Yearly Archives: 2021

Blog, Drug Companies, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

How Yachts Contribute to Trans-Atlantic Cocaine Trade

A yacht, found off the coast of Portugal with the country’s largest-ever haul of cocaine, illustrates how these smaller, private vessels have become a favored modus operandi to move cocaine between Latin America and lucrative European markets.  

Portuguese and Spanish authorities seized 5.2 tons of cocaine, valued at $232 million, on a yacht 550 kilometers off the coast of Portugal on October 18.

The drug bust represented the largest cocaine seizure in Portugal in 15 years. It marked the largest cocaine seizure ever on a yacht, according to Luis Neves, the director of Portugal’s police force for criminal investigations.

The operation was part of an investigation that began in early 2021 into how vast quantities of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela were being moved to Europe via private yachts, according to a press release issued by Spain’s National Police.

READ FULL

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Chile to Dubai, a Thriving Route for Gold Traffickers

Chile has become a convenient exit point for illegal gold from the Amazon, with Dubai emerging as a consistent destination for such shipments.

Leaders from three groups that are part of a so-called “Gold Cartel” – the Farías, Herrera and González clans – were recently arrested for smuggling over 500 kilograms of gold from Chile to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Multiple properties, vehicles, a sailboat, an apartment, and over 500 million dollars worth of currency were also seized.

Of the 35 individuals arrested, only six have faced formalized charges of illicit association, smuggling, tax crimes and money laundering, while the other 29 were released.

The Chile to Dubai route has also been exploited by other traffickers. Most famously, Harold Elías Vilches Pizarro began a highly organized and large-scale gold trafficking operation in Chile in 2013 at just 20 years of age. Among his first contracts was arranging the sale of almost 3 tons of gold to a Dubai-based supplier over 12 months. The sale was potentially worth more than $100 million, and Vilches stood to make up to $6 million in profit. To facilitate exports, Vilches falsified documents to show his company could supply the quantities of gold demanded by the UAE company.

READ FULL

Blog, Criminal, Drug Companies, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Nigerian Mafia Use Venezuelan Drug Mules to Reach Europe

A Nigerian trafficking network is now using “mules” to move drugs from South America to Europe, exemplifying how this growing drug consumer market is drawing mafias from around the world to the Americas.

A recent report by the Investigative Rebel Alliance (Alianza Rebelde Investigativa – ARI) zeroed in on the arrest of two Venezuelan citizens who had carried hundreds of capsules of cocaine into France in early 2020. This would have been just one of many cases of Venezuelans being used as drug mules by Colombian or Brazilian criminal groups, except for one striking difference. This time, the drug traffickers were Nigerian.

The ARI report broke down how Nigerian mafias have become a small, yet growing player in South America’s drug trafficking scene. This network uses Venezuelans as drug mules to carry cocaine to France, leaving from Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana.

READ FULL

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News

Who killed Brian Laundrie? ‘1000% a coverup’, says Internet as skeletal remains found

Brian Laundrie’s remains were found in Florida’s Myakkahatachee Creek Environmental Park

Brian Laundrie is officially a dead man. FBI confirmed his death saying remains found in Florida’s Myakkahatachee Creek Environmental Park belongs to Laundrie. The family of Gabby Petito who had been vocal while the FBI, Dog the Bounty Hunter, John Walsh, and other authorities searched for their daughter’s fugitive boyfriend, has gone silent over the sudden discovery. His remains being identified marked the end of a manhunt that people across the globe were tuned into. A lot of questions still remain unanswered including who killed him, when did he die, and what was the cause of his death.

For the uninitiated, Laundrie went missing in mid-September, a couple of days after his girlfriend was reported missing. The two were on a cross-country trip from which only Laundrie returned following which he camped up at his parents’ Florida home. Petito’s parents said there was no response from the Laundrie’s over Petito’s whereabouts and they had to file a missing report.

Read Full

Blog, Business Law, Celebrity, celebrity legal news, Criminal, International, Legal News

5 ways celebrities in the Pandora Papers use the offshore system

Alongside politicians and billionaires, the Pandora Papers reveals how the rich and famous also make use of offshore havens, from Jackie Shroff to Shakira, Ringo Starr to Sachin Tendulkar.

Shakira did it. So did Ringo Starr, Claudia Schiffer, Julio Iglesias and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.

They have all set up companies “offshore,” in places like the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where tax rates are low or zero and where their businesses — and their identities — are hidden from the public.

And they’re among the celebrities, politicians and billionaires named in a trove of leaked files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Those records are part of the Pandora Papers, an investigation of the offshore financial system that the rich and famous use to buy yachts and private jets, invest in real estate and protect their families’ wealth while avoiding scrutiny.

Read Full