War on illegal drugs

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Brazil bags a big one...

Reputed Colombian Drug Lord Gets 30 Years
April 1, 2008 - Brazil Sentences Man Behind Cartel That Allegedly Shipped 550 Tons Of Cocaine To U.S.

A reputed Colombian drug lord whose cartel is accused of having shipped hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States was sentenced Tuesday to more than 30 years in prison in Brazil for crimes commmitted in that country. Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, who was arrested last year in Brazil, was found guilty of money laundering, corruption, conspiracy and use of false documents in this South American country. Besides the sentence, Ramirez Abadia must also pay a fine worth US$2.5 million.

"It was proved that after July of 2004, Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia has channeled his business in Brazil mainly toward the acquisition of properties, vehicles, and other objects using the money resulting from drug trafficking in Colombia," Judge Fausto Martin de Sanctis said in a statement. But Ramirez Abadia, who is also known as "Chupeta" or "Lollipop," may not have to serve time in Brazil. Last month, Brazil's Supreme Court ruled he can be extradited to the United States to face racketeering charges. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will have the final word on whether he stays in Brazil to serve his sentence or is extradited immediately to the United States.

In his ruling, the judge advised against extraditing Ramirez Abadia until he has served his time in Brazil. Ramirez Abadia, who is reputedly a leader of Colombia's powerful Norte del Valle cartel, has said he wants to begin his confinement in the United States as quickly as possible. Brazil's Supreme Court has said the United States must agree not to sentence Ramirez Abadia to more than 30 years in jail, the maximum allowed under Brazilian law, in order for the extradition to take place. Ramirez Abadia's wife, Yessica Paolo Rojas Morales, was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison for her participation in Ramirez Abadia's operations. Eight other people were also convicted.

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Narc Drones to Catch Pot Growers...

Pilotless Drones to Battle Pot Growers
Apr 4, 2008 - Forest Service Buys a Pair of Flying Drones to Help Find Marijuana Growers in California

The U.S. Forest Service has bought a pair of flying drones to track down marijuana growers operating in remote California woodlands.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the pilotless, camera-equipped aircraft will allow law enforcement officers to pinpoint marijuana fields and size up potential dangers before agents attempt arrests.

Rey said there are increasing numbers of marijuana growers financed by Mexican drug cartels using California's forests to stage their operations. "We're dealing with organized efforts now — not just a couple of hippies living off the land and making some cash on the side," Rey said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

The purchase of the two SkySeer drones, for a combined $100,000, reflects rising interest in remote-controlled aircraft among law enforcement, science and other government agencies.

ABC News: Narc Drones to Catch Pot Growers

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Mexico becoming another Columbia...

U.S. Guns Arming Mexican Drug Gangs; Second Amendment to Blame?
April 22, 2008 - Officials: More Than 90 Percent of Weapons Used by Mexico's Drug Gangs Come From the U.S.

U.S. gun stores and gun shows are the source of more than 90 percent of the weapons being used by Mexico's ruthless drug cartels, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials. "It's a war going on in Mexico, and these types of firearms are the weapons of war for them," said Bill Newell, the special agent in charge of the Phoenix field division of the ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has primary law enforcement jurisdiction for investigating gun trafficking to Mexico.

"It's virtually impossible to buy a firearm in Mexico as a private citizen, so this country is where they come," said Newell. But U.S. efforts to stop the smuggling of tens of thousands of guns to Mexico, including high-powered assault weapons, have been hampered by lenient American gun laws and the Bush administration's failure to give priority to anti-gun smuggling efforts, officials tell ABC News for a report Tuesday on ABC News' "World News With Charles Gibson."

President Bush said today at a press conference that Mexican President Felipe Calderon again raised the issue of guns at their meeting in New Orleans. Mexico's strict gun laws are being subverted by the easy availability of weapons in the U.S., the Mexican attorney general, Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, told ABC News. "The Second Amendment," said the attorney general, "is certainly not designed to arm and give fire power to organized crime abroad."

More ABC News: U.S. Guns Arming Mexican Drug Gangs; Second Amendment to Blame?

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Hand of God...

Freak weather destroys Afghan poppies
Wednesday, 23 April 2008 : Faltering British efforts to tackle Afghanistan's poppy crop have found an unlikely ally – in the weather.

