As pirates continue to hold hostages off the coast of Somalia, the process to pay out ransoms remains a tricky business for those paying.
From the Guardian:
The lesson from recent years in the Gulf of Aden is that piracy pays, and it is a lesson that has not been lost on the pirates.
Piracy is big business [...]

Users of cocaine are destroying the rainforest, according to law enforcement officials.
From the Guardian:
Four square metres of rainforest are destroyed for every gram of cocaine snorted in the UK, a conference of senior police officers as told yesterday.
Francisco Santos Calderón, the vice-president of Colombia, appealed to British users of the class A drug to consider [...]

Mexico’s Liaison to Interpol was placed under house arrest for his ties to drug cartels.
From the AP (via Google News):
A top police official who worked as Mexico’s main liaison with Interpol was placed under house arrest as part of an investigation into leaks of information to drug cartels, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The arrest of Ricardo Gutierrez [...]

The impact of the drug war in Mexico is being felt across the United States.
From the Los Angeles Times:
The drug violence that has left about 4,000 people dead this year in Mexico is spreading deep into the United States, leaving a trail of slayings, kidnappings and other crimes in at least 195 cities as far [...]

US Government authorities are gaining steam in their ongoing battle against cybergangs.
From USA Today:
In what is shaping up as a breakthrough year,
federal authorities have quietly cracked down on some of the biggest
Internet crime rings.

Secret Service and FBI operations since January
have broken up a huge forum for stolen credit cards and shut down the
world’s [...]

A report by the Attorney General of Texas has found that 20 percent of all human trafficking victims are found in the state.
From the Guardian:
Texas has become a major hub for human trafficking, state officials said yesterday while proposing a more aggressive response to what a senior government official described as “modern-day slavery”.
Nearly 20% of [...]

Pirated copies of Blu-Ray DVDs are creating huge profits for sellers.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Movie pirates are going after Blu-ray, using a technological twist that makes their illicit copies both cheap to make and tough for consumers to spot.
Pirates are taking advantage of the fact that many viewers can’t tell the difference between Hollywood’s new [...]

A Calgary man is believed to be the first conviction under an anti-piracy law in Canada.
From CBC News:
A Calgary man is believed to be the first person convicted in Canada under new movie pirating legislation when he pleaded guilty to the unauthorized recording of the Johnny Depp movie Sweeney Todd.
Richard Lissaman was arrested in a [...]

The elite in Mexico are spending more on private bodyguards as the drug war and kidnapping spread throughout the country.
From the New York Times:
With drug-related violence spinning out of control and kidnappings a proven money-maker for criminal gangs, members of Mexico’s upper class find themselves juggling the spoils of their status with the fear of [...]

The US Treaury Deparment has placed 26 people and 17 companies from Myanmar on its frozen asset lists.
From the AFP (via Google News):
The US authorities said Thursday it had frozen the assets of 26 individuals and 17 firms tied to drug trafficking in Myanmar and prohibited US citizens from dealing with them.
Targeted were those linked [...]