Crime Intel

Bolivia: Police arrested Delemberg de Souza, 33, identified as a senior member of Brazil's Primeiro Comando da Capital, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on November 3. Investigators say he coordinated cocaine shipments from Bolivia into Brazil, operating between Mato Grosso and the border region of San Ignacio de Velasco, while using Santa Cruz for financial transactions and money laundering. Brazilian authorities had previously linked him to two cocaine seizures totaling 1.3 tonnes, involving shipments of 871 kg and 450 kg. He also has an outstanding prison sentence of 10 years and six months in Brazil and is wanted for drug trafficking, arms trafficking and organized crime. De Souza had been living irregularly in Bolivia since March 2024.

Mexico: Authorities arrested He Bojun, alias “El Chino”, a 41-year-old Chinese-born businessman identified as the head of a money laundering network linked to La Unión Tepito, one of Mexico City's main criminal organizations. During a raid in the Miguel Hidalgo district, officers seized $920,000 and 26.9 million pesos in cash, worth approximately $2.4 million combined, alongside luxury watches, vehicles, phones, migration documents and a money-counting machine. Investigators say his network operated across Mexico City, Tijuana and Cancún, laundering criminal proceeds while maintaining connections to arms trafficking, human trafficking and extortion of local businesses. He previously faced criminal proceedings in China for counterfeiting and money laundering before moving to Mexico, where he obtained citizenship in September 2025.

Mexico: Samuel de la Cruz Anaya, alias “El Panda”, identified as a regional boss of the CJNG cartel in southern Veracruz, was arrested on November 3 in Coatzacoalcos following months of intelligence work. The investigation began in January after two businessmen were kidnapped in Cosoleacaque, leading police to uncover a criminal network operating across Jáltipan, Cosoleacaque and Minatitlán. That same month, authorities raided a safe house in El Cocuital and arrested another member known as “El Sparta.” Investigators subsequently linked El Panda to kidnapping, extortion, drug distribution and illegal fuel trafficking. Navy personnel, working with federal and local authorities, located him in the Estero del Pantano neighborhood, where they seized 398,000 pesos in cash, a vehicle and mobile phones. He was wanted under an arrest warrant for unlawful deprivation of liberty.

USA: CBP officers at the Pharr Port of Entry intercepted a shipment of leeks in a semi-trailer headed to McAllen, Texas, discovering 490.9 kg (1,082.47 pounds) of methamphetamine hidden inside 909 cylindrical packages.

Türkiye: Gökhan Şahin, a member of the Daltonlar criminal organization, has been extradited from Georgia to Türkiye after being wanted internationally for drug trafficking and illegal weapons offenses. He also faces charges in Türkiye for armed robbery and membership in a criminal organization. The Daltonlar are an Istanbul-based gang involved in extortion, drug trafficking and violent conflicts with rival criminal groups. Şahin was located in Georgia and returned to Türkiye through a joint operation involving Turkish police, Interpol and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).

Germany: Authorities seized over 300 kg of cocaine concealed in banana boxes at a wholesale market in Nuremberg after a worker noticed an unusually heavy box, triggering a search initially linked to a reported attempted robbery. Law enforcement, including the Bavarian Police, specialized drug crime units, and customs officials, inspected 50 pallets and found additional packages of cocaine, hidden in gray brick-shaped packages among the bananas. The shipment traveled by cargo vessel from Ecuador to the port of Vlissingen, Netherlands, then by road to its destination. The investigation seeks to determine any connection between the attempted robbery and the cocaine shipment, and to identify those responsible for smuggling the drugs into the produce cargo. No specific criminal organizations have been named, and authorities continue to gather witness information to clarify details about the logistics and parties involved in the transport.

