U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Greek authorities have dismantled an international criminal group trafficking cocaine in shipping containers from Latin America to Europe, police said on Thursday.

Two Albanians and two Greeks were arrested after a months-long investigation launched by Greek drugs and contraband enforcement authorities in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Colombian security forces have captured the country's most wanted drug trafficker, a rural warlord who stayed on the run for more than a decade by corrupting state officials and aligning himself with combatants on the left and right.

President Ivan Duque likened the arrest on Oct. 23 of Dairo Antonio Usuga to the capture three decades ago of Pablo Escobar.

Greek police have seized a haul of 324 kilograms (714 pounds) of pure cocaine and arrested three people in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

They said Saturday that the suspects planned to mix the cocaine with other substances and sell it in Greece and other markets. It would have had a street value of 100 million euros.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is behind intelligence provided to Greek authorities that a Turkish-flagged freighter, to which the Greek coastguard had opened fire in the Aegean Sea on July 3, was allegedly carrying drugs, daily Habertürk reported on July 25.

A secretive meeting that Hollywood star Sean Penn orchestrated with Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman in a jungle hideout late last year helped Mexico's government catch the world's most wanted drug lord, sources said. 

The partnership between Bulgaria and the United States in countering drug trafficking activity in the Balkans received a boost on Thursday with the opening of a USD 1.9 M headquarters building of a joint task force of the respective law enforcement agencies of the two countries, officials said.

A Serbian court on July 13 sentenced a Balkan drug lord to 20 years in prison for smuggling 5.7 tons of cocaine from South America to Europe.

The head of the once-powerful Juarez drug cartel has been captured, officials said on April 19, confirming the most recent in a string of victories against Mexico's narco-traffickers.

Authorities captured Jesus Salas Aguayo, 38, on Arpil 17 at his ranch in the northern Mexican village of Villa Ahumada, some 120 kilometers from Ciudad Juarez.

Darko Šarić case - key moments

BELGRADE -- Alleged drug lord Darko Šarić first grabbed the headlines in October 2009 when the Uruguayan police seized 2.8 tons of cocaine at the port of Santiago Vazquez.

PODGORICA – Montenegrin Justice Minister Dusko Markovic has said that Darko Saric was handed over to Serbian authorities Tuesday morning and noted that it is definite that operational efforts of the two countries’ services led to the locating of the most wanted drug lord.