Mexico: notorious kingpin Caro Quintero freed
Text Mexico's most notorious kingpin, Rafael Caro Quintero, was released from Puente Grande federal prison in Jalisco where he had been incarcerated for the past 28 years. Mexico's most notorious...
View ArticleMexico: narcos abduct migrants —again
Text Tamaulipas state police resuced 73 abducted migrants outside Reynosa after following their apparent captors to a house and hearing frantic calls for help. In very disturbing news from Mexico's...
View ArticleMexico narco networks inside and outside prisons
Text A new riot between rival gangs at a dangerously overcrowded priso in Tamaulipas left seven inmates dead—as an ex-state police commander was sentenced to prison in the US.A new riot between rival...
View ArticlePersian Gulf militarized —by drug war
Text In addition to the naval face-off over a global oil outlet, the Persian Gulf has seen escalating militarization by international forces in the guise of narcotics enforcement.The past year has...
View ArticleColombia: US suspends spraying after pilots downed
Text The US-funded glyphosate spraying in Colombia has been indefinitely suspended after presumed FARC guerillas shot down two fumigation planes—killing a US pilot.News accounts revealed in December...
View ArticleFARC proposal to protect coca, cannabis growers
Text At the Havana peace talks with the Colombian government, the FARC rebels released a proposal to decriminalize and "regulate the production of coca, poppies and marijuana."At the peace talks with...
View ArticleBlood avocados: Michoacán cartels co-opt ag-biz
Text Michoacán's blood-drenched Knights Templar cartel have amassed a land empire in the Mexican state, using the avocado industry to launder narco profits.Mexico's violence-torn state of Michoacán...
View ArticlePeru escalates cannabis crackdown
Text Cannabis took a greater share of total drug crops eradicated in Peru in 2013, and authorities hope to expand eradication this year—bringing the program beyond the remote coca zones.Peru's...
View ArticleColombia: pressure grows to expand drug decrim
Text An official from the capital district government of Bogotá called upon Colombia’s national government to open debate on broadening the policy of drug decriminalization.An official from the...
View ArticleSyria war fuels Lebanon hashish boom?
Text Afraid of war spilling across the border from neighboring Syria, Lebanon's government has halted cannabis eradication in the Bekaa Valley, allowing a dope-for-guns pipeline to flourish.A May 20...
View ArticleSaudis crack down on Yemeni smuggling pipeline
Text Border Guard patrols along Saudi Arabia's rugged mountain frontier with Yemen report mounting interceptions of hashish, weapons and other contraband.Border Guard patrols along Saudi Arabia's...
View ArticleISIS burns Syrian cannabis fields
Text The farmers of northern Syria have been forced to grow cannabis, with all other economic activity disrupted by war. Now they face harsh privation as ISIS burns the cannabis fields.The extremist...
View ArticleLebanon's hashish valley arms against ISIS
Text The Bekaa Valley's cannabis farmers, who armed to resist Lebanese army eradication efforts, now say they are ready to resist any ISIS incursion into their fastness.Reporting from Lebanon's...
View ArticleISIS burns cannabis, snorts coke?
Text As ISIS burns the cannabis fields of northern Syria, Kurdish fighters at Kobani claim that ISIS forces besieging the town are snorting cocaine to keep their spirits up.We recently noted that the...
View ArticleYemen war fuels dope-for-guns trade
Text Both sides in Yemen's bitter Sunni-Shi'ite divide—equally intolerant of hashish-smokers and khat-chewers—are turning to the dope trade to fund their arsenals.The dizzyingly escalating crisis...
View ArticleUS POW released in exchange for Gitmo detainees
Text President Obama announced that prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl has been released into US custody in exchange for five detainees held at Guantánamo Bay.US President Barack Obama announced May 31...
View Article'Narco-jihadist' threat seen in North Africa
Text Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and related networks are said to control Saharan smuggling routes for Moroccan hashish to fund their regional operations.With ISIS in control of a chunk of...
View ArticlePakistan: anti-narco ops militarize tribal areas
Text A military campaign against the Taliban in Pakistan's Tribal Areas has left a million displaced over the past year—and is now compounded with anti-hashish operations.Pakistan's Anti-Narcotic...
View ArticleSaudi Arabia executions break 20-year record
Text Saudi Arabia has executed 151 people so far this year, the highest number since 1995—contributing to a global spike in use of the death penalty.saudi_arabia.jpg.gifAmnesty International (AI)...
View ArticleEgypt: officials arrest prominent rights activist
Text Egyptian authorities arrested prominent human rights activist Hossam Bahgat after military officials questioned him concerning a report he wrote on the use of secret trials.egypt.jpg.gifEgyptian...
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