The World Wide War on Drugs #8 - Demonstraties in Mexico

quote:

Drug trafficking and corruption bankroll Guatemalan politics, says report | World news | The Guardian

Gangsters have infiltrated politics by financing campaigns, putting up candidates and creating construction companies to win government contracts

Drug money and corruption are now key sources of financing for political parties in Guatemala, a prominent anti-crime commission said on Thursday, ramping up pressure on the Central American country’s battered political establishment.

Just two months from a presidential ballot, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a United Nations-backed independent group working with prosecutors to root out corruption, said that political contributor anonymity is facilitating links to organised crime.

“Corruption is the principal source of financing for political parties,” Ivan Velasquez, commissioner at the CICIG, told a news conference. The group’s investigations have rocked the government and led to the arrest of some high-ranking officials, including the central bank chief.

The report said that drug trafficking had infiltrated local politics by financing campaigns, putting its own members up as candidates and creating construction companies that later won government contracts.

Since Guatemala decided in April to renew the CICIG’s mandate, encouraged by the United States, corruption scandals have prompted several key politicians in the country to stand down, including vice-president Roxana Baldetti.

Guatemala’s president, Otto Perez, who has not been directly accused of any wrongdoing, is waiting to see whether US Congress decides to strip him of his immunity to be investigated over pending cases.
Bron: www.theguardian.com

quote:

Durham police stop targeting pot smokers and small-scale growers | Society | The Guardian

Durham PCC Ron Hogg says move is an effort to cut costs, keep users out of criminal justice system and focus resources on organised crime

A police force in the north-east of England will no longer actively pursue cannabis smokers and small-scale growers in order to prioritise its resources against more serious crime.

Durham’s police and crime commissioner, Ron Hogg, said the move was an effort to cut costs and keep users out of the criminal justice system, while focusing scarce resources on gangs and organised crime.

Indicating his support for the decriminalisation of drug use, Hogg also said he was prepared to meet the home secretary, Theresa May, to discuss the matter.

The move has been interpreted as a shift towards the effective decriminalisation of cannabis. However, Mike Penning, the policing minister, has already responded to the news by reaffirming that growing cannabis is illegal.

Hogg told the Guardian that his policy for Durham was about prioritisation. He insisted that his officers would still enforce the law if they got complaints from the public about cannabis users and growers.

“The focus of what we are trying to do is target those who produce drugs on a larger scale,” he said. “Our communities want us to focus on drug dealers in the streets. They don’t want dealers in the streets at the same time as their children are playing.

“It’s illegal to grow and use cannabis and we will still enforce the law. However, what we will try and do is engage with users and help them if that’s what they want.”

He said that continuing cuts to policing had made such prioritisation more important. “There’s a resource issue, we must also be clear about that, but we are doing it because it’s the right approach.”

The policy was first revealed in a meeting between Hogg and pro-cannabis activists from local chapters of the UK Cannabis Social Clubs in the first week of July. At the meeting Hogg confirmed rumours that Durham police were no longer actively working to detect small-scale cannabis growers and users, said John Holiday, a local activist.

Holiday – not his real name – said Hogg was clear that the policy was not intended as a free-for-all. He said: “It’s still illegal. If you were to light up in front of a policeman or go into a police station and tell them you’ve got a ten-bag you would still be arrested.

“The idea is discretion: don’t piss off your neighbours.”

The move follows a conference hosted by Hogg in Durham last November where police, drugs professionals and activists, including some from local cannabis clubs, debated the future of drugs policy. Following the summit, Hogg wrote a letter to the prime minister with a warning that current drug laws were failing.
“Policy on drug addiction should be moved to the Department of Health, in order for the focus to be on treating rather than punishing,” Hogg’s letter said.

Neil Woods, vice-chair of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (Leap) UK, hailed Hogg’s move, saying that although police officials prioritised their officers’ work all the time, it was “quite bold to word it in the way that he is doing”.

Woods, a former undercover drugs detective, agreed with suggestions that drug crime could get less attention from police as they are forced to reassess priorities as budgets are pared back in the name of austerity.

“If you consider that a taxpayer pays Ł400 towards fighting the war on drugs in this country, the financial pressures are going to take us there,” he said.

Woods added: “It’s an important, small, incremental step in the right direction. I think it’s necessary and I’m pleased that they are brave enough to very publicly make this step.

