The most evident of those forces are South American crime syndicates with billions of dollars at their disposal and new markets to explore. But the dynamic before which Guinea-Bissau and its neighbors along the West African coast are truly helpless is globalization, which ensures that producers will find a way to deliver all things insatiably desired, whether good or bad. West Africa, which neither produces nor consumes significant quantities of cocaine, is a victim of changes in global supply and demand. Partly because of heightened American and South American efforts in recent years, the flow of cocaine to the United States diminished. Traffickers increasingly turned to Europe, where cocaine use grew significantly over the last decade. European law-enforcement officials responded by cracking down on air and maritime routes from South America. And the traffickers in turn adapted by establishing the West Africa connection.
Read more: Africa’s Drug Problem
Four arrested in Mexico for laundering drug cartels's proceeds
Written by EFE
Friday, 26 March 2010 17:37
Federal police arrested two Colombians and two Mexicans suspected of laundering cash proceeds of narcotics sales for two powerful criminal organizations - Mexico's Sinaloa and Norte del Valle cartels.
The four suspects, from whom $1.7 million in bills of small denomination was confiscated, were arrested during a meeting in Mexico City.
They were accused of sending proceeds from drug transactions in the United States from Mexico to Central America, South America and Asia, the head of the Federal Police force's anti-narcotics division, Ramon Pequeño, told a press conference.
The Colombian suspects were identified as 49-year-old Marcos Ivan Espinoza de Leon, alias "Alexander Navarro," who allegedly served as a liaison between the two cartels; and 41-year-old David Garcia, alias "Dagoberto," a member of the Norte del Valle cartel and former Colombian soldier.
Read more: Four arrested in Mexico for laundering drug cartels's proceeds
Bolivian police seize 1.3 tons of cocaine
Written by EFE
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 16:55
Bolivia's FELCN counter-narcotics unit seized more than 1.3 tons of cocaine in the central province of Cochabamba, an official with the interior ministry told Efe on Tuesday.
The drug was intercepted on Monday at a service station, where police became suspicious about a tanker truck, searched it and found packets of cocaine hidden below a false floor.
Two people were arrested without offering any resistance and were turned over to the judicial authorities.
Police said the consignment was probably bound for Chile.
The find, according to the newspaper Los Tiempos de Cochabamba, is one of the most important ever made in the province, given that it corresponds to half the cocaine that is normally seized annually in that particular region.
With this operation, the total amount of illegal cocaine confiscated in Bolivia so far this year stands at 8.2 tons and the amount of marijuana seized by authorities at 423 tons.
Read more: Bolivian police seize 1.3 tons of cocaine
