Categoria: english

The NIST achieves the first breath detection of edible cannabis in the U.S.

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and its partners at the University of Colorado Anschutz have made the first measurement of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the breath of individuals who have consumed edible cannabis.

This research supports public safety and law enforcement, as there is still no reliable evidence in place to determine when a person has consumed cannabis or whether they are intoxicated as a result of its use.

NIST researchers have observed increases and decreases in THC levels in the breath of participants several hours after consuming cannabis-infused gummies.

Cannabis use has increased in the U.S. and has exceeded alcohol as a daily recreational drug for Americans. Nearly 20% of cannabis consumers have admitted to driving after consuming it. However, unlike alcohol, there is no reliable evidence regarding cannabis consumption. Even blood tests cannot determine whether a person has consumed it. This means that law enforcement cannot verify a person’s recent usage, let alone the level of intoxication.

To complicate matters further, there are multiple ways to consume cannabis: smoking, vaping, ingesting, and dabbing (inhaling a concentrated form of cannabis extracts). Scientists know that the psychoactive component THC shows up in breath after smoking, but what happens with edible formats?

The answer is that after consuming these other forms of cannabis, THC is also present in breath. In a study published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology researchers at the NIST have taken the first samples of cannabinoids in breath after study participants ingested cannabis-infused edibles.

Making a breathalyzer for cannabis is more difficult than making one for alcohol. Alcohol is a relatively simple and highly volatile molecule: it easily travels through the lungs and evaporates when it comes into contact with air. However, THC is a more complicated molecule with very low volatility. Consumption is usually hundreds of times less than that of alcohol. It appears in very small concentrations in breath, making THC detection much more difficult. Regular cannabis users can have THC in their breath for at least eight hours and in their blood for weeks after they stop using it. This means that a single measure is insufficient to determine when a person last consumed it.

In the new study, NIST partners at the Anschutz Medical Campus of the University of Colorado observed 29 participants consuming a cannabis-infused gummy in the laboratory. The edibles contained between 5 and 100 milligrams of THC. The researchers first took a breath sample from the participants before they ingested the product. They then observed each participant for three hours and collected breath samples approximately every hour.

NIST researchers measured the concentration of THC and other cannabinoids in breath at these intervals. THC was detected in the majority of participants before they consumed the edible, even though they had been asked to abstain for eight hours prior to the study. This is not surprising. Our body processes cannabinoids slowly and takes weeks to eliminate them from our system compared to how quickly alcohol is processed.

This study shows that THC ingested in edible form can pass through the digestive system and be exhaled again by the lungs.

This research supports the idea that multiple breath samples over a period of time could be a way to use a breathalyzer to detect cannabis consumption, regardless of how it is ingested. However, devices will still require standards that ensure their accuracy and proper usage.

Researchers: Jennifer L. Berry, Ashley Brooks-Russell, Tara M. Lovestead, and Kavita M. Jeerage. The detection of cannabinoids in breath after ingestion of cannabis-infused edibles. Journal of Analytical Toxicology. Published online on 10 July 2025. DOI: 10.1093/jat/bkaf063

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

Ireland bolsters its resources against the constant arrival of cocaine

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

Law enforcement across Europe is fighting tirelessly to stop the increasing amount of cocaine crossing the Atlantic from South America.

According to the Maritime Analysis Operations Centre (MAOC), which monitors transatlantic drug trafficking, 100 suspected drug ships were not stopped last year because European authorities did not have sufficient means to intercept them. Europe has the data on drug-laden ships crossing the Atlantic, but still lacks the available interdiction assets, according to MAOC director Sjoerd Top. Up to 600 ships are monitored by the MAOC every day, while record amounts of cocaine are produced in South America.

In the United Kingdom, 117 tonnes of cocaine were consumed last year, according to the UK National Crime Agency. Meanwhile, the number of cocaine-related deaths has increased tenfold since 2011.

