Latest news with #drugseizures
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Drugs and criminal cash worth £1m seized at Manx ports since July
Criminal cash and drugs worth more than £1m have been seized at ports on the Isle of Man since July 2024, the government has £150,000 in cash and more than £880,000 worth of cannabis and cocaine, have been intercepted during the period along with some instances of steroids or prescription drugs. The Isle of Man Constabulary and Customs teams have made the discoveries at Ronaldsway Airport, the island's Sea Terminal in Douglas and via postal criminal goods were found concealed in vehicles, in parcels and freight, through searches of individuals, or through a mixture of random stops and existing police intelligence. The operations have led to a number of prosecutions or financial penalties, as well as civil forfeiture proceedings, with a number of cases still value of single seizures of drugs ranged from £100 to £220,000, and cash seizures were made when cash had not been declared. 'Clear message' In September, the Department of Home Affairs launched a strategy to tighten security at the island's Jane Poole-Wilson MHK, said the figures showed the "multi-agency approach to preventing, detecting and pursuing crime, led by the Constabulary, is disrupting criminal networks and safeguarding our residents" was being "effectively implemented".The seizures sent a "clear message" that the Isle of Man was "not a soft target for organised crime", she Constable Russ Foster said joint working between the constabulary and Customs was making the island a "hostile environment for organised crime". "By seizing drugs and the proceeds of crime in this way we are striking at the heart of these illicit criminal enterprises", he other law enforcement partners "we will continue to disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups who are blighting our island and bring the perpetrators to justice", he added. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Globe and Mail
28-05-2025
- Health
- Globe and Mail
CBSA says 67 per cent of drugs seized in Operation Blizzard were coming into Canada from U.S.
More than 67 per cent of the drugs seized during a month-long cross-country Canada Border Services Agency operation were coming into Canada from the United States, the agency says. Operation Blizzard took place from Feb. 12 to March 13 and targeted illegal drugs and precursor chemicals transported by mail, air cargo or marine container, the CBSA said in a news release Wednesday. The agency said it focused on shipments going to the United States. CBSA said it conducted over 2,600 seizures across the country and just 17.5 per cent of the total seized was destined for the United States. The operation included 116 seizures of fentanyl, amounting to 1.73 kilograms of the deadly drug. CBSA said 1.44 kilograms of that fentanyl was headed to the United States. Investigation: How fentanyl transformed Victoria's Pandora Avenue from downtown hub to open-air drug market The agency said it also seized methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, opium, MDMA – also called ecstasy or molly – cannabis and cannabis-related products. 'CBSA personnel work day in and day out to prevent criminal organizations from exploiting our borders,' CBSA president Erin O'Gorman said in the news release. 'With Operation Blizzard, we stopped narcotics, synthetic opioids and fentanyl from reaching communities both at home and across the world.' Operation Blizzard was part of Canada's boosted border plan enacted in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, which he linked to the flow of fentanyl. Opinion: Is Canada's 'fentanyl czar' just about diplomacy – or could he actually help address the overdose crisis? Trump hit Canada with economywide tariffs in March, only to partially walk back the duties a few days later for imports compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. Ottawa responded to Trump's initial tariff threat with a $1.3-billion border security plan and named Kevin Brosseau as the new 'fentanyl czar.' 'Fentanyl and other illegal drugs pose a threat to our communities and to public safety,' Brosseau said in the Wednesday news release. 'The Canada Border Services Agency, with initiatives like Operation Blizzard, is directly contributing to detect, disrupt and dismantle the fentanyl trade.' Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show that fentanyl seizures at the Canada-U.S. border represented less than 0.1 per cent of the total seized between 2022 and 2024.
CBC
15-05-2025
- CBC
Police seize drugs 218 times in 1st month of cracking down on open drug use in London
A campaign launched to crack down on open drug use in London's core recorded 218 drug seizures by police in its first three weeks, the head of the London police foot patrol unit says. London's police chief unveiled the approach, dubbed Project Pathways, during a news conference on April 8. The seizure tally spans its launch that day through to April 30, said Staff Sgt. Sherri Baltzer. "I think it's going really well. We've had a lot of positive feedback from the community at large," Baltzer told CBC News. There's been a "marked difference" in the way people using drugs are responding to officers, she said. "A lot of times in the past, they weren't even making any effort to hide it, even when officers were coming up … We're still finding a significant amount of that, but nothing near what it was." The aim is to deter such open drug use, which has become a visible issue, and provide pathways to support services. To do that, police increased foot patrol officers and patrols in downtown, midtown, and Old East Village, with some paired with health care workers. The public's perception was that police were "just walking by" blatant, open drug use, Chief Thai Truong said last month. "We've heard that loud and clear. We're expecting our officers to engage … we need to pivot." Of the 218 seizures in April, most involved fentanyl and ended with officers not laying charges for personal amounts, a decision up to the discretion of each member of foot patrol, which numbers 27 constables, two sergeants and Baltzer. "They're not typically laying a charge unless circumstances dictate they should lay the charge," such as how often they've been spoken to, and where they were using. Roughly 49 per cent of their calls in April were related to trespassing, and 46 per cent to in-progress drug use, Baltzer said, adding officers had seized no firearms yet, but had seized "a lot of knives." Most people the unit interacts with are known to them by name, and will oftentimes voluntarily turn over their drugs, she said. Some searches have turned up larger drug amounts, leading to charges for possessing for trafficking. "If they're illegal drugs, then we are seizing them," she said. "If there's someone using openly, that's our first engagement with them, and