Depuis sa saisie record de 125 kg de cocaïne ayant mené au démantèlement d’un trafic international, la brigade des garde-côtes de La Rochelle verrouille drastiquement cette porte d’entrée maritime.
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La Fiscalía General de la Nación de Colombia obtuvo pruebas en contra de tres presuntos integrantes de una red narcotraficante a la que se le atribuye el envío de cargamentos de clorhidrato de cocaína desde el puerto de Santa Marta (Magdalena) hasta Inglaterra, Países Bajos, Alemania y Bélgica.
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Although a massive increase in cocaine seizures, the infiltration of port infrastructure and high-level art thefts have lately raised alarm bells in Germany, violent incidents have tended to be isolated and limited in scope. However, recent developments suggest that the country is not immune to the spillover effects of escalating criminal dynamics.
The ‘Mocro’ mafia
Germany’s illicit drug market is highly diversified and competitive. Criminal ecosystems in major German cities are dominated by a mix of networks – German, Russian-Eurasian, Turkish, Balkan, Arab, Kurdish and Italian, to name a few. These groups control different segments of the retail and wholesale markets, influencing different supply chains and regions across the country.
Among these networks is the so-called ‘Mocro’ mafia, a key player in smuggling cocaine valued at over €10 billion annually into ports in the Netherlands and Belgium, predominantly from Latin America. Its origins can be traced back to the 1960s, a period marked by significant Moroccan immigration to the Netherlands. However, the Mocro mafia embraces a broad array of criminal networks that include members of different ethnic backgrounds. With the particular Dutch mix of licit cannabis retailing and an illicit wholesale market, local criminal networks of the Mocro mafia benefitted massively from supplying the coffee shop business, growing in size and power.
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In the July 17 raid, West Jakarta Metro Police arrested 42 people who tested positive for crystal methamphetamine in Kampung Boncos. According to Mukti, all of these people are now in drug rehabilitation.
« It is difficult even though there are police posts in the neighborhoods. There are so many users in the areas, » Brig. Gen. Mukti Juharsa, director of the Bareskrim Narcotics and Illegal Drugs Crime Agency, said here on Monday, July 22, 2024.
On the same day, the Jakarta Metro Police also arrested a drug dealer with 30 kg of methamphetamine in Kampung Bahari.
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El Gobierno de Bolivia informó este martes que después de un operativo en Santa Cruz se encontró en un hangar nueve avionetas, cuatro vehículos y otros objetos relacionados presuntamente con Marset.
El propietario del lugar es Erland García López, como se conoce a El Colla. El delincuente es el segundo al mando de la organización criminal encabezada por el uruguayo, según la información de la policía boliviana.
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La Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza de Estados Unidos (CBP) informó que junto a las Fuerzas Unidas de Rápida Acción de la Policía de Puerto Rico (FURA) interceptaron el domingo una embarcación en la costa del municipio de Rincón, en el oeste de la isla, que transportaba un cargamento con 267 kg de cocaína.
En el operativo fueron arrestadas dos personas de ciudadanía estadounidense, según el comunicado oficial.
EL CBP informó que el 28 de agosto un grupo de sus agentes incautaron otro cargamento con 300,8 kilos de cocaína, en las aguas del sur de Puerto Rico. En la operación se detuvieron a dos ciudadanos de República Dominicana.
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En août, 81 kilos de cocaïne ont été saisis à l’aéroport Félix-Éboué lors des opérations « 100 % contrôle » menées par les douaniers et la PAF.
Pas moins de 69 mules, toutes en partance pour l’Hexagone, ont été interceptées.
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Composé de trois véhicules de forte cylindrée avec six hommes et femmes majeurs, le convoi arrivait d’Espagne avec à bord 264 kilos de cannabis. 190 kilos de résine et 74 kilos d’herbe. Lors de l’opération, l’un des malfaiteurs a redémarré sa voiture et percuté délibérément un véhicule de police, blessant trois fonctionnaires.
L’un des trafiquants était armé d’un pistolet automatique de 9 mm avec le chargeur engagé et approvisionné.
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Their convictions follow a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation that led to NCA and Border Force officers discovering the drugs haul inside a shipping container at Tilbury Docks, Essex.
