smuggling

United Kingdom

UK police disrupt gang suspected of smuggling stolen phones to China

The Metropolitan Police said it has arrested 46 people in its largest ever crackdown on mobile phone theft.

07/10/2025

Lithuania

Balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes closed Lithuania's main airport

Thousands of passengers' journeys were disrupted after the authorities closed Vilnius Airport for hours as a precaution.

07/10/2025

Health news

US foiled plan to bring toxic fungus from China to university lab

A scientific journal describes the fungus as a "potential agroterrorism weapon" that can be used against crops and people.

04/06/2025

Indonesia

Australian man arrested for allegedly smuggling cocaine into Bali

The Southeast Asian country has extremely strict drug laws and convicted smugglers are sometimes executed by firing squad.

29/05/2025

Europe News

Belgium to tighten control on private aircraft in anti-smuggling push

Belgian customs authorities will place an officer at the national airspace security centre to access military radar and clamp down on private aircraft being used in smuggling operations.

27/05/2025

Thailand

Thailand vows to tighten control of cannabis as smuggling cases soar

Thailand became the first country in Asia to decriminalise cannabis in 2022, which has boosted the country's tourism industry and spawned thousands of shops.

21/05/2025

United Kingdom

UK jails smuggler for 25 years over arranging migrant boats to Europe

UK-based Egyptian national Ahmed Ebid helped smuggle nearly 3,800 people from north Africa to Italy as part of a lucrative criminal network.

20/05/2025

Spain

Spanish police arrest Russian couple over Mallorca cat smuggling ring

The suspects are alleged to have advertised species including pumas, white tigers and clouded leopards — for which they were charging €60,000.

15/04/2025

Health news

Customs officials issue warning about 'erectile honey' flooding France

French authorities made a record bust in 2024, seizing 13 tonnes of honey laced with erectile dysfunction medicine.

21/01/2025

Europe News

Man suspected of supplying small boats to people smugglers arrested

A joint operation between authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom led to the arrest of a Turkish national in Amsterdam.

15/11/2024

Europe News

French court convicts 18 people in migrant smuggling trial

The defendants were part of a smuggling gang accused of overseeing most Channel crossings on small boats from France to the UK from 2000 to 2022.

05/11/2024

Green News

Italian men fined for stealing butterflies from Sri Lanka

The two men from northern Italy face two years in jail if they fail to pay the fine by 24 September.

16/09/2024

Bulgaria

Eight arrested in Bulgaria migrant smuggling ring bust

Smugglers were charging up to €6,000 per head to smuggle migrants to Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

21/08/2024

Nature

Italian men sued for suspected rare cacti smuggling from Chile

An Italian conservation organisation is suing two people at the centre of a cacti smuggling lawsuit for damaging its work to support biodiversity.

29/06/2024

Green News

‘Super-pollutant’ greenhouse gases are being smuggled into Europe

The impact of hydrofluorocarbons on global warming can be up to thousands of times greater than that of carbon dioxide.

08/04/2024

Travel News

Airport sniffer dog discovers mummified monkeys in passenger's luggage

Bushmeat is illegal in the US due to the risk of viruses.

12/02/2024