By Sheri-Kae McLeod CNW- Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, says the implementation of a regional visa regime among CARICOM nations has huge economic potential for tourism recovery and development in the region. “A regional visa regime is something that we’ve been talking about. I think if we are to build Caribbean tourism, then we […]
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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)— Ninety-five per cent of monkeypox cases have been transmitted through sexual activity, according to the largest study to date, which also noted new clinical signs such as single genital lesions. The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, came as World Health Organization experts debated whether to […]
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(CNN) Former Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, widely known as Lula, is now officially standing as the Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT) presidential candidate, the party announced Thursday. Brazil’s presidential elections are scheduled for October 2, when Lula is expected to face off against current President Jair Bolsonaro. His bid for the presidency had […]
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By Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana, Cuba (CNN)For Cubans, the heat is on and the power could go out any moment.Enduring broiling-hot summer temperatures and a short-circuiting electrical grid has long been part of life in Cuba but now the island is dealing with severe fuel shortages, failing power plants and widespread blackouts that are […]
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By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA, July 21 (Reuters) – Colombia’s top criminal gangs, who are linked to producing and trafficking cocaine, on Thursday proposed a ceasefire to the incoming government of leftist Gustavo Petro as a starting point to peace talks, six groups said in a statement. The groups, which are spread throughout Colombia, […]
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By Sir Ronald Sanders (The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States of America and the Organization of American States. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto) Over the last few weeks, global warming […]
The post Europe and US gripped in lethal heatwave: Will this bring long delayed action on Climate Change? appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
LIMA, July 21 (Reuters) – Peru’s attorney general has opened a new probe of President Pedro Castillo, a day after the country’s former interior minister accused the leftist leader of obstructing graft investigations of close allies, prosecutors said on Thursday. The investigation was triggered by Castillo’s abrupt firing on Tuesday of Mariano Gonzalez, who had […]
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MEXICO CITY, July 21 (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke by phone with his Mexican counterpart Alejandro Gertz Manero Thursday afternoon regarding the extradition of Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Mexico’s navy on Friday captured Caro Quintero, convicted of murdering a U.S. anti-narcotics […]
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By Jude Sheerin BBC, Washington Ex-US President Donald Trump watched last year’s Capitol riot on TV at the White House, ignoring his children and aides who “begged him” to rebuke the mob, a congressional inquiry has heard. “He chose not to act,” said Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the Democratic-led committee. The […]
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Federal police say they have busted an international drug syndicate importing and manufacturing hundreds of kilograms into Australia.
The AFP said the criminal network was acting under the direction of an organised crime syndicate from the South American nation of Colombia.
Nine people were arrested overnight in a sting that stretched across NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
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Some of those arrested are facing charges that carry potential life sentences.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Eastern Command Kirsty Schofield described the case as "extremely complex".
"The global syndicate identified in this operation was ruthless and well-resourced, building a custom-made laboratory to extract and produce cocaine for distribution to multiple organised crime groups in Australia," she said.
"This investigation has stopped a production line of cocaine from hitting Australian streets, and prevented millions of dollars of drug profit flowing back into the syndicate to fund their next criminal venture."
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A multi-state AFP operation tracked the syndicate allegedly couriering the cocaine, which was suspended in another substance inside plastic buckets, from Sydney to a purpose-built extraction shed on a rural property at Durong, which is about 300km north-west of Brisbane.
Five men and a woman were arrested last night in Queensland, including two men at the rural property, where they were allegedly extracting and manufacturing commercial quantities of cocaine.
One man, aged 35, was arrested at his Gold Coast home, while another, 31, was arrested at his Brisbane residence on charges related to organising and facilitating the venture, which police will allege could have produced 700kg of cocaine.
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The 31-year-old man allegedly helped organise the construction of the Durong extraction facility and used suspected criminal proceeds to pay for items the syndicate required to make it operational.
A western Sydney man, 38, was arrested north of Newcastle as he drove back to Sydney from Queensland.
When AFP officers searched his ute, they allegedly found about 11kg of cocaine hidden inside two small fridges.
The AFP also arrested a man, 33, in Brisbane who had allegedly collected drugs from the Durong property with the Brisbane man, 31, to provide to the courier travelling to Sydney.
A woman, 32, was arrested at her Brisbane home where police seized more than $1 million in cash that police will allege is the proceeds of crime.
One of the men arrested in Durong is a dual Spanish-Colombian national, 48, who allegedly flew to Australia and teamed up with a Colombian-born Sydney man, 38, as the chemical specialists responsible for extracting the cocaine from the substance it was hidden in.
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The investigation began with the Colombian-born Sydney man, who is known to law enforcement.
This man picked up the dual Spanish-Colombian dual national from Sydney Airport on May 18, and their subsequent activities led investigators to suspect they were involved in illegal activity.
These two men travelled to the Gold Coast in late May, meeting with the Gold Coast man who allegedly organised the construction of the facility at Durong.
After AFP officers arrested the Darwin man, 33, outside a gym on Thursday evening, they executed a search warrant at his home and seized thousands of dollars in cash detected by ABF Firearm and Currency Detector Dogs, electronic devices and steroids.
They also seized a 7.8-metre boat, suspected to be an instrument of crime.
The AFP is investigating if the vessel was acquired to collect illicit drugs dropped at sea hundreds of kilometres off the Northern Territory coast.
A Gold Coast man, 30, was also arrested in Darwin and charged over his alleged involvement in the manufacturing operation.
Police have not determined how and when the cocaine itself was imported into Australia.
