Latest news with #InSightCrime
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump defense official led thinktank that spread lies about Tren de Aragua
A senior official appointed to the defense department led a thinktank that promoted fake news about the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, according to InSight Crime, a non-profit analyzing organized crime. Joseph Humire was appointed this summer to be the head of policy focusing on the western hemisphere within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. He was previously the executive director of a conservative thinktank focused on global security. Humire's appointment comes as the Trump administration is ramping up its aggressive strategy against organized crime in Latin America and the Venezuelan government, which it accuses of working with TdA. Under Humire's leadership, the Center for a Secure Free Society thinktank published the 'TdA Activity Monitor', tracking alleged crimes by accused members of the gang throughout the US. According to InSight Crime, at least five event entries in the tracker appeared to have been 'completely fabricated'. InSight Crime found zero basis for the false entries, with local police departments telling researchers the purported crimes were nonexistent. InSight Crime analyzed more than 90 of the entries, finding many relied on unverified sources. 'Some incidents are included multiple times, inflating the gang's perceived presence and activities,' researchers found. The monitor is no longer available online following InSight Crime's reporting. 'The TdA Monitor is an aggregator, not a primary source of information about Tren de Aragua's activities,' a statement from the Center for a Secure Free Society said, adding that it 'reflects the media reporting'. The Department of Defense declined to comment. Humire has spoken publicly about alleged Tren de Aragua crimes on Fox News and other conservative outlets. He has also promoted the idea that the Venezuelan government is directing the gang's crimes around the world, despite doubts from the intelligence community. Humire authored a report in December 2024 for the conservative Heritage Foundation, writing that Tren de Aragua 'is a perfect proxy and tool of asymmetric warfare' by the Venezuelan government to 'destabilize democratic countries'. In March, Humire made similar claims before Congress. But US intelligence agencies have cast doubt on the theory that Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro directs the gang, according to an intelligence memo whose release angered top officials, who then reportedly ordered a rewrite. TdA has been a major focus of the Trump administration, which designated the group as a terrorist organization earlier this year. Members of the gang have been implicated in violent crimes across the hemisphere but organized crime experts say descriptions of the group have exaggerated its scale, reach and structure. Despite skepticism from US intelligence agencies, Trump officials have repeatedly said the Venezuelan government, under Maduro, is working with Tren de Aragua to 'infiltrate' the US. The accusation was used to justify the Alien Enemies Act invocation in March, leading to the expulsion of hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a Salvadorian prison. Humire's appointment to the defense department comes as the administration turns up the pressure on Venezuela. Last week, Trump directed the Pentagon to use military force on some drug cartels – a significant escalation in the 'war on drugs' – and the justice department doubled a bounty on Maduro to $50m. The justice department has accused top Venezuelan officials of running the 'Cartel of the Suns' to traffic drugs to the US. The state department recently declared the Cartel of the Suns to be a terrorist organization, but experts also say this claim may be overstated. Rather than a hierarchical organization trafficking drugs under Maduro's orders, InSight Crime explains it is more-so a 'network of networks' within the military. The Trump administration has increased the US's involvement in Latin America through threats of tariffs and military intervention, alleged backroom deals and prisoner swaps. Rightwing leaders have cozied up to Trump, including El Salvador's authoritarian Nayib Bukele. An analysis by the Guardian and the Quincy Institute shows Latin American leaders have spent millions of dollars hiring lobbyists to influence the White House.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump defense official led thinktank that spread lies about Tren de Aragua
