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The FBI Finally Addressing Chicago, Murder Capitol

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FBI, Chicago Police Department Work to Combat Violent Crime

Tuesday, April 18, 8:15 a.m.: Along the 5100 block of Halsted Street on the South Side of Chicago, a quiet spring morning is interrupted by gunfire. Police respond to a gas station and discover a drive-by double homicide. As they secure the crime scene and work to identify the bodies and recover evidence, distraught family members of the victims begin to arrive, their faces full of anguish and disbelief. They will not be alone in their grief. By the end of the day in a city reeling from violent crime, there will be 13 more shootings and another murder.

Chicago’s extreme gun violence—762 homicides last year and more than 4,000 people wounded—has been described as an epidemic. Primarily gang-related, the shootings are often spontaneous and unpredictable, and the toll on victims, families, and entire communities cannot be overstated. That’s why the FBI’s Chicago Division, working with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and other agencies, has undertaken significant measures to address the problem.

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“The FBI sometimes battles a perception that we are only interested in terrorism or public corruption or large drug-trafficking organizations,” said Michael Anderson, special agent in charge of the Chicago Division. “The fact is, we are interested in those things, but in Chicago we are also getting down to the street level to address violent crime, and we are specifically going after the trigger-pullers and shot-callers.”

That street-level focus is in response to a city homicide rate that has “increased exponentially,” Anderson said. “The number of shootings is at a level that hasn’t been seen here since the early 1990s.” As a result, he explained, “what you are seeing and will continue to see in Chicago is a sustained FBI effort to support and supplement our local partners.”

That effort involves three major areas:

  • The creation in 2016 of a homicide task force—in addition to the FBI’s existing violent crimes squad—in which agents work alongside CPD detectives and other law enforcement officers to assist in solving the city’s murder cases;
  • Increased intelligence-gathering efforts to identify shooters and “directors of violence,” which includes embedding FBI analysts at CPD headquarters; and
  • Stepping up community outreach efforts to gain the public’s trust and enlist their help in solving crimes and making communities safer.

Chicago Police Department personnel monitor activity at the Crime Prevention Information Center on April 17, 2017.

At Chicago Police Department headquarters, personnel in the Crime Prevention and Information Center monitor violent crimes throughout the city using surveillance video and other sophisticated tools. FBI analysts assigned to the center offer additional real-time intelligence that helps police officials deploy resources as efficiently as possible.

“Simply put,” said CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson, “the FBI has more resources than we do. We combine the resources we have with the ones they have to fight these crimes.”

FBI and CPD personnel working together in the city’s most violent neighborhoods “has helped quite a bit,” Johnson said. “And we get real-time intelligence from the FBI that we didn’t get before. They can look at our crime picture and help us figure out where to best deploy our resources.”

Johnson, a Chicago native and 29-year veteran of the police force who spent many years as a patrol officer, believes a key reason for the city’s current violence is inadequate gun laws.

“The flow of guns into Chicago is just insane,” he said. “You will find that gang members would rather be caught with a gun by law enforcement than caught without one by their rivals. What we have to do through legislation is create a mentality where gang members won’t want to pick up a gun,” he explained. “You create that by holding them accountable for their actions. We simply don’t do a good job of that right now.”

Johnson recalled that when he joined CPD in 1988, he and fellow officers responded daily to calls of gang fights in progress. “We rarely hear that call anymore,” he said. “What we hear now is a person with a gun or a person shot. They just go straight to a firearm and they resolve their disputes with a weapon.”

“What you are seeing and will continue to see in Chicago is a sustained FBI effort to support and supplement our local partners.”

Michael Anderson, special agent in charge, FBI Chicago

“Communities are being hijacked by a relatively small percentage of people,” Anderson said. “The overwhelming majority of residents are hard-working citizens going to work, going to school, trying to go about their daily lives. These communities are under siege, and they are desperately looking for help.”

Of Chicago’s 22 police districts, the majority of violent crimes are taking places in a cluster of neighborhoods on the South and West Sides. “A handful of districts—probably five or six—are responsible for the disproportionate number of homicides and shootings,” Anderson said.

