Greater Middle East
Saudis crack down on Yemeni smuggling pipeline
Border Guard patrols along Saudi Arabia’s rugged mountain frontier with Yemen report mounting interceptions of hashish, weapons and other contraband.
Tag: marijuana
Greater Middle East
Syria war fuels Lebanon hashish boom?
Afraid of war spilling across the border from neighboring Syria, Lebanon's government has halted cannabis eradication in the Bekaa Valley, allowing a dope-for-guns pipeline to flourish.
Afghanistan
US POW released in exchange for Gitmo detainees
President Obama announced that prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl has been released into US custody in exchange for five detainees held at Guantánamo Bay.
The Andes
Colombia: pressure grows to expand drug decrim
An official from the capital district government of Bogotá called upon Colombia’s national government to open debate on broadening the policy of drug decriminalization.
The Andes
Peru escalates cannabis crackdown
Cannabis took a greater share of total drug crops eradicated in Peru in 2013, and authorities hope to expand eradication this year—bringing the program beyond the remote coca zones.
Mexico
Blood avocados: Michoacán cartels co-opt ag-biz
Michoacán's blood-drenched Knights Templar cartel have amassed a land empire in the Mexican state, using the avocado industry to launder narco profits.
The Andes
FARC proposal to protect coca, cannabis growers
At the Havana peace talks with the Colombian government, the FARC rebels released a proposal to decriminalize and "regulate the production of coca, poppies and marijuana."
The Andes
Colombia: US suspends spraying after pilots downed
The US-funded glyphosate spraying in Colombia has been indefinitely suspended after presumed FARC guerillas shot down two fumigation planes—killing a US pilot.
Iran
Persian Gulf militarized —by drug war
In addition to the naval face-off over a global oil outlet, the Persian Gulf has seen escalating militarization by international forces in the guise of narcotics enforcement.
Mexico
Mexico narco networks inside and outside prisons
A new riot between rival gangs at a dangerously overcrowded priso in Tamaulipas left seven inmates dead—as an ex-state police commander was sentenced to prison in the US.
Mexico
Mexico: narcos abduct migrants —again
Tamaulipas state police resuced 73 abducted migrants outside Reynosa after following their apparent captors to a house and hearing frantic calls for help.
Mexico
Mexico: notorious kingpin Caro Quintero freed
Mexico’s most notorious kingpin, Rafael Caro Quintero, was released from Puente Grande federal prison in Jalisco where he had been incarcerated for the past 28 years.