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Posts tagged drug trafficking
Drug Trafficking Dynamics across Iraq and the Middle East: Trends and Responses

By The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Countries across the Near and Middle East have registered an escalation in both the scale and sophistication of drug trafficking operations over the past decade. The destabilizing risks posed by illicit drugs have become increasingly prominent on the regional agenda. Of particular concern for governments and societies across the region is the rising production, trafficking and consumption of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), in particular, tablets containing amphetamine sold under the name “captagon”, and methamphetamine. Iraq and neighbouring countries have documented a sharp increase in the trafficking and use of “captagon” over the past five years. “Captagon” seizures in Iraq increased by almost 3,380 per cent in Iraq from 2019 to 2023. Iraq reported the seizure of over 4.1 tons of “captagon” tablets between January and December 2023 alone. Seizures of amphetamine (mainly in the form of “cap tagon”) in the Near and Middle East doubled from 2020, reaching a record high of 86 tons in 2021. In parallel to “captagon” trafficking, a methamphetamine market is quickly developing in the Near and Middle East, as shown by a rise in seizures.3 UNODC research has found that Iraq is at risk of becoming an increasingly important node in the drug trafficking ecosystem spanning the Near and Middle East. Iraq lies near the intersection of a complex global drug trafficking ecosystem spanning Southwest Asia, Africa, and Europe, notably the Balkan and Southern routes associated with opiate smuggling from Afghanistan to Europe, through Southeastern Europe, and towards the Indian Ocean and Eastern Africa, including through the Arabian Peninsula. Within Iraq, drugs are trafficked along three key internal corridors, in the north, central and southern regions of the country. There are distinct territorial, ethnic, economic, and political factors and differentiated drug market dynamics connected to each route. The main categories of drugs traf f icked through Iraq include opium, heroin, hashish and especially, methamphetamine and “captagon”. While Iraq is not necessarily the most affected country in the region in terms of volumes of drugs seized, there are risks that the situation could deteriorate if drug trafficking, in particular of methamphetamine and “captagon”, keeps intensifying. A particular challenge facing countries across the Near and Middle East are armed groups with cross-border affiliations and transborder economic interests. Alongside a recent history marked by armed conflict and corruption, this situation has contributed to cross-border trafficking. The Government of Iraq and its partners have stressed the need for collective responses to tackle the security, social and economic ramifications of drug trafficking across the Near and Middle East. As seen in different regional contexts, the persistence – and potential reactivation – of armed groups poses a significant threat, not least given their potential involvement in illicit drug production and trafficking. There is growing awareness among governments of how drug trafficking intensifies corruption, undermines governance and legitimate business, degrades services and contributes to violent competition between armed groups. There is also growing concern over evidence of increasing drug use and related social harms, requiring sustained treatment and rehabilitation efforts.6 Practical responses are being implemented but are still at an early stage. Iraq established its first drug law and commission in 2017 and in 2023 launched a National Strategy on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (2023–2025) in 2023. Moreover, Iraq organized the first regional event on the issue in 2023 to accelerate collaboration and coordinate efforts in drug detection and disruption..

Vienna: UNODC, 2024. 46p.

U.S. Sanctions: Targeting International Illicit Drug Production and Trafficking

Liana W. Rosen

Sanctions play a role in U.S. national drug control strategies to disrupt and deter the illicit production and trafficking of foreign-produced drugs. The 118th Congress has focused on the role of sanctions in combating synthetic opioid production and trafficking (including fentanyl). Opioids are a leading contributor to U.S. drug overdose deaths.

Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service; 2024

Firearms and Drugs: Partners in Transnational Crime

By The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Flemish Peace Institute

The multifaceted links between illicit drug trafficking and illicit firearms present a global challenge requiring a clear understanding and integrated responses. These multidimensional links are characterized by:

  • the demand for firearms that is created by the trafficking of illicit drugs, not least as drug traffickers are heavily armed with illicitly trafficked weapons;

  • the connection between firearms and drug trafficking routes, actors and modi operandi, with drug traffickers accepting or demanding firearms as payment-in-kind for illicitly trafficked drugs;

  • gun violence that occurs as a direct result of the ability of drug traffickers to increase their capabilities through accessing a wide variety of illicitly trafficked firearms.

