tagged w/ heroin trafficking
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Six successful candidates backed by the junta in Burma's controversial elections last weekend were heavily involved in drug trafficking, a crime expert says.
Of the six, Liu Guoxi, 75, had the most senior role: managing drug profits with the knowledge of the military junta, said Bertil Lintner, an expert on transnational crime in south-east Asia.
''He was running heroin for years and years for the Kokang,'' said Mr Lintner, the author of Brothers: The Criminal Underworld of Asia. ''Liu was a sort of accountant - it was his job to look after funds from the drug business.''
The Kokang are a largely ethnic Chinese group in northern Burma. Last year the Burmese government attacked Kokang leaders, accusing them of drug running. Peng Jiasheng, the Kokang leader at the time, fled across the border into southern China, seeking refugee status.
''Basically, the Burmese government - while [Peng] supported them - didn't have any problem with him running heroin,'' Mr Lintner said. ''But when he refused to join a proposed Border Guard Force to incorporate various ethnic militias, the Burmese government turned against him.
''It was only then that they called him a drug trafficker.'' After last Sunday's elections, the issue of the Border Guard Force - opposed by ethnic minority nationalists - has become a highly charged factor in sparking armed clashes along the Thai border with ethnic Karen forces.Six successful candidates backed by the junta in Burma's controversial elections... more
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The UN International Narcotics Control Board released its annual report 2010 detailing the global trends: four top national markets in Europe account for 60% of all European heroin consumption: UK (21%), Italy (20%), France (11%) and Germany (8%).
The United Nations International Narcotics Control Board released its annual report 2010 detailing the global trends.
In respect to the main heroin problem in Europe, it was depicted that, almost all European heroin originates in Afghanistan, mostly smuggled in through Turkey and the Balkans or via Central Asia and Russia. According to the report, the four top national markets in Europe account for 60% of all European heroin consumption. They are: The UK (21%), Italy (20%), France (11%) and Germany (8%).
The issue is certainly of a long-term nature and what is interesting is the inability of any concrete action by either the national governments or the supranational bodies to deal with it.
The 2007 World Drug Report issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes is pointed an alarming new drug alliance between the notorious South American drug lords and the Albanian drug mafia in the Balkans that already controls much of the wholesale network in Europe.
Under section Concerns about cocaine along the Balkan route (p 83):“While most cocaine shipments from South America continue to be directed towards Western Europe… some shipments to East Europe and the Balkan countries have been noticed by enforcement agencies.”The UN International Narcotics Control Board released its annual report 2010 detailing... more
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Bulgarian police seized 15 tons of аcetic acid overnight on September 12, a chemical which is sufficient for the production of five tonnes of heroin, Bulgarian media reported.
Bulgarian police seized 15 tons of аcetic acid overnight on September 12, a chemical which is sufficient for the production of five tonnes of heroin, Bulgarian media reported.
The police operation was co-ordinated with Europol, with the co-operation of Hungarian and Romanian police, Focus news agency said.
Police made two arrests. According to Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, the chemical substancecan be used for the production of up to five tons of heroin.
Acetic acid, CH3COOH, also known as ethanoic acid, is an organic acid that gives vinegar its sour taste and pungent smell.Bulgarian police seized 15 tons of аcetic acid overnight on September 12, a chemical... more
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One of the nation's biggest investigations into organised crime has exposed an international drug importation syndicate with links to the Comancheros outlaw bikie gang, Chinese triads and corrupt Australian officials.
Operation Hoffman, a landmark multi-agency investigation led by the Australian Crime Commission, has also revealed the deep links between drug importers and rogue Australian maritime workers.
A joint ABC Four Corners and The Age investigation into organised crime can also reveal that:
_In Victoria, authorities have uncovered links between corrupt Melbourne port workers, the Hells Angels and prominent Italian criminals
_NSW police have identified a group of drug-importing Sydney port workers with government maritime security cards who have been active since 2004
_Law enforcement agencies in Sydney recently updated a list of 150 organised crime targets in NSW alone.
The two-year Operation Hoffman has uncovered how multi-million-dollar crime syndicates are operating like multinational enterprises, evading police by drawing on local and overseas resources and the latest technology.
It has led to major ecstasy, heroin and crystal methamphetamine drug busts across Australia, the biggest-ever drug bust on the Pacific island group of Tonga, and the discovery in May last year of a bikie armoury in Sydney - including automatic weapons and imitation police equipment.One of the nation's biggest investigations into organised crime has exposed an... more
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Russia and the United States have uncovered a cocaine trade scheme involving a high-profile Russian impresario eager to set up business in Moscow's expensive night clubs, Russia's top drugs control officer said Monday.
Russians sprang into action after U.S. officials tipped them off about a 30-year-old Moscow man looking to buy cocaine wholesale in the United States, Viktor Ivanov, head of the Russian anti-narcotics agency, told reporters.
The announcement comes less than a week after a Russian pilot was arrested in Liberia on suspicion of smuggling South American cocaine into the U.S. and extradited to New York, drawing Moscow's condemnation for the arrest.
Russian officials arrested the man and his three accomplices Thursday when they allegedly received a 10 kilogram cocaine shipment in St. Petersburg.Russia and the United States have uncovered a cocaine trade scheme involving a... more
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Mozambique is increasingly becoming a hub for trafficking drugs from Latin America to Europe, Interpol warns. Ronald Noble, secretary-general of the global policing agency, said Interpol would help the southern African nation fight the narcotics trade.
Mr Noble’s visit to Maputo comes weeks after the US named Mozambican businessman Mohamed Bachir Suleman as a “drugs kingpin”. Mr Suleman denies the allegations and says he has no trafficking connections.
Under the Unites States’ Drug Kingpin Act, financial sanctions are imposed on suspected drug traffickers and US citizens are barred from doing business with them.Mozambique is increasingly becoming a hub for trafficking drugs from Latin America to... more
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Turkish authorities confiscated 31 percent more illegal substances in 2009 than the previous year, in a sign of increasing drug trafficking activities using Turkey as a thoroughfare, new data from the National Police Department’s Anti-Organized Crime and Smuggling Department show.
Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal substance in Turkey and also the substance police seize most frequently in drug busts. Police data indicate a significant increase in both the amount of marijuana seized and the number of operations and arrests made in connection with marijuana possession and trafficking in 2009: a 25.2 percent increase over the previous year in the amount of marijuana seized, a 32.1 percent increase in marijuana drug-bust operations and a 27.1 percent increase in individuals charged with marijuana-related offenses.Turkish authorities confiscated 31 percent more illegal substances in 2009 than the... more
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Jose Antonio Medina, called ‘the king of heroin,’ was arrested in the state of Michoacan. He is suspected of heading a smuggling network that brought the drug to Southern California.
Mexican authorities Thursday announced the arrest of a man dubbed “the king of heroin,” who allegedly was one of the biggest smugglers of the drug into the United States.
Jose Antonio Medina was captured by Mexican police a day earlier in the western state of Michoacan, where he allegedly operated a trafficking network that smuggled 440 pounds of heroin a month across the border into Southern California, federal police said.Jose Antonio Medina, called ‘the king of heroin,’ was arrested in the... more
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