Daniel Yeboah, 54, Kristoffen Baidoo, 48, Kwaku Bonsu, 52, all from London, and Edward Adjei, 48, from Grays, were found guilty by a jury today (3 September) after a three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Baidoo failed to appear at the trial, but was tried and found guilty in his absence.
All four men will be sentenced on 18 October.
The container arrived at Tilbury Docks from Ghana on 19 December 2019 where it was held before continuing its journey to London.
Intelligence obtained by the NCA and the Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission suggested it contained drugs.
Pictured: Edward Adjei, Kwaku Bonsu and Kristoffen Baidoo
A search confirmed that 2,335 packages of herbal cannabis weighing a combined 1.5 tonnes were hidden inside white hessian sacks of Gari powder.
NCA officers estimate the street value of the drugs would have been approximately £4.3 million.
The drugs were seized from the sacks and replaced with dummy packages.
On the morning of 13 January 2020, the container travelled from Tilbury Docks on the back of a lorry to an industrial yard in north London under the watch of NCA officers.
It was met by Yeboah who signed the delivery note using a fake signature and a worker at the yard removed the container seal with an angle grinder.
Bonsu was observed by NCA officers circling round the industrial yard in his car before taking photographs of the container using his mobile phone, and Adjei was spotted dropping Baidoo off at the yard.
Seemingly realising the drugs were missing, they all then fled the site in different cars, abandoning the load shortly after the container was opened.
As the men left the area, NCA officers were in tow, and all were arrested later that day – Yeboah and Adjei in Homerton, Baidoo in Stratford and Bonsu in Edmonton.
Officers found a 10-tonne hydraulic press, often used for compressing drugs, at Baidoo’s address and seized a number of devices from the men, including mobile phones and dash cams from their vehicles.
Footage downloaded from the dash cam in Adjei’s Toyota picked up his phone calls to Baidoo and Yeboah shortly after the container arrived at the yard.
During a call with Yeboah, he said, “my brother, be a little watchful. It is all a little dodgy.”
Yeboah was also picked up on later calls telling Adjei, “I don’t think the food [drugs] is in it” and “there was Gari inside, they have removed most of the Gari. The people are thieves.”
Text messages and e-mails found on Baidoo’s mobile phone uncovered his plot to take delivery of the drugs at the yard, which he had rented under a fake name to disguise his identity.
It was also evidenced that a bank account belonging to Bonsu made multiple payments to a shipping company for the container to be delivered from Tilbury Docks to the north London yard.
NCA senior investigating officer Saju Sasikumar said: “Today’s result is testament to the joint international work between the NCA and the Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission to intercept the drugs shipment, and the tireless efforts of our officers to identify the criminal group behind its importation.
“Had this huge haul of cannabis reached the UK supply chain, it would have fuelled exploitation through county lines activity as well serious violence and knife crime.
“Putting these harmful criminal groups before the courts and dismantling their illegal operations is a key part of the NCA’s mission to protect the public from serious and organised crime.”
04 September 2024
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August 30, 2024
BOSTON – A Fall River man was arrested yesterday and charged with selling drugs and machineguns that he advertised on the Telegram app. Benjamin Hunt, 26, was charged by criminal complaint with three counts of distribution of controlled substances and one count of transferring machineguns. Hunt was arrested yesterday morning…
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August 30, 2024
BOSTON – Earlier today, charges were unsealed against 10 members and associates of the H Block Gang (Appendix A) for drug conspiracy. Separately, nine members and associates of the Mission Hill Gang (Appendix B) were charged with engaging in financial fraud. The charges are the result of separate, multi-year investigations…
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August 29, 2024
OMAHA, Neb – Five members of a Houston-based organization known for targeting rural pharmacies in Western Iowa and Western Nebraska face federal charges after breaking in and stealing pharmaceuticals in May and June of 2022 and 2023. These five people are part of a larger conspiracy being prosecuted out of…
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August 29, 2024
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A district court judge sentenced two Columbus, Ohio, men to federal prison for burglarizing several pharmacies of oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine pills with intent to illegally distribute the controlled substances. George H. Cunningham, 42, was sentenced to 100 months in prison and Tarvin M. Hamler…
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August 29, 2024
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has seen an increase in burglaries at independent pharmacies across the country. Nearly 900 burglaries involving the theft of controlled substances were reported to DEA in 2023. Stolen prescription medications adversely impact these small businesses while also putting patients and the community at…
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Les services de renseignement turcs ont réussi à contrecarrer la contrebande de la cargaison de drogue après une opération qui a duré deux mois et à laquelle ont participé deux factions militaires locales dans le nord de la Syrie « , a expliqué l’agence turque.