Drug trafficking fuels firearms trafficking

Global drug trafficking acts as a key driver for the use of illicit firearms as well as their illicit manufacturing, proliferation, and trafficking. The long life cycle of firearms provides opportunities for the diversion of firearms from legal possession into illegal possession. Drug criminals across the globe profit from such diversion opportunities and the affiliated firearms trafficking activities.

Firearms seizures in the context of drug trafficking occur on a global scale and are particularly prominent in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Firearms trafficking is often funded by the profits generated by illicit drug trafficking, with direct exchanges of firearms for drugs taking place in certain instances.

Demand for firearms is high in a drug-related criminal context due to the instrumental and reputational purposes that a firearm fulfils for actors involved in drug trafficking activities. Access to firearms allows drug criminals to carry out or expand their activities and protect their territory and themselves against competitors and law enforcement agencies.

Similar routes, actors and modi operandi in both types of trafficking

While drug trafficking is characterized by a global reach and firearms trafficking is generally limited to a regional dimension, significant interlinkages arise between both types of trafficking through the actors, routes and modi operandi used by the traffickers. Arms trafficking methods have often been pioneered by drug traffickers.

Frequently, firearms and drugs are smuggled together, or the firearms can be used as a means of protection for drug traffickers from both competitors and/or public security forces.

Global drug trafficking routes can also be exploited for firearms trafficking as firearms can be smuggled in the reverse direction or on the same drug trafficking route and incorporate the same facilitators and/or collaborators to successfully smuggle the contraband.

Drug trafficking fuels gun violence

Despite the largely non-violent dimension of the illicit drug trade, as most illicit drugs transactions and trafficking occur without violence, the linkages between firearms and drug trafficking can trigger, facilitate and intensify violence. Access to trafficked firearms tends to increase the use of violence in drug markets across the globe, with more lethal casualties and higher levels of the use of automatic rifles being associated with the drug milieu than with other criminal contexts.

Drug-related gun violence is a global phenomenon and can occur at any point within the drug lifecycle. Significant geographical differences can be observed in gun violence related to the production and trafficking of large quantities of drugs, which reflect to a certain extent the global distribution patterns of the various types of drugs. Drug-related gun violence connected to local consumer drug markets, on the other hand, can be observed across the globe.

Gun violence related to drug trafficking can have devastating spill-over effects on local communities and, geographically, in the broader region in which drug trafficking occurs. The interlinkages between firearms and drug trafficking can fuel armed conflict and terrorism by facilitating the funding and acquisition of weapons by non-state armed groups and terrorists through drug trafficking criminal networks and activities.

Vienna: UNODC, 2024. 52p.

A detailed study of a prominent dark web fentanyl trafficking organization

By: Jonathan P. Caulkins, Philippe C. Schicker, H. Brinton Milward & Peter Reuter

Overdose deaths in North America have soared, primarily because of the spread of illegally manufactured fentanyl. This paper uses detailed qualitative and transaction-level data to analyse an early and prominent dark web fentanyl-selling operation. The data record the date, drug, quantity, and selling price for 5,589 transactions comprising 872,659 items sold for a little over $2.8 million through AlphaBay. Findings include that the organisation sustained an impressive sales growth rate of approximately 15% per week, com-pounded. Increasing order sizes by a factor of ten reduced the price per pill by approximately 25% for Oxycodone and 50% for Xanax. Those steep quantity discounts imply large price markups when selling further down the distribution chain. Such high growth rates and price markups suggest that it might be difficult to constrain supply by shutting down individual organisations, since any remain-ing organisations may be able to quickly grow to fill unmet demand.

Glob. Crime 2023