FBI and CPD investigators have focused considerable effort on two of the city’s most historically violent areas—the 11th District on the West Side and the 7th District on the South Side. “Since we put the task force in place,” Johnson said, “we’ve seen significant drops in gun violence in these two districts. We are making some real positive gains,” he said. “By no means are we declaring success, but we have seen some really encouraging results.”

Driving through the city’s most violent neighborhoods—Austin, Englewood, North Lawndale, Auburn Gresham—the streets and parks appear peaceful, and often they are. But when the violence comes, it is sudden and usually without warning. One gang member might have disrespected a rival gang member—increasingly through social media (see sidebar)—and they go looking for each other to settle matters with their guns.

“When I started as a cop,” Johnson said, “if you had a gang of 10 guys, maybe two of them at most would be armed. Now if you have a gang of 10 guys, probably nine of them are armed. And we’ve seen kids as young as 10 and 11 with firearms.”

Investigators agree that gang members are arming themselves at younger ages. “Based on what I’ve seen over the last year,” one FBI agent said, “these guys are carrying around guns as if it’s a symbol of their pride or who they are—and the bigger the gun, the better. We are seeing handguns with extended magazines and ammunition drums attached. It’s like guns are a part of them, a part of their culture. And they are not afraid to use them.”

“We get real-time intelligence from the FBI that we didn’t get before. They can look at our crime picture and help us figure out where to best deploy our resources.”

Eddie Johnson, superintendent, Chicago Police Department

FBI Special Agent Rob Fortt speaks to students at Plato Learning Academy in Chicago on April 18, 2017.
In addition to working closely with the Chicago Police Department to stop gun violence, the FBI has a strong community outreach program. At the Plato Learning Academy middle school in the Austin community, Special Agent Rob Fortt speaks to students about the dangers of joining gangs.

The FBI is working to reach some of these youngsters before they get involved with gangs—it’s one part of the Bureau’s larger community outreach effort in the campaign to stop gun violence. At the Plato Learning Academy middle school in the Austin community recently, Special Agent Rob Fortt spoke to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders about the choices they make and the consequences of those choices.

The school’s principal, Charles Williams, welcomed the opportunity for the FBI to give students a fresh perspective on law enforcement and a positive message about making good decisions. Describing the neighborhood’s reputation for violence, Williams said he has heard gunshots in the middle of the day from his office, and violent crime is a fact of life. “Our students are surrounded by it, unfortunately. It’s just something that permeates the neighborhood.”

Gang-related homicides in Chicago are most easily solved when witnesses come forward. But in the city’s violent neighborhoods, many who witness shootings or have information don’t cooperate with law enforcement, either because they distrust the police or they want to engage in “frontier justice” and seek their own retaliation, the FBI’s Anderson said. “So we are putting a lot of resources into community outreach. We are really focusing on going out in the community and building trust. If folks trust law enforcement, they are more likely to report crimes.”

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“We have to acknowledge that we have a fractured relationship with the community,” the CPD superintendent said. “But we’re working hard to rebuild that, and the FBI is helping us do that.” Johnson added, “I haven’t been to a community meeting yet where people have said they want less police. What they want is the police to be fair, respectful, and to get the bad guys out of their communities. That’s what they want. And you start that by having a constant dialogue with them, which we are doing.”

Community activist Andrew Holmes represents another important part of law enforcement’s outreach efforts. Holmes, who has experienced the tragedy of gun violence firsthand, has been working with the FBI since 2013 on issues involving gun crimes and the human trafficking of children. He is known to law enforcement and residents of violent neighborhoods as a rapid responder when a homicide occurs. He arrives on the streets at all hours of the day and night to counsel and comfort the families of victims. And he encourages witnesses to come forward.

The work is meaningful to Holmes because his daughter was killed in Indiana when she was innocently caught in the crossfire of a gang shooting. And he recently lost an 11-year-old cousin in Chicago who was killed by a stray bullet meant for a gang member. Holmes also visits high-crime neighborhoods, going street to street to hand out pamphlets urging residents to report gun crimes. In the troubled Auburn Gresham community recently, he spoke to Betty Swanson, block captain of her neighborhood watch group.

