About 300 kilograms of Colombian cocaine were discovered by security officials in a cargo vessel docked in the United Kingdom’s Portsmouth International Port on December 1.
About 300 kilograms of Colombian cocaine were discovered by security officials in a cargo vessel docked in the United Kingdom’s Portsmouth International Port on December 1.
The National Crime Agency (NCA), Border Force and Irish police seized the drugs, with a street value of more than 40 million pounds (about 62.67 million dollars), after finding them in a banana shipment aboard the Star Stratos. Though no arrests have been made, the NCA believes the shipment was coordinated by an organized crime group. The agency’s Border Policing Command is working in conjunction with Ireland’s police force, known as the An Garda Síochána, to determine who is responsible for the cocaine shipment.
South and Central American cartels and narco-trafficking groups are targeting Europe because cocaine sells for higher prices than in the United States, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). They’ve used Portsmouth International Port because it serves as a hub for the ferry, cruise and cargo industries that gives them efficient access to France, Spain and the Channel Islands.
The NCA has more than 300 border investigators at major ports, while the Border Policing Command has more than 120 officers responsible for more than 150 countries worldwide.
“Our investigation into the organized crime groups likely to be responsible for this shipment continues,” Tom Dowdall, the Border Policing Command’s deputy director, told reporters.
Peru surpasses its coca eradication goal
Peru has surpassed its 2014 goal of eradicating 30,000 hectares of illegal coca plants – the main ingredient used to make cocaine – the Interior Ministry said on December 2.
With a few weeks left in the year, Peru has eliminated slightly more than that target, preventing “more than 233 tons of cocaine from being produced,” the ministry said in a prepared statement, but it did not provide the exact number of hectares destroyed by security forces.
In 2012, criminal organizations cultivated more than 60,000 hectares of illegal coca crops in Peru, according to the UNODC’s annual report, “Peru: Cocaine Cultivation Monitoring 2012.” The South American nation is home to 13 coca-growing regions, in which 60,400 hectares are used illegally for coca cultivation, according to the report.
Ninety-three percent of the country’s coca is used for the drug trade, with the remaining plants harvested legally for traditional consumption and industrial use, according to the country’s National Commission for a Drug-Free Life (DEVIDA).
Peruvian security forces seize 17 estates from Rodolfo ‘El Gordo’ Orellana
Peruvian law enforcement agents have seized 17 estates from Rodolfo Orellana, who was one of the country’s most-wanted fugitives when security forces captured him in Colombia in November and returned him to Peru. They’re looking for the estimated$100 million dollars that Orellana’s network is allegedly hiding, according to the Peruvian daily El Comercio
.
Known as “El Gordo,” Orellana is charged with money laundering and illicit association by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
Agents with Colombia’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence (DIJIN), with the assistance of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), arrested him in the city of Cali on November 13. At the time of his arrest, El Gordo, who had been in Colombia for two months, was allegedly producing counterfeit documents so he could flee to Sweden.
In Peru, El Gordo allegedly led a huge criminal network that generated massive profits from the illegal seizure and resale of properties that were legally owned by individuals and the government. He’s suspected of establishing about 50 front companies to launder the money he generated from fraudulent transactions. Law enforcement officials are also investigating El Gordo for alleged narco-trafficking connections.
About 300 kilograms of Colombian cocaine were discovered by security officials in a cargo vessel docked in the United Kingdom’s Portsmouth International Port on December 1.
The National Crime Agency (NCA), Border Force and Irish police seized the drugs, with a street value of more than 40 million pounds (about 62.67 million dollars), after finding them in a banana shipment aboard the Star Stratos. Though no arrests have been made, the NCA believes the shipment was coordinated by an organized crime group. The agency’s Border Policing Command is working in conjunction with Ireland’s police force, known as the An Garda Síochána, to determine who is responsible for the cocaine shipment.
South and Central American cartels and narco-trafficking groups are targeting Europe because cocaine sells for higher prices than in the United States, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). They’ve used Portsmouth International Port because it serves as a hub for the ferry, cruise and cargo industries that gives them efficient access to France, Spain and the Channel Islands.
The NCA has more than 300 border investigators at major ports, while the Border Policing Command has more than 120 officers responsible for more than 150 countries worldwide.
“Our investigation into the organized crime groups likely to be responsible for this shipment continues,” Tom Dowdall, the Border Policing Command’s deputy director, told reporters.
Peru surpasses its coca eradication goal
Peru has surpassed its 2014 goal of eradicating 30,000 hectares of illegal coca plants – the main ingredient used to make cocaine – the Interior Ministry said on December 2.
With a few weeks left in the year, Peru has eliminated slightly more than that target, preventing “more than 233 tons of cocaine from being produced,” the ministry said in a prepared statement, but it did not provide the exact number of hectares destroyed by security forces.
In 2012, criminal organizations cultivated more than 60,000 hectares of illegal coca crops in Peru, according to the UNODC’s annual report, “Peru: Cocaine Cultivation Monitoring 2012.” The South American nation is home to 13 coca-growing regions, in which 60,400 hectares are used illegally for coca cultivation, according to the report.
Ninety-three percent of the country’s coca is used for the drug trade, with the remaining plants harvested legally for traditional consumption and industrial use, according to the country’s National Commission for a Drug-Free Life (DEVIDA).
Peruvian security forces seize 17 estates from Rodolfo ‘El Gordo’ Orellana
Peruvian law enforcement agents have seized 17 estates from Rodolfo Orellana, who was one of the country’s most-wanted fugitives when security forces captured him in Colombia in November and returned him to Peru. They’re looking for the estimated$100 million dollars that Orellana’s network is allegedly hiding, according to the Peruvian daily El Comercio
.
Known as “El Gordo,” Orellana is charged with money laundering and illicit association by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
Agents with Colombia’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence (DIJIN), with the assistance of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), arrested him in the city of Cali on November 13. At the time of his arrest, El Gordo, who had been in Colombia for two months, was allegedly producing counterfeit documents so he could flee to Sweden.
In Peru, El Gordo allegedly led a huge criminal network that generated massive profits from the illegal seizure and resale of properties that were legally owned by individuals and the government. He’s suspected of establishing about 50 front companies to launder the money he generated from fraudulent transactions. Law enforcement officials are also investigating El Gordo for alleged narco-trafficking connections.