News DeskNovember 5, 2013 11:54

...The last of the more than 400 racehorses seized (click here) during a raid on an Oklahoma ranch owned by the brother of suspected Mexican drug lords were auctioned at the weekend.

Five horses, including a quarter breed horse called Tender Dash, were sold for$3.1 million at a public auction.

The racehorses belonged to Jose Trevino Morales, who is serving a 20-year sentence for money laundering.

Morales was found guilty of investing $16 million of drug money in the buying, training and racing of horses on behalf of his brothers Miguel Angel and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, alleged leaders of the hyper-violent Zetas drug cartel....

Grace Wyler
JUN. 21, 2011, 2:20 PM 

Here are the highlights, courtesy of Insight: (click here)

• A joint investigation by Italian and American officials has revealed deep links between Mexico's Gulf Cartel and the 'Ndrangheta, a criminal organization that controls Italy's Calabria region and traffics drugs between New York and Europe.

• According to Europol, Mexican cartels have increased their presence in the European markets. The agency notes a "striking" increase in cocaine trafficking from Mexico to Spain and Portugal.

• Japanese authorities have noted an increase in methamphetamine trafficking, primarily from Mexico via Africa and Iran. 

• U.S. authorities have detected significant ties between the Peruvian mafia and the Sinaloa and Los Zetas cartels. Peru is the world's second largest cocaine producer. 

• Law enforcement officials have also established links between Mexican traffickers and drug rings in Malaysia, India and other parts of Southeast Asia.

U.S. and international law enforcement agents also report that Mexican cartels have established a presence in Africa to gain easier access to the European markets. United Nations officials said today that there is evidence Mexican cartels are now using "narco-submarines" to smuggle growing quantities of cocaine to the European markets via poor nations in West Africa....