65 Arrested in Vietnam for Selling Etomidate-Laced E-Cigarettes

Police in multiple countries have arrested dozens of suspects in separate international crime operations targeting sexual exploitation of minors, a deadly migrant surge at the Morocco-Spain border, teenage hitmen recruited for contract killings across Europe, and a drug-laced vape trafficking ring.

Drug-Laced Vape Network Dismantled in Vietnam

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have dismantled a drug trafficking group that injected narcotic-laced e-liquid into e-cigarettes, arresting 65 suspects, including 10 foreign nationals believed to have played key roles. [5] The suspects include four Singaporeans, four Malaysians, and two Taiwanese. [5] Malaysian national Hoo Jia How, 30, and Singaporean Melvin Tan Junjie, 30, were identified as the alleged ringleaders. [5] Police began investigating the network in early July after detecting signs of its operation. [5] Following weeks of surveillance, dozens of officers simultaneously raided a rented house on Cong Quynh Street in Cau Ong Lanh Ward, arresting the two leaders. [5] They seized 1,331 e-cigarette pods and 140 ml of Etomidate-laced e-liquid used to fill them. [5] Expanding the investigation, police arrested Singaporean Oh Jang Fong, who is accused of supplying the Etomidate-containing liquid to the group. [5] According to the police, Melvin and Hoo collected the drug-laced liquid from Oh Jang Fong before taking it to the rented house, where they injected it into vape pods. [5] The products were then distributed to Vietnamese and foreign customers. [5] Many buyers allegedly resold the products or organized drug use. [5] Police later dismantled two additional distribution networks for the drug-laced e-cigarettes, allegedly run by two Vietnamese nationals, Le Ton Nu Diem Thuy, 23, and Tran Dinh Canh, 24. [5] In total, officers seized nearly 2,000 drug-laced vape pods and 140 ml of Etomidate e-liquid. [5] Etomidate is an anesthetic used in medicine but has been mixed into e-cigarette liquid for illicit use. [5] Since Jan. 19, it has been classified as a narcotic in Vietnam. [5] According to HCMC police, Etomidate-laced vape pods are often promoted with claims that "it won't show up on drug tests" or "it's not a drug," misleading users into believing the products are safe. [5] When inhaled, Etomidate is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and affects the brain. [5] Users may initially experience relaxation and euphoria but can soon become extremely drowsy, with impaired awareness, poor concentration, slowed reflexes, dizziness, slurred speech, and difficulty walking. [5] In severe cases, the substance can cause confusion, disorientation, seizures, impaired consciousness, respiratory depression, low blood pressure, and even death. [5]

Singapore Charges Nine in Minors Exploitation Case

Eight men and one woman will be charged in Singapore with sexual exploitation of minors. [1]

Colombia Blames ELN for Car Bomb Attack on Police

The explosion occurred early Saturday morning next to a police station in the city of Cúcuta, about 400 kilometers from Bogotá. [2] The attack, classified as terrorist, left 11 people injured, including eight members of the Public Force and three civilians. [2] AFP journalists documented the burning vehicle, destroyed facades, and members of the security forces, military personnel, and residents approaching the scene. [2] The attack occurred near the border with Venezuela, six days before the inauguration of President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, who strongly condemned the act of violence. [2] Colombia’s government on Saturday blamed the nation’s largest remaining rebel group for an explosion outside a police base that injured 11 officers and killed a police dog. [2] The attack took place early Saturday in Cucuta, a city along Colombia’s border with Venezuela, where drug gangs and rebel groups have long fought for the control of smuggling routes. [2] General William Rincon, the director of Colombia’s police, said the blast came from a truck that had been left outside a building that serves as the headquarters for police in Norte de Santander Province. [2] The predawn explosion damaged much of the building’s roofing and shattered its windows. [2] In a message on social media, Colombian Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez blamed the National Liberation Army rebel group for the attack, and offered a US$60,000 reward for information leading to those behind the car bombing. [2] The attack comes as Colombia prepares to inaugurate a new president. [2] Next Friday, Abelardo de la Espriella, an ultraconservative who has promised to cancel peace talks with the nation’s remaining rebel groups, will be sworn into office in Cali, another Colombian city where rebel groups have staged attacks recently. [2] The National Liberation Army, or ELN, has been fighting Colombia’s government for decades, and is believed to have 6,000 fighters operating in Colombia and neighbouring Venezuela. [2] The group was founded in the 1960s by union leaders, students and peasants seeking social justice but has largely transformed into a criminal organisation that profits from illegal gold mining and drug trafficking, according to Colombian authorities. [2] Under outgoing President Gustavo Petro, who was elected in 2022, Colombia staged peace negotiations with the ELN. [2] But the talks fell apart early last year, after the ELN staged attacks in the rural area north of Cucuta, in which an estimated 78 people were killed. [2] At least 56,000 had to flee their homes. [2] Incoming president de la Espriella has said he will confront the ELN and criminal groups in Colombia with greater military force, and will resume the aerial fumigation of coca crops, the raw material for cocaine. [2] A peace deal between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia led to the disarmament of more than 13,000 guerrilla fighters in 2016. [2]

