Cocaine

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said the acreage under coca cultivation rose to 171,000 hectares in 2017, a 17% increase from 2016.

The agency warned production could harm recent peace-building efforts.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine, much of which ends up in the US - which is the world's largest consumer.

Gloria María Borrero Restrepo, Colombia's justice minister, reportedly called the data "really very worrying".

Denise Marie Woodrum, 51, was arrested at Sydney Airport last year after border officials found cocaine stuffed inside high heels and other belongings in her luggage.

In January, she pleaded guilty to the illegal import but told the court she was a victim of an online romance scam.

A judge found she had willingly participated in the operation.

On Thursday, the New South Wales District Court sentenced Woodrum, from Missouri, to a maximum of seven-and-a-half years in jail.

Media reports say upon arrest last year the three men - two Dutchmen and a Pole - were not given advice on how to challenge the search of their yacht in their native languages.

The lawyers say failing to have done so nullifies the case.

However, according to Radio1 the prosecution claimed that customs staff could search any docked vessel and any challenge could only be filed within 72 hours.

A decision is expected in three weeks.

The three suspects claimed they didn't know about the cocaine on their yacht when they were caught in the Marquesas Islands.

The captain, who is a 70-year old from the Netherlands, has been jailed for nine years, which is two years more than the sentence in the criminal court earlier this year.

The other two, a 54-year-old from Peru and a 39-year-old from Poland, have each been given seven-year jail terms.

According to Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, the trio had earlier also been fined more than $US25 million.

The street value of the drugs was estimated to be about $US450 million.

The pair were arrested outside a nightclub near the Champs Elysees on Saturday and spent a night in jail.

Williams, 35, will appear in court at a later date having accepted a charge of buying cocaine, judicial sources say.

O'Connor, 26, faces a charge of possession. They were found with 2.4 grams of the drug.

Police, quoted by AFP, alleged Williams was seen in a car with two suspected drug dealers. O'Connor was allegedly spotted outside the car acting as a lookout.

Williams plays for the French team Racing 92 and O'Connor is at Toulon.

Police apprehended Williams and former Australian international James O'Connor after they were allegedly caught handing over cash to a drug dealer outside a night-club in the French capital at about 3am Saturday morning (local time).

An official said both players were drunk at the time of their arrest and were not carrying identification papers.

The official added that they were attempting to buy drugs worth about $200 euros and that the two sellers were also arrested.

The December 25 bust, along with a seizure of 1336 pounds (606 kilograms) of cocaine from the same syndicate earlier this year, was worth about $259 million (AUD$360 million) and is Australia's largest ever haul from a single cartel.

Police said it was among their ten largest seizures ever.

The investigation, codenamed Operation Okesi, was a joint effort between Australian Federal Police, New South Wales Police and Australia's Border Force.

However, a number of revelations have surfaced in recent days in relation to Barba’s past indiscretions in testing positive to cocaine. 

In fact, according to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield, the timing of Barba’s first positive test for cocaine in 2015 is almost unbelievable. 

Mad Monday, 2015 was Barba’s first brush with the recreational drug, with the Sharks informed a number of months later that their star fullback had received a strike for using the drug at the team’s end of season celebrations. 

Officials say the raids are part of a new strategy to target producers and traffickers rather than poor farmers who grow the coca plant.

The raids took place where Farc rebels have been operating. Their leaders have denied involvement in the drug trade.

Police said the labs could produce around 100 tons of cocaine a year.

"This is a structural blow to the finances of drug-trafficking," anti-drug police director General Jose Angel Mendoza told Reuters news agency.

The passenger-side air bag compartment was apparently being used to smuggle 55 pounds (25 kilos) of cocaine. The driver's air bag apparently did deploy.

Federal police said they recovered 23 packages of the drug from the car after it crashed in the town of San Fernando in the northern border state of Tamaulipas.

Emergency personnel took the two occupants of the car to a hospital, where they died of their injuries.