A senior official appointed to the defense department led a thinktank that promoted fake news about the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, according to InSight Crime, a non-profit analyzing organized crime. Joseph Humire was appointed this summer to be the head of policy focusing on the western hemisphere within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. He was previously the executive director of a conservative thinktank focused on global security. Humire's appointment comes as the Trump administration is ramping up its aggressive strategy against organized crime in Latin America and the Venezuelan government, which it accuses of working with TdA. Under Humire's leadership, the Center for a Secure Free Society thinktank published the 'TdA Activity Monitor', tracking alleged crimes by accused members of the gang throughout the US. According to InSight Crime, at least five event entries in the tracker appeared to have been 'completely fabricated'. InSight Crime found zero basis for the false entries, with local police departments telling researchers the purported crimes were nonexistent. InSight Crime analyzed more than 90 of the entries, finding many relied on unverified sources. 'Some incidents are included multiple times, inflating the gang's perceived presence and activities,' researchers found. The monitor is no longer available online following InSight Crime's reporting. 'The TdA Monitor is an aggregator, not a primary source of information about Tren de Aragua's activities,' a statement from the Center for a Secure Free Society said, adding that it 'reflects the media reporting'. The Department of Defense declined to comment. Humire has spoken publicly about alleged Tren de Aragua crimes on Fox News and other conservative outlets. He has also promoted the idea that the Venezuelan government is directing the gang's crimes around the world, despite doubts from the intelligence community. Humire authored a report in December 2024 for the conservative Heritage Foundation, writing that Tren de Aragua 'is a perfect proxy and tool of asymmetric warfare' by the Venezuelan government to 'destabilize democratic countries'. In March, Humire made similar claims before Congress. But US intelligence agencies have cast doubt on the theory that Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro directs the gang, according to an intelligence memo whose release angered top officials, who then reportedly ordered a rewrite. TdA has been a major focus of the Trump administration, which designated the group as a terrorist organization earlier this year. Members of the gang have been implicated in violent crimes across the hemisphere but organized crime experts say descriptions of the group have exaggerated its scale, reach and structure. Despite skepticism from US intelligence agencies, Trump officials have repeatedly said the Venezuelan government, under Maduro, is working with Tren de Aragua to 'infiltrate' the US. The accusation was used to justify the Alien Enemies Act invocation in March, leading to the expulsion of hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a Salvadorian prison. Humire's appointment to the defense department comes as the administration turns up the pressure on Venezuela. Last week, Trump directed the Pentagon to use military force on some drug cartels – a significant escalation in the 'war on drugs' – and the justice department doubled a bounty on Maduro to $50m. The justice department has accused top Venezuelan officials of running the 'Cartel of the Suns' to traffic drugs to the US. The state department recently declared the Cartel of the Suns to be a terrorist organization, but experts also say this claim may be overstated. Rather than a hierarchical organization trafficking drugs under Maduro's orders, InSight Crime explains it is more-so a 'network of networks' within the military. The Trump administration has increased the US's involvement in Latin America through threats of tariffs and military intervention, alleged backroom deals and prisoner swaps. Rightwing leaders have cozied up to Trump, including El Salvador's authoritarian Nayib Bukele. An analysis by the Guardian and the Quincy Institute shows Latin American leaders have spent millions of dollars hiring lobbyists to influence the White House.
USA Today
02-07-2025
- USA Today
700 pounds of meth found in cucumbers. Feds say smugglers use fruits, veggies as cover.
Federal agents found the shipment of drugs among a cargo load of cucumbers. The seizure is the latest instance of traffickers using fresh fruits and vegetables to move drugs. Cucumber. Jalapeño. Cheese. Onion. Avocado. It sounds like a delicious spicy salad. But they're actually the ingredients of drug smuggling. Federal prosecutors say an arrest in Georgia of men charged with trying to ship 700 pounds of meth inside a tractor-trailer packed with cucumbers is the latest case of accused smugglers cooking up a scheme to hide their illegal main course. Andres Jasso Jr., 37, and Rufino Pineda-Perez, 59, were arrested in Gainesville, Georgia, after federal agents discovered they were hiding thousands of packages of drugs among 20 pallet boxes containing cucumbers, federal officials announced July 2. 'Thanks to the diligent work of our federal and state law enforcement partners, a tremendous amount of meticulously concealed methamphetamine was located, was seized, and will never hit the street,' said Theodore S. Hertzberg, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. 'Our office will aggressively prosecute criminals who attempt to use North Georgia as a distribution hub for their deadly poisons.' Cukes are one of just many fresh vegetables smugglers use to move hundreds of pounds of drugs, according to a review of cases by USA TODAY. Law enforcement has uncovered everything from cocaine hidden among bananas to heroin stashed among pungent shipments of garlic and onions. Experts say smugglers see hiding drugs amid fresh fruits and vegetables as one of the best ways to slip past customs agents. 