Andrew Holmes talks with Betty Swanson in Chicago
Community activist Andrew Holmes has been working with the FBI since 2013 on issues involving gun violence. He regularly visits high-crime neighborhoods to urge residents to cooperate with law enforcement. In the Auburn Gresham community recently, he spoke to Betty Swanson, block captain of her neighborhood watch group.

On the porch of her tree-lined street, Swanson told Holmes that one of her grandsons had been murdered a few months ago. “He was going to visit his mom … after he got off work. Somebody walked up to the car and shot him. He was 28 years old.”

Although her street is largely violence-free now because so many of the residents are senior citizens, Swanson said her block group works hard to keep the area safe, and—like Holmes advocates—that means speaking up when necessary.

“One thing we try to do is to let witnesses know that it’s okay to talk,” Holmes said. “We ask people to engage with law enforcement. You’ve got to work with law enforcement. I don’t care who it is—FBI, state police, U.S. Marshals, Chicago Police—you have to.” Otherwise, the help needed to save a loved one might come too late. “You’ve got to reach over and get that phone, call the FBI,” he said. “Show these criminals—not this block, it’s not happening.”

Murder and Social Media

For those unfamiliar with Chicago’s rampant gun violence, it would be easy to think that shootings happen because of traditional turf battles—one gang trying to muscle in on a rival’s street-corner drug business. But that reality occurred in a time before social media. The new reality is increasingly virtual, and social media is playing a prominent role in the murder rate.

Violence can indeed result from “gang-on-gang and some narcotics territory disputes,” said Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson, “but a lot of our gun violence now is precipitated by social media.”

One gang member disrespects a rival on social media, and the rival responds in kind. The virtual argument escalates, and the gang members look to settle things with weapons. Using their electronic devices, gang members can often pinpoint their rivals’ location.

“Gun in one hand, smartphone in the other,” said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Division Michael Anderson. Too often, that makes for a deadly mix. And in many cases, the time between the online dispute and actual shots being fired, Anderson said, “is very short.”

Reasons AG Sessions is Eradicating MS-13

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Primer: Body found in Queens park identified as teen member of MS-13 gang; victim was stabbed 34 times

The  decomposed body of a teen stabbed 34 times and dumped in a Queens park was identified as a member of the ruthless MS-13 street gang, police sources said Tuesday.

Fingerprints from prior arrests and a distinctive tattoo across the victim’s chest helped cops come up with a name for the butchered 16-year-old, according to sources.

“He seemed like a good kid, alright to me,” said a Queens neighbor of the boy’s family. “They were a nice family … It’s sad to hear. That gang is pretty brutal.”

The family was tossed from their home about two weeks ago for non-payment of rent, the neighbors said. A one-page eviction notice was stuck to the front door, and there was a spray-painted “MS13” on a nearby concrete and brick pillar.

The youth was discovered by a bird watcher in Alley Pond Park on Sunday afternoon, officials said. The body had a half-dozen stab wounds in the chest — and 28 more in the back.

The city Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide and determined that he died about a week ago.

The MS-13 gang made headlines recently for a series of Long Island killings, including the machete murders of two teenage girls last year and the slaughter of four youths just last month. More here from NYDailyNews.

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MS-13 extorting businesses in DC suburb: Police chief

Examiner: One of the most infamous gangs in the world is extorting Latino-owned businesses in a county on the outskirts of Washington D.C., a local law enforcement official warned federal lawmakers Wednesday.

Members of MS-13, a transnational gang based in El Salvador, have long demanded payments from illegal businesses that otherwise faced the threat of violence. A sheriff in Montgomery County, Md., believes they’re expanding the list of extortion targets to legitimate businesses.

“We have heard from community members that the gangs, which historically extorted money solely from illicit businesses such as ‘bordellos’ and unlicensed ‘cantinas,’ are now collecting ‘rent’ from legitimate Latino business owners and residents in certain apartment complexes,” Thomas Manger, the county’s chief of police, told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. “In some instances, if the victims of this extortion refuse to pay the fee demanded by the gang, the gang members return with detailed information on the intended victims’ family members still living in Central America.”

