DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS
Cocaine market sees new players, bananas and Amazon submarines: reportBogotá (AFP) – The global cocaine market is changing.
Issued on: 22/12/2023 -
Colombia cultivated a record 230,000 hectares of coca leaf in 2022, and produced 1,738 tonnes of cocaine, according to the United Nations
© Schneyder Mendoza / AFP/File
Colombia is still the biggest producer of the drug, but other actors are taking an ever bigger role in manufacturing and distributing it, according to a report based on thousands of Colombian prosecutor's files leaked by hackers.
A group of around a hundred journalists has deciphered some seven million emails and 38,000 files leaked by the Guacamaya hacktivist group which in 2022 broke into the computer systems of security agencies and armies from Mexico, Chile, Peru, Salvador and Colombia.
The so-called "Narcofiles" report outlines the networks of cocaine production and trafficking around the world.
"The market is changing," Nathan Jaccard, Latin America editor for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of investigative journalists which accessed the files, told AFP.
Colombia cultivated a record 230,000 hectares of coca leaf in 2022, and produced 1,738 tonnes of cocaine, according to the United Nations.
However, the country's cocaine trade has been hard hit by falling coca leaf prices and the emergence of new, synthetic drugs such as fentanyl.
The "Narcofiles" report shows that Mexican, Albanian, Brazilian, Ecuadorian and Israeli groups are starting to gain power in the global drug trade.
"Colombia no longer plays a leading role in the international drug trafficking chain," explains Elizabeth Dickinson, an analyst at Crisis Group.
A leaked memorandum between Colombia and Israel describes a "significant increase" in crimes committed in the South American country by Israelis attracted by sex tourism and linked, according to local authorities, to cocaine trafficking.
Colombia is still the biggest producer of the drug, but other actors are taking an ever bigger role in manufacturing and distributing it, according to a report based on thousands of Colombian prosecutor's files leaked by hackers.
A group of around a hundred journalists has deciphered some seven million emails and 38,000 files leaked by the Guacamaya hacktivist group which in 2022 broke into the computer systems of security agencies and armies from Mexico, Chile, Peru, Salvador and Colombia.
The so-called "Narcofiles" report outlines the networks of cocaine production and trafficking around the world.
"The market is changing," Nathan Jaccard, Latin America editor for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of investigative journalists which accessed the files, told AFP.
Colombia cultivated a record 230,000 hectares of coca leaf in 2022, and produced 1,738 tonnes of cocaine, according to the United Nations.
However, the country's cocaine trade has been hard hit by falling coca leaf prices and the emergence of new, synthetic drugs such as fentanyl.
The "Narcofiles" report shows that Mexican, Albanian, Brazilian, Ecuadorian and Israeli groups are starting to gain power in the global drug trade.
"Colombia no longer plays a leading role in the international drug trafficking chain," explains Elizabeth Dickinson, an analyst at Crisis Group.
A leaked memorandum between Colombia and Israel describes a "significant increase" in crimes committed in the South American country by Israelis attracted by sex tourism and linked, according to local authorities, to cocaine trafficking.
Bananas and submarines
The "Narcofiles" also revealed the growing role of the banana industry in the export of cocaine, and an increase in trafficking along routes such as the Amazon River, from which more and more submarines loaded with cocaine head to the Atlantic.
Coca paste is treated in Colombia © JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP/File
According to the European Commission, 70 percent of drug seizures in Europe take place at ports. Traffickers use banana shipments to hide their goods, as fresh produce passes customs checks more quickly.
Another new hotspot in the cocaine market is the triple border point where Peru, Colombia and Brazil meet in the Amazon.
This region was "relatively calm 15 years ago", said Jaccard.
The report also reveals that coca leaf plantations have multiplied in Central America and Mexico, while coca paste is increasingly being processed in laboratories in Europe.
"Drug traffickers are deciding to move closer to the markets" to reduce costs and risks, while maximizing profits, Jaccard explained.
Some of the changes mean that Colombian cartels and their kingpins, the likes of Pablo Escobar, no longer "run the show," said Dickinson.
Although large criminal structures such as the Clan del Golfo, the world's leading producer of cocaine, continue to operate in the country, "we are witnessing a process of atomization of groups" which reduces their power, said Jaccard.
© 2023 AFP
According to the European Commission, 70 percent of drug seizures in Europe take place at ports. Traffickers use banana shipments to hide their goods, as fresh produce passes customs checks more quickly.
Another new hotspot in the cocaine market is the triple border point where Peru, Colombia and Brazil meet in the Amazon.
This region was "relatively calm 15 years ago", said Jaccard.
The report also reveals that coca leaf plantations have multiplied in Central America and Mexico, while coca paste is increasingly being processed in laboratories in Europe.
"Drug traffickers are deciding to move closer to the markets" to reduce costs and risks, while maximizing profits, Jaccard explained.
Some of the changes mean that Colombian cartels and their kingpins, the likes of Pablo Escobar, no longer "run the show," said Dickinson.
Although large criminal structures such as the Clan del Golfo, the world's leading producer of cocaine, continue to operate in the country, "we are witnessing a process of atomization of groups" which reduces their power, said Jaccard.
© 2023 AFP
Online video games, the latest hunting grounds for drug cartels
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – Narcotics police the world over are sprucing up their video game skills, as cartels go increasingly online to sell drugs and recruit dealers.