'It's very common to smuggle drugs by concealing them in produce shipments,' said Mike LaSusa, a deputy director at InSight Crime, a think tank focused on drug cartels. 'Because produce spoils quickly and damages easily, customs and law enforcement have to inspect it both quickly and carefully, which makes it hard to do a thorough job.' The federal case in Georgia Videos of the bust shared by the Drug Enforcement Administration show a neatly packaged operation. The tractor-trailer is full of plastic-wrapped cardboard boxes containing loads of cucumbers. But in breaking apart the boxes, federal agents reveal four packets of drugs are hidden within the folded cardboard, videos show. Jasso and Pineda-Perez were discovered at the scene in a Kia Optima sedan parked next to the tractor trailer, federal court documents say. Their role in the operation was to unload the pallet boxes and remove the drugs from among the cucumbers, court papers say. Someone else was supposed to then pick up the hundreds of pounds of drugs, according to court papers. Pineda-Perez is a Mexican national with no legal status in the U.S., officials say. According to the Department of Justice, he was previously deported in 2001 for transporting marijuana and was deported a second time after being sentenced in 2015 to over six years in prison for transporting cocaine. Jasso is from Brookhaven, Georgia, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Why are fruits and veggies so popular — among traffickers Research by drug trafficking experts shows fresh fruit and vegetables are a smuggler's dish of choice for several reasons. Fresh produce is chosen because so much of it is moving between ports that authorities can't properly inspect it all, an analysis from 2019 by InSight Crime shows. Produce also spoils so quickly that customs officials are incentivized to perform their inspections quickly, analysis shows. Finally, produce is so cheap that the profits from the drugs compared to the loss of the produce are especially high, according to InSight. An entire shipment of bananas costs about 60% of the cost of a kilogram of cocaine, according to the 2019 analysis. InSight found that smuggling drugs amid produce shipments had become so common that some authorities began instead to go after fruit shipping companies suspected of being fronts for drug traffickers. Smuggling recipe substitutions News reports and analysis show that smugglers chose a range of fruits and vegetables to move drugs. Police in 2024 found 1.7 tons of cocaine hidden among a shipment of avocados in Colombia, according to reporting by ABC News. The drugs were bound for Portugal. Authorities in the Dominican Republic last December performed what was then the biggest drug bust in the country's history when they discovered 9.5 tons of cocaine in a shipment of bananas, the Guardian reported. The drugs were also bound for Europe. Heroin, marijuana, meth and cocaine have also been found among shipments of celery, cheese, jalapeño, and ginger. Authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border discovered 18 pounds of cocaine hidden within four cheese wheels after performing X-ray scans of the dairy product. The cheese smuggling method, according to Food & Wine, is more common in Italy where authorities have found hundreds of pounds of cocaine in everything from wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to Grana Padano.
Hindustan Times
02-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
Who is Brian Tarrence? New York man goes missing while on vacation in Turks and Caicos with wife
A 51-year-old man disappeared while on vacation in Turks and Caicos with his wife. Brian Tarrence, a New York resident, was last seen leaving his rental on Providenciales's Grace Bay on June 25. His wife was sleeping at the time he left. At around 3:30 am local time, he was seen walking towards the tourist-heavy downtown area, private investigator Carl DeFazio revealed to News 12 Westchester. The New Yorker has been missing for almost a week now. Brian Tarrence, a 51-year-old man from New York, went missing while on vacation in Turks and Caicos with his wife Tarrence moved from Monroe, New York, to Manhattan recently. He landed in Turks and Caicos on June 22 with his wife of one year. The couple planned to stay in the popular tourist destination until June 29. As per DeFazio, there was nothing out of the ordinary in the hours leading up to Tarrence's disappearance. He still had his cell phone with him when he left his Airbnb. 