Name: 'Cartels are scrambling': Lockdown hits the global drug trade
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'Cartels are scrambling': Lockdown hits the global drug trade

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'Cartels are scrambling': Lockdown hits the global drug tradeWe’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.DismisscloseAdvertisementBy Log in, or to save articles for later.Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementNew York: Coronavirus is dealing a gut punch to the illegal drug trade, paralysing economies, closing borders and severing supply chains in China that traffickers rely on for the chemicals to make such profitable drugs as methamphetamine and fentanyl.One of the main suppliers that shut down is in Wuhan, the epicentre of the global outbreak.Interviews with nearly two dozen law enforcement officials and trafficking experts show Mexican and Colombian cartels are still plying their trade as evidenced by recent drug seizures but the lockdowns that have turned cities into ghost towns are disrupting everything from production to transport to sales.Along the 3140-kilometre United States-Mexico border through which the vast majority of the illegal drugs cross into the US, the normally bustling vehicle traffic that smugglers use for cover has slowed to a trickle. Bars, nightclubs and motels across the country that are ordinarily fertile marketplaces for drug dealers have shuttered. And prices for drugs in short supply have soared to gouging levels."They are facing a supply problem and a demand problem," said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst and former official with CISEN, the Mexican intelligence agency. "Once you get them to the market, who are you going to sell to?"Virtually every illicit drug has been affected, with supply chain disruptions at both the wholesale and retail level. "The godfathers of the cartels are scrambling," said Phil Jordan, a former director of the DEA's El Paso Intelligence Centre.Cocaine prices are up 20 per cent or more in some cities. In Los Angeles, the price of methamphetamine has more than doubled in recent weeks to $1275 per kilogram. AdvertisementSynthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and fentanyl have been among the most affected, in large part because they rely on precursor chemicals that Mexican cartels import from China, cook into drugs on an industrial scale and then ship to the US."This is something we would use as a lesson learned for us," the head of the DEA, Uttam Dhillon, said. "If the disruption is that significant, we need to continue to work with our global partners to ensure that, once we come out of the pandemic, those precursor chemicals are not available to these drug-trafficking organisations."Cartels are increasingly shifting away from drugs that require planting and growing seasons, like heroin and marijuana, in favour of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, which can be cooked 24/7 throughout the year, are up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and produce a greater profit margin.Though some clandestine labs that make fentanyl from scratch have popped up sporadically in Mexico, cartels are still very much reliant upon Chinese companies for the precursor drugs.Huge amounts of these mail-order components can be traced to a single, state-subsidised company in Wuhan that shut down after the outbreak earlier this year, said Louise Shelley, director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Centre at George Mason University, which monitors Chinese websites selling fentanyl."The quarantine of Wuhan and all the chaos there definitely affected the fentanyl trade, particularly between China and Mexico," said Ben Westhoff, author of Fentanyl, Inc."The main reason China has been the main supplier is the main reason China is the supplier of everything - it does it so cheaply," Westhoff said. "Because of the coronavirus they're starting to do it in house." Some Chinese companies that once pushed precursors are now advertising drugs like hydroxychloroquine, which US President Donald Trump has promoted as potential treatment for COVID-19, as well as personal protective gear such as face masks and hand sanitisers.Meanwhile, the gummed up situation on the US-Mexico border resembles a stalled chess match where nobody, especially the traffickers, wants to make a wrong move, said Kyle Williamson, special agent in charge of the DEA's El Paso field division."They're in a pause right now," Williamson said. "They don't want to get sloppy and take a lot of risks."Some Mexican drug cartels are even holding back existing methamphetamine supplies to manipulate the market, recognising that "no good crisis should be wasted," said Joseph Brown, the US attorney in the Eastern District of Texas."Some cartels have given direct orders to members of their organisation that anyone caught selling methamphetamine during this time will be killed," said Brown. To be sure, narcotics are still making their way into the US, as evidenced by a bust last month in which nearly $US30 million ($47 million)worth of street drugs were seized in a new smuggling tunnel connecting a warehouse in Tijuana to southern San Diego. Shelley said that bust was notable in that only about 1 kilogram of fentanyl was recovered, "much lower than usual shipments".APLog in, or to save articles for later.Advertisement

'Cartels are scrambling': Lockdown hits the global drug tradeWe’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.DismisscloseAdvertisementBy Log in, or to save articles for later.Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementNew York: Coronavirus is dealing a gut punch to the illegal drug trade, paralysing economies, closing borders and severing supply chains in China that traffickers rely on for the chemicals to make such profitable drugs as methamphetamine and fentanyl.One of the main suppliers that shut down is in...

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Covering federal law enforcement for @AP. Former Louisiana, Georgia and Texas newspaperman. Tell me your story: JMustian@ap.org

Jim Mustian

@AP reporter in Texas | law enforcement, criminal justice and politics | jbleiberg@ap.org | What’s your story?

Jake Bleiberg

The Sydney Morning Herald - Australia's leading news source. Independent. Always.

'Cartels are scrambling': Lockdown hits the global drug trade

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