26 personnes d’un gang de contrebande et de trafic de drogue ont été arrêtées.
« Les autorités ont confisqué environ 621 000 comprimés de Captagon, 50 kilos de haschisch, et 208 grammes de méthamphétamine, ainsi que trois véhicules appartenant au gang, et ont perquisitionné 6 maisons et un entrepôt », a rapporté Ikhlas.
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Les ministres du Conseil de l’UE ont approuvé des conclusions dans lesquelles ils leur demandent de perfectionner leurs méthodes d’analyse et de détection des réseaux criminels les plus actifs.
L’objectif ? Affiner un diagnostic fondé sur une méthodologie commune qui permettra d’avoir au niveau européen une cartographie de ces réseaux. Quant à Europol, il constitue la cheville ouvrière en dressant un tableau de la situation. Dans ce contexte, les États membres sont invités à envisager leur participation à la création d’une méthode commune de diagnostic de la criminalité organisée.
Et l’avenir ? Définir des normes visant à faciliter la comparaison entre pays et bien entendu, afin de pouvoir agir de manière plus efficace, dans le cadre de « plans d’action opérationnels » européens contre les réseaux criminels les plus dangereux.
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De la cocaïne, du plâtre et du polystyrène
Selon la procureure de Lille Carole Etienne, « chaque sac d’un poids moyen de 29 kg contenait 25 pains« . Sur les 125 pains retrouvés sur les plages de la Côte d’Opale, 111 contenaient de la cocaïne et « 14 d’entre eux sont composés de polystyrène et de gypsum (plâtre)« .
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Les deux revendeurs corses, qui venaient se ravitailler auprès de deux grossistes marseillais, ont été arrêtés en pleine transaction par des policiers de l’OFAST (Office anti-stupéfiants)..
3 kilos de cocaïne, 32.000 euros et des armes de poing ont été saisis.
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Le procès Encro concerne une importante organisation criminelle active dans le trafic de stupéfiants mise au jour grâce au craquage des messageries cryptées Encrochat et Sky ECC. Cent vingt-quatre prévenus, quatre entreprises et un anonyme sont jugés dans ce dossier d’une rare envergure.
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The National Crime Agency is warning travellers arriving into the UK from Thailand, Canada and the United States that they face jail sentences if caught attempting to bring cannabis into the country, after a huge increase in arrests.
So far this year, 378 people have been arrested in connection with investigations into cannabis smuggling by air passengers.
An estimated 15 tonnes of cannabis was detected and seized at UK airports in the same period – already around three times more than in the whole of 2023, when approximately 5 tonnes of cannabis was seized and 136 people were arrested.
The 2024 total is a staggering increase on the two tonnes seized in 2022.
More than half of those arrested in 2023 (71) had flown in from US airports, 24 from Thailand and 24 from Canada.
Around half of all arrests (184) this year related to cannabis that originated in Thailand, while 75 arrests related to cannabis originating from Canada, and 47 to cannabis from the US.
People travelling with the drugs as couriers reported being told by their recruiters that they were only risking a fine if caught. However, the maximum sentence for cannabis importation in the UK is up to 14 years in prison.
This year 196 people have already been convicted and handed sentences totalling almost 188 years.
Passengers were most often found to be carrying between 15 and 40 kilos of cannabis inside their checked-in luggage.
In one case, however, 51-year-old Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster was caught at Manchester Airport with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of the drug, after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles in May this year. This is believed to be one of the largest passenger seizures of its kind at Manchester Airport.
Mayans Fuster (pictured below) was jailed for three years and four months at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on 19 July.
