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2011年10月12日星期三

Mexico police held in drugs probe

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 20:42 GMT Suspects arrested in Veracruz on suspicion of working for the Zetas drug cartel The suspects were paraded before the press at a navy base Security forces in Mexico have arrested 18 police officers accused of working with the Zetas drugs cartel.

Marines arrested the agents in eastern Veracruz state, along with nine fugitives who escaped from a jail in the same region two weeks ago.

The marines said one of the police commanders carried a detailed list of officers in the pay of the cartel.

The Mexican government is increasingly deploying the navy and the army to root out corruption in the police.

The arrests were made over the past five days.

The navy said a tip-off by a local resident led them to the small village of Rancho Viejo, where the nine fugitives were hiding.

A navy press release said they were planning on joining the Zetas cartel, with which they had already made contact.

Map

They had escaped from La Toma jail in Amatlan de los Reyes on 19 September.

Navy officials said the 18 police agents arrested on suspicion of corruption had been receiving between 2,000 and 10,000 pesos ($140-$720; £90-£470) each per month in pay from the Zetas.

Prosecutors said they carried out protection duties and acted as look-outs for the Zetas.

They all belonged to the municipal police force.

Poorly paid and poorly trained, they are widely considered to be the force most prone to corruption.


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2011年9月16日星期五

UN charts rise of synthetic drugs

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13 September 2011 Last updated at 12:28 GMT Methamphetamine seized on Bali, Indonesia A haul of methamphetamine, seized on the Indonesian island of Bali The United Nations says the use of synthetic illegal drugs such as ecstasy and methamphetamine has overtaken cocaine and heroin.

A report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) had become the second most widely used illegal substances.

It said data on seizures of tablets and discoveries of clandestine laboratories indicated a worrying growth trend.

Cannabis is still the most widely used drug.

Easy manufacture

The main producers of synthetic drugs remain the Netherlands and Burma, but manufacture has spread to new countries and regions including West Africa and Latin America.

"Affordable and easy to manufacture, ATS are attractive drugs of choice for millions of drug users in all regions of the world and offer criminals a new entry into unexploited and fresh markets," the UNODC report said.

"Unlike plant-based drugs such as opiates or cocaine, synthetic drugs can be manufactured anywhere with little initial investment required."

The report says the number of seizures in South-east Asia is indicative of the growing trend.

While 32 million methamphetamine pills were confiscated in 2008, the figure grew to 133 million last year.

"The ATS market has evolved from a cottage-type industry typified by small-scale manufacturing operations to more of a cocaine or heroin-type market ," UNODC chief Yury Fedotov warned.

"We are seeing manufacturing shifting to new markets and trafficking routes, diversifying into areas previously unaffected by ATS."

The report also concedes that amphetamine-type stimulants are attractive to users.

"They seem to appeal to the needs of today's societies and have become part of what is perceived to be a modern and dynamic lifestyle," it said.

"It is also a result of a market potential with continuously high profits and low risks that maintain their attractiveness to criminal groups around the world."


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