'We have him on camera, and he walks into town, and then he basically disappears, and we haven't heard from him since,' DeFazio, who has been a PI since the 1990s, told Fox News. The investigator has been hired by Tarrence's family to handle his case. DeFazio told the NYPost that the area where Brian Tarrence went missing is a 'very safe' part of the town. Meanwhile, the reason for the New Yorker leaving his rental in the middle of the night while his wife slept has not been revealed. DeFazio has been trying to get a record of Tarrence's phone activity on the Turks and Caicos Islands, but the process is slow. The PI added that the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police are investigating the matter and have listed Tarrence as missing. Police are using drones to scan the area and checking CCTV footage in hopes of tracing Tarrence's movements on the night of his disappearance, the PI said. Also read: Scattered Spider: FBI issues warning over cyberhackers targeting US airlines Brian Tarrance's wife is still in Turks and Caicos to help the authorities with the investigation. The local police are asking anyone with information to contact 911 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477. Posters with his details and face have been put up around the island. DeFazio said that he is not ruling out the possibility of foul play. He has asked the family to remain hopeful of finding an answer. 'He's a smart guy… We don't know what's in his mind or if he did this on his own or if somebody took him in,' the investigator added. Crime rate in Turks and Caicos In March, the US State Department issued a travel advisory for tourists visiting Turks and Caicos to exercise increased caution due to a rise in crime. The tourist spot has seen violent robberies increase by 143 per cent, as per InSight Crime. The homicide rate in the destination surged to 103.1 per cent with 48 murders. This was the highest recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean. FAQs: 1. How did Brian Tarrence disappear? He walked out of his Airbnb at 3:30 am on June 25. He was last seen walking towards the downtown area of Grace Bay, Providenciales. 2. Is the matter under investigation? Yes, Turks and Caicos police are looking into the disappearance. 3. Is Turks and Caicos safe? In March this year, the US State Department issued a travel advisory for people visiting Turks and Caicos. The department asked them to exercise increased caution in the area due to a rise in crime.
Sunday World
23-06-2025
- Sunday World
Kinahan cartel on alert as major drug lord arrested in Abu Dhabi
The arrest is likely to shake up the Kinahan cartel as the UAE moves away from being the safe haven for criminals it once was. International drug lord Dritan Gjika has been arrested in Abu Dhabi – a move likely to shake up the Kinahan cartel as the UAE moves away from being the safe haven for criminals it once was. The Albanian cocaine trafficker, considered to be one of the leaders of drug trafficking worldwide, was arrested as part of Operation Pampa, Spanish police have said. As part of the investigation, his Albanian criminal organisation, based in Ecuador, was dismantled. Dritan Gjika News in 90 Seconds - Monday June 23 40 people were arrested in Spain and Ecuador during 62 searches connected to the operation More than €500,000, $2.3 million, as well as weapons and 12 high-end vehicles, were also seized. Eight members of the gang were convicted in January for money laundering. Dritan Gijka was on the run for 14 months, after vanishing from his home in Guayaquil, Ecuador where he ran his drug trafficking ring since 2009. He went to the South American country on a temporary visitor's visa and stayed for 15 years. He became one of the country's most wanted men for his involvement in shipping cocaine to Central America and Europe. The 47-year-old was arrested in Abu Dhabi on May 26th. He was the subject of two Interpol Red Notices for drug trafficking, money laundering and organised crime. The Ministry for the Interior in Ecuador have said that his sophisticated network included a management team and logistics personnel. They also say he used legitimate businesses to launder money and conceal his financial activities. It's alleged that his network laundered money through companies in Spain and the UAE, InSightCrime has reported. It has further been alleged that he received protection from the former head of Ecuador's police, while his business partner, Ruben Cherres, was a central figure in a corruption case involving the brother-in-law of former Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso. Dritan Gjika is just the latest high-level international drug lord to be arrested in the United Arab Emirates. Kinahan associates, and key figures in the so-called 'super cartel', Ridouan Taghi and Raffaele Imperiale, were both arrested in the United Arab Emirates and extradited to face serious charges in the Netherlands and Italy. Daniel Kinahan Meanwhile, Balkan mob boss Edin Gačanin was arrested in Dubai in March. He is facing extradition to the Netherlands to serve a seven-year jail term handed down in absentia. Last month, Daniel Kinahan's right-hand man Sean McGovern was extradited to Ireland to face murder charges after being arrested in Dubai in October 2024. It came days before the Middle Eastern country signed an extradition and mutual legal assistance treaty with Ireland. Upon his return to Dublin, McGovern appeared before the Special Criminal Court charged with the murder of Noel 'Duck Egg' Kirwan, who was shot dead in Clondalkin in December 2016. He was also charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation in relation to the murder from October 20th to December 22nd, 2016. He is the most senior member of the cartel to be charged before the Irish courts.