On 9 August, 11 British passengers were arrested at Birmingham Airport after a total of 510 kilos of cannabis was found inside 28 suitcases. All the passengers had travelled from Thailand, transiting at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. They have been bailed until 9 November pending further NCA investigation. Their cases are believed to be linked.
In some instances, officers have recovered electronic trackers with the drugs, believed to have been placed in there by organised criminals at source so they could follow the illicit loads.
NCA experts say the trend is being fuelled by these organised crime gangs who have access to cannabis grown overseas in locations where it is legal, and recruiting couriers to transport it to the UK where it can generate greater profit for them than growing the drugs themselves.
The NCA continues to work with law enforcement partners in both the UK and overseas to target high-risk routes, seize shipments of drugs and disrupt the criminal gangs involved, denying them profits.
NCA Director General of Threats James Babbage said: “In some cases it is unclear whether the mules knew what the potential penalties are but in most cases they were operating on behalf of organised criminal gangs.
“And it is those couriers who are running the risk of a potentially life-changing prison sentence.
“Gangs can make significant profits by selling and smuggling perceived high-quality cannabis legally grown in the USA, Canada and Thailand illegally in the UK.
“The NCA is actively working with partners like Border Force here in the UK, and law enforcement internationally to target those involved in drug supply, including the networks behind it. Targeting those smugglers who play a crucial role in the supply chain is one way we can do that.”
“We would appeal to anyone who is approached to engage in smuggling to think very carefully about the potential consequences of their actions, and the risks they will run.
“We know organised criminals can be persuasive, and offer to pay couriers. But the risks of getting caught are high, and it just isn’t worth that risk.”
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra said: “Illegal drugs cause harm to communities and fuel criminal gangs. We will not tolerate people attempting to bring them into our country.
“Our Border Force officers are committed to finding and seizing cannabis and other illegal drugs, and last year Border Force seized a record amount of cannabis.
“Anyone caught bringing cannabis to the UK will face the full force of the law, and Border Force will continue to work relentlessly alongside the NCA to keep illegal substances off our streets.”
Anyone with information on the smuggling of drugs through UK ports is urged to report it, anonymously if they prefer, by calling Border Force’s Customs Hotline on 0800 595 000.
28 August 2024
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Cette saisie a été réalisée suite à des renseignements transmis par la DEA et d’autres agences internationales.
La coke était enterrée à l’intérieur de bunkers souterrains dans l’ouest, près de la frontière avec le Venezuela, à proximité d’une piste d’atterrissage clandestine. La cocaïne était prête pour être transportée par bateau vers l’Europe après larguages aériens, ou chargée directement sur des semi-submersibles.
Cette découverte fait suite à des vols ‘illégaux’ d’aéronefs constatés par l’AWACS qui tourne sur cette zone.
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The operation from August 19 to August 23 also involved police from regional neighbor New Zealand.
Australian Police said they had made 1,611 drug-related arrests and laid 2,962 drug-related charges during the nationwide action, dubbed Operation Vitreus.
Almost 1,400 kg (more than 3,000 lb) of illicit drugs and more than 2,500 cannabis plants were seized, they said, worth in the region of 93 million Australian dollars (€57 million, $63 million) street value in total.
Altogether 71 guns were seized, along with more than 2.2 million Australian dollars in cash, according to the statement.
« Over $93M worth of illicit drugs were seized throughout the country last week alone, and whilst it’s an incredible result, it aptly highlights the seemingly insatiable demand there is in Australia for illicit substances, » said Dave Cowan, a spokesman for the police force in the eastern state of Victoria.
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Autoridades de Estados Unidos (EEUU) sentenciaron a Miguel Báez Guevara, alias ‘El Javi’, un ciudadano estadounidense de 41 años de edad que fungía como socio del Cártel de Sinaloa, organización bajo la que traficaba droga de México a Alaska.
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En dos operativos en las costas de Colima y Michoacán, helicópteros de la Secretaría de Marina de México (SEMAR) interceptaron embarcaciones cargadas con 7,2 toneladas de drogas, presuntamente cocaína. En una de las operaciones se registró « la mayor incautación en un solo evento durante la presente administración », según la SEMAR.
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AVISEUR INTERNATIONAL 