Drug trafficking

Driver’s intuition assists in drug bust

Stonnington Crime Investigation Unit detectives have charged two men following an interesting drug trafficking operation in Malvern East.

A rideshare driver with a nose for crime has become suspicious after being called to the same address almost daily over a three-week period.

Every booking at the Malvern East address was to transport packages, never passengers.

Yesterday (19 July) the driver was called to the same Sylvester Street address and was greeted by a man who was speaking to someone on the phone.

As the driver was handed a bag to transport, he overheard the man on the phone tell someone repeatedly to “check the pockets carefully”.

The driver left the address and checked the pockets, locating several snap lock bags containing white powder which he took straight to the Malvern Police Station.

Drug trafficking

COVID-19 is costing drug cartels millions of dollars

The coronavirus pandemic has crippled cities and crushed businesses from coast to coast.

It’s also costing drug traffickers millions, multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News, because their methods of moving money have been compromised.

Since the start of the crisis, federal drug agents in major U.S. hubs have seized substantially more illicit cash than usual amid statewide lockdowns that have disrupted the way cartels do business, the officials said.

“Their activities are a lot more apparent than they were three months ago,” said Bill Bodner, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles field office.

Bodner said California’s stay-at-home order has made it more difficult for traffickers to launder money and move around the city unseen.

Drug trafficking

Former police chief of Honduras accused of trafficking drugs to US

US federal prosecutors have accused the former national police chief of Honduras of trafficking tonnes of cocaine to the US on behalf of the country’s president, Juan Orlando Hernández, and his brother, who was convicted of similar charges in October.

Hernández was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of his brother Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, but the US has continued to call him an ally in its “war on drugs”.

According to the complaint filed on Thursday by the Southern District of New York, the former police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla “participated in extreme violence, including the murder of a rival trafficker, to further the conspiracy.”

Prosecutors also allege that Bonilla was entrusted with “special assignments, including murder” by President Hernández – who is identified as a co-conspirator – and his brother, Tony.

Drug trafficking

Mexican security forces raid Los Piñas cartel's Monterrico Ranch where rivals were 'tortured and FED to gators and lions' - as agents also seize five deer, an ostrich, a peacock and two pigs

Mexican security forces in the gulf state of Veracruz last week raided a remote ranch where the country's most powerful cartel allegedly planned its operations and tortured and fed its rivals to alligators and lions.

The shocking discovery of the ranch - which seemed to take a page out of Pablo Escobar's book - is located 130 miles from the port of Veracruz.  

Military agents and police officers were met by two lions, five deers, an ostrich, a peacock, two pigs and alligators swimming in a lake in the zoo-like atmosphere inside Monterrico Ranch.

The property, authorities say, is registered to Jacinto and Alberto Rodríguez, siblings who command Los Piñas Cartel, which reportedly has strong ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The cartel is led by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera, who is wanted by the Drug Enforcement Agency in the U.S., which is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture. 

Surveillance video showed the moment servicemen swooped in the compound, that according to officials on the ground, has 20 air conditioned rooms, one which was inhabited by children.

Drug trafficking

Feds seize nearly $3M worth of drugs in undercover operation

Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency seized 35 kilograms of cocaine, fentanyl and meth worth nearly $3 million during a successful undercover sting, Manhattan federal court prosecutors said Thursday.

A DEA agent who’d been investigating a narcotics operation in the Bronx for two years tracked a tapped cell phone from the Bronx to a hotel in Somerset, New Jersey, on Tuesday and found Marco Segovia-Landa on the visitor’s ledger, a criminal complaint states.

Agents monitoring the location then saw Alicia Nichols come to the hotel parking lot, park in a secluded area, and saw Segovia-Landa and Nichols opening and closing their car door and trunk, respectively, according to court papers.

The agents followed Nichols out of the lot until she pulled over at a gas station where they asked to search her car, leading investigators to a bag that had 7 kilos of cocaine and 7 kilos of meth, prosecutors allege.

Drug trafficking

Sinaloa Cartel is the greatest criminal drug threat to the U.S. and 'maintains the most expansive footprint' in the country despite its leader El Chapo being locked up for life

Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel is the greatest criminal threat to the United States despite its notorious leader Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán serving a life sentence behind bars, according to a new report.

The Drug Enforcement Agency on Thursday released its 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment report and found that the criminal syndicate, founded in 1988, 'maintains the most expansive footprint in the United States'.