The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to deport the gang members, to the chagrin of El Salvadoran leaders. “This clearly affects El Salvador. We already have a climate of violence in the country that we are combating,” Hector Antonio Rodriguez, the director of the country’s immigration agency, told the Washington Post. “If gang members return, of course this worries us.”

Violence in El Salvador contributes to the influx of Central Americans on the southern border, a human crisis that provides profit for gangs and taxes the border security capabilities of the United States. That’s why lawmakers such as Sen. James Lankford are interested in foreign aid to countries such as El Salvador.

“How we’re spending money in our foreign aid, and how we need to be able to target this, specifically dealing with violence in those areas, has an exact connection to what’s happening here,” the Oklahoma Republican said following an exchange with Manger.

In the meantime, threats of violence against Central American family members have also helped MS-13 gather new recruits in the United States, according to Manger. “The victims here in the United States know that the threat of violence to their extended family in their native countries is a true possibility and the perpetrators are out of the reach of U.S. law enforcement,” Manger said.

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Were MS-13 gang members released into US communities? Senator demands answers

At least 16 self-proclaimed MS-13 gang members were transferred out of federal custody and into community placement centers across the country during the border surge in unaccompanied children from Central America in 2014, according to a new letter from the Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

It was unclear what happened to the members of Mara Salvatrucha, one of the most brutal transnational gangs in the world, and that’s why Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., wrote the Office of Refugee Resettlement on Tuesday demanding answers.

In 2014, the Obama Administration declared a humanitarian crisis after tens of thousands of immigrants flooded across the United States border.The dramatic increase in immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras overwhelmed border authorities at the time.

Fox News has now learned that more than a dozen teenage gang members were captured during the surge. According to Johnson’s letter and documents obtained by Fox News, the gang members “freely admitted” that they were “active MS-13 gang members” and marked bathrooms inside a placement center in Nogales, Arizona with MS-13 associated graffiti.

One teenage gang member stated he “was a drug dealer” and “would continue to do the same in the United States with his family.” Another admitted he was a member of the Surenos gang and had been “involved in multiple robberies, assaults and drug dealing” since he was 15 years old.

“These documents appear to show that the federal government knowingly moved self-identified gang members from Nogales, Arizona to placement centers in communities across the country. As you know, it is common for UACs (unaccompanied children) to be released from their placement center while awaiting a court date. It is unclear from these July 2014 documents whether any of these self-identified UAC gang members were released,” Johnson wrote in his letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Johnson is now asking for a complete accounting of all UACs captured at the border who have self-identified as gang members since 2010.

He also wants to know if any of the gang members were released into communities in Virginia, Washington, Texas, New York and Oklahoma. The questions come as the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs holds hearings this week on the “The Rise of MS-13 and Other Transnational Criminal Organizations”.

Fox News reached out to Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement for a response to Johnson’s letter. So far, they have not responded.

 

 

 

Philippines Declares Martial Law, Duterte’s call with Trump Transcripts

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Philippines: Martial law declared as Islamic State jihadis storm city and battle national army

In Mindanao. This is a global war, and of the most curious type imaginable: no one in authority wants to admit that it is actually going on, and Western governments generally treat each enemy attack in this war as a separate and discrete criminal incident.

“Philippines soldiers battle Isis-linked gunmen on Marawi city streets,” by Gabriel Samuels, Independent, May 23, 2017:

A group of heavily-armed militants from a group linked to Isis have reportedly stormed a city in the Philippines and engaged in firefights with the national army.

Residents of Marawi City, in the south of the country, were urged to remain indoors as at least 15 gunmen from a Muslim rebel group called Maute stormed the streets brandishing assault rifles.

The group, which is also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, have reportedly received support from Isis.

Troops and a special police force were deployed to the city after residents in a nearby village raised the alarm and appealed for help.

President Rodrigo Duterte then declared martial law and a state of emergency in the province of Mindano [sic]. General Eduardo Ano, the military chief of staff, said at least one police officer was killed and eight soldiers were wounded in the fighting.  More here.

