07/04 Cape Verdean police seize over 5 tonnes of cocaine. Cape Verdean police seized more than five tonnes of cocaine at sea onboard a fishing boat from Brazil, with the help of American agents.
09/04 Major cocaine smuggling gang busted in Algeciras with 3,500 kilos of the drug found. A joint operation involving officers from National Police and Tax Agency has dismantled a major criminal organisation that smuggled large quantities of cocaine into the Port of Algeciras, Cádiz in Spain.
10/04 Mexican cartels swap arms for cocaine, fueling Colombia violence. Mexican drug cartels appear to be shipping high-powered weapons to Colombia to purchase shipments of cocaine, a trade Colombian authorities say is fueling the deadly struggle between rival traffickers for control of the nation’s drug routes.
11/04 Covid opens new battlefronts in Africa’s illegal wildlife trade. Since Covid-19, Africa’s illegal wildlife trade took an unprecedented new turn and illegal wildlife trade increased significantly. As an example, deep in the dense tropical jungle of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a giant pangolin – an endangered species of mammal with plate-like scales that can weigh up to 30kg – was kidnapped by rebels who demanded a $500 ransom.
11/04 A common response to serious and organised crime linked to the war in Ukraine. Europol hosted an EMPACT meeting to focus on intelligence and operational actions linked to threats of serious and organised crime, which have emerged as a result of the war in Ukraine. This meeting follows the mobilisation of the EMPACT framework by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission to address these threats.
