reportedly seized 989 kilograms of cocaine from a ship travelling through the Caribbean Sea. The cocaine has been valued at US$29 million.
- Spain’s Central Unit of Drugs and Organised Crime division (UDYCO) has arrested nine people suspected of drug trafficking and seized 500 kilograms of cocaine at a port in Olula del Río.
- Irish Police have reportedly seized 32.5 kilograms of heroin and half a kilogram of cocaine, as well as ammunition, which they claim ‘will cause a major disruption to Irish gangs’.
- Italian police have reportedly seized an amount of cocaine estimated to be worth €36 million at the port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria, believed to have come from Mexico.
- Armenia’s National Security Service has arrested five people on suspicion of trying to smuggle cocaine from South America to Turkey, allegedly hidden in their suitcases on commercial flights.
- The Daily Mail has published an article examining the ‘Dark Net’ marketplace Middle Earth, where cocaine is priced at priced at 154.2 bitcoins (£22,572) for a kilogram, or 0.36 bitcoins (£53) for a single gram.
- A two-day drug policy workshop for Civil Society Organisations in West Africa has been held. It was organised by the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), in collaboration with the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD) and International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), with support from the USAID, OSIWA and the Kofi Annan Foundation (KAF). Security and governance in West Africa was a notable issue on the agenda.
- The European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) held a two-day meeting to discuss “recent developments of the drug situation” in the respective regions. The social and economic impacts of narcotrafficking were also on the agenda.
- The Union of South American Nationals (UNASUR) has officially committed to create a South American drug observatory, which will act as ‘a regional database system containing information on drug trafficking’.