The study found that El Chapo's old cartel is among the Mexican groups that pose 'the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States' and that there are no other organizations in the distance that are 'positioned to challenge them'.

'The Sinaloa Cartel maintains the most expansive footprint in the United States,' the report stated. 'While the Jalisco New Generation Cartel [Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación or CJNG] has become the second-most dominant domestic presence over the past few years.'

Drug trafficking

Is the Netherlands becoming a narco-state?

"We definitely have the characteristics of a narco-state," confides Jan Struijs, chairman of the biggest Dutch police union.

"Sure we're not Mexico. We don't have 14,400 murders. But if you look at the infrastructure, the big money earned by organised crime, the parallel economy. Yes, we have a narco-state."

His words echo in a society that has been convulsed by a murder that went far beyond the bubble of the criminal underworld.

The deadly shooting of Derk Wiersum destroyed a common misconception here: that drug cartels only kill their own. A 44-year-old father of two, he was shot dead in front of his wife outside their home in Amsterdam in September.

Drug trafficking

Massive Drug Bust In New England Leads To 645 Arrests

22News has reported that a gargantuan drug bust went down on New England soil, ultimately leading to the arrest of 645 people. Given the scale of the operation, the haul was appropriately massive, with DEA officials reportedly seizing: 17.9 kilograms of fentanyl, 7,800 fentanyl pills, 13.9 kilograms of cocaine, 3.1 kilograms of heroin, 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 38.1 kilograms of marijuana. The exact quantities arrive courtesy of a press release the DEA shared with 22News.

The operation, which ran for two weeks, also led to the removal of fifty-one illicit firearms from the street-level. Once again speaking with 22News, DEA agent Brian Boyle spoke about the aim of his operation. "DEA’s top priority is to aggressively pursue anyone who distributes these deadly drugs,” he explained. "Those arrested need to be held accountable for their actions because they have chosen to distribute this poison and profit from the misery they spread.” 

It's unclear as to how 645 people were wrapped up in the operation, but with an expected haul of $1.2 million, it's clear this one ran deep. Given the ongoing opioid crisis ravaging the United States, is it really surprising to see Drug Enforcement Agents mobilizing to battle the spread head-on? 

Drug trafficking

The Dutch are Waking Up to Discover They Live in a 'Narco State'

On the morning of Sept. 18, Derk Wiersum, the public defender for a key witness against the international drug kingpin Ridouan Taghi, was walking to his car with his wife in a quiet suburb of Amsterdam when he was shot and killed.

The murder of the 44-year-old Wiersum, who left two children behind, represented a new and dangerous threshold of violence here that shocked not only the public, but the entire judicial system. For the first time in Dutch history the criminal world murdered a legal representative of the state itself.

This is the Netherlands 2019, not Sicily 1992, but the assassination of a dedicated public servant like Wiersum attests to the sense of impunity gangsters in Amsterdam currently enjoy, and appears to be part of a strategy to intimidate not only Dutch state representatives but Dutch society as a whole.

Ironically, the Netherlands has seen a decrease in murders and overall violent crime, but there is a deep sense of urgency among Dutch police as they face the growing power of criminal networks on Dutch soil.

“The Netherlands is at risk of becoming a narco state,” Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Ferdinand Grapperhaus warned in August. The cops are concerned they are losing their grip. Some say they have lost it already.

Drug trafficking

Cheap and powerful 'meth 2.0' is ravaging communities and slowly killing its victims

The opioid epidemic appears to be subsiding in the northwest corner of South Carolina, a region known as the Upcountry. Nationwide, the number of opioid-related overdose deaths is declining slightly. But a new variety of methamphetamine is taking its place as the No. 1 drug of abuse.

By most accounts, meth is much harder to quit. And the latest version of the illicit drug flooding the nation is cheaper than ever before.

Primarily imported from Mexico by major drug traffickers, “meth 2.0” is stronger, cheaper and far more plentiful than the old home-cooked variety. And with historic levels of funding from the federal government focused exclusively on fighting opioid addiction, states and counties are scrambling to find resources to combat this most recent drug plague.

Drug trafficking

Americans’ love of drugs may soon bring Mexico’s collapse

Buy an avocado, boost a Mexican drug lord? Soon enough, it seems.

