Drug trafficking in Central America is damaging the Amazon forest. Traffickers are cutting down trees to build illegal roads and airstrips to transport cocaine. Narco-deforestation now affects large tropical forests in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Protected wetlands and coastal areas are also used to supply maritime routes. Environmental degradation caused by drug trafficking leads to…
DetailsThe poaching and smuggling of marine life are increasingly treated as organised crime in South Africa. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing have traditionally been dealt with as fisheries management issues by the government, resulting in low penalties for offenders. But regional initiatives like FishFORCE, training law enforcement officers and prosecutors, have resulted in greater awareness…
DetailsIranian police have seized nine tonnes of illicit drugs destined for Europe in the province of West Azerbaijan, on the border with Turkey. The shipment, which was hidden inside a petrol tanker, comprised of 3.5 tonnes of morphine and 5.3 tonnes of opium. Weapons as well as cocaine and crystal meth were also found. Iran…
DetailsIn a new report, Human Rights Watch documents the rising violence linked to illegal deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon. Over the past five years, 28 environmental enforcement agents and indigenous people opposed to illegal logging have been killed by organised crime groups who profit from deforestation. More than 300 people have been murdered in the last…
DetailsVenezuela’s state prosecutor opened an investigation into Juan Guaido’s pictures with members of a Colombian organised crime group. Analysts say the images have the potential to cause severe harm to the Venezuelan opposition leader’s credibility, especially at the international level, and his quest to force Maduro out of power. Frontex co-led an international operation against…
DetailsBolivian security forces seized a Brazilian-registered helicopter carrying almost 300 kilos of drugs near the border with Peru. Officials say cocaine processing is increasingly being fractionned in different countries. They are at least two air bridges that have been established between Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, and 38 small clandestine planes used for narcotrafficking were seized…
DetailsBritish authorities seized 250 kilos of cocaine and arrested six people aboard yacht off the coast of Wales. The private vessel was heading from Latin America to the UK. The drug had a street value of 20 million euros. Slovenian police dismantled a vast human trafficking network. The group was involved in trafficking some 280…
DetailsThe largest drug trafficking gang in Dominican Republic has been dismantled according to the Dominican Attorney General. More than 40 raids were carried out across the country in connection with the case. The Mexican government efforts to bring down violent crime will not include talks with organised crime groups or armed self-defense groups. The President…
DetailsSpanish authorities dismantled an organised crime group involved in international money laundering. The Spanish-based criminal group laundered more than 70 millions euros on behalf of Asian and Colombian drug trafficking organisations responsible for smuggling cocaine into Europe. Authorities dismantled an organised crime group in Spain and Portugal involved in drug trafficking. The drug would arrive…
DetailsCustoms seized 1.5 tonnes of cocaine on a container ship in Hamburg, Germany. The ship came from Rio Grande, Brazil, and was heading for Antwerp, Belgium. The haul value is estimated at about 350 million euros. This comes a month after Germany seized a record 4.5 tonnes of cocaine in Hamburg. Conservative candidate Alejandro Giammattei…
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