“I applaud their move. No one should ever be criminalised for drug possession.”
Bron: www.theguardian.com

quote:

US navy seizes submarine with seven tonnes of cocaine on board | World news | The Guardian

The vessel was intercepted off the coast of El Salvador and four suspected smugglers taken into custody

US authorities have seized a submarine-like vessel loaded with more than eight tonnes of cocaine off the coast of El Salvador.

US Navy, Customs and Border Protection and Coast Guard personnel took part in the operation last Saturday.

The semi-submersible vessel was tracked in international waters off the El Salvador coast by US aircraft. It was intercepted by the Coast Guard after a speedboat began to approach.

Inside the semi-submersible, authorities found 274 bales packed with 7,650kg (16,870 pounds) of cocaine worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Four suspected smugglers were taken into custody.

Traffickers use submarine-like vessels to move large amounts of cocaine because their low waterline profile makes them difficult to detect.

The interdiction is part of a 15-nation effort targeting international drug traffickers.
Bron: www.theguardian.com

quote:

Ecstasy and LSD use reaches new high among young | UK news | The Guardian

Findings on drug use are serious blow to government’s hardline strategy

The use of ecstasy and LSD among young adults has spiked over the last two years, with survey results indicating the numbers taking the drugs in the past 12 months up 84% and 175% respectively.

An estimated 157,000 more people aged 16-24 took ecstasy over the past year compared to two years ago, according to figures released on Thursday. About 49,000 more used the hallucinogen LSD over the same period.

An estimated one in 20 young people have used ecstasy in the past 12 months, according to the latest data. Use of LSD is still much lower, with around 0.4% of young people – about one in 200 – using it.

Both drugs saw year-on-year increases in consumption by the young of around 40%.

The figures will be a serious blow to the government’s hardline strategy on drug use. In an effort to combat an increase in the numbers of new designer drugs a recent bill was introduced that would ban all new psychoactive substances.

But even as overall drug use remained flat, the statistics from the Crime Survey of England and Wales show a sharp rise in the use of two class-A drugs which are among the drug war’s major targets.

Among most of the population – those aged 16-59 – use of ecstasy in the past year has risen an estimated 37% since 2012/13, while use of LSD is up 117%. The reasons for the surge in the popularity of LSD are unclear, but one expert said the rise in ecstasy use could be explained by an increase in the availability of relatively pure MDMA – that drug’s active ingredient.

The figures also illustrate how young adults remain the most likely age group to take drugs: they indicated 19% of 16-19 year-olds and 20% of 20-24 year-olds took any drug within the past year. By contrast, only 2% of 55 to 59 year-olds did so.

The survey found that use of new psychoactive substances (NPSs), more commonly referred to as legal highs, was generally concentrated among young adults. Around 3% of 16-24 year-olds took an NPS within the past year, compared with 1% of 16-59 year-olds.

Those young adults who took NPSs were most likely to acquire them over the counter. An estimated 39% bought them from a shop, while 37% got them from a friend, neighbour or colleague. Only 1% of young people reported using the Internet to buy NPSs.

The survey results also appears to indicate a rise in the number of people mixing different drugs. Of those people who took drugs within the past year, 9% reported having used more than one drug at once, compared to a previous figure of 7%. The drugs most likely to be mixed with other drugs were mephedrone (68%), ecstasy (57%), amphetamines (50%) and tranquilisers (35%).

Professor Fiona Measham, who chairs a working group on polysubstance use for the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, said that the increase in the number of 16-24-year-olds using ecstasy from 3.9% to 5.4% represented an important development.

“My view is that increased purity from 2010 onwards across Europe is making ecstasy in pill, powder and crystal form increasingly attractive combined with easy availability and relatively low prices,” she said.

Separately, figures released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that the numbers of young people aged 11 to 15 who have ever tried smoking, drinking or drugs are at their lowest levels since 1982.

More than 6,000 pupils in 210 schools in England were asked a series of questions about smoking, drinking and drug use. Less than one in five (18%) said that they had ever smoked, the lowest figure since the survey began. The proportion of 11 – 15-year-olds who said they had tried e-cigarettes was slightly higher at 22%.

The results are consistent with a continuing decline in the number of children trying tobacco over the past decade. In 2003 as many as 42% said they had tried smoking. Meanwhile, 38% of 11-15 year-olds reported having tried alcohol, also the lowest level recorded since the survey began. In 2003 the figure was 61%.

The number of 11-15 year-olds who reported having ever tried drugs also hit a new low of 15%, down from 30% in 2003. Cannabis remains the drug most likely to be sampled by young people: of the 10% of pupils who said that they had tried drugs within the past year, 7% reported trying cannabis.

