Peruvian authorities managed to identify close to 20 methods for hiding illegal chemical components being sent to criminal groups in the VRAEM, the country’s top cocaine-producing region.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic have dismantled one of the country's most sophisticated crime syndicates, but the exploits of its leader, who is still on the run, have caught the…
While Mexico’s drug war has left much of its frontier with the United States threatened by cartel violence, a fine-tuned criminal strategy has allowed the border’s eastern extremity to remain…
The growing number of flights carrying drugs across in Guatemala has brought renewed attention to the government’s failed strategies to tackle drug trafficking.
Peruvian police have busted a drug ring that used divers to attach cocaine shipments to the hulls of boats, an innovative and hard to detect smuggling technique that appears to…
The recent arrests of two members of the ‘Ndrangheta in São Paulo have further highlighted the increasingly close partnership between the Italian mafia and Brazil’s PCC -- two of the…
Venezuela’s anti-narcotics agency reported that marijuana made up 80 percent of the country’s drug seizures in the first six months of 2019, contradicting reports from international organizations that point to…
A new UN study shows that while Colombia saw a slight drop in coca crop plantations between 2017 and 2018, this has not a knock-on impact on cocaine production, which…
More than a half a ton of cocaine was smuggled aboard a private jet that landed in Switzerland after departing from Uruguay, revealing that traffickers could be increasingly using the…
The unveiling of a plan to protect community leaders involved in Colombia’s voluntary coca crop substitution program is not likely to alleviate security concerns, given the recent killings of such…
US Coast Guard members intercepted a “narco-submarine” carrying 7,700 kilograms of cocaine as it raced through the Pacific Ocean, underscoring a spike in this method of drug transport.
Drug smuggling fishermen in Costa Rica owned large private properties and luxury vehicles -- riches gained from leading “transportista" groups, which are becoming increasingly common in the Central American nation.
About InSight Crime
Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua Becomes Truly Transnational
This week, InSight Crime published a deep dive into the total control that Venezuelan mega-gang, Tren de Aragua, has over the lives of those it smuggles between Venezuela and Chile…
Turkish Traffickers Delivering Latin American Cocaine to Persian Gulf
Last week, InSight Crime published the second half of an investigation piecing together the emerging role of Turkish cocaine traffickers in supplying Russia and the Persian Gulf, which are among…
Turkey as a Lynchpin in European Cocaine Pipeline
InSight Crime is extending its investigation into the cocaine pipeline to Europe, and tracking the growing connections between Latin American drug traffickers and European criminal organizations. This led us to…
Memo Fantasma Coverage Gets Worldwide Attention
Guillermo Acevedo, the former Colombian drug lord and paramilitary commander better known as Memo Fantasma, may soon be allowed to leave prison. Since first revealing the identity of Memo Fantasma…
Who Are Memo Fantasma and Sergio Roberto de Carvalho?
Inside the criminal career of Memo Fantasma In March 2020, InSight Crime revealed the identity and whereabouts of Memo Fantasma, a paramilitary commander and drug trafficker living in…
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