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 […]
From 7 to 11 October, AIRCOP attended the 29th Meeting of Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies from Latin America and the Caribbean (HONLAC) in Lima, Peru. HONLAC is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), one of the governing bodies of the United Nations Office on Drugs and […]
From October to November 2019, the SEACOP project will organise three training sessions in Dakar for customs officers, police officers and gendarmes assigned to the JMCUs (Joint Maritime Control Units) based in Cotonou (Benin), Lomé (Togo) and Dakar (Senegal). The trainings will strengthen the JMCUs capacity to fight transnational organised crime and the illicit trafficking […]
The 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 […]
Iranian 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 […]
From September to November 2019, SEACOP will be delivering its last round of intelligence trainings (practical, mentoring) to Caribbean customs and law enforcement officials as to strengthen their capabilities in the fight against transnational organised crime and illicit trafficking by sea. On 2-5 September, SEACOP delivered its third JMCU mentoring event in Kingston, Jamaica. The […]
In 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 […]
Venezuela’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 […]
Bolivian 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 […]
