Social justice
fromwww.independent.co.uk
6 hours agoHow young girls are being exploited to carry drugs across the country
Young girls are increasingly targeted by county lines grooming gangs, leading to coercion into drug trafficking and abuse.
Humberto Caicedo Ramirez, 53, and Carlos Barbosa Arias, 61, were caught when police raided a laboratory inside a flat in Vauxhall, south London, where they were processing cocaine concealed in bars of soap.
The 59-year-old is accused of running the notorious 18th Street Gang on behalf of her Mexican Mafia husband, who rots in a state prison. She allegedly ran the organization's criminal operations - collecting rent, taxes and dishing out brutal discipline - on behalf of her husband Jorge Gonzales and three other Mexican Mafia leaders in prison.
I-80 has become a pipeline for narcotic trafficking over the years. Troopers are paying close attention. It's not uncommon for the department to discover drugs on travelers when passing through the Cornhusker State.
OPP and Durham Region police executed search warrants at homes in Whitby and Napanee, where they say they found drugs and cash. Police say they found 16 grams of suspected fentanyl, one kilogram of suspected cocaine, Percocet tablets, a fully loaded handgun and ammunition, along with about $20,000 in Canadian and U.S. currency.
During an interview with the force, Mr Allen admitted that he had agreed to allow the package, the contents of which West Mercia Police estimated would have a street value of 20,000, to be delivered, having been asked to do so by a drug dealer. He told the school about it but offered a misleading explanation about the matter, saying he had agreed to receive the parcel but had no knowledge of what it would contain.
In a turn that feels more like a crime thriller than a routine court date, a Staten Island restaurant worker pleaded guilty on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, to obstructing justice after federal prosecutors said he helped try to bribe a juror in the Brooklyn federal trial of heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic. The plea, entered in Brooklyn federal court, followed an FBI probe that intercepted a series of meetings and phone calls tied to an alleged payoff plan. The revelation has frozen Gogic's trial in place and tossed a new legal wrench into an already sprawling drug trafficking case.
Colombia's government has announced it will resume peace talks with the powerful Gulf Clan, also known as the Gaitanist Self-Defence Forces (ECG), after the criminal group expressed concern about a recent deal with the United States. Tuesday's announcement addresses a temporary suspension the Gulf Clan announced earlier this month, in the wake of a meeting between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his US counterpart, Donald Trump.
Ian Claughton rigged his home, in the former pit village of Grimethorpe in South Yorkshire, with tripwires and home-made pipe bombs in order to protect his drugs business from would-be intruders. About 100 houses had to be evacuated in May 2024 as police searched three neighbouring houses connected to Claughton and his ex-wife Lesley Claughton. They found a series of traps as well as a home-made flamethrower, large quantities of cannabis, amphetamines and cash.
Two narco-terrorists were killed and one survived the strike. Following the engagement, US SOUTHCOM immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor, the military said. Last week, the US claimed responsibility for killing two people in an earlier attack in the eastern Pacific, bringing to three the number of attacks Washington has ordered on vessels since its forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a bloody nighttime raid on the capital, Caracas, in early January.