News Briefing- Week of 30 of July

The Costa-Rica Ministry of Public Security for surveillance against organised crime and illegal fishing will use a King Air 250 as a mobile radar to battle drug trafficking as well as to protect the marine life. Mexican police arrested Victor Manuel Perez, alias “Pantera 16” (Panther 16) or “Comandante Viento” (Commander Wind), regional leader of…

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News Briefing- Week of 23 of July

Intelligence sources said the Urabeños drugs gang had put a 200m-peso ($70,000; £53,000) price on the German shepherd’s head after she found almost 10 tonnes of the gang’s cocaine. According to a new report from the watchdog agency Semáforo Delictivo and Lantia Consultores, executions linked to organised crime in Mexico have risen to record levels…

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News Briefing-Week of 16 of July

UNODC and the G5 Sahel agreed, during a joint meeting organised in Nouakchott on 18 July 2018, to strengthen their cooperation in the areas of security and justice. Support in the opening of three new Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITF), in N’Djamena (Chad), Nouakchott (Mauritania), Agadez (Niger), as part of the AIRCOP program was…

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News Briefing- Week of 9 of July

Between March and May 2018, INTERPOL coordinated operations in 36 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America, with the aim of shutting down factories and cutting off supply chains behind a wide range of counterfeit goods and the organised crime networks directing them. The operations yielded  global seizures worth USD 25 million.…

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News Briefing- Week of 2 of July

The United Kingdom Border Force Unit has handed over two operational vans and equipment valued at $120,000 Dollars to the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) to boost Ghana’s fight against drug trafficking. Mozambique has become a significant heroin transit centre. Estimations suggest 40 tonnes or more per year are traded from Mozambique, making it a major…

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News Briefing- Week of 25 of June

Left-wing candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador has claimed victory in Mexico’s presidential election, held on 1 July. One of his main policies is combating Mexico’s record levels of violence, much of it related to drug cartels. Epidiolex, a cannabis-based treatment for childhood epilepsy developed, is set to be launched in the autumn after being approved…

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News Briefing-Week of 18 of June

Recreational marijuana use will soon be legal in Canada after the Senate passed a “historic” bill on 19 June with a vote of 52-29. Canada is only the second country in the world — and the first G7 nation — to implement legislation to permit a nationwide marijuana market. Fourteen cocaine-soaked shirts styled like the…

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News Briefing-Week of 11 of June

Conservative candidate Ivan Duque has won Colombia’s presidential runoff election on 17 June 2018. Duque’s presidential agenda included next to the peace deal also narco-trafficking. Colombia’s production of cocaine has increased, and armed groups are fighting each other for control of routes once controlled by FARC. The cocaine kingpin, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as “La…

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News Briefing- Week of 4 June

The European Drug Report 2018, released on 7 June by the EMCDDA, mentioned that the purity of street cocaine across Europe is at its highest level in a decade and that the number of people seeking treatment for cocaine addiction has risen. Solution to fight illegal drugs can be country-specific, as the 3-year Mexico-Filipino cooperation…

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News Briefing-Week of 28 of May

On May 26, Guatemala’s National Civil Police announced the discovery and destruction of almost one hectare of coca, calling it ‘’the first-ever evidence of cocaine production in the country’’. The discovery may be a sign that drug trafficking groups are looking to cut risks and transport costs while expanding experiments growing drug crops in Central…

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