Tag Archives: Cocaine

Almost 2 tonnes of cocaine with a market value of more than 400 million euros ($440 million) were found floating at sea off eastern Sicily, Italy’s tax and customs police said on Monday. The Guardia di Finanza called it a “record” seizure. The drugs were stored in about 70 waterproof …

Veteran customs officer Pol Meuleneire was surprised to find the Easter treats were crafted not from the country’s famed chocolate, but enough MDMA to make 60,000 ecstasy pills. Belgium has become a hub for international cocaine trafficking, but is also becoming a key centre for mail-order synthetic narcotics. “It goes …

Portuguese and Spanish authorities have seized 5.2 tons of cocaine from a sailboat on the high seas and arrested three suspects, in Portugal’s largest drug bust in 15 years and a world-record haul from a sailboat, police said on Monday. With the cocaine bales piled up behind him at a …

As long as cocaine is illegal, the cat-and-mouse game between drug runners from Colombia and the authorities will continue. Decades of busts and subsequent innovation have led to a regular sort of news story, where black-market businessmen have created a new way to get drugs to their customers. Tunnels, planes, …

Montenegro police said on Friday they had seized more than a tonne of cocaine, their biggest ever drug bust, concealed in a shipment of bananas, and that two people were arrested. The raid was carried out in Mojanovici, a suburb of the capital Podgorica in the tiny Adriatic country, the …

Paraguay seized more than 3,400 kilos of cocaine near the capital city of Asuncion as it was being stashed in a load of sugar for international shipment, police said on Wednesday, calling it the country’s biggest-ever drug bust. National Police Commander Luis Arias told reporters that the illegal stimulant, made …

A helicopter carrying Colombia’s President Ivan Duque and others was struck by multiple bullets in an attack on Friday, he said in a video message.

Colombia reduced the area occupied by coca across the country by 7% in 2020, although the potential output of cocaine rose 8% to 1,228 metric tons a year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Wednesday. Last year, Colombia reduced the area occupied by coca crops …

Peru’s interim president said on Tuesday there will be “no impunity” for the authors of a massacre of 16 Peruvians in a jungle region known for cocaine production, which authorities attribute to a dissident faction of Shining Path rebels. “We are doing all we can to deploy the police and …

Bolivian authorities said they struck a significant blow against cocaine producers in the country after the discovery and destruction of three “mega-factories” that they stated could produce up to 910 kg of crack a day. Police found the tarpaulin-covered, makeshift factories hidden in forestry reserves and national parks in eastern …

Criminals are using food delivery services as a cover to transport drugs and other illegal goods during the coronavirus crisis, which has seen countries around the world go into lockdown, said the Interpol police organization on Thursday. Interpol said it had received reports from police in Ireland, Malaysia, Spain, and …

The coronavirus pandemic and the travel restrictions that came with it have severely reduced the supply of illegal drugs entering France, sending prices skyrocketing and users turning to cheaper alternatives. The go-to land routes for drug traffickers crossing into France from the Netherlands and Spain have largely been closed off, …

Uruguay says it has seized a record haul of 6 tonnes of cocaine, calling it the biggest setback for traffickers in the country’s history. Naval and customs officers seized 4.4 tonnes of the drug in Montevideo port. It had been hidden in four soy flour containers destined for Lome, the …

Guatemala must now consider itself a cocaine-producing nation and not just a transit country for the powerful narcotic after authorities discovered new coca processing laboratories, the interior minister said. Last year, Guatemala discovered plantations growing coca, along with a laboratory to process the leaf into cocaine. Until recently, the crop …

German customs officials seized 4.5 metric tons of cocaine worth $1.2 billion two weeks ago, marking the largest cocaine bust in the country’s history. According to reports, more than 4,200 packages hidden in duffel bags were found in a shipping container in Hamburg, Germany. The freight container was believed to …

He is the controversial Brazilian president who has promised zero tolerance on the country’s pervasive drugs trade – but it seems Jair Bolsonaro will need to start with his own entourage. A member of his official military detail has been arrested on route to this week’s G20 summit in Japan …

Cocaine deaths have been rising in the United States, amid the nation’s deadliest drug overdose epidemic, US health officials have said in a new report. After several years of decline, overdose deaths involving cocaine began rising around 2012 and they jumped by more than a third between 2016 and 2017, …