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It was enormously controversial that President Trump placed a friendly call to Philippine strongman Duterte on April 29. Now, we can read what they said. In short, Duterte has been on a killing rampage and frankly has called the United States all kinds of nasty names. Humm…. Then there was the part of the phone call that included North Korea’s nuclear program.

Read all about it with the transcripts here.

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Duterte Lands in Russia for Visit Cut Short After Martial Law Declaration

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has landed in Russia for what was planned as an extensive visit including one-on-one talks with President Vladimir Putin, but the trip has been cut short following a jihadist attack in the Philippine’s south.

Breitbart: Duterte alluded to this trip as the month began, following a personal invitation to the White House, saying he could not confirm travel to America because he is “supposed to go to Russia.”

Duterte arrived in Moscow Monday night for a four-day visit, accompanied by a large Filipino business delegation. While Duterte will seek more Russian business investment in his country, a key objective of his visit will be signing a defense cooperation agreement expected to provide the Philippines with more weapons to use in the ongoing war against drug traffickers that has become a staple of the Duterte presidency.

Duterte had previously claimed Putin had offered him a “buy one, get one free” deal on firearms.

The Philippines is also facing jihadist attacks by Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic State affiliate in the country, which has become increasingly aggressive in the Muslim-majority south of the country, where Duterte is from.

Abu Sayyaf ultimately led to Duterte’s decision to leave Russia early to address the jihadist threat. Duterte declared a 60-day period of martial law in his native Mindanao island and will return home. According to the Philippine Star:

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said at the same press conference that the president will be cutting his visit to Russia short because his presence is needed in the country.
 The signing of bilateral agreements with Russia will push through but the meetings with Russia President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were postponed. Cayetano said Duterte may just speak with the two leaders via phone.

“The agreement on military technical cooperation will pave the way for the Philippines to explore a possibility of military procurement from Russia,” Foreign Assistant Secretary Maria Cleofe Natividad told reporters before Duterte left to Russia. The agreements would also reportedly create an extradition agreement, which the two countries had not previously had, and allow for “information sharing, training, and technical cooperation,” according to the regional news outlet Rappler.

Officials have also expressed a hope that Duterte’s visit will help end the propagation of negative Russia stereotypes in the country. “There’s been a lot of stereotypes in the Philippines and I don’t really blame it. I mean, growing up watching James Bond movies, the villains were either an evil Russian scientist or some beautiful nubile Russian assassin,” Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos Sorreta said on Monday. “The reality is we have not had a deeper exchange with Russia even though we’ve had good relations, so we’re 40 years. And that’s going to change.”

Sorreta hoped the Russian visit would expand the “kind of independent foreign policy [they are] trying to achieve.”

Before his departure, Duterte emphasized the need to expand cooperation with Russia. “Russia must cease to be at the margins of Philippine diplomacy,” he said. “Overdependence on traditional partners has limited our room to maneuver in a very dynamic international arena. This is a strategic oversight that has led to many missed opportunities for our country. I am determined to correct this.”

Duterte has repeatedly stated that he would like to diminish the role of the United States in Philippine foreign relations, at one point declaring, ” You know, if China and Russia would decide to create a new order, I would be the first to join.”

Prior to Duterte, the government of Benigno Aquino kept close ties to the United States and maintained a distance from Russia. The Philippine Star notes that a head of state from that country has not visited Russia since President Gloria Arroyo did in 2009, and prior to that, no visit is on the record since 1997.

Duterte has eagerly expressed his fondness for Putin. “I like Putin. … We have similarities. When it comes to girls,” Duterte said in August 2016, in anticipation of their first meeting. Following that meeting, Duterte gushed that Putin had a “wide laugh” and had reserved a gun as a present for him in Russia. Neither country has confirmed whether Putin will hand over the present during this visit.

1000+ Officers Raid, 44 Arrests

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Image result for ms-13 raid los angeles NY Daily News

Primer: The LATimes reports:

Shortly after 4 a.m. Wednesday, heavily-armed ATF agents — wearing helmets and bulletproof gear and carrying rifles — forced their way into a storefront and a back building near Exposition Boulevard and Western Avenue in Exposition Park. Agents approached in an armored vehicle down a narrow alleyway behind the small business.

