Colombia, U.S. seize 7.5 tons of cocaine near Panama waters

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine and coca leaves from which the drug is made, according to the United Nations. The United States is the largest consumer.

Gun battle over El Chapo legacy leaves 16 dead in Mexico

Mike Vigil, formerly of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, says Guzman's 3 sons – known as the 'Chapitos,' or little Chapos – were engaged in a fight for control of the cartel

Son of powerful Mexican drug lord extradited to U.S.

Ruben Oseguera Gonzalez, known as 'El Menchito,' is extradited into US territory to face charges of conspiracy to smuggle drugs

Mexico shootout leaves at least 14 dead

The shootout in Coahuila state near the US border is between suspected drug traffickers and police

Mexico admits freeing Chapo's son after 'badly planned' operation

(UPDATED) Defense Minister Luis Sandoval says soldiers briefly arrested Ovidio Guzman but released him after being overpowered by cartel gunmen

Drug kingpin El Chapo sentenced to life in U.S. prison

(UPDATED) A US court sentences Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to life in prison plus a symbolic 30 years, as well as ordering the former mob boss to pay back $12.6 billion of the proceeds of his crimes

Mexico breaks violence record in first quarter of 2019

Mexico's Executive Secretariat of the Public Security National System says the 8,493 murders recorded from January to March represents a 9.6% rise on the same period in 2018

PH court convicts Mexican suspected to be member of Sinaloa drug cartel

Horacio Herrera is sentenced to life imprisonment

Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' convicted by New York jury

Joaquin Guzman, former boss of the Sinaloa cartel – famed for his brazen escapes from Mexican prisons – faces life in prison for smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the US

Massive drug bust exposes Mexico-Australia cartel ties

The investigation appears to reveal cooperation between Mexican cartels and Australian biker gangs

'El Chapo' trial: A 3-month plunge into the bloody ways of the drug trade

The trial has drawn a blood-soaked picture of the Sinaloa cartel, once led by Mexican drug boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman

Ex-lover of Narcos boss: El Chapo turned me into drug smuggler

A former mistress of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman testifies that the cartel leader lured her into a life as a drug trafficker

El Chapo's secret messages to his wife and lover revealed

Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman spied on both his beauty queen wife, Emma Coronel, and the lover, Agustina Cabanillas Acosta, using a surveillance system installed in encrypted Blackberries he gave them

Colombian confesses to over 150 murders at El Chapo trial

US government turncoat, Juan Carlos 'Chupeta' Ramirez, is allegedly one of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's two main Colombian suppliers

Truck with over 100 dead bodies causes uproar in Mexico

(UPDATED) A refrigerated trailer – rented when morgues hit full capacity – was parked for two weeks at a warehouse in the outskirts of Guadalajara, until residents complain of the stench and the flies it attracted

Mexican cartel leader's wife captured – government

'This woman is a likely administrator of both economic and legal assets of this criminal organization. She had been sought on an organized crime warrant,' Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete says in a news conference

The week in photos: April 28-May 4, 2018

This week's selection of photo highlights here and around the world

Beauty queen wife of 'El Chapo' worries over his solitary confinement

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, 61, accused of running the Sinaloa crime syndicate of Mexico, one of the world's biggest drug empires, is scheduled to go on trial on September 5

Mexico warns of drug cartel interference in vote

Mexican Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete says there were reckless attempts to pressure candidates to align themselves to a particular criminal group

Mexico arrests Zetas drug cartel boss wanted in U.S.

The Zetas are considered one of the most cruel criminal organizations in Mexico

Mexico drug cartels force-recruiting indigenous children – UN

The UN's special rapporteur on indigenous rights, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, says she is 'particularly worried' about violence against minors after speaking with indigenous communities around Mexico

Journalists bear invisible scars of Mexico's drug war

Many Mexican crime reporters suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as they either bear daily witness to violence or experience it themselves

Part 2: The Philippines as target market for illicit drugs

A public health approach rather than a law enforcement one should form the basis for a response to drug use and dependence

Mexico quietly marks 10 years of drug war

President Enrique Pena Nieto who inherited the drug war when he took office in December 2012 has promised his countrymen and women a Mexico in peace