Freak weather linked to global warming is expected to reduce parts of the country's opium harvest drastically. Scientists believe freezing winter temperatures followed by late rains and a possible drought may cut this year's yields, with some farmers losing half of their crop. The fierce winter cold – which claimed hundreds of lives across Afghanistan – is thought to have stopped millions of poppy seeds from germinating. Late rains have then stunted many of the plants that survived. One expert said: "It was too cold in some areas for the seeds to come alive. Between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of the seeds may not have germinated."

Survey teams are busy scouring the country's poppy fields to get precise data on this season's plants. Privately, UN officials and European diplomats predict a drop in yields. Poppies are more resistant to drought than food crops, but a nationwide water shortage at a key stage in the plants' life cycle is expected to stunt the size of the opium bulbs. Farmers harvest the sap from the bulbs. "The more water, the more opium," said the head of the UN environment programme, Asif Zaidi. "This year was exceptionally cold, followed by low rainfall. Some of the crop will be destroyed. But what extent we don't yet know."

Poppy cultivation increased from just 8,000 hectares in 2001, the last year of the Taliban regime, to a "frightening" 192,000 hectares last year, according to the UN, despite British-led efforts to crack down on the illicit crop. Last year, Afghanistan produced a record 93 per cent of the world's poppy harvest. The industry is worth at least £2bn, almost half of Afghanistan's GDP. The poppy farmers worst affected are those who planted in November, after the cold spell set in. That includes half of Helmand's poppy farmers and a third of growers nationwide. Afghanistan's dry climate is especially susceptible to climate change, Mr Zaidi said. "Minor climatic changes result in major impacts," he added. "There are definitely changes taking place in Afghanistan."

Source

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Drug gang war in Tijuana...

Up To 15 Dead In Mexico Border Shootout
April 26, 2008 - Running Gun Battle Between Two Groups Of Drug Traffickers Rattles Tijuana

Running gun battles between suspected drug traffickers broke out on the streets of the border city of Tijuana on Saturday, and there were conflicting reports on how many people were killed. One Tijuana police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk on the record, said the shootouts left between 14 and 15 people dead. Another official, speaking on the same terms, put the number of dead at around 12.

Authorities promised to release more solid information at a news conference in this border city. Initial versions said suspected drug traffickers fired at each other from moving cars on one of the city's main boulevard's in the pre-dawn hours. Photos from the scene showed bodies and assault rifles on the street.

The traffickers may have belonged to the same cartel and police said it could be a settling of scores within the cartel. The officials said that in addition to the dead, several people were wounded. Drug gangs have staged a series of bloody shootouts and assassinations in Tijuana in recent years as part of running turf battles for control of lucrative trafficking routes.

Deathtoll 13 In Mexico Border Shootout, Running Gun Battle Between Two Groups Of Drug Traffickers Rattles Tijuana - CBS News

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Anti-aircraft' weapon seized from Brazilian drugs gang
24 April 2008 - Military police in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro said on 22 April that they had seized a 0.50 calibre "anti-aircraft" weapon from a drugs gang.

It is not yet clear from which gang the weapon was seized. Discovery of such weapons is a major cause of concern, with helicopters and armoured vehicles a favoured method of transport for many politicians and businesspeople as well as police in Brazil's major cities.

FORECAST

For now there is no reason to suspect that the risk to commercial traffic has increased significantly, and the fact that the gun seized on 22 April warranted a statement and relatively high levels of media attention indicates that seizures of weapons of this calibre remain rare. Still, this latest seizure appears to confirm that the gangs retain access to military-grade weaponry and will therefore continue to present a stiff challenge to police attempts to impose order in the favelas in the coming weeks.

Anti-aircraft' weapon seized from Brazilian drugs gang - Jane's Security News

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Border War: Major Gun Supplier Arrested...

