Eco-Solve, SA-Obs

Losing ground: The growing illicit trade in South Africa’s ornamental plants

Losing ground

...South Africa is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, with three globally recognized biodiversity hotspots and exceptionally high levels of endemism. However, this natural heritage is under ...

Posted on 02 Oct 2025

Author(s): Melissa Castlemaine, Sophy Kohler

Global Initiative

Smuggling by signature: How Bulgaria’s shadowy arms trade and corruption in East Africa devised a business plan to sell weapons to one of Mexico’s deadliest cartels

...In July 2025, US prosecutors in Virginia unsealed an indictment accusing Petar Dimitrov Mirchev, a Bulgarian national, of conspiring with East African associates to supply a powerful Mexican drug synd...

Posted on 01 Oct 2025

Author(s): Aleksandar Srbinovski

Global Organized Crime Index, UN Cyberwatch

The cybercrime arms race

...On 19 September, several European airports experienced flight delays and operational issues after their check-in and boarding systems were hit by a cybersecurity breach, causing disruption for thousan...

Posted on 30 Sep 2025

Author(s): Camilla Silvi Marchini

AMA-Obs

The PCC’s mafia moment

...On 15 September, Ruy Ferraz Fontes, São Paulo’s former police chief, was assassinated by three assailants using high-grade rifles in a busy road in the city of Praia Grande. Ongoing police investig...

Posted on 24 Sep 2025

Author(s): Gabriel Funari

Latinoamérica y el Caribe, AR-Obs

Ecuador’s criminal crisis

...William Joffre Alcívar Bautista, known as 'Negro Willy', rose to lead the Ecuadorian gang Los Tiguerones while serving as a prison guard. After relocating to Spain in September 2023, he allegedly con...

Posted on 22 Sep 2025

Author(s): Renato Rivera

HT-Obs

From criminal governance to community fragmentation: Addressing Haiti’s escalating crisis

From criminal governance to community fragmentation:

...Haiti is undergoing a profound transformation of its crisis, marked by the consolidation of criminal governance, violent territorial fragmentation, and the erosion of state authority. This policy brie...

Posted on 18 Sep 2025