U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized enough fentanyl in January alone to kill 60 million Americans despite a decrease in overall encounters. Statistics from CBP’s January report were announced in their Monthly Operational Update press release. The statics indicate a decrease in encounters with illegal immigrants following the new border measures implemented on Jan….

LOS ANGELES—State and local authorities are warning parents to be vigilant about the possibility of narcotics or other contaminants being mixed in with their children’s candy this Halloween. This raised special attention after someone attempted to smuggle roughly 12,000 fentanyl pills hidden inside bags and boxes of candy at Los Angeles International Airport recently. “With…

LOS ANGELES—An Orange County physician pleaded guilty Oct. 7 to conspiring to illegally prescribe more than 120,000 opioid pills to nearly 20 people over a six-year span without a legitimate medical purpose in exchange for cash and insurance payments. Dr. Dzung Anh Pham, 61, of Tustin, who owned Irvine Village Urgent Care, entered his plea…

EDGEWATER, Fla.—Three people are dead following a shooting and hostage situation at Narcotics Anonymous meeting in Florida, police said. Officers responded to a report that a man was shot and a woman was being held hostage Monday night in Edgewater, which is near Daytona Beach. The other people at the meeting were able escape the…

The state of Tennessee sued Walgreens on Wednesday, accusing the retail pharmacy giant of fueling the state’s opioid epidemic by willfully flooding the market with an oversupply of prescription narcotics in violation of consumer protection and public nuisance laws. According to the lawsuit, Walgreens used its position as one of the state’s largest pharmacy chains…

BRUSSELS—Narcotics production is growing in Europe, according to an estimate published on Tuesday by the EU drugs agency, which warned of a proliferation of new psychoactive substances being sold and consumed on the continent. In its annual report, the EU drugs agency said that new evidence was emerging of rising drug production in Europe, confirming…

A charter flight company whose crew was detained in the Dominican Republic is asking the Canadian government to issue a travel advisory for the Caribbean destination, a position echoed by the Air Line Pilots Association of Canada (ALPA Canada). Eric Edmonson, CEO of Pivot Airlines, has been urging the federal government to step in after…

The Taliban terrorist group announced on Sunday a ban on the cultivation of narcotics in Afghanistan, the world’s biggest opium producer. “As per the decree of the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, all Afghans are informed that from now on, cultivation of poppy has been strictly prohibited across the country,” according to…

LUCKNOW, India—Indian police said on Saturday they had charged senior executives of Amazon.com‘s local unit under narcotics laws in a case of alleged marijuana smuggling via the online retailer. Police in the central Madhya Pradesh state arrested two men with 20 kg (44 lb) of marijuana on Nov. 14 and found they were using the…

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team joined Europol to arrest 150 people worldwide in Operation Dark HunTor, an effort that seized weapons, drugs and more than $31 million in currencies. Operation Dark HunTor included arrests across three continents, taking into custody alleged perpetrators across the United…