ATF: Phoenix Gun Dealer Supplied Mexican Drug Cartels
May 6, 2008 - Hundreds of Powerful Weapons Seized

Just hours after receiving a shipment of weapons allegedly intended for Mexican drug bosses, a Phoenix gun dealer and at least two alleged arms traffickers were arrested this morning in a series of raids by federal and local authorities. Authorities allege the gun dealer sold more than 650 AK-47-type assault weapons to Mexican drug gangs responsible for recent shootouts that have claimed dozens of lives. "He knowingly, willingly sold these weapons, and he even gave our guys undercover tips on how to evade the police," Pete Forcelli, the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms supervisor on the case told ABC News. The gun dealer, George Iknadosian, 46, was arrested on numerous Arizona state charges, and all of the inventory in his shop was seized. "We know of 650 assault weapons he sold," said Forcelli, a former New York Police Department Bronx homicide detective. "But by the time the case is done, it will be well over a thousand."

Authorities in Phoenix, Ariz., told ABC News the raids are part of a continued effort to curb the supply of high-quality weapons from the U.S. to Mexico. "Let's be very clear here -- there's a war going on in Mexico right now, and innocent people are being caught in the crossfire, not to mention the hundreds of police officers being murdered," said Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' Bill Newell, the special agent in charge of the Phoenix office. "When 90 percent-plus of the firearms recovered from these violent drug cartels are from a U.S. source, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to stem the illegal flow of these firearms to these thugs."

Those firearms -- including high-powered assault rifles and "cop killer" handguns -- are often bought through "straw purchasers" from legal gun dealers in California, Texas and Arizona. They are responsible for 95 percent of the gun violence in Mexico, U.S. and Mexican authorities have told ABC News' Brian Ross. One of them, a Colt .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol traced back to X Caliber was tucked into the waistband of alleged Sinaloa drug cartel boss Alfredo Beltran Leyva when he was arrested in Mexico last January. The alleged cocaine dealer had $900,000 in cash in his possession when arrested along with two body guards, Mexican authorities said. "I just learned from Mexican authorities that more law enforcement officers were killed in Mexico last year than all the people killed in New York, Philadelphia, Newark combined," Forcelli said. Mexican authorities told ABC News more than 2,000 law enforcement officers have been killed in the past 18 months.

According to Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials on the scene, two traffickers were arrested at their homes shortly after taking a delivery of a shipment of semi-automatic weapons, and the gun dealer was arrested and the entire inventory of his store, X Caliber Guns, was seized. According to federal and local officials, the investigation began after an ATF review of X Caliber's records showed "an obvious pattern of firearms purchases consistent with firearms trafficking." Two individuals were identified who authorities said were acquiring firearms for the purpose of sending those firearms to individuals in Mexico. Those alleged traffickers were Hugo Gamez, 26, and his brother, Cesar Gamez, 27.

More ABC News: ATF: Phoenix Gun Dealer Supplied Mexican Drug Cartels

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Mexico gettin' to be like Columbia used to be...

Second police shooting in Mexico
Friday, 9 May 2008 - Another senior police officer is gunned down in Mexico City, the fourth in under two weeks.

Gunmen in Mexico have killed another top Mexican police official - just one day after the head of the national anti-narcotics effort was shot dead. Esteban Robles headed the anti-kidnapping unit of the Mexico City police department. He was shot several times outside his home on Friday. Mr Robles was flown to a nearby hospital, but died shortly afterwards.

The news came as Mexico's president was attending a memorial service honouring three other senior police officers. President Felipe Calderon said these latest attacks would not deter his efforts to continue his government's campaign against the drugs trafficking cartels operating in the country. "We have to come together to confront this evil, we Mexicans have to definitively and categorically say 'That's enough!'," he said.

"We can't accept this situation, we have to take back our streets," he added. Mr Robles was the fourth top policemen to have been killed in Mexico City in the past 10 days. He was ambushed by four gunmen in a truck and shot as he was driving out of his house in Mexico City, officials said.

Retaliatory attacks

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Mexico's president says "enough" to drug hitmen
Friday, 9 May 2008 - Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Friday the country was sick and tired of rampant drug violence after five high-ranking policemen were killed in less than a week.

"We have to come together to confront this evil, we Mexicans have to definitively and categorically say, 'That's enough!'," Calderon said. "We can't accept this situation, we have to take back our streets." He spoke after attending the funeral of regional commissioner Edgar Millan, one of Mexico's top federal policemen, who was murdered on Thursday by hired killers waiting for him at his home.

Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police around the country to bring powerful drug cartels under control, but the army has failed to reduce spiraling violence. More than 2,500 people were killed in drug related violence in Mexico last year. Another 1,100 people have died so far this year as the drug gangs battle each other and security forces.

