Weekly InSight
This week, InSight Crime goes inside a Colombian school where teachers risk their lives to protect students from recruitment by criminal and insurgent groups. We also look at an international trafficking ring that aimed to smuggle cocaine to the lucrative European market via a guided torpedo attached -- by magnets -- to the hulls of cargo ships. Other reports from this week include fentanyl seizures skyrocketing in the United States, sanctions against Mexico’s Jalisco Cartel New Generation shedding light on its structure, and Brazilian money launderer Dario Messer moving millions through the export of emeralds. 

Featured

Colombia Teachers – Last Line of Defense Against Forced Recruitment

Colombia remains a hotspot for the forced recruitment of minors. In this, the last of a three-part investigation by InSight Crime, journalist Mathew Charles looks at how school teachers are trying -- unsuccessfully -- to thwart this recruitment.

Nancy Arboleda has a distinct air of authority. It probably comes from the two decades of experience as a teacher in a school in Tumaco, a small city in the corner of southwestern Colombia.

“We’ve lost 21 students here since 2012,” she said, counting them on her fingers. 

Read the report >
Read the full investigation >

NewsAnalysis

Underwater Drone Would Have Secretly Delivered Cocaine to Europe


A successful Detroit telecommunications businessman secretly bankrolled the development and construction of an underwater... 

Fentanyl Seizures Explode Across United States


Seizures of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl by customs agents in the United States have skyrocketed, underscoring potential shifts...
US, Mexico Sanctions Offer Insights Into CJNG Hierarchy
Brazil’s Emerald Exports – The Latest Revelations About Dario Messer
What Criminals Plan Via Encrypted Messaging Services
Costa Rica Cocaine Theft Ring Relies on Crooked Agents
Are Cartels Connected to Booming Truck Theft in Mexico?
Ecuador’s Self-Defeating Anti-Trafficking Law
US Announcement Against Corrupt Paraguay Official May Signal Shift

Criminal Actors

Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.

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Tren de Aragua

The Tren de Aragua is Venezuela’s most powerful local “megabanda,” or large criminal gangs with more than 100...

Ex-FARC Mafia

The ex-FARC Mafia are a series of criminal structures that emerged during the peace negotiations between...

Media Mentions

APRIL 11, 2021
THE GUARDIAN




 
"It is more money for less risk. I see a deliberate decision by some of the top-level Colombian traffickers, based on sources who sat in a series of meetings in 2005-6, where the business decisions were made."

— InSight Crime Co-director Jeremy McDermott on cocaine smuggling to Europe

Impact

Leading Analysis on Venezuela Border Crisis

 
A Venezuelan military campaign against a Colombian dissident guerrilla group active along the border has displaced thousands. InSight Crime Co-director Jeremy McDermott was a go-to source for news outlets -- including Bloomberg and The Washington Post -- on the burgeoning conflict, which he sees as a message from Venezuela to nonstate armed actors to respect an established Pax Mafiosa, or face the wrath of the regime. McDermott was also featured on investigative reporter Rafael Poveda’s news program discussing the Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s most powerful megabanda. The gang, which police sources say has some 2,700 members, is a pioneer in Venezuelan organized crime, extending its tentacles into Brazil and neighboring Andean countries.  

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InSight Crime · Medellin · Medellin 0000 · Colombia