#philippine-drug-war

#philippine-drug-war

Official data reveals a significant discrepancy: while intelligence reports identified 58,270 gang members and collaborators at large, authorities have arrested 91,628 people, meaning over 33,000 were not previously listed as gang members.

Military police chief Marcelo Menezes Nogueira said that the raid resulted in a major armed confrontation. Dos Santos and six other suspected criminals were killed, and a local resident was reportedly caught in the crossfire after being taken hostage.

The drugs were stored inside a pair of backpacks at Palma's apartment, prosecutors said. One was hidden in a laundry hamper in Palma's bedroom closet. It contained more than 400 grams of methamphetamine, 200-plus grams of a mixture containing fentanyl, other controlled substances and digital scales. A loaded gun was found in the same pack.

The Colombian leader said on Tuesday that an attack which had left 27 charred bodies did not appear to have been carried out by Colombia's own forces or any illegal armed groups which he said do not have armed planes. The explanation isn't credible, he said, later adding that an unexploded bomb dropped from an aircraft was found 100 meters from the home of an impoverished peasant family.

Citizens can voluntarily surrender illegal weapons without penalty in exchange for cash payments under the buyback scheme, Pundari said. The government did not specify how much it will pay for illegal weapons but said it will vary from province to province. In some cases, it may include cash incentives and support provided to people who wish to start agriculture businesses.

On Feb. 25, 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; opposition leader Corazon Aquino the first woman to lead the country assumed the presidency.

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.

The cartel said it was seizing the store, which would only be allowed to sell online outside the state. That was in early 2022, when vapes were still legal in Mexico, a market worth $1.5 billion. But earlier this month, the country banned the sale - although not the use - of electronic cigarettes. Experts believe organized crime will now consolidate its control over the sale of the devices.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said on Thursday that ASEAN has not endorsed the three phases of the elections that were held in Myanmar, which concluded last weekend. Lazaro was speaking after hosting ASEAN's first major ministerial meetings this year in the central Philippines city of Cebu, where the Myanmar crisis was high on the agenda. Asked in a news conference if the bloc did not recognise the elections, Lazaro said yes, as of now.

A meeting between two drug traffickers in the Amazon jungle region of Putumayo has become a new lever of pressure for Donald Trump on the governments of Colombia and Venezuela. A U.S. intelligence report reveals that Giovanny Andres Rojas aka Arana, the top leader of the Border Commandos and currently imprisoned in La Picota prison in Bogota, is making illegal deals with the Serbian kingpin Antun Mrdeza, who has been held in Venezuela since 2025.

South Africa faces one of the world's worst rates of violent crime. In 2024, 26,232 murders were recorded around 72 each day for a homicide rate of nearly 42 per 100,000 people. Data derived from early 2025 numbers show a 12.4% drop in murders (5,727 cases) and fewer serious assaults, but these gains haven't changed the big picture: Violence is still widespread, and many South Africans feel unsafe.

The Chinese government has executed 11 members of the Ming family crime syndicate. This comes after investigations into the criminal empire uncovered "intentional homicide, intentional injury, illegal detention, fraud, and operating gambling dens", as well as other penalties. In the announcement, which has been translated, the Supreme People's Court has confirmed that the group, led by Ming Guoping and Ming Zhenzhen, working alongside the "telecommunications fraud syndicate" led by other members, had conspired or committed various crimes.

In separate operations across three statesSinaloa, Sonora, and Guerreroauthorities reported the seizure of more than 41,000 liters and 12 tons of chemicals to be used in drug production. The announcement includes the dismantling of a clandestine laboratory in Guerrero and 11 other methamphetamine production sites in Sonora. In Sonora, between the towns of Culiacan and Mexicali, a vehicle containing 212 kilograms of methamphetamine was seized by the Army and the National Guard.

Trainee lawyer Simone and childhood friend Bethany Clarke had met up in Laos and spent a night at the hostel, where about 100 guests were given free shots. It is thought those drinks were tainted with methanol, a toxic substance normally found in paint thinner but that is sometimes mixed with alcohol illegally to cut costs. The friends felt unwell the next day and were eventually taken to hospital, where Simone, from Orpington in south-east London, was put on life support before she died.

Mexico has sent another 37 alleged members of Mexican criminal organisations to the United States, the country's security minister said, amid US President Donald Trump's threat of ground attacks against drug cartels in the region. The handover of alleged drug cartel members on Tuesday is the third major transfer to the US in the past year and brings the total number of suspects transferred to 92.

The group had established industrial parks in Myanmar's Kokang region bordering China, from where they allegedly ran gambling and telecom scam operations involving abductions, extortion, forced prostitution, and drug manufacturing and trafficking. They defrauded victims of more than 29 billion yuan ($4.2bn) and caused the deaths of six Chinese citizens and injuries to others, the court said. The defendants appealed the verdict, but the Guangdong Provincial High People's Court dismissed their applications, it added.

El Mezquital is neither a neighborhood nor a district. It started out as one, but now it's a motley patchwork of gray houses and corrugated metal roofs on the outskirts of Guatemala City. From here, the capital's buildings appear in the distance as tiny lights, as unattainable as green spaces, shopping malls, or health centers. Old yellow school buses burst noisily down the main street, belching smoke and carrying silent residents who travel with their cell phones hidden away.