Reports from south of the border say Mexican avocado farmers are taking up arms to protect their increasingly valuable crop from the country’s ­rapacious cartels, always on the lookout for a quick buck.

But considering the ease with which cartel gunmen dispatched the Mexican army in a pitched battle in Sinaloa State this month, one would guess that the odds don’t favor the ­avocado farmers.

Or Mexico itself, for that matter — and this has ominous ­implications for the United States, too.

Flush North Americans — think millennials, in particular — love avocados; they will pay top dollar for them, which sets the market into motion. Most often this means good things. But not always.

Think cocaine and other ­illicit drugs.

As with avocados, drug dollars follow demand: A recent RAND Corporation study reports that Americans spent just shy of $150 billion on illegal narcotics in 2016. The bulk of this money goes to Mexico, which also has become a major conduit into the United States for synthetic opioids like Chinese-manufactured fentanyl, upping the cartels’ take.

Drug trafficking

Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in the US, but in some places, meth kills more

Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug in the United States. But in some areas of the country, methamphetamine kills more people.
A new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics found that fentanyl is the drug most commonly identified in fatal overdoses. In 2017, fentanyl was associated with 38.9% of all drug overdose deaths, an increase from 2016, when it was associated with 29% of all fatal overdoses. This is the second year that CDC analyzed fatal overdoses in this way.
In 2017, heroin was associated with 22.8% of all fatal overdoses. Cocaine, a stimulant, was involved in 21.3% and methamphetamine, also a stimulant, was involved in 13.3%.
Other drugs linked to overdose deaths were benzodiazepines; diphenhydramine, an antihistamine; and gabapentin, an anticonvulsant.

Drug trafficking

What Drugs Are Most Popular Globally? Scientists Screened Sewage for Years to Find Out

Scientists spent years screening sewage from some 60 million people for cocaine, amphetamines, and MDMA to build a comprehensive wastewater map of illicit drug use in more than 30 countries around the world.

According to the study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Addiction, cocaine use is on the rise across Europe, methamphetamine is most prevalent in North America and Australasia, and the Netherlands had the highest rate of MDMA use.

“This is the largest wastewater‐based epidemiology study ever performed in terms of cities (120) and countries (37) involved and of the monitoring duration (2011–17),” said the team, which was co-led by Iria González-Mariño, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Salamanca in Spain.

“The extensive data set obtained for cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, and MDMA showed a comprehensive picture of spatial and temporal trends of use,” González-Mariño and her colleagues said in the study.

Sampling wastewater for residue from drugs has become an increasingly popular method to track patterns in the global illicit drug market over the past decade. Previous studies have focused on drug use in select cities or during public events, such as the 2017 total solar eclipse, but González-Mariño’s and her colleagues took an international approach.

Drug trafficking

Mexico Drug Cartel Raid Discovers Rocket Launchers, Brujería Shrines, Tons of Drugs – Report

Authorities confiscating a large cache of drugs and an impressive arsenal of heavy weapons discovered what appear to be bizarre Mexican Brujería shrines decorated with human remains.

A large-scale police raid on drug cartel hideouts took place in Mexico City on Tuesday, resulting in the arrest of 31 suspects from an undisclosed criminal gang, a Reuters report says.

The raid, which reportedly involved hundreds of police officers, Marines and prosecutor’s office agents, made some jaw-dropping discoveries.

Drugs were naturally expected and the raid retrieved some 50 kilograms of chemical precursors to synthetic drugs, approximately 20 kilograms of cocaine, over 3 kilograms of crystal meth and a whopping 2.5 tons of marijuana, as reported by Reuters.

The raid also discovered a weapons cache, which, alongside seven assault rifles and 13 handguns, contained anti-tank rocket launchers and grenades.

Drug trafficking

Crypto, Cash and Drugs: Crypto Use Grows as Drug Trade Digitalizes

From speculation about its inherent value to theories about it being the payment method of choice for criminals, cryptocurrency is having a tough time keeping a clean name. One of the most common accusations is that cryptocurrencies perpetuate the sale of illicit drugs, a view recently expressed by United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Cointelegraph takes a look at the impact of cryptocurrency on illegal drug sales and whether it should shoulder more of the blame than cash.

