drug cartel

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In Colombia, a Gold Heist Plays Out Underground

Wall Street Journal reports on a drug cartel helping rogue miners

(Newser) - Drug trafficking is big business in Colombia, of course, but it turns out that gold trafficking isn't too shabby, either. The Wall Street Journal reports on a remarkable underground war playing out within the nation's largest gold mine. The mine is owned by China's Zijin Mining Group,...

Captured Drug Lord 'Kidnapped,' Forced on Plane, Lawyer Says

Account suggests Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada was betrayed by El Chapo's son

(Newser) - A lawyer for Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the alleged co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel now in US custody , says his client was kidnapped and flown to the US against his will. Zambada "neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the US government," but was instead kidnapped by...

We May Soon See a Spike in Avocado Prices
A Big Avocado Supply to
the US Just Got Shut Down
in case you missed it

A Big Avocado Supply to the US Just Got Shut Down

Imports of avocados, mangos from Michoacan, Mexico, halted after 'incident' with USDA inspectors

(Newser) - The US Department of Agriculture has indefinitely put the kibosh on inspections of avocados and mangos imported from Mexico, citing "security concerns" for USDA staff. Inspections of those food items "will remain paused until the security situation is reviewed and protocols and safeguards are in place," the...

Kristi Noem Now Banned From All Tribal Lands in State She Governs

9th Native American tribe votes to bar her from reservation

(Newser) - Kristi Noem was already banned from one-fifth of the state she governs ; now she's banned from even more of it. Indigenous groups in South Dakota have now barred the far-right governor from any and all tribal lands in the state, the Guardian reports. Nine Native American tribes reside in...

Kristi Noem Is Now Banned in 20% of the State She Governs

Another 2 South Dakota tribes ban governor over comments she made in March

(Newser) - South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is now banned from entering nearly 20% of her state after two more tribes banished her this week over comments she made earlier this year about tribal leaders benefitting from drug cartels, reports the AP .
  • What she said: "We've got some tribal leaders
...

Bishops Take Drug Cartel Matters Into Their Own Hands

Catholic clergy is trying to negotiate for peace, says Mexican government isn't doing its job

(Newser) - Four Roman Catholic bishops met with Mexican drug cartel bosses in a bid to negotiate a possible peace accord, and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday he approves of such talks. The revelation by the bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, Jose de Jesus Gonzalez Hernandez, illustrates the extent to which the...

Report: Sinaloa Cartel Now Killing Fentanyl Producers

Cartel appears to be enforcing ban on the drug, though authorities still have doubts

(Newser) - When banners went up announcing that the Sinaloa drug cartel had given up the sale and production of fentanyl , authorities were understandably wary. But members of the cartel, the leading exporter of fentanyl to the US, say cartel leaders are serious—deadly serious. A "midlevel Sinaloa cartel operative" who...

Boy, 14, Arrested After Murder of 8 in Mexico City

Police arrest 'El Chapito' in shooting linked to drug cartels

(Newser) - Mexican authorities have arrested a 14-year-old boy nicknamed "El Chapito" in the drug-related killing of eight people near Mexico City, the federal Public Safety Department said Thursday. The boy allegedly rode up on a motorcycle and opened fire on a family in the low-income Mexico City suburb of Chimalhuacan,...

Cocaine 'Super Cartel' Is Busted in Europe

Ring controlled about one-third of the trade on the continent

(Newser) - Law enforcement authorities in six different countries have joined forces to take down a "super cartel" of drug traffickers who controlled about one third of the cocaine trade in Europe, Europol said on Monday. The European Union crime agency said 49 suspects have been arrested during the investigation, with...

Mom Searching for Abducted Son Is Slain in Mexico

Rosario Rodríguez Barraza killed on day dedicated to the disappeared

(Newser) - Yet another mother searching for her disappeared son has been killed in northern Mexico, becoming the third volunteer search activist killed in Mexico since 2021. Rubén Rocha Moya, the governor of the northern state of Sinaloa, identified the dead woman Wednesday as Rosario Rodríguez Barraza—"a tireless...

