Inside the lucrative smuggling operation that sees millions of Chinese cigarettes pass through Texas
Courtesy / Policia Nacional
June 29, 2021
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Not drugs, weapons or gems.
It was cigarettes. Cartons upon cartons of black market cigarettes for export.
An 80-year-old Mission man and two young associates were convicted and sentenced for trying to move the stash. The elder player in the scheme admitted he intended to smuggle nearly 423 million cigarettes through Texas into Mexico.
The case provides a glimpse into the operations of Chinese firms that are well on their way to taking over the global tobacco market.
Although cigarettes seem an unlikely product to smuggle they’re legal in most places they represent a lucrative business that can include big profits and tax savings. And they give those backing the smugglers a way into the economies of other countries and sometimes the leverage to persuade governments to put in place more favorable policies, rep
(Bloomberg) Pedro Francke knows exactly what investors in Peru and abroad think of his boss, Pedro Castillo: that he’s an extreme leftist with Marxist ties who will sink the Andean country into Venezuela-style economic chaos if elected president.
By Aiuri Rebello and Santiago Torrado
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (El Pais) There is a new drug in the Brazilian illegal drug market that is progressively gaining space among dealers and users nationwide. It is Colombian marijuana, known as “Colombia,” “colombinha,” “colom,” “cripa,” or “creepy,” depending on the producing region.
The drug coming mostly from regions controlled by armed groups that operate in the neighboring country’s Pacific Ocean Corridor looks different, is of better quality, stronger, and more expensive than the Paraguayan marijuana that traditionally supplies most of the country.
Trafficker shows Colombian marijuana (left), known as “colombinha” in São Paulo, and Paraguayan marijuana, known as “prensado”. (Photo Anderson Prado)
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UK intervention in response to Ambassadors Çevik and Grau
Thank you Chair. I would like to thank Ambassador Çevik for briefing us today and Ambassador Grau for providing her update through her representative, Daniel Ricco. We are very grateful to both of you and your teams for the work you do to promote the peaceful and sustainable resolution of the conflict.
While we welcome the significant reduction in violence and casualties since the 27 July, Ambassador Çevik, your report shows us that we cannot be complacent. During the reporting period, the daily average of ceasefire violations was almost double the daily average between the 27 July to the 16 September 2020.