The drugs are generally shipped in large container ships to European ports, such as Rotterdam and Antwerp. Security at these ports has been tightened, causing smugglers to seek alternative routes. Many offload bundles of cocaine from a “mother” ship to a smaller “daughter” vessel, with which they are transported to land. Through this method, tonnes of cocaine have been intercepted at sea in multiple seizures of one or two tonnes in the last six months.

But the cartels are relentless and are increasingly targeting Ireland, the only European country with an open border with the UK, as a back door. Ireland has almost 2,000 miles of very vulnerable coastline, many of it ideal for smuggling, with hundreds of isolated entrances.

The country’s defence forces help fight cartels, but Ireland has the lowest defence spending in the EU, only 0.2% of GDP. The Irish Naval Service has eight ships, but normally only two can be carried out at sea, due to a shortage of seamen. Ireland has 132,000 square miles of water under its jurisdiction, 16% of European waters, and only two fully operational vessels. According to former naval commander Eugene Ryan, this makes no sense.

The same applies to air support. The Irish defence forces are supposed to provide the helicopters to help protect the coast, but sometimes they don’t have a single one available that can do the job.

The drug highway crosses the Atlantic and one of the first countries it reaches is Ireland. The Irish government claims to maintain a continuous presence and surveillance within its maritime domain. It stresses that defence funding will increase by 600 million euros in four years, an increase of 55%, and significant initiatives will be implemented, which have also resulted in the stabilisation of the Naval Service force.

Drug trafficking is a growing problem throughout Europe, and those leading the fight against it say that all countries must do much more to stop it.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

Children at risk of identity theft and fraud

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

According to research from the University of Southampton, children in the UK are at an increased risk of being bullied, cyberbullied and having their identity stolen when they grow up if their parents post their photos online.

The so-called sharenting, which consists of documenting a child’s special moments on social networks, has become a common practice. But academics warn that this could bring unexpected danger, as it increases the risk of children becoming victims of cybercrime.

Reporter Shiona McCallum reports for the BBC and warns that the widespread sharing of children’s photos and videos on social media puts their safety, privacy and well-being at risk.

The researchers surveyed more than 1,000 parents in the United Kingdom and then conducted follow-up interviews. They found that 45% of the parents they spoke to were actively posting photos of their children online, while one in six reported that their child had suffered negative consequences.

On the other hand, revealing details such as birthday, address, names of pets, etc. could increase the risk of identity fraud later on.

When parents proudly share photos and information about their children on social networks, they unknowingly put them at risk of danger online (cyberbullying) and in the real world; not only now, but also in the near future.

Sharenting is an invasion of privacy that has long been a controversial topic. One concern is that parents, caregivers, family members and schools are largely unaware that privacy features on social networks can be overridden for certain actions. This research shows that parents overestimate the protection offered by privacy settings.

Criminals have been known to move into the darker parts of the Internet, who presume they can use artificial intelligence to create sexual and nude images of any child from a handful of ordinary photos or videos. These images can be so realistic that they are indistinguishable from the real thing.

Researchers warn that artificial intelligence poses a whole new range of dangers, including the risk of sexual extortion, if the images are used to threaten or blackmail a child.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

Private transportation and sexual assault in the United States

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

Between 2017 and 2022, Uber received an allegation of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States nearly every eight minutes on average, classified court records show, which is a more pervasive level than the company disclosed. This means that a total of 400,181 Uber trips resulted in allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct. Previously, the company had reported 12,522 allegations of serious sexual assault in the same time period, without indicating the total number of such allegations it had received.

As published in The New York Times by journalists Emily Steel and Claire Fahy, Uber and Lyft helped revolutionise global transportation by connecting strangers for ridesharing. Millions of people order cars with their apps every day. Companies have long maintained that the vast majority of travel to the United States – 99.9% – occurs without incidents of any kind. But because Uber operates on a large scale, a fraction of 0.1% can represent many attacks.

