The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "smuggling" ...
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The Deadliest Place in Mexico
The Juarez Valley, a narrow corridor of green farmland carved from the Chihuahuan desert along the Rio Grande, was once known for its cotton, which rivaled Egypt’s. But that was before the Juarez cartel moved in to set up a lucrative drug smuggling trade. “The Deadliest Place in Mexico” explores untold aspects of Mexico’s drug war as it has played out in the small farming communities of this valley. The violence began in 2008, when the Sinaloa cartel moved in to take over the Juarez cartel’s turf. The Mexican government sent in the military to quell the violence — but instead the murder rate exploded. While the bloodshed in the nearby City of Juarez attracted widespread media attention, the violence spilling into the rural Juarez Valley received far less, eve as the killings began to escalate in brutal ways. Community advocates, elected officials, even police officers were shot down in the streets. Several residents were stabbed in the face with ice picks. By 2009, the valley, with a population of 20,000, had a murder rate six times higher than Juarez itself. Newspapers began to call the rural farming region the “Valley of Death.” This investigation uses extensive Freedom of Information Act requests, court documents, and difficult-to-obtain interviews in Spanish and English with current and former Juarez Valley residents, Mexican officials, narcotraffickers and U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials, to reveal that many of these shocking deaths were perpetrated with the participation of Mexican authorities. It shows scenes of devastation — households where six members of a single family were killed, without a single police investigation. It uncovers targeted killings by masked gunmen of community activists and innocent residents for speaking out against violence and repression facilitated by corrupt military and government officials. And it gathers multiple witnesses who describe soldiers themselves, working in league with the Sinaloa cartel, perpetrating violence against civilians. "The cemeteries are all full. There isn't anywhere left to bury the bodies," one former resident said. "You'll find nothing there but ghost towns and soldiers."
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Documenting Russian Federation Corruption
With documentation from several secret bank accounts and offshore corporate records, Barron's Dow Jones traced how Russia's most powerful officials have looted their nation in cahoots with cops, gangsters, and oligarchs. They show how a worldwide network of money laundering professionals that facilitates that plunder, while also abetting other global mischief like drug smuggling and arms trafficking.
Tags: corruption; drug smuggling; arms trafficking; Russia
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Gunwalker
A story uncovering how U.S. federal agents covertly helped deliver thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to killer Mexican drug cartels.
Tags: smuggling; guns; weapons; mexico; drug cartels; federal agents;
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Made in the U.S.A.
Despite a U.S. embargo against Iran, hundreds of people and companies in the U.S. have been caught smuggling the goods to Iran. CBS shows how vast the underground smuggling network is and how smugglers are moving the weapons from the U.S. to Iran through third countries like Malaysia or Dubai.
Tags: Iran; embargo; weapon trade; underground; Malaysia; Dubai
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Road to Nowhere:The men who are caught transporting illegal immigrants rarely pay the price
A Colorado law passed to prohibit human smuggling has proven to be difficult to enforce. Most charges against human smugglers are dismissed or don't end up in court.
Tags: illegal immigration; human smuggling; border; state troopers; smuggler
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"The Lost Chalice"
Author Vernon Silver dives deep into the Italian world of art smuggling. Through court documents and "interviews with modern tomb robbers, smugglers and art dealers," Silver is able to locate a valuable missing vase. The book provides an in-depth look at the world's third largest "underground economy," and how a "network of powerful people and institutions" has been at the center of the "illicit art and cultural property trade."
Tags: Euphronios; Oxford University; Metropolitan Museum of Art; chalice; Zeus; art smugglers; tomb raiders
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"The War Next Door"
Violence has increased in Mexico as the government cracks down on the drug cartels. Murders and kidnappings have increased, and Mexican citizens are afraid to leave their homes. Interviews with the Mexican Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security reveal the role of the U.S. in combating the problem. A jailhouse interview with a prominent female drug smuggler gives insight to the workings of the drug trafficking world.
Tags: Sandra Avila Beltran; drug smuggling; drug cartel; Mexico; Janet Napolitano; Medina Mora; cocaine; Columbia
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"The Torture Tapes"
A videotape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates shows violent and graphic torture carried out by the brother of the "country's crown prince." A former business associate of the prince's brother released the tapes and revealed that he was tortured, too. The UAE government initially denied wrongdoing, but as word spread, eventually detained the member of the royal family. It is also suggested that the U.S. Embassy in the UAE ignored the issue.
Tags: United Arab Emirates; Human Rights Watch; Sheikh; Gulf; Department of Homeland Security; UAE; House Human Rights Commission
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"Chapin Narco-connection from Guatemala to New York"
Drug trafficking is on the rise in Guatemala. About "200 tons of cocaine" passes through the country annually on its way to New York. Drug-violence in the country is spreading, reaching levels comparable to that of Mexico. Authorities are only catching a small percentage of the drugs being smuggled, as well as the people who are doing the trafficking.
Tags: drug trafficking; drug violence; Jorge Paredes; cocaine; DEA; Stephen McFarland; Carlos Castresana
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"Human Trafficking in America"
In this series, Kansas City Star reporters find that the U.S. is way behind in its efforts to squash human trafficking. If found, many victims are denied assistance and sometimes deported, placing them right back in harms way. Reporters also find that U.S. authorities, despite spending millions of dollars, have only located a small portion of the victims they estimate to be here.
Tags: U.S. Department of Labor; Coaltion to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking; Giant Labor Solutions; slavery; Border Patrol; Office of Alien Smuggling Interdiction