Once inside, federal agents and police detectives found what they described as gang members involved in human trafficking, as well as possible victims. The storefront, which appeared to be locked from the outside, was full of garbage.

A few of the people detained were handcuffed and lined up facing a metal fence in the alleyway next to the armored vehicle.

The indictment names the former leader of the gang and a dozen people who acted as a joint council of leaders, Brown said.

The lead defendant in the indictment is 43-year-old Jose Balmore Romero, known as “Porky.” Romero called the shots for the gang in Los Angeles in 2013 and 2014 and oversaw the gang’s drug-trafficking activities and coordinated the collection of extortion money, some of which was distributed to the Mexican Mafia, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Romero has been in custody since 2015, charged with ordering a gang-related slaying.

Three men were charged with murder in connection with the gang’s activities, authorities said. Carlos Alfredo Cardoza Lopez, 23, known as “Little Boy,” faces a violent crime in aid of racketeering murder charge in the fatal shooting of a innocent bystander inside the gang-controlled Little San Salvador Nightclub and Restaurant on Western Avenue, federal prosecutors said in a statement. A friend of the victim also was stabbed. More here.

Associated Press

Indictment document is here.

Dozens of MS-13 gang members nabbed in 50 Los Angeles raids

Los Angeles (CNN)Hundreds of federal and local authorities stormed homes and storefronts across Los Angeles early Wednesday, targeting dozens of high-ranking members of the notorious MS-13 street gang.

The 50 pre-dawn raids, aimed at catching suspects asleep or off guard, also focused on nabbing members of MS-13’s core leadership, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said.
“Today we disrupted this gang’s command and control,” said Eric Harden, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Los Angeles field division.
Los Angeles is the US base for MS-13, which has tens of thousands of members worldwide. Authorities count the gang among the largest criminal organizations in the US.
More than half of the 44 people arrested Wednesday are undocumented immigrants, acting US Attorney Sandra Brown said.
But the raids aimed to curb violent crime — not immigration violations, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said. He said MS-13 often “preys on” undocumented immigrants.
The suspects face a wide range of charges, including federal racketeering and narcotics conspiracy. If convicted, Brown said, most of those arrested Wednesday could face decades in federal prison — and three could face the death penalty.
About 1,000 officers from the ATF, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department took part worked on the massive effort.
And they had to execute their plan in the dark of night.

An inside look into a raid

Authorities conduct one of 50 simultaneous raids targeting MS-13 gang members.

Authorities conduct one of 50 simultaneous raids targeting MS-13 gang members.
CNN’s was the only TV crew that accompanied authorities during the raids.
At 4 a.m., a dozen ATF agents poured out of an armored vehicle, preparing to break open the front and back doors of an inconspicuous store just outside downtown. The storefront they hit was a suspected hub for MS-13.
Rifle-wielding officers suited in body armor and helmets appeared ready for combat. With the element of surprise on their side, agents peacefully took half a dozen people into custody.
One by one, they came out in handcuffs. Some were suspected gang members; some may be victims of human trafficking, authorities said.
A storefront might seem like an odd place to find notorious gang suspects. But MS-13 members have been known to live in storefronts and have been suspected of using them as a cover for drug activity, prostitution and human trafficking.

Investigation goes deep

Federal agents say the probe, which began in June 2014, targeted the leadership and the most violent members of MS-13 in Los Angeles and the gang’s links to the Mexican mafia.
“We believe the most impact is made by targeting the mid- to upper-level hierarchy of the gang and removing them,” Harden said.
“Once removed, it causes a disorganization of the gang, where it suppresses their activity for an extensive amount of time until another leader is developed or steps up.”
MS-13 makes money from extortions, kidnappings, drug and weapons trafficking and human trafficking, the ATF said. Killings for the protection of the gang are common, federal authorities say, and sometimes are carried out with machetes.
Harden has faced off with MS-13 for decades, dating back to his days as a street agent.
“They’ve been here since the ’80s and have thrived to this date,” said Harden. “They’re a transnational or international gang. Their level of brutality is extreme and high, similar to what we read about and hear with the drug-trafficking cartels in Mexico.” More here from CNN.