we will seize those drugs, or if they have a small amount in a pipe or on a piece of tin foil, we will seize that and tag that for destruction." Most interactions involve compliant individuals who receive a warning and are advised of resources, however fewer people than expected are biting. "I was hopeful more people would accept the resources we're offering, or that we're saying are available," Baltzer said. Police can't force someone into harm reduction or recovery, but can serve as a contact for social agencies, and provide transportation assistance. Participants with London's Carepoint Consumption and Treatment Service site have told workers they were referred by police, said Megan Van Boheemen, director of harm reduction services with Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC). In some cases, officers have walked with participants to the site, she said. Nearly 1,900 people accessed Carepoint in April, up from the monthly average of 1,500, and staff responded to 28 overdoses, also above average, Van Boheemen said. Given Project Pathways is still new, she declined to draw a direct correlation between it and the increases. Police have been collaborative in developing the project, working with RHAC, London Health Sciences Centre, and other agencies. To prepare, foot patrol officers toured Carepoint and got a rundown of its operations, Baltzer said. Like other province-funded consumption sites, Carepoint participants can only ingest, inject, and snort their drugs. Only two facilities in Canada offer supervised inhalation services — Casey House in Toronto, and Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon. "People who inhale their substances don't have a place anywhere in the community to safely use," and seizing drugs can put them in a cycle of needing to get more, said Chris Moss, executive director of London Cares. "It's a negative cycle that does increase criminality in the community, it could increase violence and can increase escalations … Taking it away isn't solving any problems, it's actually perpetuating more." The problem is compounded by a lack of medicated withdrawal options for those with fentanyl addictions, who can't just quit cold turkey, she said. She's concerned people may just go elsewhere, out of view, to avoid having drugs confiscated. "I certainly hope that's not an end result, but none of our statistics right now show that that's the case," Baltzer said of increased criminality. She says there's no evidence to suggest that it was pushing people into areas where they may overdose alone.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- BBC News
The Border Force battle against drugs at sea
With an increase in maritime drugs seizures, the BBC has been given rare access to one of the Border Force's patrol cutter units patrol UK waters looking for anything out of the ordinary.I join the Valiant as it sails in the North Sea off the East Yorkshire Vidamour, head of operations for Border Force Maritime Command, says smugglers are using increasingly sophisticated methods, including dropping packages from large ships to be picked up and brought to shore by smaller vessels. "Last year we intercepted six separate operations of that nature, where a vessel had gone to sea to collect drugs directly from a vessel up from South America," Mr Vidamour says."It's absolutely something we are seeing more and more and we are being more active in detecting and seizing." One of the UK's biggest ever drugs shipments was intercepted in May 2024 when a dinghy carrying half a tonne of cocaine with a street value of £42m was seized after it landed at year, 29 tonnes of cocaine was seized by officers across the UK, with 75% of that coming in by journey begins on a calm, sunny day at Grimsby is surprising how spacious the craft feels with a kitchen, rest room, bunks and showering deck looking out, I can see a number of boats all navigating their way around the busy motorway of the Humber is one of six vessels in the Border Force work two weeks on, two weeks off and could be out for up to three days patrolling anywhere in UK patrol boats are equipped with smaller inflatable craft, known as ribs, which can be launched off the back and are used to intercept criminals in smaller boats and retrieve packages dropped in the water. The real challenge for officers is to have the information to put their boats in the right places at the right time, Border Force say."We absolutely rely on information predominantly from the public," Mr Vidamour tells me."We ask for anything that stands out. For us that would be something like vessels coming and going from port at strange times at night, people unequipped for the journey that they're conducting, poor seamanship in a marina, which might indicate that someone is a first time mariner."Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Fox News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Southern border apprehensions plunge more than 90% from year ago in April, CBP says
FIRST ON FOX - Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have plummeted 93% under President Donald Trump's administration, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Monday. The CBP says it averaged 279 apprehensions per day at the southern border in April, compared to 4,297 apprehensions in April 2024. The total apprehensions for April this year landed at 8,383, compared to last year's 129,000. CBP officials also noted that just five illegal aliens were temporarily released into the U.S. during April, compared to 68,000 during the same month last year. "For the first time in years, more agents are back in the field – patrolling territories that CBP didn't have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago," said Pete Flores, acting commissioner of CBP. "But thanks to this administration's dramatic shift in security posture at our border, we are now seeing operational control becoming a reality – and it's only just beginning." The CBP also noted that drug seizures rose 15% from March to April. Officials say they seized some 758 pounds of fentanyl crossing the border last month. The report shows the Trump administration's continued progress on controlling the border since March. The CBP recorded the lowest southwest border crossings in history in March, with fewer apprehensions in the entire month than there were in the first two days of the month in 2024 under the Biden administration. Border Patrol apprehended a total of 7,181 illegal aliens attempting to cross the southern border between ports of entry in March. This constitutes a 14% decrease from February, when Border Patrol apprehended 8,346 aliens, and more dramatically, a 95% decrease from the 137,473 aliens apprehended under the Biden administration in the same period in 2024. "Aliens are receiving the Trump administration's message: if you cross the border illegally, you will be deported," CBP said in its latest report.