The Mexican media said Millan was targeted by professional killers hired by the powerful Sinaloa gang because of his leading role in the arrests of the cartel's gunmen. "I know that organized criminals are reacting like this because they see that we hurting their operations and breaking down their structures," Calderon said on Friday.

Hours before Millan's funeral, Esteban Robles, a senior detective in Mexico City, was gunned down in front of his apartment, shot seven times in the head, neck and chest. Two other senior policemen were shot in the capital in recent days and drug hitmen killed Saul Pena, a top police officer in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

Mexico's president says enough to drug hitmen | International | Reuters

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The masses risin' up against the druglords...

Thousands protest drug violence in Mexican city
12 May 2008, Thousands of white-clad people marched silently Sunday to protest a surge of drug-related violence in a Mexican city across from Texas where the No. 2 police officer was shot dead.

The crowd of several thousand students, church leaders, businessmen and politicians walked for about four miles (six kilometers) across Ciudad Juarez to a park near a border crossing, breaking the silence in a burst of speeches, dancing and singing. More than 200 people have been killed so far this year in Ciudad Juarez. The city of 1.3 million across the border from El Paso, Texas, is home base for the powerful Juarez drug cartel.

The assassination of police director Juan Antonio Roman Garcia on Saturday came despite the deployment of more than 2,500 soldiers and federal police to the city and surrounding Chihuahua state in March. Gunmen sprayed Roman Garcia's car with bullets outside his home _ months after his name appeared at the top of a hit list left at a monument for fallen police. Several people on the list have been killed, and none of the perpetrators have been caught.

"We need to unite against this," said Julian Ochoa, an architecture student at the march. "I hope we achieve something." An increase in drug-related homicides, shootouts, kidnappings and car thefts near the border prompted U.S. State Department to warn Americans last month of rising violence in the region, though it stopped short of advising against travel here. A rash of attacks against police last week left at least four high-ranking officers dead. Mexico's acting federal police chief was gunned down Thursday in front of his Mexico City home.

President Felipe Calderon said the attacks show weakened gangs are trying to counter his fight against drug trafficking. Since taking office in 2006, Calderon has sent more than 25,000 soldiers to combat drug gangs across the country. On Saturday, police arrested six suspected gang members after a gunfight in the northern state of Sinaloa. One of the six, Alfonso Gutierrez Loera, 25, identified himself as a cousin of suspected Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin Guzman, according the Public Safety Department. Gutierrez Loera and another suspect were wounded in the shootout.

Source

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Drug cartels expanding across the border...

Drug Violence in Mexico Spills Across Border
May 14, 2008 Washington - Three Mexican police chiefs have requested political asylum in the U.S. as violence escalates in the Mexican drug wars and spills across the U.S. border, a top Homeland Security official told The Associated Press.

In the past few months, the police officials have shown up at the U.S. border, fearing for their lives, according to Jayson Ahern, the deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. "They're basically abandoned by their police officers or police departments in many cases," Ahern told AP. Ahern said the Mexican officials -- whom he didn't name -- are being interviewed and their cases are under review for possible asylum.

In the most recent high-level assassination, a top-ranking official on a local Mexican police force was shot more than 50 times and killed. Drug-related violence killed more than 2,500 people last year alone in Mexico. "It's almost like a military fight," Ahern said Tuesday. "I don't think that generally the American public has any sense of the level of violence that occurs on the border."

As the cartels fight for territory, this carnage spills over to the U.S., Ahern said -- from bullet-ridden people stumbling into U.S. territory, to rounds of ammunition coming across U.S. entry ports. U.S. humvees retrofitted with steel mesh over the glass windows patrol parts of the border to protect agents against guns shots and large rocks regularly thrown at them. At times agents are pinned down by sniper fire as people try to illegally cross into the U.S.

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Drug war shutters businesses on Mexico border
Thu May 15, 2008 - A decade ago, economists hailed Tijuana as a place where cheap Mexican labor and U.S. financing could meet, attracting Asian firms eager to set up manufacturing plants to export to the United States.

Now, that vision is slipping away, a victim of drug violence that has been exploding this side of the U.S.-Mexico border for the past three years. Once a freewheeling city that has served Americans cheap tequila since the U.S. prohibition era, Tijuana is at the center of a three-way drug war between rival gangs and Mexico's military. Drug-related murders are a daily occurrence.