With GPS, Drug Cartels Move Shipments to Europe Until

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Drug cartels heavily rely on GPS devices to track shipments, feds say

The GPS has increasingly become a drug dealer’s new partner in crime.

Drug-smuggling groups are relying on the device to keep tabs on drug packages as they wind their way through Central America to the United States, according to published reports.

The criminals attach the drug shipments to buoys, send them off in the Pacific Ocean, and use signals they give off to track a package’s location by using special codes, InSight Crimes reports.

The GPS gives dealers the advantage of having drug shipments picked up by others monitoring their movements without being detected by authorities.

GPS devices are also allowing drug cartels to keep track of lower-level smugglers to ensure they are doing what they were told, say U.S. officials.

Barbara L. Carreno, public affairs officer for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said drug dealers have been using the tracking device for years. But recently, as the once bulky devices have become smaller and cheaper, their use has increased, she said.

“Traffickers need to know that their mules are doing what they are supposed to do and delivering their very valuable shipments where they are supposed to go,” Carreno said. “We often find GPS devices in shipments we seize.”

Traffickers won’t use a computerized system that would lead law enforcement back to them or create records that would implicate them.

– Barbara L. Carreno, spokeswoman, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

The GPS is simple enough, the DEA says, that it actually eludes more sophisticated tools used for drug interdictions by government agencies of various countries.

“Traffickers wouldn’t use a computerized system that would lead law enforcement back to them or create records that would implicate them,” Carreno said. “They want something cheap, unsophisticated and untraceable.”

Salvadoran officials say that Ecuadorean boatmen have become a core part of the criminal activity. They move the shipments to places off coasts of El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Once the shipments are left at certain locations in the Pacific, traffickers use the GPS to alert those waiting for them by sending information to mobile telephones and computers, the website said, citing the Salvadoran national police’s anti-narcotics division.

One of the most notorious drug kingpins, Ecuador’s Washington Prado Alava, was said by Colombian authorities to have run a highly sophisticated trafficking operation. But his operation, which moved 250 metric tons of cocaine to the United States over a four-year span, was dependent on GPS locators, Insight Crime reported. More here from FNC.

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Anti-drug forces from several European and American countries intercepted a total of eight tons of cocaine in a double bust that is being dubbed as one of the largest in history.

In the larger one, Spanish authorities cooperated with Ecuadorean police to intercept a ship off that Latin American country bringing more than 5.5 metric tons of cocaine to Spain.

The ship was loaded with Colombian cocaine in the Pacific and planned to travel through the Panama Canal and across the Atlantic to Europe, officials said in a statement.

Una operación de la junto a la de Ecuador ha permitido interceptar un buque con 5.529 kilos de cocaína y detener a 24 personas.

 

In a separate drug seizure, Spanish police stopped a Venezuela-flagged fishing vessel carrying 2.5 metric tons of cocaine near Martinica.

The ship was intercepted on May 4 and was towed to Las Palmas in Spain’s Canary Islands.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Britain’s National Crime Agency also took part in the joint operation.

The cargo seized off the coast of Ecuador has an estimated value of $250 million. Ecuadorean agents boarded it when it was almost three nautical miles off Santa Elena province.

Spain’s Interior Minister Juan Ignocio Zoido said to El Pais that the first operation resulted in the capture of 24 suspected drug traffickers.

“It is one of the largest cocaine seizures in history and it takes apart a large drug-trafficking organization between South America and Spain,” he said.

The massive operation began after Spain found out in January that a South American ring with links in Spain was organizing a large shipment.

That information was corroborated by intelligence also gathered by the U.S., Britain and Portugal, the statement said.

Since the beginning of 2017, Ecuador has confiscated about 30 tons of cocaine.

Large seizures of cocaine and cannabis aren’t uncommon in the Iberian Peninsula, which is seen as a drug gateway to Europe.

Spanish police captured almost eight metric tons of cocaine from four vessels in 2015 and 2016 and arrested 80 people, the police statement said.