The survey also sheds light on young people’s attitudes towards why other young people their own age decided to smoke or drink. The most common reason, at 85% for smoking and 79% for drinking, was “to look cool in front of their friends”.

But there was a variety of other motivations: 72% of young people said they thought their peers smoked because “their friends pressure them into it”, while 70% thought it was because they were addicted to cigarettes. A smaller group, 67%, thought their friends drank in order to be more sociable, and 66% said they thought they drank for a rush or a buzz.

Measham, who is professor of criminology at Lancaster University, said the popularity of ecstasy, which has long been associated with rave culture, dipped when fashions changed in the 2000s and people moved onto alcohol and cocaine.

“I think now people have got back into raving,” she said. “Really there has been a resurgence in dance music, I’ve seen that in my undergraduates. My students all want to be part-time DJs and promoters.”

The rise in LSD use was more difficult to explain. “It was popular in the mid-90s when it got down to about 50p a tab,” Measham said. “So I think the risk to reward ratio for dealers was not there.” Although there were no sentencing guidelines, at the time dealers could expect to get about a month in jail for each tab of ecstasy in their possession, she said.

Again the increase in LSD use could simply be down to fashion, Measham speculated. “The 70s are back in fashion, for women’s fashions at least - you have these sort of revivals and cycles.”

Measham said relative scarcity of the drug could also be a factor, with some users shunning substances they feel have become too popular and too accessible because they are no longer cool. “Maybe there’s a whole load of stars aligning in relation to that,” she added.

Amanda Feilding, director of the Beckley Foundation, which researches psychedelic drugs, said she had heard anecdotal reports that more people were using LSD. “I think there’s more around now,” she said. “There was a kind of great shortage and now I think more people have got into it.

“Hopefully the terrible taboo on it will slowly pass away because actually it’s completely non-toxic and if it’s taken in the right conditions it can be a very useful substance.”

The policing minister, Mike Penning said: “There are positive signs our approach to drugs is working as there has been a long-term downward trend in drug use over the last decade.

“However, we continue to be concerned about the harms caused by drug misuse, including ecstasy and other class A drugs, new psychoactive substances and prescription only medicines.”
Bron: www.theguardian.com

Zangeres Zonder Naam - Mexico

quote:

Coffeeshop Den Bosch beschoten | NOS

Vanmorgen rond 04.30 uur zijn zeker twintig schoten gelost op de Bossche coffeeshop Chip 'n Dale in de Hinthamerstraat.

Er zijn geen gewonden gevallen, zegt de politie. Op het moment van de schietpartij was er niemand in de coffeeshop.

Op een paar kilometer van de coffeeshop vond de politie zo'n tien minuten na de schietpartij een uitgebrande auto. Of het de vluchtauto van de dader(s) was, moet onderzoek uitwijzen.

In de Hinthamerstraat zitten meerdere coffeeshops. Deze week werden de eigenaressen van een van die andere coffeeshops aangehouden, omdat zij mogelijk iets te maken hadden met twee mannen die tientallen kilo's drugs bij zich hadden, vermoedelijk bestemd voor de shop.

Het is niet duidelijk of de schietpartij van vannacht en het incident van deze week iets met elkaar te maken hebben.

Bron: nos.nl

quote:

Opium is Replacing Marijuana Plants in most Mexican States - The Yucatan Times

The plants growing along an increasing number of Mexican hillsides reflect trends in illegal drug use here in the United States. While marijuana fields easily outnumbered poppy plantations in prime Mexican growing regions, both government and international-agency statistics show those numbers have reversed as Mexican-origin heroin use in the US has exploded.

According to the Mexican daily Reforma, the leading marijuana production states in Mexico are Chihuahua, Guerrero, Jalisco, Durango, Sinaloa and Oaxaca. Between 2007-2010, the Mexican army discovered 432,561 marijuana fields in these areas. But that number plummeted by 56 percent between 2011-2014, as soldiers only found 187,056 marijuana plantations during that time frame. Mexico’s military department known as SEDENA indicated that opium poppies have been replacing marijuana plants in these states.

Shifts in illegal drug production by Mexican cartels tend to occur rather quickly in response to changes in demand from the US market. Unlike cocaine, which has to be brought into Mexico from other countries, heroin and marijuana can both be grown and processed internally. This allows cartels to dictate to their growers what kinds of plants they need to grow and in what quantities.