Uber has not released data for the years since then, although court records indicate that incident reports have increased. They did stress that about 75% of the 400,181 complaints on the app were “minor”: for example, making comments about someone’s appearance, flirting or using explicit sexual language. These reports have not been audited by the company and may include incorrect or fraudulent reports submitted by individuals attempting to obtain a refund.

Within companies such as Uber or Lyft, employees have acknowledged that it is likely that not all cases of sexual assault and sexual misconduct are reported because of a lack of security, intimidation, embarrassment, or because many drivers know where passengers live.

However, Uber has found that sexual assaults follow distinctive patterns. The victims are usually women, whether they are passengers or drivers. Assaults usually occur late at night and on weekends, with pickups originating near a bar. In the vast majority of cases, the perpetrators are men – drivers or passengers – with a history of sexual misconduct complaints and low ratings on the app, internal documents show. Drunk female passengers are especially vulnerable.

Private transport companies have implemented a number of safety measures, such as GPS tracking, optional audio recording on the app and an emergency button to connect with emergency services.

Sexual assaults are a problem throughout the industry, including other app-based transportation companies as well as traditional taxis. Research on gender-based violence has shown that this type of assault is a very underreported problem, and comparisons across the sector are difficult because there is no centralised database for this type of incident.

Lyft, Uber’s smaller rival, has also reported thousands of sexual assaults. In a statement, it said that reports of sexual assault are statistically very unusual and account for far less than 1% of trips. And that transportation companies will continue to invest in technology, policies and alliances to try to prevent and detect unsafe situations.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

Mexico’s cartels adopt modern weapons of warfare

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

There are clashes that do not happen in the war zones of Ukraine or the Middle East, and the fighters do not belong to any army. They are criminal groups with military-grade weapons fighting just a few hundred kilometres from the US border in the western Mexican state of Michoacan. This is how Paulina Villegas and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega described it in The New York Times.

Some of Mexico’s most powerful cartels are engaged in a violent arms race to fight on several fronts: on one side, against the Mexican government, which is under intense pressure from the United States to crack down on drug trafficking; on the other, they fight each other for territory and resources, causing a somersault between their members and civilians caught in the middle of the conflict.

Despite profound disagreements over the measures to be taken to confront them, officials and security analysts in both countries agree that the cartels are amassing new levels of firepower, which is transforming some of these groups into full-fledged paramilitary forces.

Drug traffickers and cartel gunmen no longer use pistols or automatic rifles, but also Claymore land mines, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars made from gasoline tank tubes and armoured trucks equipped with heavy machine guns. They bury improvised explosive devices to kill rivals and modify drones purchased over the Internet into attack weapons loaded with toxic substances and bombs.

According to Mexican authorities, most of the military-grade weapons acquired by some of these groups come from the United States, and up to half a million firearms are smuggled across the border each year. Criminals also reverse-engineer the weapons, sometimes 3D printing parts to manufacture them.

Like other armed groups around the world, the cartels combine old and new weapons, with lethal effects. Drones fly over Michoacan while roads and footpaths used by soldiers and civilians are littered with improvised explosive devices. In the last two years, more mine explosions have been recorded than anywhere else in Mexico. A chilling indicator of the drug war’s evolution.

In the past five months alone, at least 10 civilians – including a 14-year-old boy – have been killed by hidden explosives while working in the fields or walking to school.

Security analysts and Mexican officials say the cartels began to militarise in the mid-2000s, when Los Zetas, a group formed by former members of the military, introduced battlefield discipline, encrypted communications and heavy weaponry to organised crime.

As Los Zetas acquired more military hardware, rivals did the same in an attempt to compete with them. Mexico’s security forces also responded with increasingly sophisticated tactics and equipment. More recently, the United States has brought in its own technology, including drones that search for fentanyl labs.

According to authorities, the cartels are also increasingly manufacturing chemical bombs and loading drones with compounds such as aluminium phosphide – a toxic pesticide that can cause hypoxia and circulatory failure – and other pesticides and poisons.

