Natural Drugs

Several operations against drug trafficking networks in Andalusia, Spain, and an increase in cocaine seizures there have confirmed the growing role of southern Spain as a gateway for Latin American cocaine to Europe. Spanish National Police arrested 63 people in …

Panama’s new President-elect José Raúl Mulino has won election by promising to return Panama to its economic boom years. But tackling drug trafficking and white-collar crime could prove a bigger challenge. Mulino won the May 5 presidential election with 34% …

The alleged involvement of a high-ranking Spanish police officer in cocaine smuggling threatens to undermine a drug trafficking trial and underscores how corruption infiltrates all levels of the country’s security forces.  The agent, Juan Carlos Carrión López, was slated to …

A wastewater analysis has indicated that in Europe, cocaine from South America is now being consumed in smaller towns, as well as major urban areas. The report, published on March 20 by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug …

A decrease in cocaine flows in northern Colombia has resulted in an increase in extortion as increasingly fragmented criminal groups seek new funding sources. According to the national police database, the number of reported cases of extortion in Atlántico, Colombia, …

The decision to launch the raid on the Mexican embassy has the hallmarks of a political gamble, with Noboa betting that the benefits of burnishing his hardline reputation outweigh the risks from the potential fallout. However, this gamble has the …

The report released by the International Crisis Group in March describes how the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC) have become the largest armed group not currently involved in formal negotiations under President Gustavo Petro’s …

The arrest of a leader of a group within the Venezuelan mega-gang, the Tren de Aragua, in Colombia has brought attention to a lesser-known aspect of the group’s involvement in drug trafficking. Carlos Antonio López Centeno, also known as “El …

Although the murder of a PCC member in São Paulo led to rumors of a division within the group, it is unlikely to disturb the structure of Brazil’s largest criminal gang. The PCC’s criminal model, formed over the last 30 …