Guerrero, currently one of the most violent states in Mexico and home to the Guerreros Unidos Cartel and infiltrated by Jalisco Nueva Generación drug organization, remains first in poppy production. However, Chihuahua—across the border from southwest Texas—has seen the fastest increase in production, tripling its crop size in the past four years.

According to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration statistics released in May 2015 by the Drug Enforcement Administration, between 2007-2013 the number of heroin addicts in the US almost doubled from 161,000 to 289,000.

Besides, deaths involving heroin more than tripled between 2007 (2,402) and 2013 (8,260).



Bron: www.theyucatantimes.com

quote:

Drugsdeal
^{Een driedelige reeks over de regulering van drugs}


“Red het land, sta drugs toe!” Met die oproep schreven Frits Bolkestein, Els Borst, Hedy d’Ancona en anderen in 2010 een hartstochtelijk pleidooi voor de regulering van niet alleen wiet maar ook een flink aantal harddrugs. “Het verbod op drugs kost miljarden: het leidt tot misdaad en is slecht voor de volksgezondheid. Hef het op.”

Ooit was Nederland een toonbeeld van tolerantie met haar gedogen. Tegenwoordig lopen we met ons vreemde “voor- en achterdeurbeleid” achter, zelfs op verschillende staten in Amerika, toch de bakermat van de enorm averechtse en zelfs verslavende ‘war on drugs’. Door vooraanstaande politici, denkers, gebruikers en experts wordt al jaren geroepen om regulering.

De Balie en D66 nemen die uitdaging aan en onderzoeken in deze driedelige reeks wat nu eigenlijk de gevolgen zijn van de regulering van drugs. Eerst onderzoeken we de feiten wat betreft de kosten én opbrengsten en de gevolgen voor de volksgezondheid, daarna bespreken we, op basis van de verzamelde feiten, de grote vraag van het debat: kunnen we samen een nieuwe deal maken over drugs?

“Al ruim veertig jaar zijn drugs verboden. Maar het gebruik is groter dan ooit en niets wijst er op dat het verbod werkt. Wél is duidelijk dat het verbod schade veroorzaakt. De ongehoorde omvang daarvan dringt echter nauwelijks tot de publieke opinie door. Deze – ook letterlijk – ongehoorde feiten zijn de grote afwezige in het drugsdebat.” - Red het land, sta drugs toe! NRC Handelsblad, 18-10-2010

quote:

Greater Manchester police step up patrols in wake of drug gang shootings | UK news | The Guardian

Detectives believe three separate turf wars are being played out, with most high-profile shooting that of Salford ‘Mr Big’ Paul Massey

Police have stepped up patrols on the streets of Manchester following a spate of shootings between rival drugs gangs.

Detectives believe three separate battles are being fought for “vacant turf” in north and south Manchester after four key drugs suspects were arrested earlier this year.

The turf wars are believed to be being played out in the Newton Heath area in north Manchester, in Wythenshawe in the south of the city and in Salford, Greater Manchester.

The most high-profile recent shooting came when Salford’s “Mr Big”, Paul Massey, was murdered outside his home 12 days ago.

Massey is believed to have been mediating between two warring gangs fighting for drugs rights in the city when he was shot four times.

Related: Salford's 'Mr Big' Paul Massey 'had been mediating between two warring gangs'

DCI Howard Millington, the senior investigating officer, issued an appeal for a man seen carrying a gun in nearby Clifton Country Park two days before Massey was killed.

He said: “It has been just over a week since the murder of Paul Massey and our investigation continues to catch whoever did this.

“We are keen to speak to a man who was seen at 7pm on Friday 24 July 2015, in Clifton Country Park. He was near to the entrance to Giants Seat Farm about 150 yards before the Giants Seat Garden Centre. He was in what was described as a white Renault Kangoo van.

“The man is described as white, in his late 30s to early 40s, about 5ft 10in tall, of average build, with a round face, and was wearing a black hat, black jacket, grey and black camouflage trousers, and was carrying a torch and a gun.”

Investigators believe a separate flare-up in the north of the city is linked to the arrests in March. Three houses in Ancoats and Newton Heath were the target of shootings on 27 March, followed a month later by gunshots in nearby Blackley and Chadderton.

A well-informed source said the turf war in north Manchester had been going on since jailed police killer Dale Cregan shot dead father and son David and Mark Short in 2012.

