A top Afghan drug lord jailed in the United States since 2008 was for years on the US payroll as an informant for the CIA and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), “The New York Times” said on Saturday.

Hajji Juma Khan was paid lavishly to provide information on the Taliban, Afghan corruption and other drug traffickers in his country, and was even brought secretly to the United States at one point, federal prosecutors, current and former US officials told the daily.

gulftoday.ae
australianetworknews.com

Er war einer der exzentrischsten Drogenbosse Mexikos: Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, Spitzname "Der Verrückteste", soll nun bei einem Gefecht mit dem Militär getötet worden sein. Die Leiche des Kartell-Chefs konnte aber nicht geborgen werden.

Mexiko-Stadt - Sein Tod wurde bestätigt, die Leiche aber bleibt verschwunden: Der Anführer des mexikanischen Drogenkartells La Familia ist offenbar bei einer Schießerei von Bundespolizisten getötet worden. Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, auch bekannt als "Der Verrückteste", kam vermutlich bei einem zweitägigen Gefecht im westlichen Bundesstaat Michoacan ums Leben, wie ein Regierungssprecher am Freitag mitteilte. Bewaffnete Mitglieder des Kartells seien geflüchtet und hätten die Leichen von Kämpfern mitgenommen. Die Polizei habe Informationen, dass sich unter den Erschossenen auch Gonzalez befinde.

spiegel.de
derstandard.at

Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, the leader of Mexico's La Familia drug cartel, was shot and killed yesterday by authorities in the western state of Michoacan, government security spokesman Alejandro Poire said today.

Moreno, known as "El Chayo," was a founder of what the U.S. government calls "one of Mexico's newest and most violent drug cartels." The Mexican government had Moreno on its most- wanted list, offering 30 million pesos ($2.4 million) for information that could lead to his arrest.

Moreno was killed amid battles between security officials and gunmen that began Dec. 8 when cartel members traded fire with police in the city of Apatzingan.

sfgate.com
salon.com
focus-fen.net
star-telegram.com
old zack

An alleged drug cartel leader appears on the Mexican government's 2010 teacher payroll as part of the staff of an elementary school in a rural town, according to the federal education department's website.

Payroll documents posted on the website show that checks totaling about $4,000 were issued to Servando Gomez, a reputed leader of the La Familia cartel, during the first three months of the year for teaching at Melchor Ocampo Elementary School in his hometown of Arteaga in Michoacan state.

miamiherald.com

Brazilian police discovered a giant portrait of Justin Bieber in the home of a Rio de Janeiro drug lord during a raid at the weekend.

The hand-painted mural of the teenage pop star was hung from a wall in the luxurious mansion, which was abandoned by drug kingpin Alexander Mendes da Silva ahead of the raid.

msn.co.nz
nypost.com
hollywoodlife.com
Drogenbaron in Rio de Janeiro [10 photos]
The Big Picture 40 photos total

A convicted drug smuggler in South Africa has been acquitted of the murder of a mining tycoon.

Glenn Agliotti was charged with planning Brett Kebble's murder in 2005.

At the time Agliotti was a close friend of ex-police chief Jackie Selebi, who he testified against in a corruption trial. Selebi, also a former Interpol president, was jailed for 15 years.

bbc.co.uk

The project was done by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project -- a consortium of investigative centers, journalists and media organizations throughout the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

reportingproject.net

Mexican officials on Saturday said they have begun the process to extradite alleged drug kingpin Edgar Valdez, known as "La Barbie" for his fair looks, to the United States on drug trafficking charges.

Valdez, a US national born in Laredo, Texas, is charged in a 2002 indictment in Louisiana for alleged cocaine trafficking, and a 1998 indictment for drug trafficking in Texas.

zeenews.com
mb.com