6 people found alive with severed hands in Mexico

The victims were mutilated by a criminal group linked to drug trafficking

Mexico hunts for suspects who downed police chopper

It is the second time since 2015 that a gang has downed a helicopter

Mexico fears new cartel war after 'El Chapo' son abducted

Police confirm that Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar – one of Guzman s sons from his first marriage – was abducted from an upscale bar in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta on August 15 along with 5 other men

'Narconomics': Lessons for the Philippines' war vs drugs

Lowering the age of criminality in the Philippines should be reconsidered Throwing children in jail cells with hardened criminals may actually strengthen drug lords’ ability to recruit fresh talent – hardening youth who could have otherwise been saved from a life of crime and drugs

Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' undergoes jail transfer – official

The authorities say they are moving Guzman to prevent any escape attempt during construction to strengthen his maximum security prison in Altiplano

Offshore to online: How money was laundered in the past

From investing to businesses to offshore bank accounts past high profile cases highlight the many ways people hide money obtained illegally

Saunas, aquariums, and bar found at Mexico prison

Authorities seize contents of luxury cells at the prison where a deadly riot took place last week

Drug cartel ruled in Mexico prison hit by riot

Officials acknowledge that the prisoners had their own self government at the facility where 100 guards monitored 3 800 convicts

Mexican director Iñarritu defends Sean Penn's meeting with El Chapo

The Mexican filmmaker says the Hollywood actor had every right to look for the Mexican drug lord

Sean Penn's Guzman article irks journalists in Mexico

To call the encounter between actor Sean Penn and Chapo journalism is an insult to journalists in Mexico and beyond who paid the ultimate price seeking truth says Alfredo Corchado a Mexico born journalist

Sinaloa drug cartel suspect files motion for bail

Mexican national Horacio Hernandez Herrera is allegedly the number 3 or 4 man in the drug cartel that operates in the US Australia Europe West Africa the Philippines and other Asian countries

Mexico nabs Zetas drug cartel leader 'Z-42'

The arrest of Omar Trevino deals a blow to the feared gang and giving the embattled government a second major arrest in a week

Sinaloa drug cartel suspect accuses cops of extortion

Mexican Horacio Herera says cops arrested him after he refused to pay P7 million The justice department has asked anti narcotics agents to explain

Mexico mayor accused of ordering attack on missing students – official

Mexican authorities have searched in vain for any trace of the college students who disappeared on September 26 in a case that has sparked national and international outrage

Mexico gripped by mass grave, missing students

While news that the aspiring teachers were not in the burial pits brought some relief officials still have no clue where the students could be – and they now have 28 new unknown victims on their hands

Mexico arrests Juarez drug cartel leader

The capture of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes gives President Enrique Pena Nieto another victory against major drug traffickers

Mexico shock as kidnapped lawmaker killed, burned

Gabriel Gomez Michel s body was found inside the charred remains of his SUV alongside the burned corpse of his assistant after he was kidnapped Monday

Top Colombian drug hitman 'Popeye' freed

John Jairo Velasquez Vasquez walks free from the Combita high security prison in central Colombia after completing 22 years of his 30 year sentence for murder

Mexico captures leader of Tijuana cartel

Local news reports say Fernando Sanchez Arellano was arrested at home while watching Monday s World Cup contest between Mexico and Croatia

Brazil police smash major drug cartel

The cartel shipped drugs across the Americas and to Europe Africa the Middle East and Asia

Wake for 'twice-killed' Mexican drug lord

Mexico confirms killing of 'dead' drug capo

The previous Mexican government reported that Nazario Moreno was killed in December 2010 though his body was never located

Mexican drug kingpin 'El Chapo' Guzman captured: US

Joaquin El Chapo Guzman headed the Sinaloa drug cartel which has even reached the Philippines

Vigilantes enter Mexican drug cartel's key bastion

Vigilante militias that have fought a drug cartel in western Mexico for a year entered a key gang bastion on Saturday

Immigration on alert for assassins sent by drug cartel

Canadian authorities opted out of extradition so the Philippines can pursue its charges against the alleged drug ring members arrested in Taguig

NBI nabs alleged drug syndicate members in BGC

Intelligence reports from the bureau say a big time syndicate with ties to a Mexican drug cartel has been operating the drug facility for 7 months now