Daily Intel Brief
IS jihadists released nearly 900 inmates from a jail in Nigeria, the IRGC arrested foreign diplomats on espionage charges, and Latvia reinstates compulsory military service...
Counterterrorism
Nearly 900 inmates escaped in a jailbreak in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, officials said Wednesday, blaming the attack on Islamic extremist rebels. At least 443 of the 879 escapees are still missing, Umar Abubakar, a spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service said…
In the end, the self-professed traitor blinked. On Friday, June 24, former Army Pvt. Ethan Melzer pleaded guilty to three terrorism-related federal charges for a macabre, Satanist-inspired plot to have his former unit attacked by jihadi militants during a deployment…
Military & Defense
Latvia is to reinstate compulsory military service amid growing tension with Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “The current military system of Latvia has reached its limit. Meanwhile, we have no reason to think that Russia will change its behaviour,” the…
An Argentine judge sentenced 19 former military officers to prison on Wednesday for crimes against humanity committed during the country's brutal military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, including for kidnappings of auto plant workers…
Cybersecurity
Apple has announced a new security feature to protect high-risk users from spyware cyber-attacks. Lockdown Mode will be available in the autumn with the next operating system across all of the company's iPhones, iPads and Macs. The setting blocks certain functions…
The U.S. government said Wednesday that North Korea is behind a recent strain of ransomware cyberattacks on hospitals and other health care facilities. The warning is the starkest alert to date that North Korea, which the U.S. has long alleged uses its hackers to…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
The deputy head of the United Kingdom's mission in Iran, Giles Whitaker, and a number of other diplomats were arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on charges of spying and taking samples of soil from a "prohibited area," Iranian media reported on…
A U.S. counterintelligence agency on Wednesday warned state and local officials that China is intensifying influence operations aimed at manipulating them into pressing the federal government to pursue more Beijing-friendly policies. China "understands that U.S. state…
Transnational Organized Crime
One of Italy's most wanted men, mobster Rocco Morabito, has arrived in Rome after being extradited from Brazil, where he had been in hiding. Known as the "cocaine king of Milan", Morabito was arrested in May last year in a joint operation by Brazilian and Italian police…
Northwestern Guatemala has been known for years as Sinaloa Cartel associates’ territory, except during the Zetas’ stint in the area from 2008 to 2012 and, more recently, when Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) began fighting off Sinaloa to take over drug trafficking routes…