Netherlands: A Turkish-German criminal network laundered drug trafficking profits by converting cash into gold bars and smuggling them to Türkiye, moving an estimated a few tonnes of gold over six years. Dutch and German police arrested five suspects, including a 55-year-old Rotterdam man who acted as an underground banker handling approximately €60 million in cash transfers. The organization offered money laundering as a service to other criminal groups, purchasing scrap gold through cooperating German jewellers before melting it into bars and transporting it in specially modified vehicles or by air. In Türkiye, the gold was converted into jewellery to pay criminal clients, while some was smuggled back to Germany to reimburse the jewellers. The investigation began in 2023 when German police discovered 55 kg of gold and nearly €500,000 hidden inside a vehicle.

Italy: An Italian parliamentary anti-mafia report has exposed an extraordinary example of ’ndrangheta infiltration into the legitimate economy: 166 shell companies registered to a single doorbell in Reggio Emilia, northern Italy. The companies had no employees, offices or genuine business operations. Instead, they formed part of a system using fictitious invoices to help legitimate businesses evade taxes and move illicit funds. The criminal networks profited by selling these services, while participating companies reduced their tax liabilities through fabricated expenses. The findings, drawn from testimony by prosecutor Calogero Gaetano Paci, illustrate how the Calabrian mafia has expanded beyond traditional extortion into financial crime and business services.

Spain: Operation Petronium-Heracles dismantled Los Chaquetas, a Galician criminal clan specializing in armed robberies of rival drug traffickers, known as “vuelcos.” Twelve people were arrested, including a police officer, with eight remanded in custody and two others under investigation. The gang operated around Ferrol, Narón and A Coruña, distributing cocaine, managing marijuana plantations and targeting rival groups to steal drugs and cash. In one extraordinary scam, a buyer paid €255,000 ($293,000) for 30 kg of cocaine, only to discover that 29 kg was powdered cement. After nine months of investigation, police carried out 17 searches, seizing cocaine, hashish, MDMA, heroin, six firearms, ammunition, €138,000 in cash and 12 vehicles, including luxury cars.

Germany: A former president of the now-banned Bandidos MC in Osnabrück withdrew his legal case seeking the return of three confiscated biker vests, which featured ranking and crime-related patches, after authorities had already destroyed the items. The vests were seized as evidence during a house search prior to the group’s official ban in 2021, and the claimant argued that the seizure was unlawful as the group had not yet been prohibited. With the destruction of the vests, the court proceedings at the Higher Administrative Court in Münster are set to be discontinued, and the state has agreed to cover the legal costs.

Cyprus: Police arrested 26 people and froze approximately €500,000 in assets during Operation Plegma, a nationwide crackdown on organized drug trafficking and money laundering networks. On November 5, officers conducted 27 searches across Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca and Famagusta, including prison cells, seizing two firearms, ammunition, 37 mobile phones, €25,025 in cash and smaller quantities of drugs. The investigation began in February after police uncovered 167 kg of cannabis, 62 kg of cocaine and 4.5 kg of cannabis resin, along with explosives and thousands of firecrackers. Months of further investigation exposed wider criminal connections and financial structures behind the trafficking operations. Working with the anti-money laundering unit MOKAS, police froze a house, land, ten cars, two motorcycles and €100,000 in funds. The operation was led by Cyprus's newly established Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, targeting both trafficking networks and the assets supporting their activities.

Albania: Prosecutors have requested prison sentences totaling approximately 300 years for 15 defendants in Operation Golden Bullet ("Plumbi i Artë"), a major organized crime investigation exposing a network of contract killers operating across Albania. Launched in 2022, the investigation connected at least eight criminal groups involved in 18 criminal episodes, including murders, attempted assassinations and bomb attacks, particularly around Elbasan, Durrës and Tirana. Investigators uncovered a system in which criminal bosses commissioned killings for tens of thousands of euros, using intermediaries to arrange gunmen, weapons and vehicles. Encrypted Sky ECC communications and testimony from cooperating hitman Nuredin Dumani [pic] helped reconstruct the criminal network, including the murders of brothers Viktor and Besmir Haxhia and several other victims. Prosecutors are seeking 10 years for Dumani in recognition of his cooperation and 35 years for Henrik Hoxhaj, whose cooperating-witness status was withdrawn. The November 5 hearing concerned sentencing requests, with the court yet to deliver its verdict.