The increase in drones and improvised explosive devices has coincided with the arrival of Colombian nationals, former soldiers recruited to train cartel fighters. In just over seven months, state authorities have arrested 53 foreigners accused of links to organised crime, including 23 Colombians and 20 Venezuelans.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

U.S. wildfire fighters die from toxic smoke inhalation

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

The smoke from the wildfires that swept through Los Angeles last January smelled of plastic and was so thick it obscured the ocean. Firefighters who fought the blaze developed instant migraines, coughed up black goo, vomited and fell down dizzy.

Seven months later, some still wake up startled by attacks of wheezing during the night. It is unthinkable that urban firefighters – those American icons that occupy a dominant position in the public imagination – would enter a burning building without wearing a mask. But across the country tens of thousands of wildfire fighters spend weeks working amid toxic smoke and ash, protected only by a handkerchief or nothing at all. This is how researcher Hannah Dreier explained it in The New York Timesin late August.

In the past, wildfire fighters were seasonal workers who alternated deployments with other jobs. It is possible that they suffered only a few days of intense smoke during the year and had winter and spring to recover. Now, as drought and extreme heat increase, wildfires in the United States are starting earlier, burning longer and spreading further. As a result, firefighters often work almost year-round and, as a consequence, many of them are getting ill.

For decades, studies have consistently linked increased exposure to smoke from wildfires to increased cardiovascular and pulmonary problems, cancer and premature deaths. The Forest Service’s own investigators – the U.S. Department of Agriculture agency in charge of managing U.S. forests – have themselves warned of the effects of smoke and have called for providing firefighters with face masks, monitoring their exposures and long-term monitoring of their health status.

Countries with large wildfire seasons such as Canada, Australia and Greece have begun to distribute half-face respirators with replaceable filters, such as those used by painters and demolition crews. In laboratory tests, they puff about 99% of the toxic particles in the smoke. Disposable N95 masks are almost as effective.

But, year after year, the Forest Service sends firefighters into the smoke with nothing to prevent them from inhaling the poison. The agency has opposed equipping firefighters with masks; it publishes safety manuals that do not mention the long-term dangers of smoke exposure, and it does not allow workers to wear masks on the front line, even if they want to.

In a statement the Forest Service has said it wants to protect its crews, but the masks pose too great a risk to firefighters because they can overheat during the strenuous work they must perform to contain a wildfire. Instead, they propose that supervisors move them away from dense smoke and set up sleeping camps in places with cleaner air, when possible.

Respirators are a potential tool for reducing smoke exposure, but regulatory and logistical problems make widespread use impractical.

Researchers in countries that already use face masks have stated that they have not observed an increase in cases of heat stress. Firefighters slow down or remove their masks when it gets too hot, they said. The Forest Service continues to monitor international practices and research.

Internal records, studies and interviews with current and former agency officials reveal another motivation: adopting the masks would mean admitting the danger of wildfire smoke.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

Frontex Fundamental Rights Office publishes 2024 Annual Report

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

The Fundamental Rights Office of Frontex has published the 2024 Annual Report which provides an overview of how rights are protected at the European Union’s external borders and where concerns remain. The report highlights that the Office shapes operations by integrating the protection of rights into all areas of Frontex’s work, including returns, surveillance and cooperation with national authorities.

Geopolitical tensions, war, unrest and natural disasters have been shaping the situation on Europe’s borders. These pressures, which still persist, make the work of the Office even more important.

In 2024, fundamental rights monitors spent nearly 2,000 days on the ground in more than 20 countries. Almost 50 serious incident reports were published and almost 100 complaints were handled. More than 500 field days were dedicated to training and more than 200 return operations were supervised together with national experts.

The report also reflects the growing influence of the Fundamental Rights Office within Frontex. The Office works closely with the agency’s operational command structure, and assists in decision making from the outset. Its long-term strategy aims to ensure that the protection of rights is integrated into all Frontex activities.

