Smugglers impregnated cardboard with cocaine - Edwin Congo

Spanish police have busted an international gang that smuggled cocaine into Europe from Colombia by impregnating it into cardboard boxes. The boxes were then used for legal shipments of pineapples and limes from Colombia. Among the 18 busted is former Real Madrid player Edwin Congo, 43.

Congo signed for £4.3m in 1999 and bizarrely he never played an official game for the Spanish giants.

“Small quantities of the drug – never more than 100g – were placed in each box and later extracted by chemicals in the gang’s laboratories” Spanish cops said. In January they got wind of a shipment bound for Greece: 5,016 boxes of limes and 1,660 boxes of pineapples.

Colombian kingpins sought help from Spanish cartel Los Castanitas for logistical success of their operation. Over 1 tonne of cocaine was seized along with more than 1.2 tonnes of compressed cardboard and 1,000 litres of chemicals used to extract the cocaine.

Toronto Cops nail meth lab

Cops have dismantled a methamphetamine lab in an Oshawa home and seized 43 kg of crystal meth, five kg of Ketamine and three litres of GHB (gamma-Hydroxybutyraten). Street-level value is in excess of $3.4m according to cops. A loaded .32 calibre semi-automatic pistol was also seized.

Richard Alexandre, 56, Richard Jansen, 36, Brendan Coates, 37, and Kyle Zettler, 34, face numerous charges.

Covid-19 sends Los Zetas leader Moises Escamilla May to morgue

It wasn’t a hitman’s bullet that took out a Mexican cartel chieftain. Covid-19 sent Los Zetas leader Moises Escamilla May to the morgue. He was serving a 37-year sentence for decapitating 12.

Old School Zetas was formed by Mexican army deserters who were originally in the Gulf Cartel. After Omar Trevino Morales was arrested, the gang split into two factions and fought a brutal war until 2018.

'El Yori' loses nifty gold assault rifle

'El Yori' was arrested in Tehuacán, Puebla.

Víctor “El Yori” Iván, boss of the regional gang Las Bigotonas lost his gold-encrusted assault rifle along with his freedom in a recent bust in Tehuacán. El Yori crimes include cargo robbery, drug trafficking and arms sales in the Tehuacán region. The gold and silver-encrusted AR-15 rifle features an image of La Santa Muerte, or the Holy Death, a saint used by drug traffickers for protection and the safe delivery of their cargo.

Although heavily involved in drug trafficking, Las Bigotonas still relies on highway and train robberies.

Narcos play a numbers game - numbers against them

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit cocaine traffickers according to a UN report. After lock-downs and restrictions were imposed in Latin American countries and the global maritime trade slowed, there was a substantial drop in seizures, which indicates fewer shipments. The narcos play a numbers game. They will accept a 15% to 20% loss ratio, but with fewer containers to check in ports, the odds are now stacked against them. On the demand side dealers are doing well. The wholesale price for a kilo of cocaine in Rotterdam went up from about $27k a kilo late last year to $35k a kilo now.

Mexican cartels have seen intensified competition among them as it becomes harder to get product through traditional ports of entry. They are the last step in the overland route to America however, so their power ought to swing higher compared to Colombian cartels.

Trail of hot meat sinks gang

A large group were arrested after stealing meat from a meat market in Visalia, California. Cops responded around 4:30 a.m. at the Jalisco Meat Market. They followed a trail of meat to a nearby apartment, where they found more perps. 13 were arrested.

Double murderer James Daniel Perlett busted with $2.2m in drugs

Cops in Winnipeg have seized 9 kg of meth, 4 kg of cocaine, cutting agents and cash. Charged is James Daniel Perlett, who was convicted in the execution death of his parents, who died in 1996. Perlett was convicted of shooting them in their bed in their Fort Frances Ontario home. Perlett was given a life sentence with no parole for 18 years.

Also charged is Biniam Mengistu Fitur, 40. Winnipeg cops say that while there is no shortage of supply, prices are increasing for drugs in Winnipeg as a result of Covid-19.

Gunned down Kenyan gangster saw death coming

Ahab Kariuki alias 'Bugii King Ihab' was gunned down by police on April 29, 2020, in a robbery attempt. Kariuki was tied to a long string of armed robberies across Nairobi, including scores of murders. His next to last Facebook post ... "Even though I am marked for death, I am gonna spark till I lose my breath. I no longer live in fear. My pistol close in hand, convinced this is my year."

Cops had been after the gangster since a 2015 killing.

Victoria cops seize cache of weapons, drugs

Homes in Sooke, Saanich and Langford, were raided in connection to a multi-jurisdictional drug trafficking ring. A 25-year-old woman and two men, ages 36 and 46, were arrested for drug trafficking and firearm-related offences. Among the firearms, cops found a handgun equipped with a silencer, a restricted AR-15 style rifle and a sawed-off shotgun. Two vehicles were also seized.

Kaven Langlois MIA

46-year-old biker Kaven Langlois flew the coup on the very day of Operation Urchin, an operation that arrested 32 and dismantled drug trafficking networks linked to the Hells Angels, one of which operated in New Brunswick. Langlois was a member of the Moncton Red Devils farm club at the time. His apartment was searched but he was gone, reportedly to Brazil. Some are speculating his fate. Marius Perron was a former Hells Angels from Quebec who fled to Brazil in 1993. He became a member of the Hells Angels in Brazil and lived there until his death from natural causes in 2018.

Langlois is a relative of Mario Bergeron, a Quebec Hells Angels who has been missing since 2008 and who was killed according to cops. His body was never found. Langlois was a prospect before the SharQc roundup in April 2009 but lost status with the club. It is said he was offered colors in Ontario but refused them. Langlois never obtained status with the Hells Angels again and was demoted to the Red Devils in Moncton. Cops suspect he may have met with foul play.

Any information on Langlois' disappearance can be communicated to the Sûreté du Québec Criminal Information Center at 1-800-659-4264.