Quentin Somerville
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
The green transition will continue.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
So it's just after six at night here in Tijuana. I'm at the headquarters of the state police. The agents are getting ready to go out on patrol. They've got a fleet of pickup trucks and they're all heavily armed. They're wearing body armor and they're all putting balaclavas on at the moment. And that's to protect their identity because being a cop in this town is extremely dangerous.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
Ready for the action. That's a report that's just come in of gunfire over the police radio. It's a Saturday night here, so they're expecting a lot of drunkenness, a lot of drugs. By far the biggest, most dangerous drug here is fentanyl. So they're looking for anyone who's dealing. So it's another drug stop and the police have got the man against the vehicle. He's emptied his pockets.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
Fentanyl use is a growing problem here in Mexico. Still, most of it goes across the border to the United States. The ground is shifting along the border. Mexico has deployed 10,000 troops. Some 29 cartel leaders held by Mexico have been handed over to American law enforcement. And for the first time, a number of cartels have been designated terrorist organisations by the US.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
What we're trying to find out is just how so much of this drug is still making it into America. And up here, you might find some answers. We're just approaching a safe house. Inside is one of the foot soldiers of the cartels and a drugs mule. And they're making the final preparations for a fentanyl shipment to the United States tonight.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
I watch as they place tightly wrapped packets of pills of synthetic opioid, 5,000 in total, inside the fuel tank of the car. It will be driven across a legal border crossing, right under the noses of US Customs. the drugs gang asked us to alter their voices. Do you ever feel guilty about all the people that it's killing?
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
The cartels know that American traffickers are less likely to be stopped, so they use US citizens mostly to make the drive across the border. Watching the proceedings, to one side, a dealer from L.A. Again, we have changed his voice. How many pills do you shift a week in L.A. ?
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
Mr. Trump, he's determined to stop the drugs trade.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
The cartels claim to be unfazed by the latest US threat to destroy them, but the Trump administration says this time is different. But the cartels didn't create America's opioid crisis, one that's been killing as many as 100,000 people a year. Those numbers are now falling, but this crisis started with doctors and American pharmaceutical companies over-prescribing painkillers.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
Neighbourhoods like Philadelphia's Kensington have been left ravaged.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
Here, Rosalind Pichardo of Operation Save Our City starts her day by checking on the locals.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
Many here are in wheelchairs and are in the grip of addiction.
Global News Podcast
Putin visits Kursk after Russian advances - Kremlin
She prepares a pot of soup and shares it with 56-year-old John. He was revived from a near-fatal fentanyl overdose by an ambulance crew. It'll take more than just targeting the cartels to solve America's opioid crisis, he says.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
It's hard really to do justice to the sense of bewilderment that's being felt about how quickly the Assad regime has fallen and the rebels have taken over this country. And that bewilderment is felt most sharply here in the Alawite heartland, the former Assad stronghold of Latakia. I'm walking right now past the statue of Hafez al-Assad. It's just his boots remaining.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
The rest was pulled down by protesters. Where it stands now, there is the new Syrian flag with the green banner and the three stars rather than two. It's a transformation. I'm walking along here among the crowd with his two sons. Ismazim, hello.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
And what do you think about the Assad family?
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
When I turned my microphone off, Mazem had more to say. The Assads were terrible people, he said, but he pointed to his two sons. He said, you don't understand the terror we were under here. I couldn't even tell my sons the truth for fear that they would make a mistake and would be revealed for criticising them. It's worth remembering the Assad's rule by fear, even over their own supporters.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
They said there would be massacres here in Latakia if they ever lost power. Well, instead, around me there are celebrations. A big crowd gathering just as prayers end in celebration of this astonishing victory. This was a regime that was so venal, so corrupt, that even its supporters suffered. The Alawites too are some of the poorest people in Syria.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
So there's a real sense of joy here today, but there's also an undercurrent of fear. Some haven't even left their homes since the regime change because they worry that there will be a reckoning and that they will have to pay a heavy price for the support of the old regime. This is Latakia's military intelligence branch, perhaps the most feared place in the city. It's in a bit of a state now.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
The portraits of Bashar al-Assad have been torn down. There's one on the floor. They've even removed the eyes. Locals would avoid passing the gates of here. It was so feared. Now, in this courtyard, our young men, they're HTS fighters. They're now the law here. A woman's made a complaint to the police. She says that her apartment has been stolen from her.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
We've just arrived at this pretty upscale neighbourhood. It's an Alawite neighbourhood. The woman who made the complaint is now back inside. Her apartment was requisitioned by one of the Sunni rebel groups, not HTS, a commander. He's now been told to give it back, but that gives you a sense, really, of the sectarian tensions which are simmering here in Latakia.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
Noor, the owner, tells me that while one nightmare has ended in Syria, for Alawites, another has just begun. Do Alawites feel safe in Latakia?