Two recent shootings in Wythenshaw are not considered to be connected to the north Manchester rivalries.
Bron: www.theguardian.com

quote:

165 miljoen euro aan cocaďne onderschept in onderzeeër

De Amerikaanse kustwacht heeft een zelfgemaakte onderzeeër met daarin een voorraad cocaďne ter waarde van ten minste 165 miljoen euro onderschept bij de kust van Mexico. Dat bericht NBC News. Nooit eerder in de geschiedenis van de kustwacht vond er zo'n grote onderschepping plaats.

De kustwacht arresteerde vier vermoedelijke smokkelaars. De onderzeeër is op 18 juli onderschept, maar het nieuws is nu pas naar buiten gekomen. Aan boord van het vaartuig lagen 275 balen samengeperste cocaďne. De onderzeeër werd gespot door een vliegtuig van de Amerikaanse marine, die vervolgens de kustwacht inschakelde.

'Elke onderschepping van zo'n half-afzinkbaar en zelfbesturend schip verstoort internationaal georganiseerde misdaadnetwerken en helpt het versterken van de veiligheid en stabiliteit op het westelijk halfrond', zei Charles W. Ray, viceadmiraal en commandant van het Pacifisch gebied in een verklaring.

De kustwacht probeerde het vaartuig naar de kust te slepen, maar het zonk met 1814 kilo cocaďne aan boord. Er kon 5443 kilo van de onderzeeër worden gehaald voordat het vaartuig zonk.

Onderzeeër geliefd bij smokkelaars

Colombiaanse smokkelaars maken al bijna tien jaar gebruik van onderzeeërs. 'Je ziet alleen de uitlaatpijp en de stuurhut vanuit de lucht', zei Allyson Conroy van de Amerikaanse kustwacht.

Ten minste 25 onderzeeërs zoals deze zijn sinds november 2006 onderschept door de Amerikaanse kustwacht. Op 16 juni onderschepte de kustwacht er nog een. Er bevond zich 2476 kilo cocaďne aan boord.

Bron: www.volkskrant.nl

quote:

Murder and drug trafficking allegations cast pall over Argentina primary election | World news | The Guardian

Government says claim that cabinet chief Aníbal Fernández leads double life as drug kingpin ‘the Walrus’ is part of smear campaign by conservative media

Government says claim that cabinet chief Aníbal Fernández leads double life as drug kingpin ‘the Walrus’ is part of smear campaign by conservative media

Lurid allegations of murder and drug smuggling have overshadowed the build-up to this weekend’s primary elections in Argentina as outgoing president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner attempts to ensure a Peronist ally follows her to the Pink House.

The claims have been leveled against the president’s cabinet chief, Aníbal Fernández, who a convicted gangster recently claimed was living a double life as a trafficking kingpin known as “the Walrus”.

The ruling camp say the story has been fabricated by the opposition and the powerful Clarín media group – which has often clashed with President Fernández – in an attempt to dent the popularity of Peronist candidates ahead of Sunday’s open party primaries. The vote, in which Argentinians can vote for any candidate from any party, will offer a gauge of public opinion ahead of the presidential election on 25 October.

Opinion polls suggest Fernández’s preferred successor, Daniel Scioli – the current governor of Buenos Aires – is ahead of his rivals. He will run uncontested as the candidate of the ruling Frente Para la Victoria (Victory Front) this Sunday, while the conservative opposition alliance Cambiemos (Let’s Change) will see three candidates challenge for the nomination, including the frontrunner Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires.

But the campaign has been overshadowed by press reports claiming that the president’s righthand man Fernández masterminded the murder of three drug smugglers who triangulated the sale of vast amounts of the prescription drug ephedrine (used for the production of methamphetamine) between China and Mexico via Argentina in 2008.

Although press accusations of involvement with drug cartels have been raised before, these reached fever pitch this week after one of the criminals convicted for the triple murder alleged on the country’s most-watched television news programme Periodismo Para Todos that it was Fernández, then the justice minister, who had given the order.

Speaking from prison, convict Martín Lanatta claimed Fernández ordered the killings to elbow his way into the profitable business.

“The ephedrine-smuggling business ended up entirely in the hands of Aníbal Fernández with intelligence people,” said Lanatta.

He and another witness linked to the drug ring, José Luis Salerno, claimed Fernández was known under the code name “the Walrus” because of his abundant mustache.

The cabinet chief has denied the accusations. “I’m leading the polls,” said Fernández, who is running for governor of Buenos Aires province in the October elections. “They’re trying to keep me from becoming governor.”