U.S. government clamps down

The watershed moment for the U.S. taking decisive action against illicit drugs being purchased with cryptocurrency happened in 2013, when FBI agents rushed into the San Francisco Public Library to arrest Ross Ulbricht, a man who played a central role in the digitalization of the international drug trade. Operating under the pseudonym ‘‘Dread Pirate Roberts,” Ulbricht was the mastermind behind the Silk Road — an anonymous, Amazon-like marketplace located on the darknet — which let users buy and sell anything, regardless of legality. Although the site listed weapons, stolen credit card details as well as legal products, illicit drugs were by far the most common listing.

Drug trafficking

30 indicted in alleged international drug-trafficking ring in U.S., Mexico and Canada

Federal prosecutors said Thursday that 30 people have been indicted in connection with a conspiracy to send hundreds of pounds of drugs from Mexico through Southern California and into Canada.

At least 13 of the suspects have already been arrested on narcotics-related charges in the scheme, which the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said involved international drug trafficking organizations moving bulk quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin.

Law enforcement agencies seized around 944 pounds of cocaine, nearly 20 pounds of heroin, almost 103 pounds of methamphetamine and a little over 106 pounds of MDMA, as well as around $811,000 in Canadian currency, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The scheme also included members of Canadian, Mexican, Serbian, Chinese and Sudanese organized crime groups, prosecutors said.

Drug trafficking

China claims fentanyl progress in trade call, sources say

U.S. and Chinese officials held a “working-level” call Thursday evening in which Beijing said it was making progress in restricting outbound fentanyl shipments, according to three sources familiar with the matter, homing in on a personal policy focus of President Donald Trump as it tries to get the White House to rollback tariffs.

In the call, these sources said, Chinese officials again reiterated a desire for relief on tariffs, with 15% tariffs set to hit $112 billion goods on Sunday, and existing tariffs to rise on an additional $250 billion in goods a month later.

It’s unclear whether President viewed the evidence China provided – which could not be learned by CNBC – as sufficient progress. As he departed the White House for Camp David on Friday evening, he told reporters the next round of tariffs is still on.

Drug trafficking

As the opioid crisis peaks, meth and cocaine deaths explode

Most states are keeping a close eye on opioid overdose deaths, but they may need to start focusing on cocaine and other stimulants as well.
It turns out that the same lethal drug that has been driving the nation's spiraling opioid epidemic is also causing a historic surge in overdose deaths among cocaine users.
That's according to a new analysis of death certificate data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that fentanyl — a cheap synthetic opioid that is a hundred times more potent than morphine — and other opioids were involved in nearly three-fourths of all cocaine overdose deaths and an increasing number of methamphetamine deaths.
In a drug overdose epidemic that has killed more than 700,000 Americans since 1999, state and local officials have been primarily concentrating on opioids, which were involved in nearly 70% of overdose deaths in 2017.
The CDC's new analysis indicates that public health and law enforcement officials should be just as vigilant when it comes to cocaine, meth and other prescription and illicit drugs of abuse in their communities.

Drug trafficking

US No Longer Using F-22s to Bomb Afghan Drug Labs, Watchdog Says

The U.S. military has quietly ended a once-touted bombing campaign against drug labs in Afghanistan aimed at cutting off Taliban funding, according to John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

"They're no longer doing it, which may indicate how effective it was," Sopko told defense reporters at a breakfast Wednesday.

He said the Operation Iron Tempest bombing campaign, begun in late 2017, "didn't have the intended effect of hitting the Taliban's purse and was probably a waste of resources."

U.S. Central Command referred questions on the bombing campaign to U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, which did not respond directly to whether the operation had been called off.

"United States Forces-Afghanistan's efforts are aimed at setting conditions for a political settlement and safeguarding our national interests," a spokesman said in an email. "The grand majority of our strikes are lethal strikes against the Taliban or ISIS."

Drug trafficking

Deadly fentanyl bought online from China being shipped through the mail

By now, you may know a family shattered by the opioid epidemic. In 2017, there were 47,000 opioid deaths. That's more Americans than were killed in vehicle accidents or by firearms. One drug, fentanyl, is like rocket fuel in the sharp rise of this crisis. Fentanyl is a painkiller invented in the 1960's and used to relieve the agony of advanced cancer. It is 50 times more potent than heroin. But today fentanyl can be ordered on the internet, by drug dealers and addicts, for an online overdose. Tracking the source of this illicit trade is a story that begins with James Rauh. Like most in Akron, Ohio, he'd never heard of fentanyl until the police told him his son was dead.