Death Toll Reaches 67 in Ceuta Migrant Crossings

Authorities in Ceuta said many of those who lost their lives drowned as crowds streamed over the border by land and sea on Thursday, overwhelming border guards. [3] Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has denounced the “selfish” response of several EU member states to an influx of migrants crossing into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from Morocco this week, as the number of people who died rose to 67. [3] According to CNN, most of those 50,000 to 60,000 people who attempted the crossing had returned to Morocco by Friday evening, quoting Spanish authorities. [3] In a letter quoted widely by European media, Sánchez condemned the “selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction” from other EU countries, after Italy temporarily placed some border controls on travel from Spain, while France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez ordered extra checks along the countries’ shared border. [3] Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also called for Spain’s membership of the Schengen agreement to be suspended. [3] Sánchez said in his letter that “such an attitude” was “driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interest.” [3] “In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction,” he added. [3] Later, on Saturday, Ireland, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, announced an emergency meeting among national ministers to discuss the crossings. [3] The Irish Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Minister Jim O’Callaghan, posted on X that he remains “in close contact with all EU Member states” and is “continuing to monitor the situation.” [3] Spanish officials said they would try to expel those who entered irregularly as quickly as possible. [3] The mass crossings come in the wake of a recent ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court that authorities cannot summarily deport migrants who arrive by sea without due process. [3] However, experts say that legal decision was extremely narrow, with some arguing it was likely misinterpreted by migrants and traffickers. [3] By Friday, many appeared to have left of their own accord. [3] Reuters reported seeing hundreds of people return to Morocco through border posts and holes in the fence, with some saying they could not find food or shelter in Ceuta. [3] On Saturday, Spanish officials began installing a floating barrier near the Tarajal breakwater, a key entry point into Ceuta, to “comply with” the Supreme Court ruling in July, the country’s Interior Ministry said in a statement. [3] Sánchez previously said the mass crossings constituted a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” and blamed the influx on misinformation spread by people traffickers following the Supreme Court ruling. [3] Reuters spoke to 16-year-old Moroccan Ayoub El Abyad, who said he and his cousin decided to make the 12-hour journey toward Ceuta after watching Instagram videos of other migrants crossing. [3] “Migration is about improving our lives. We agreed we would try the idea of crossing and trust in God,” El Abyad told the news agency from the Moroccan side of the border. [3]

Teenage Hitmen Recruited for Violence-as-a-Service Across Europe

Since 2022, the Foxtrot Network is thought to have been responsible for about 35 murders as well as a number of attacks and attempted attacks on Israeli targets in Europe including two involving explosives and hand grenades. [4] The gang recruits teenagers to carry out the attacks for cash, but it almost never has to pay out as they often get caught. [4] Like Johannes Natland, a Norwegian teenager who was convicted of conspiracy to murder by a jury at the Old Bailey in London on Wednesday for a planned killing in West Yorkshire. [4] According to Operational Taskforce (OTF) GRIMM, the Europol group set up to tackle the problem, the teenage hitmen are recruited on social media, and are given their instructions in a "gamified" way, imitating how computer games work. [4] OTF GRIMM currently involves 11 countries affected by the VaaS phenomenon - Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. [4] The leader of the Foxtrot Network, Rawa Majid, has fled Sweden and his later operating base in Turkey, and is now based in the Iranian capital Tehran. [4] Police believe some of the VaaS attacks have been carried out for the Iranian regime, including a hand grenade attack on the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, though other attacks are part of Foxtrot's drugs turf wars. [4] The links to the Iranian regime started after October 2023 when Majid fled to Tehran. [4] "He had to make a deal to be able to live freely in Iran, under condition that he and his network work for the regime," said Diamant Salihu, an investigative journalist for the Swedish broadcaster SVT. [4] The Natland case illustrates how the VaaS system works. [4] Natland is the son of two journalists in Stavanger and had a comfortable upbringing, but he drifted into drugs and developed psychosis, ending up spending time in rehab and a short period in a children's home. [4] There he met another teenager who used the online handle UnknownHustler. [4] It was UnknownHustler who first sent Natland the online request for someone to carry out a hit in the UK - "Killing in England 270k" (270,000 Norwegian kroner is about £21,000). [4] It had come from another teenager with the handle Generalen. [4] Generalen - who was 16 at the time and had spent the last three years living in a children's home - subsequently recruited Natland for the hit. [4] Natland was then passed on to a Foxtrot member with the online username Agent 47, which is borrowed from the Hitman game franchise. [4] Swedish police have accused Ali Shehad Ahmed, who is close to the Foxtrot leader Majid, of being Agent 47. [4] Agent 47 booked Natland's one way ticket to Manchester Airport, and helped him through the process of getting an emergency passport. [4] Using the messaging app Signal, he guided Natland at every stage of his journey before handing him on to a logistics man with the username "1". [4] Treating Natland a bit like a character in a computer game, "1" sent him a map and videos showing him where to find the guns hidden in woodland in Huddersfield, and then another video showing him how to access a stash of cash hidden in the undergrowth near a foot tunnel. [4] Once Natland was installed in his Huddersfield hotel with the weapons, Agent 47 messaged him again: "We have much to do tomorrow." [4] Natland was arrested the next morning. [4] He had not yet been told who he was to kill, and counterterrorism detectives are still trying to work out whether it was to be a criminal hit or a political one carried out for Iran. [4] The teenager who recruited Natland - Generalen - was prolific. [4] As well as hiring Natland as a hitman he had also recruited at least two people who carried out murders in Sweden. [4] They were Azimov, who is serving a life sentence for killing the wrong man, and a 17-year-old who shot dead Ahmed Zamzam in Lund, south Sweden, three and a half weeks earlier. [4] Neither of the killers got paid, because they were both caught. [4] Generalen was eventually stopped because he was trying to arrange the murder of the 14-year-old son of a Norwegian police officer. [4] He recruited a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old to carry out the knife attack, but the 15-year-old told the police. [4] When Generalen was arrested detectives found details of the Huddersfield murder plot on his phone that led to British police arresting Natland just in time. [4] Generalen was convicted in May and is serving a 14-year-prison sentence. [4] OTF GRIMM has had some successes in the 15 months since it was set up. [4] Police have made more