The more sober side of the campaign has focused on the extent to which the next president will continue the Kirchnerist policies of the past 12 years, particularly with regard to workers’ rights, fighting inequality, controls on the economy and relations with international financial markets. Macri has promised a change of direction and more business-friendly policies.

Scioli is considered a relatively moderate figure inside the Peronist movement, but he has chosen a key ally of Fernández as his running mate and adopted a leftist stance in campaign speeches praising trade unions and pledging increased spending on public works and education.

Critics claim the outgoing president will maintain a strong influence if he wins. Scioli derided suggestions that Fernández will be a backseat driver.

“You know what, I’m going to do it my way,” he told supporters on Thursday, pledging to fight inflation and make Argentina more attractive to foreign investment.


Bron: www.theguardian.com

quote:

Sydney man becomes oldest person charged with cocaine smuggling – at 91 | Australia news | The Guardian

Retired surgeon Victor Twartz ‘legitimately scammed’ by Indian gang over internet, one of 40 Australians arrested on home soil in such cases since 2013

A 91-year-old devout Christian with a penchant for tweed suits is believed to have become the oldest person to be charged with drug trafficking after he was duped into importing almost 5kg (11lbs) of cocaine from India to Australia.

Police say retired dental surgeon Victor Twartz was scammed by a drugs gang who groomed him via email and lured him into importing the class A drug last month, disguised in bars of coloured soap.

Twartz appeared briefly at court in Sydney on Tuesday, dressed in a three-piece tweed suit, after being charged with importing a commercial quantity of the drug. His case was adjourned until October.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, he said he had been tricked into importing the drugs. Citing the new testament book of Revelation, he said those responsible should be cast into a “lake of fire”.

Interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald at his nursing home in a Sydney suburb, Twartz said: “I’m 1,000% against drugs. I don’t even drink alcohol.”

His son, Peter Twartz, told ABC News his father is a devout Seventh Day Adventist with no criminal background.

“His background is as a dentist, he is significantly religious,” Peter Twartz said. “There is no way that he would knowingly [have] anything to do with drugs — he sees it as a scourge.”

The Australian federal police’s organised crime commander, David Stewart, would not go into detail about what Twartz had been promised by the group, but said he had been in touch with them over many months.

Police were tipped off by Twartz’s family but were unable to stop him leaving Australia, Stewart said in Canberra. “There is certainly some evidence to suggest that this man was legitimately scammed by this group and exploited.

“There were warnings issued to him about his activities both here and overseas ... but you can only provide people with certain warnings. At the end of the day they’ll make their own choices.”

Twartz was returning to Australia from Delhi on 8 July when he was caught carrying 27 bars of soap, filled with about 4.5kg of cocaine.

He claims he was duped by people he met in Delhi after he was contacted online. He was handed a bag just before he boarded his flight and told it contained gifts for a person in Australia.

“I looked carefully at what was in the soap,” Twartz told the Herald. “I scraped it and it was certainly soap but there were these streaks of white stuff in between. I thought it was additional perfume or that was the style of Indian soap.”

Stewart said in the past two years 40 Australians have been arrested locally and more overseas in similar scams.

The internet is making it easier for organised crime syndicates to groom people using social media, Stewart added, with vulnerable Australians – particularly the elderly and mentally ill – targeted. But he warned ignorance was not a defence and urged the public to steer clear of any offer that sounds too good to be true.
Bron: www.theguardian.com

quote:

Kinderen zwaargewond door chemische stof in bos Zutendaal

In een bos in het Belgische Zutendaal, zo’n twaalf kilometer van Maastricht, zijn vier kinderen zwaargewond geraakt doordat ze door een plas fietsten waar vermoedelijk chemisch afval in was gedumpt.

Dat melden Belgische media. De kinderen zouden eerste- en tweedegraads brandwonden hebben opgelopen. Twee andere kinderen en de begeleider raakten niet gewond.

Momenteel wordt het water onderzocht, om vast te stellen om wat voor stof het gaat en het spul uit het bos te verwijderen. De politie wil ook achterhalen of op andere plaatsen in het bos afval is gedumpt.

Steeds meer drugsafval wordt gedumpt in de natuur. In Nederland wordt 90 procent van het gedumpte drugsafval gevonden in het zuiden van het land; Brabant spant de kroon. Zo’n 30 procent van alle drugsfabrieken staat in Brabant, Limburg of Zeeland. De oude traditionele Hollandse criminele netwerken verschuiven hun activiteiten steeds meer vanuit de Randstad naar het zuiden van Nederland.
Bron: NRC