As China Lost Its Fentanyl Crown, the Cartels Stepped In
2 Cartels Are Keeping
America Flush With Fentanyl
longform

2 Cartels Are Keeping America Flush With Fentanyl

'Wall Street Journal' looks at how the Sinaloa, Jalisco cartels ended up supplying the US after China cracked down

(Newser) - He's a 25-year-old cook who works six days a week and pulls in about $10,000 a month. It's a lucrative gig, but also an illegal one: He's cooking fentanyl that will be smuggled into the US, and his one-person lab churns out the equivalent of hundreds...

Colombia Nabs Feared Drug Kingpin
Colombia Nabs Feared
Drug Kingpin

Colombia Nabs Feared Drug Kingpin

Dairo Antonio Úsuga leads the violent Clan del Golfo

(Newser) - The most wanted drug trafficker in Colombia has been arrested. Per the New York Times , Dairo Antonio Úsuga, popularly known as Otoniel, was nabbed during a military operation in the remote mountains of Colombia's Uraba region. The 50-year-old was alleged to be the leader of the country's...

Cartel: We'll Kill Journalist Unless She Gives Equal Coverage

Men claim to represent Mexico's Jalisco New Generation cartel

(Newser) - Masked men claiming to represent Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel have taken the unusual step of circulating a video threatening to kill a national television news anchor for what they viewed as unfair coverage. The video circulated Monday showed masked and heavily armed men surrounding a man seated at...

Teacher's Double Life Exposed in Shootout With Cartel

Barney Harris was killed while trying to rob stash home of drug cartel, says sheriff in North Carolina

(Newser) - Barney Dale Harris was a beloved Spanish teacher and basketball coach in Monroe, North Carolina. But his students were unaware he hid a dangerous side of himself, which was revealed with his death in a shootout with a Mexican drug cartel, says the Alamance County Sheriff's Office, per WSET...

Head of $70B Drug Syndicate Arrested at Airport

Chinese Canadian is known as 'Asia's El Chapo'

(Newser) - Before he was sentenced to nine years in 1988 for importing heroin to the US, lawyers for Tse Chi Lop pleaded for leniency, saying he planned to open a restaurant when he got out. Instead, authorities say the Chinese-born Canadian citizen massively expanded his drug empire and became known as...

Former Mexican Gov. Killed in Restaurant Bathroom

Aristóteles Sandoval had served as governor of Mexico's Jalisco state

(Newser) - The former Governor of Mexico's "violence-wracked" state of Jalisco died early Friday morning after being shot in the back while in a restaurant bathroom, the Guardian reports. Authorities say that Aristóteles Sandoval, 46, was vacationing in Puerto Vallarta when he was gunned down, per the New York ...

Banks Are Laundering Trillions for the Bad Guys
BuzzFeed
Has Dug Up
Damning Bank
Documents
the rundown

BuzzFeed Has Dug Up Damning Bank Documents

The 'FinCEN files' show how criminals, terrorists, and corrupt leaders use Western banks

(Newser) - The new Panama Papers are out, and they're just as ugly—if not worse. Leaked government documents show that big banks are laundering untold trillions of dollars for shady operators around the world and getting away with it, BuzzFeed reports. JPMorgan Chase and HSBC appear to be among the...

DEA Agent Hit With 19 Counts in 'Black Eye' to Agency

Jose Irizarry and his wife were arrested Friday

(Newser) - A once-standout US federal narcotics agent known for spending lavishly on luxury cars and Tiffany jewelry has been arrested on charges of conspiring to launder money with the same Colombian drug cartel he was supposed to be fighting, the AP reports. Jose Irizarry and his wife were arrested Friday at...

El Chapo's Daughter Weds Nephew of 'The Empress'

Alejandrina Guzman marries Edgar Cazares in Mexico

(Newser) - Mazel tov: El Chapo's daughter has married the nephew of another drug boss. Alejandrina Guzman, daughter of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, married Edgar Cazares on Jan. 25 in Sinaloa’s state capital, Culiacan, Reuters reports. As the UK Times explains, Cazares is the nephew of Blanca Margarita Cazares,...

Trump's Plan: Designate Mexican Cartels as Terrorists
Mexico Seems
'Caught Off-Guard'
by Trump's Comments
the rundown

Mexico Seems 'Caught Off-Guard' by Trump's Comments

President says he will designate its drug cartels as terrorists

(Newser) - President Trump is making a big move against Mexican drug cartels, and it's one he says has been in the works for three months. In an interview with Bill O'Reilly posted online Tuesday that referenced the "more than 100,000 Americans" killed a year via imported drugs,...

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