Category: Drug Trafficking

Crackdown on Narcos Reveals Alleged Lithuanian Trafficking Group

Drug Trafficking, Sanctions
Key Findings A leaked memo from the Colombian prosecutor’s office reveals an international police operation targeting a drug trafficking ring allegedly spearheaded by Rokas Karpis, who was previously sentenced in New Zealand for drug offences, and another Lithuanian named Virginijus Labutis.The leaked memo reveals law enforcement in Australia and Colombia believed the Lithuanian pair had led a failed operation to smuggle almost 1.5 tons of cocaine across the Pacific on a small sailboat seized in 2017.Labutis was arrested in Colombia in September last year and extradited to Lithuania, then sanctioned — alongside Karpis — by the U.S. three months later.OCCRP…

FinCEN Intensifies Efforts to Combat Fentanyl Trafficking & Money Laundering

Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has launched a comprehensive initiative to tackle the twin threats of fentanyl trafficking and money laundering, highlighting the critical role of financial intelligence in combating these interconnected crises. This effort, part of the broader Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force led by the Treasury Department, aims to disrupt the financial networks fueling the devastating opioid epidemic across the United States. At the heart of this initiative is the “Promoting Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl” (PROTECT) series, a set of ten planned events across U.S. cities most impacted by the opioid crisis. These…

Drug Traffickers Producing More Cocaine in Europe: EU Report

Drug Trafficking
Some cocaine production has shifted from Latin America to Europe, as criminal groups explore new trafficking methods and authorities boost transatlantic cooperation, according to the latest EU drug report. Both drug seizures and drug use keep increasing in Europe, according to findings published by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) on June 11.  “While seizures are up, purity remains high, and prices are stable, showing that huge amounts of cocaine are available,” Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, said during the launch of the drug report. Cocaine Production Expands in Europe Traditionally, traffickers turned coca…

OFAC Sanctions Internet-based Suppliers of Illicit Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Drugs

Digital Currencies, Drug Trafficking, Sanctions
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three individuals and nine entities associated with darknet marketplaces and research chemicals sites under the Illicit Drugs Executive Order (EO 14059) for supplying illicit synthetic substances to U.S. markets through internet sales and a host of shell companies. Today’s action marks the first time this EO has been used to designate activities related to online and darknet market illicit drug sales. Two individuals, Alex Adrianus Martinus Peijnenburg (Peijnenburg) and Martinus Pterus Henri De Koning (De Koning) began their business selling illicit fentanyl, synthetic stimulants, cannabinoids, and…

Belgium has seized more cocaine than it can destroy

Drug Trafficking
The amount of cocaine being seized at the Belgian port of Antwerp is so massive that authorities are worried smugglers could steal it back because police can’t burn it fast enough. Officials said there is not enough incinerator capacity to cope with rising seizures of the drug at the port, creating what has been dubbed a “cocaine-berg”. As a result, Belgian port authorities and ministers are worried the backlog of cocaine being stored at secret depots near the port could be targeted by organised crime gangs, who are known to have corrupt police and port workers on their books. Antwerp…

U.S. Sanctions Guatemalan Gang Leaders with Links to Mexican Drug Cartels

Drug Trafficking, Sanctions
The United States sanctioned seven suspected high-ranking members of the Los Huistas, Guatemala’s prominent criminal gang, accusing them of global illicit drug trade and cooperation with Mexico’s deadly Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said. The sanctions mean that U.S. citizens and companies are now prohibited from doing business with them, and their U.S. assets will be frozen. The move came after Operation Guerrilla Unit, a long-term U.S. investigation that targeted several high-ranking Guatemalan drug traffickers and their suppliers operating out of northwest Guatemala. It is one of the “most significant, comprehensive and large-scale drug trafficking…

Honduras to Extradite ex-President Suspected of Drug Trafficking to U.S.