The Annual Report covers supervision at EU and non-EU borders, return activities, accountability mechanisms, advisory functions, cooperation and training. It provides specific data on the growing impact of the Office within Frontex and on how member states approach border management.

The report is aimed at both experts and the general public and contributes to the wider debate on how to manage Europe’s borders while respecting European values and legal obligations.

This report is structured in five chapters that reflect this work.

Chapter 1 presents the main findings from the monitoring of activities at the external borders and in other countries.

Chapter 2 covers the monitoring of return operations, the main recommendations on return operations by air and the Frontex reintegration programme.

Chapter 3, on accountability mechanisms and the use of force, describes the main findings of the two main accountability mechanisms under the mandate of the Frontex Fundamental Rights Office: complaint handling and serious incident reporting.

Chapter 4 focuses on the advisory functions of the Office and cooperation. It provides an overview of the advice provided on operational activities and fundamental rights concerns, and of cooperation with third countries and risk analysis. It also presents the agency’s fundamental rights action plan and the technical and operational strategy on integrated European border management, among other policy frameworks relevant to the enforcement of fundamental rights by the European border and coast guard community.

Chapter 5 presents the Office’s commitment in terms of training and skills development, with activities aimed at internal and external stakeholders, often organised in cooperation with external partners.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

Drug trafficking network dismantled in joint operation in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

During the month of July 2025, a coordinated police operation with the support of Europol, involving authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, led to the arrest of seven suspects involved in drug trafficking throughout Europe.

The gang trafficked mainly ketamine, but also smuggled cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and drug precursors. Law enforcement authorities seized more than 225 kg of ketamine in Belgium alone.

The action day in July 2025 was the culmination of a long investigation. The criminal network had already been unravelled months earlier, and several operations against some of its members had been carried out during 2024. In total, the operations involved:

  • 7 arrests.
  • 11 house searches (9 in Belgium, 1 in the United Kingdom and 1 in the Netherlands).
  • The seizure of more than 600 kg of drugs, including ketamine, amphetamines, cannabis, heroin and cocaine.
  • The seizure of more than 5 million euros in cash.

The criminals were not only operating in Western Europe but were spread across multiple regions of the world. They used various sophisticated methods to smuggle drugs through Europe undetected, including trucks with drugs hidden in cargo packages and mail intercepted in Belgium.

Europol began supporting the investigation in September 2024 by organising a series of operational meetings and offering financial support to the member states involved in the case. In addition, Europol experts cross-checked and provided operational support to national authorities throughout the investigation. On the police action day, two specialists were working together in Belgium and the United Kingdom to provide on-site expertise and ensure good coordination.

The following police services participated in the investigation:

  • Belgium: Federal Judicial Police of East Flanders (Federale Gerechtelijke Politie).
  • The Netherlands: IRC Netherlands
  • United Kingdom: National Crime Agency (NCA)

Drug trafficking is a dynamic crime, with a high destabilising potential, given that it is associated with violence, corruption, infiltration of the legal economy and global interconnections. Europol identifies drug trafficking as one of the main threats to the internal security of the European Union.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

Hospitalisations due to firearm injuries in the U.S.

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

Accurate data on firearm injuries in the United States are critical to better understand the total cost or societal burden of gun violence. However, there is no single resource that provides reliable estimates of this type of injury in that country. Data are scarce and, in some cases, too expensive for most researchers.

This lack of information limits the ability of researchers to answer basic questions about gun violence, such as whether injury trends are changing over time or whether harm reduction strategies are effective.

As part of the Gun Policy in America initiative, RAND researchers developed a longitudinal database for the of U.S. national estimates of hospitalisations for non-fatal firearm injuries between 2000 and 2022.

These estimates are based on a variety of data sources, the largest of which are summaries from state inpatient databases (SIDs), which are supplemented by other data from the country’s health department. The estimates do not include emergency department visits that do not result in subsequent hospitalisation or firearm injuries for which inpatient medical care is not sought.

