#cartels

#cartels

The Farias Laguna brothers were leading a criminal double life, accused of running a massive fuel smuggling network through the very ports they were tasked with securing.

"Cartel leaders don't get to write the end of their stories," said Adam Gordon, the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of California.

Andrew Pritchard initially smuggled cocaine for the UK club scene using hard-sided suitcases packed with concealed drugs and decoy luggage to evade airport security.

This tragedy is a solemn reminder of the risks faced by those Mexican and US officials who are dedicated to protecting our communities, the US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, wrote on X.

That's the moment when I realized this is going to be extremely complicated for us to make sense of," Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexican representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said. The complication: People were running and seemed panicked in the airport of Mexico's second-largest city, but there was no gunfire or siege, the airport's official account tweeted.

These semi-submersible boats have been used for years by drug gangs to smuggle cocaine from South and Central America. In more recent months as the price of cocaine has plummeted, gangs have changed tactics: instead of letting the boats sink on delivery, they have started to reuse the vessels, setting up a refuelling platform at sea and sending the boats back so they can make as many journeys as possible.

Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, consolidated one of Mexico's most powerful criminal organisations in part due to a unique franchise-based structure. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the CJNG maintains a presence in every state of Mexico, with varying levels of influence, and operates in more than 40 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, and throughout the US.

Whole areas of western Mexico have been all but shut down after a surge in cartel violence sparked by a military raid that killed one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers, known as El Mencho. Schools were closed in several Mexican states, and foreign governments warned their citizens to stay inside after the drug lord, whose real name is Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, was declared dead on Sunday.

Juan Carlos Valencia González has emerged as a key contender to take over the $20 billion criminal empire after "El Mencho" died in a Mexican special forces raid on Sunday. The 41-year-old is the slain chief's stepson. According to law enforcement, his mother Rosalinda "La Jefa" González Valencia was married to the drug kingpin and was a major player on the financial side of the cartel.

The ability of criminal groups to exercise this type of power and exercise this type of violence is closely linked to firearms trafficking, said Cecilia Farfan-Mendez, an expert on Mexican organised crime. If we want to see less violence in Mexico, this is a very important conversation.