Drug Trafficking, Prosecutions
About a month after his arrest, the Honduras Supreme Court ratified the extradition of former President Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado to the United States where he could face a life sentence if convicted on drug trafficking and firearms charges. Fifteen associate justices of Honduras top court rejected on Monday a final appeal filed by Hernández’s legal team, and determined that he must be extradited. The court declared the appeal inadmissible. According to U.S. authorities, Hernández oversaw a violent drug trafficking network that functioned out of Central American countries, especially Honduras. His network is believed to have transported more than 500,000…

Credit Suisse Faces Money Laundering Charges in Bulgarian Cocaine Traffickers Trial

Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering
ZURICH, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Credit Suisse faced charges in a Swiss court on Monday of allowing an alleged Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gang to launder millions of euros, some of it stuffed into suitcases. In the first criminal trial of a major bank in Switzerland, Swiss prosecutors are seeking around 42.4 million Swiss francs ($45.86 million) in compensation from Credit Suisse (CSGN.S). They say the country’s second-biggest bank and one of its former relationship managers did not take all necessary steps to prevent the alleged drug traffickers from hiding and laundering cash between 2004 and 2008. “Credit Suisse unreservedly rejects…

Spanish Police Seize Over a Tonne of Cocaine Bound for Europe

Drug Trafficking
Spanish authorities seized more than 1,200 kilograms of cocaine off the coast of the Canary Islands, an archipelago frequently targeted by transnational crime groups as a launch point for European-bound cocaine shipments because of its geographical position. Spain’s National Police, in a joint operation with the country’s Civil Guard and Tax Agency, reported on Sunday that they intercepted a vessel on the morning of September 20th, while it was still some 600 miles west of the islands, in international waters. Upon investigating the ship’s interior, police uncovered the drugs, which originated from South America. It is presumed that the cargo’s…

How the Taliban is funded: Where the Militant Group Gets Money and Weapons

Drug Trafficking
The Taliban have built a financial empire, but it could be thinly stretched as they become the Afghan government The swift Taliban military onslaught that saw the militant group take over the whole of Afghanistan in a matter of weeks revealed how wealthy it has become since the ousting of its regime in 2001. In the past two decades, the insurgents have run a state-like economy in the areas they controlled. They relied on various fundraising sources, such as drug trafficking and other criminal activities, extortion and taxes, charitable donations and foreign assistance. “The Taliban operates a classic ‘territory controlling’…

Inside the Ndrangheta Drugs Pipeline

Drug Trafficking
In the first part of this investigation, we explored how the ’Ndrangheta syndicate moved cocaine across Europe. Now, we examine their pipeline through Latin America and Africa, showing how the highly-connected Giuseppe Romeo moved drugs through corruption-plagued ports to Antwerp, Rotterdam, and beyond. Key Findings The son of a leading figure in the feared ’Ndrangheta’s Romeo-Staccu clan, Giuseppe Romeo built his own cocaine empire after his father was jailed for 30 years. Known as “Maluferru,” he sourced drugs in Colombia and Brazil, had them shipped to West Africa, and then oversaw their collection on the docks of Europe. Maluferru used…

Man Wanted for Buying Stolen van Gogh Paintings Arrested in Dubai

Drug Trafficking, Financial Crime
Raffaele Imperiale, 56, supposedly has ties to the Camorra crime family, based in the Italian city of Naples. Earlier this year, in a newspaper interview, he said: “I bought [the paintings] directly from the thief, because the price was attractive. But most of all because I love art.” A man wanted in Italy for allegedly buying stolen Vincent van Gogh paintings – and also being an international drug trafficker – has been arrested in Dubai. Raffaele Imperiale, 46, is supposedly a kingpin in the Camorra crime syndicate, based in the city of Naples. He was arrested on 4 August, according…

Eight-year NCA investigation denies organised crime group £17 million property portfolio

Drug Trafficking, Fraud, Money Laundering
Fifty nine properties worth an estimated £17 million have been recovered following National Crime Agency investigations into a prolific organised crime group carried out over almost a decade. In addition to a successful criminal investigation, the NCA conducted four linked civil recovery investigations over an eight-and-a-half year period into dozens of individuals who were suspected of financial links to drug dealers in East Birmingham. NCA officers established that the properties were acquired using the proceeds of crime including heroin importation and distribution, fraud and money laundering. Alam and Ameran Zeb Khan have both been convicted of drug trafficking offences, the…