Japanese Yakuza Leader Pleads Guilty to Nuclear Materials Trafficking, Narcotics, and Weapons Charges

Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, of Japan, pleaded guilty in Manhattan, New York, today to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma to other countries, as well as to international narcotics trafficking Read More …

Mexico: Car bomb attacks signal escalation of cartel violence

Cartel violence is gripping Mexico. In the state of Guerrero, the mayor of Chilpancingo was decapitated. In Sinaloa, a truck was discovered with at least five bodies along with the ominous message “Welcome to Culiacán.” And now Guanajuato has been Read More …

Mexico: Sinaloa cartel clashes leave at least 30 Dead

At least 30 people have been killed in the past two weeks in Mexico’s northern state of Sinaloa as rival factions of the powerful Sinaloa cartel continue to clash. Mexican Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval confirmed on Tuesday that the Read More …

Mexico: 7 community guards killed by cartel gunmen in Michoacan, 7 others kidnapped

Mexico’s traditional and Indigenous community police forces are coming under increasingly deadly fire from drug cartels, authorities said Monday. Adrián López, the chief prosecutor in the western state of Michoacan, confirmed that gunmen linked to drug cartels shot to death Read More …

Mexico fears outbreak of violence after arrest of ‘El Mayo’ Zambada

A pre-arranged surrender to the authorities, a deception, or kidnapping at the hands of his former associates. These are the three main hypotheses that have gained traction following the fall of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of the world’s most feared Read More …

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency wants to use AI to scan for fentanyl at the border

In his State of the Union address last week, President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass a bipartisan immigration bill “with the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen.” The bill would have, among other things, funded “100 Read More …

Mexican Drug Cartels Employ Landmines and IEDs in Escalating Turf Wars

The series of blasts in the Tierra Caliente — an area along the border of Jalisco and Michoacán states that has long been a hot zone for cartel warfare — mark an alarming escalation of violence in Mexico as criminal Read More …

Cambodia: CMAC to train dogs to smell for drugs

Heng Ratana, the Executive Director of the Cambodian Mines Action Center (CMAC), says CMAC will be collaborating with the National Police to train dogs to sniff out drugs. The aim of this training is to combat and prevent drug trafficking Read More …

UNODC: Afghanistan opium cultivation in 2023 declined 95 per cent following drug ban

Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan plunged by an estimated 95 per cent following a drug ban imposed by the de facto authorities in April 2022, according to a new research brief from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Read More …

UNDOC: Understanding Illegal Methamphetamine Manufacture in Afghanistan

This analysis examines the modalities of illegal methamphetamine manufacture in Afghanistan, highlighting risks to the region. Coverage of suspected methamphetamine manufacture in Afghanistan, particularly in the news media in recent years, has generally focused on the use of the ephedra Read More …