The violence is scaring away tourists who came for everything from prostitutes and dental work to medicine. A lively artistic community is also dwindling. While most assembly-for-export businesses, or maquiladoras, continue to operate normally, drug violence is such that they risk losing new investment to competitors like China. Other businesses are seeing their livelihoods disappear.

Just a few years ago, downtown Tijuana was bustling and the main drag, Revolution Avenue, was a busy thoroughfare. But today, it is deserted, lined with "For Sale" and "For Rent" signs. "Many big companies are pulling out and many small companies are going bankrupt. Business isn't enough to even pay the rent for the shops and factory space," said Manuel Cesena, 57, who owns a shoe shop on Revolution Avenue.

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Druglords coercing police...

Drug lords go after Mexican police officers
May 18, `08 - Drug cartels are sending a brutal message to police and soldiers in cities across Mexico: Join us or die.

The threat appears in recruiting banners hung across roadsides and in publicly posted death lists. Cops get warnings over their two-way radios. At least four high-ranking police officials were gunned down this month, including Mexico's acting federal police chief. Mexico has battled for years to clean up its security forces and win them the public's respect. But Mexicans generally assume police and even soldiers are corrupt until proven otherwise, and the honest ones lack resources, training and the assurance that their colleagues are watching their backs. Here, the taboo on cop-killing familiar to Americans seems hardly to apply.

Police who take on the cartels feel isolated and vulnerable when they become targets, as did 22 commanders in the border city of Ciudad Juarez when drug traffickers named them on a handwritten death list left at a monument to fallen police this year. It was addressed to "those who still don't believe" in the power of the cartels. Of the 22, seven have been killed and three wounded in assassination attempts. Of the others, all but one have quit, and city officials said he didn't want to be interviewed.

"These are attacks directed at the top commanders of the city police, and it is not just happening in Ciudad Juarez," Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said at the funeral of the latest victim, police director Juan Antonio Roman Garcia. "It is happening in Nuevo Laredo, in Tijuana, in this entire region," he said. "They are attacking top commanders to destabilize the police force." The killings are in response to a crackdown launched by President Felipe Calderon, who has sent thousands of soldiers and federal police across the nation to confront the cartels. Drug lords have hit back by sending killers to attack police with hand grenades and assault rifles.

Police are increasingly giving up. Last week, U.S. officials revealed that three Mexican police commanders have crossed into the United States to request asylum, saying they are unprotected and fear for their lives. "It's almost like a military fight," said Jayson Ahern, the deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "I don't think that generally the American public has any sense of the level of violence that occurs on the border."

More My Way News - Drug lords go after Mexican police officers

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Police chief steps down in Mexico
Monday, 19 May 2008 - The police chief of the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez quits after a wave of violence involving drug gangs.

The police chief of a northern Mexican city has resigned following a wave of violence involving drug traffickers, officials say. Guillermo Prieto was one of 22 police officers in Ciudad Juarez named on a hit list of drug gangs. Seven of those named have been killed in recent weeks, and most of the others are said to have resigned.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 30,000 troops across Mexico to stem drug-related violence. Some government spokesmen have argued that the latest wave of killings is a sign the cartels are being weakened by the massive troop deployment and that they are trying to hit back.

But others say they are still a dangerous force that can adapt to anything, in order to maintain control of a drugs supply to the United States that is said to be worth around $20bn (£10bn). More than 1,000 people have died so far this year in cartel-related violence.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Police chief steps down in Mexico

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Druglords killin' police...

Drug murderers drag police into the streets
Sunday 18th May, 2008 - In Mexico, eight men, including three local police officers, have been dragged from their homes and executed by heavily armed gangs.

Men in camouflage uniforms drove into a border town in several pickup trucks and broke into several homes where they threatened families and killed the men with AK-47 rifles and handguns.

The murders in Villa Ahumada added to five recent killings in Ciudad Juarez, on the US border, and another three elsewhere in the state. It is believed the murders are related to the Government's stepped up fight against drug trafficking.

At stake is access to the world's biggest market for narcotics, most of which are carried through the border to the United States.

Drug murderers drag police into the streets