Between 2000 and 2022, there were an estimated 728,617 hospitalisations for non-fatal firearm injuries nationwide: that is an annual average of about 31,600 non-fatal injuries in the United States.

The data also reveal substantial differences in the rate of non-fatal firearm injury hospitalisations among states and relatively stable national trends. These data could help answer questions regarding the effects of state policies and the social cost of firearm injuries to states and the country.

Data and methodology

The model used for non-fatal firearm injury hospitalisations combined SID data that were available through the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), comprehensive state SID data, data available through U.S. health department web portals on hospitalisation, and data provided by state health departments in response to direct requests from the study team.

Years with data lacking the number of firearm injury hospitalisations were imputed using hypothesised covariates associated with firearm hospitalisations. These covariates included the non-suicide firearm death rate, the rate of firearm deaths in medical facilities, the rate of reported violent crime, and annual demographic, economic, and social characteristics at the national level.

Both the imputation of missing hospitalisation data and the correction for incomplete injury mechanism data were estimated simultaneously in a Bayesian regression model. This model uses a complex error structure that was designed to capture key features of the hospitalisation data, including the greater variance in firearm hospitalisation rates for less populated years and the correlation of values within each state over time. Multiple imputation datasets were created by sampling from the posterior predictive distribution of the model.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français

Major global operation against human trafficking

Notes de seguretatDeixa un comentari

A major operation against human trafficking has resulted in the protection of 1,194 potential victims and the arrest of 158 suspected criminals. As part of ongoing investigations, 205 other suspected human traffickers have also been identified. The police day focused on human trafficking for sexual exploitation, forced criminality and forced begging, with a special focus on underage victims.

This year’s edition of the operation, codenamed Global Chain, took place from 1 to 6 June 2025 and was led by law enforcement agencies in Austria and Romania, with coordination and support from Europol, the agency Frontex and INTERPOL. The purpose was to detect and dismantle high-value targets and organised crime groups responsible for the majority of human trafficking cases, as well as to protect victims, seize criminal assets and initiate follow-up investigations.

The operation involved nearly 15,000 officers from 43 different countries, including law enforcement, border guards, labour inspectors, and tax and customs authorities. Potential victims were identified from 64 different countries, mostly from Romania, Ukraine, Colombia, China and Hungary. Many of them had crossed borders and even continents, demonstrating the global nature of human trafficking schemes.

Research shows that the vast majority of victims of sexual exploitation are adult women, while the exploitation of minors is mainly related to forced begging and forced criminal activity, for example, as pickpockets. In many of these cases, protecting victims can be difficult, as they are often exploited by family members.

The offenders were involved in human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced criminality in several European Union states. Victims were usually recruited through the “lover boy” method and then forced into prostitution. In addition, the victims were forced to defraud customers and trick them into handing over large sums of money. In other cases, the victims had to steal from customers or lure them to remote locations so that the traffickers could steal their goods.

Significant seizures were also made, such as 277,669 euros in cash, 1 tonne of cannabis, 899 units of other narcotics, 30 firearms, 15 explosive components, 65 fraudulent documents and 5 real estate properties.

Europol, Frontex and INTERPOL supported the operation, which also led to 182 new investigations through international coordination. To assist officers in the field and support real-time information exchange, a coordination centre was established at the Frontex headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, consisting of officials from 33 countries.

Europol provided analytical support from several experts who processed the data and compared it with the agency’s databases. One Europol expert was based at the coordination centre in Warsaw for the duration of the action week.

INTERPOL provided access to its databases and international notices, offering investigative and analytical support to cases that arose during the operation.

During the six-day police operation, the countries acted on shared intelligence to conduct raids on known locations and carry out seizures. Law enforcement presence was also increased at critical points and key transport hubs to identify victims and suspects. Some 15,000 officers checked: 924,392 individuals, 842,281 documents, 181,954 vehicles, 5,745 flights and vessels, and 20,783 locations.

_____

Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français