1 hour ago Cuba captures Chinese drug fugitive ‘Brother Wang’ after Mexico escape

A Chinese national who United States authorities accuse of trafficking large quantities of cocaine and fentanyl into the US before being arrested and then escaping custody in Mexico was recaptured in Cuba, Mexican authorities said Wednesday. Zhi Dong Zhang, alias “Brother Wang”, was indicted in federal court in Atlanta in 2022 on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. Mexican authorities captured him in Mexico City in October 2024 at the request of the US government. But a judge granted...

Events

10 h. ago US widens campaign on suspected drug boats with first deadly strike in Pacific

The US military struck a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, expanding an aggressive campaign of air strikes that so far had been limited to the Caribbean Sea. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike in a social media post on Wednesday, saying two people were killed. “Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbour anywhere in our hemisphere,” Hegseth wrote. In a brief video Hegseth posted, a small boat,...

Events

10 h. ago US widens campaign on suspected drug boats with first lethal strikes in Pacific

The United States has announced strikes on two alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Pacific Ocean that left five people dead, expanding the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the two strikes on boats in the Pacific - one on Wednesday and another the day before - in social media posts showing the vessels being engulfed in flames. “Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our...

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46 h. ago Air strikes and insults: Trump’s feud with Colombia threatens key alliance

For decades, Colombia and the United States have been devoted allies, sharing military intelligence, a robust trade relationship and a multibillion-dollar fight against drug trafficking. Now that is all at risk as the US ramps up deadly air strikes off Colombia’s coast and the leaders of both nations trade scathing verbal attacks. US President Donald Trump called Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter and Colombia’s first leftist president, an “illegal drug dealer”. Petro called Trump “rude”...

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4 d. ago US strike in Caribbean kills Colombian fisherman, stoking sovereignty row

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Saturday that the United States had violated Colombia’s sovereignty over its waters and killed a fisherman during its recent anti-drug trafficking military campaign in the Caribbean. “US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in our territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug traffickers and his daily activity was fishing,” the leftist leader said on social media. Carranza was reportedly killed in...

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8 d. ago Trump says US strike on another alleged drug boat off Venezuela kills 6

The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no US forces were harmed, the president said in a social media post. It was the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump’s administration has asserted it was treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force. US Defence Secretary...

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2 w. ago Singapore executes Malaysian diamorphine trafficker Pannir Selvam

Singapore has executed 38-year-old Malaysian Pannir Selvam Pranthaman for smuggling drugs into the island republic in 2014. Singapore-based non-governmental organisation Transformative Justice Collective member Rocky Howe confirmed the execution on Wednesday. “Pannir Selvam has been executed this morning,” he said. He was convicted by the High Court on May 2, 2017, for importing not less than 51.84 grams of diamorphine into Singapore in 2014 and was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty. The...

Politics

2 w. ago Venezuela says foiled ‘false flag’ bomb plot targeting US embassy in Caracas

President Nicolas Maduro said Monday that Venezuela foiled a false flag operation by what he called local terrorists to plant explosives at the US embassy in Caracas and exacerbate a dispute between the two countries over drug trafficking. Speaking on his weekly TV show, Maduro said two sources which he did not name “agreed on the possibility that a local terrorist group placed an explosive device at the US embassy in Caracas” in order to aggravate the dispute with Washington. Jorge Rodriguez,...

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2 w. ago Venezuela says foiled ‘false flag’ bomb plot targeting US embassy

President Nicolas Maduro said Monday that Venezuela foiled a false flag operation by what he called local terrorists to plant explosives at the US embassy in Caracas and exacerbate a dispute between the two countries over drug trafficking. Speaking on his weekly TV show, Maduro said two sources which he did not name “agreed on the possibility that a local terrorist group placed an explosive device at the US embassy in Caracas” in order to aggravate the dispute with Washington. Jorge Rodriguez,...

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2 w. ago Trump says US hit another boat off Venezuela, hints land operations next

US forces hit another vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday evening, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, adding that the US would also start looking at drug trafficking occurring on land. Trump made the comment during a speech at Naval Station Norfolk, next to the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. It was not immediately clear if he was referencing a strike announced on Friday by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. That strike, at least the fourth...

Politics

2 w. ago Hong Kong police arrest driver, seize cocaine, after crash leaves 8 injured

Hong Kong police have arrested a driver on suspicion of drug trafficking and furious driving after his vehicle hit two buses and two private cars in a series of crashes that left eight people injured in Yau Ma Tei. Officers seized 16 packs of suspected cocaine from his car following the incident near Temple Street on Sunday. At around 2pm, a grey private car was travelling westbound along Jordan Road when it collided with a KMB double-decker bus near Pilkem Street. The car did not stop and...

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3 w. ago Chinese court sentences 16 people linked to Myanmar crime family to death

A Chinese court sentenced 16 people linked to a notorious Myanmar-based telecoms fraud group to death on Monday for crimes including fraud, drug trafficking and prostitution. According to state broadcaster CCTV, prosecutors in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang found that since 2015 the Ming family crime gang had used its influence in Myanmar’s Kokang region to set up a number of “parks” and collude with financial backers to carry out criminal activities. Those activities – encompassing...

Events

4 w. ago Singapore halts execution of Malaysian drug trafficker at last minute

The execution of Malaysian national K. Datchinamurthy in Singapore has been halted. The execution was initially scheduled to take place at Changi prison on Thursday morning. Lawyer N. Surendran, who represents the inmate’s family, told an online portal that they received a call from the prison after midnight telling them of the matter. “We have no further information at this point. We are praying for the best outcome,” he said. Datchinamurthy, 39, was scheduled to be executed on Thursday for...

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