Counter-Drug
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Illicit Activity
U.S.-PRC summit brings progress on military communications, counternarcotics
FORUM Staff Resumption of military-to-military communications, bilateral cooperation to tackle the scourge of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and joint talks on the risks of artificial intelligence (AI) highlighted United States President Joe Biden’s much-anticipated summit with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping in California in mid-November 2023. The leaders’ talks “were some of the most constructive and…
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Global Commons
Indo-Pacific nations enhance cooperation to combat trafficking in persons
FORUM Staff Nations across the Indo-Pacific have increased cooperative efforts in recent years to counter human trafficking. In July 2023, for example, Indonesian authorities charged 12 people, including a policeman and an immigration officer, with trafficking 122 people to sell their kidneys for transplants, Reuters reported. The suspects recruited the Indonesians through social media and sent them to Cambodia for…
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Features
Maritime Domain Awareness
FORUM Staff | Photos By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Securing maritime borders requires more than merely having the technology to detect anomalies; it must also include a workforce trained to analyze the data. People with skills to know what they’re seeing and how to explain and report it are a key component to deterrence. And the United…
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Illicit Activity
French warships seize massive drug haul in Indian Ocean
FORUM Staff Two French Navy warships seized more than 1,000 kilograms of heroin, hashish and methamphetamine valued at U.S. $38 million from two vessels in the western Indian Ocean in March 2023 as part of a long-running European Union maritime security mission. The illegal drugs were interdicted under the EU Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) Somalia’s Operation Atalanta, which includes anti-piracy and…
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Illicit Activity
Indian military, law enforcement cooperate to tackle maritime narcotics trade
Mandeep Singh The trafficking of drugs by sea from Central to South Asia is on the rise, prompting cooperation among India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Navy and Coast Guard, and with the navies of neighboring countries. The maritime capabilities of India’s Armed Forces, particularly its Navy, give Indian law enforcement essential tools to counter seaborne drug smuggling, according to experts,…
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Illicit Activity
Research: PRC principal supplier of precursors for dangerous synthetic drugs
Felix Kim Lax law enforcement by officials in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), coupled with the ongoing activities of Chinese criminal gangs, known as triads, have enabled the continued production and distribution of dangerous synthetic drugs. Drugs including the stimulant methamphetamine and the opioid fentanyl persistently flood markets in the Indo-Pacific and the Americas, costing lives and wrecking livelihoods,…
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Illicit Activity
Laos makes big meth bust as U.N. warns of security challenges
The Associated Press Police in Laos have made their second huge methamphetamine seizure in three months, a development that a United Nations expert on the illicit drug trade said reflects a security challenge in Southeast Asia. Jeremy Douglas, the regional representative for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, said the January 2022 seizure of 36.5 million methamphetamine tablets in…
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