Sri Lanka: The Navy seized 189.25 kg of narcotics, including 132.03 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 57.22 kg of heroin, from a fishing trawler intercepted in deep-sea waters south of the island. The shipment was concealed in 10 sacks containing 152 packages. The trawler had departed Gandara Fisheries Harbour on October 18.

UAE: Ravi Uppal, co-founder of the Mahadev Online Book illegal betting syndicate, has been arrested in Dubai following an Interpol Red Notice issued at India's request. The arrest comes days after his business partner, Saurabh Chandrakar, was extradited from Oman to India on November 1. Investigators identify Uppal as a central figure in the Dubai-based organization's financial operations, managing hawala money transfers, coordinating betting franchise operators and maintaining contacts with politicians and officials in India's Chhattisgarh state. The network operated thousands of online gambling panels across India and abroad, collecting betting revenues through mule bank accounts and transferring profits to its Dubai headquarters. India's Enforcement Directorate estimates that Mahadev and associated platforms generated up to ₹940 billion ($10.6 billion) in turnover, with billions of rupees transferred overseas. Uppal, previously detained in Dubai in December 2023 before being released, obtained Vanuatu citizenship along with Chandrakar. Indian authorities are now pursuing his extradition to face organized gambling and money-laundering proceedings.

Colombia: In two riverine operations in Cauca and Nariño, security forces seized a total of 1,765 kg of cocaine. The first operation intercepted 1,175 kg of cocaine in 40 rectangular packages hidden in 40 sacks along a river in López de Micay, attributed to the Jaime Martínez structure. The second operation in Playa Amarales, La Tola, uncovered 590 kg of cocaine in 26 abandoned sacks with packages of varying sizes, reportedly linked to the 30 Johnether Toro Arenas structure.

Colombia: A major search in La Picota prison, Bogotá, uncovered six @Starlink satellite internet antennas, 582 mobile phones, 3,754 SIM cards, about 38 internet modems, 432 chargers, 243 earphones, six smartwatches, and 18 microSD cards, along with 356 bladed weapons and cash.

Dominican Republic: Authorities intercepted a container at the Caucedo Multimodal Port containing 674 cans designed to look like canned beans, but filled with hermetically packaged cocaine hidden under transparent plastic and carbon paper. The operation was based on intelligence about irregularities in a consolidated export shipment bound for Portugal. Officers arrested two drivers, seized a tractor-trailer used in transport, as well as cell phones and documentation.

Panama: Authorities carried out several anti-narcotics operations on the Pacific coast, seizing 2,560 packages of presumed drugs and arresting three men after intercepting a low-profile vessel (LPV) near Punta Burica, Chiriquí province.

USA: Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “Tony Montana”, brother of the late CJNG leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, has accepted a proposed 20-year prison sentence ahead of his November 13 sentencing in Washington, DC. Oseguera, 68, pleaded guilty in July to trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine into the US and possessing firearms in connection with the operation. A senior financial and logistical operator, he previously worked for the Milenio Cartel before joining the CJNG around 2010, overseeing methamphetamine laboratories, precursor chemical supplies, cocaine distribution and the laundering of drug proceeds through currency exchange businesses. Transferred from Mexico to US custody in February 2025, he has remained under restrictive Special Administrative Measures in an Alexandria, Virginia, detention facility. His lawyers are requesting 20 years rather than a potential life sentence, citing his deteriorating health, age and prolonged isolation. They also requested placement in a federal prison medical facility. The prosecution agreed not to seek more than 30 years, while the probation office recommended 20 years. The final sentence remains for the judge to determine.

Mexico: Authorities intercepted a tractor-trailer with Texas plates carrying 133 kg of methamphetamine hidden in 89 packages inside a double floor compartment of the semi-trailer along the Mazatlán–Culiacán section of Federal Highway 15 in Sinaloa. The methamphetamine was distributed in 89 medium-sized parcels explicitly concealed within the truck’s structure for smuggling purposes.