Issued on: 20/12/2023
'Not an isolated phenomenon'
"This type of transaction and dealing is still much more common on Instagram or Snapchat, and most of the cases with video games have been localised near the US-Mexico border," Shultz said.
"In Europe video games are very unregulated, they're not monitored so this could be very well percolating under the surface," he added.
Thomas Kattau, deputy executive secretary of the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group, said "it is a global issue, and the idea is you need to have a forum where we can make law enforcement and governments aware of the phenomenon."
"Mexico is the country that has taken the lead on this issue and brought it to the attention of law enforcement," he said.
"And now we have seen similar things occurring in the UK and other countries, and therefore we see it is not an anecdotal, isolated phenomenon, but something which is quickly replicating."
Shultz and Kattau suggest better education both for parents and their children about the risks of online games, as well as greater efforts by game developers to reinforce protections, above all by using artificial intelligence to improve surveillance software.
© 2023 AFP
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – Narcotics police the world over are sprucing up their video game skills, as cartels go increasingly online to sell drugs and recruit dealers.
Issued on: 20/12/2023
Online games provide perfect cover for cartels to discreetly sell drugs or find personnel © Chris DELMAS / AFP/File
"Cartels have been incredibly tech savvy over recent years, reaching vast audiences," Benjamin Shultz, foreign malign influence analyst at Deloitte, told a Council of Europe meeting.
"The Sinaloa Cartel has a Twitter account with almost 200,000 followers and they tend to post nearly daily, engaging and posting images and other contents that glorify what they do," he said. The account has since been shut down.
To bring greater attention to the role of online gaming in the drug trade, the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group, which works on international drug issues, held a forum in Mexico City on December 19 and 20.
Online games such as "Grand Theft Auto" or "World of Warcraft" provide perfect cover for cartels to discreetly sell drugs or find personnel.
Emoji conversations
"The darknet has been decreasing in popularity for cartels, law enforcement has gotten pretty good at getting into the darknet, whereas video games garner really untapped resources and are very unmonitored," Shultz said.
In online games, users can connect with almost anyone, teenagers can talk to strangers, and there are not many controls, he explained.
The games' internal messaging systems are extremely difficult to intercept, particularly when traffickers communicate with emoticons or emojis.
"Cartels have been incredibly tech savvy over recent years, reaching vast audiences," Benjamin Shultz, foreign malign influence analyst at Deloitte, told a Council of Europe meeting.
"The Sinaloa Cartel has a Twitter account with almost 200,000 followers and they tend to post nearly daily, engaging and posting images and other contents that glorify what they do," he said. The account has since been shut down.
To bring greater attention to the role of online gaming in the drug trade, the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group, which works on international drug issues, held a forum in Mexico City on December 19 and 20.
Online games such as "Grand Theft Auto" or "World of Warcraft" provide perfect cover for cartels to discreetly sell drugs or find personnel.
Emoji conversations
"The darknet has been decreasing in popularity for cartels, law enforcement has gotten pretty good at getting into the darknet, whereas video games garner really untapped resources and are very unmonitored," Shultz said.
In online games, users can connect with almost anyone, teenagers can talk to strangers, and there are not many controls, he explained.
The games' internal messaging systems are extremely difficult to intercept, particularly when traffickers communicate with emoticons or emojis.
In online games, users can connect with almost anyone
© JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP/File
An entire conversation can be carried out with symbols, avoiding any suspect words that could trigger attention.
Within drug circles in the United States, the electric plug emoji means "dealer," a small palm tree means "marijuana," and a key stands for "cocaine."
Mexican police were the first to notice the practice, with an early case involving three adolescents aged 11 to 14 who were recruited while playing "Garena Free Fire" and offered $200 a week to be lookouts in Mexico City.
The three were arrested just before boarding a bus that their recruiter had bought them tickets for.
An entire conversation can be carried out with symbols, avoiding any suspect words that could trigger attention.
Within drug circles in the United States, the electric plug emoji means "dealer," a small palm tree means "marijuana," and a key stands for "cocaine."
Mexican police were the first to notice the practice, with an early case involving three adolescents aged 11 to 14 who were recruited while playing "Garena Free Fire" and offered $200 a week to be lookouts in Mexico City.
The three were arrested just before boarding a bus that their recruiter had bought them tickets for.
'Not an isolated phenomenon'
"This type of transaction and dealing is still much more common on Instagram or Snapchat, and most of the cases with video games have been localised near the US-Mexico border," Shultz said.
"In Europe video games are very unregulated, they're not monitored so this could be very well percolating under the surface," he added.
Thomas Kattau, deputy executive secretary of the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group, said "it is a global issue, and the idea is you need to have a forum where we can make law enforcement and governments aware of the phenomenon."
"Mexico is the country that has taken the lead on this issue and brought it to the attention of law enforcement," he said.
"And now we have seen similar things occurring in the UK and other countries, and therefore we see it is not an anecdotal, isolated phenomenon, but something which is quickly replicating."
Shultz and Kattau suggest better education both for parents and their children about the risks of online games, as well as greater efforts by game developers to reinforce protections, above all by using artificial intelligence to improve surveillance software.
© 2023 AFP
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