THE GOLDEN AGE OF METH: THE OTHER PANDEMIC IS NOW NO LONGER SILENT
THE GOLDEN AGE OF METH: THE OTHER PANDEMIC IS NOW NO LONGER SILENT
Illegal drug trafficking has not only survived the pandemic but has soared while the agendas of all countries have focused their attention on combating Covid-19. In this intense pandemic period, illicit drug production has increased, cartels have diversified their businesses, new markets have emerged, demand has risen, and the number of seizures of illicit drugs has increased. Synthetic drugs are a fast-growing market.
The illegal drug trade has been fueled by political instability in the main drug-producing countries of Myanmar and Afghanistan. In war-torn Syria, choked by economic sanctions, the production of the amphetamine known as Captagon has also accelerated, creating a serious security problem in the region. The turmoil in Afghanistan over the past year has made the country the main competitor in the methamphetamine market. And the recent coup in Myanmar, that threw the country into chaos, has created the proper conditions for drug production and trafficking to flourish even more. And this is where, in the so-called “Golden Triangle” (Thailand, Laos and Myanmar), the drug boom has been the most intense so far. Myanmar had become the world’s largest synthetic drug hotspot and the second largest producer of heroin[1].
In addition, the Mexican drug cartels’ fight has become global, threatening the Asia-Pacific region and Africa, and moving into Europe.
A Gathering Storm
In early 2022, another event focused international attention. Russia invades Ukraine. This conflict provides another source of political instability and instability that can be exploited by drug traffickers and drug producers. The economic and geopolitical consequences of the war in Ukraine will significantly push back the fight against opiates in the coming years. This will undoubtedly be to the profit of the traffickers.
It should be remembered that Ukraine was already on the drug trafficking radar as one of the most important drug trafficking routes, a route that emerged between 2006 and 2016. Ukraine has several special conditions that allow for this trafficking of illicit substances: the wide borders between Russia and Ukraine, through which illegal drugs from Central and South Asia can enter the country via the Caucasus; the largely unguarded Black Sea coast; and a high level of corruption in the customs service, which become safe border crossings for traffickers. Heroin smuggled before the Russian invasion of Ukraine used to pass from Afghanistan through Iran and the Caucasus countries (notably Azerbaijan and Georgia) and across the Black Sea to Poland or Romania.
It may be that the war in Ukraine can interrupt the drug route because of the increased presence of security forces, but it is a well-known fact that these forces are not there to dismantle laboratories or criminal networks. It is important to mention that in 2020 Ukraine was the country that dismantled the most amphetamine laboratories in the world. This means, in this new context, that Ukraine has a significant capacity for the manufacture of these synthetic substances if the chaos generated due to the conflict persists[2]. Already in the 2004 conflict, the drug business in Ukraine remained highly solvent. Through a method known as deal drop, the buyer of illegal substances was directed to find the drugs in hidden locations in the city, using the dark web and payment in bitcoin.
The provisional closure of the Russia-Ukraine route has, for the moment, attracted Turkey’s interest, although this does not mean that the old routes cannot be re-established by taking the opportunity, not only because of the chaos generated by a conflict, but also because of the vulnerability of the population, which is more sensitive to drug consumption and to obtaining profits through the trade involving illicit merchandise.
The war in Ukraine has other economic and geopolitical effects on the illegal narcotics trade. China and India, as the world’s main hubs of the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, will not be willing to allow any interference in the form of drug control, as their industries provide the essential ingredients for the production of synthetic drugs. They are also the main suppliers of precursors to Mexican cartels and Myanmar drug producers. Russia and Ukraine are also among their most important markets. Although the war in Ukraine has affected the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in these countries by increasing the prices of benzene derivatives or oil and aluminium, these countries will not put further pressure on these industries. Although India has been more cooperative with the US in recent years, it has increased its imports of Russian coal and oil. And the US acquiesces because India is needed to contain China.
The Fentanyl Crisis
Signs of the rise of these synthetic substances have been the news of seizures and the serious epidemic of fentanyl overdose deaths in the United States. In December 2021, the Spanish National Police dismantled an international criminal group, based in Spain and the Netherlands, and linked to the Mexican “Beltrán Leyva” cartel, which smuggled cocaine and methamphetamines into Europe through the port of Barcelona. This joint operation with the Guardia Civil, the Tax Agency and Europol resulted in the largest ever seizure of crystal meth, with a total of 2,549 kilos of methamphetamines, 1,370 kilos of cocaine and 17,000 liters of chemical products to produce narcotics. The investigation revealed that Mexican cartels were trying to ” break” or “dump” the European market for the narcotic substance known as crystal meth or methamphetamine. Taking advantage of the historic cocaine routes they dominated, they were turning to a new emerging market in Europe with this new substance, which they were manufacturing themselves in the jungle areas of Mexico[3].
In mid-December, authorities in Arizona (USA) intercepted more than 1.5 tons of methamphetamine from Mexico[4].
These reports and investigations showed only the iceberg’s peak.
Synthetic drugs are redefining the geography and geopolitics of the global drug trade. Mexican cartels now operate as multinational enterprises, and in recent years fentanyl, a potent and lethal opiate, has emerged as the drug of choice. There is a direct link between fentanyl-related overdoses in the US and drug trafficking networks in Mexico. Paradoxically, the current customer base for this drug was created decades ago by US pharmaceutical companies, which promoted the individual use of highly addictive opioid painkillers. In addition to prescribing this type of medication to patients who did not need it, causing their dependence and at the same time increasing the laboratories’ revenues, fentanyl began to hold a pre-eminent position in demand also due to the subsequent restriction of over-the-counter prescriptions for drugs such as Vicodin, Tramadol and Oxycontin. Subsequently, a delivery channel for fentanyl from China began to be introduced which, using the dark web, delivered by regular mail directly to the consumer[5]. At the same time, the Chinese mafias saw Mexico as an important geographical area due to its proximity to the United States. The Sinaloa Cartel’s entry into Asia focused on securing the supply of methamphetamine precursors, thus establishing a relationship with the Chinese triads, who controlled methamphetamine production in southern China and were able to easily access precursors from the Chinese pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Subsequently, the Sinaloa Cartel has also strategically turned to India for precursors.
As a result, the United States finds itself in the depths of a serious opioid pandemic, with worrying data[6].
The China Connection
According to a 2017 report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China had between 160,000 and 400,000 chemical companies operating legally, illegally or bordering on legality. The latest report of this commission notes that China remains the leading source country for illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States[7].
The basic pharmaceutical chemicals produced in China are synthesized by pharmaceutical companies around the world for use in several different medicines. One of the main problems is that chemicals banned in the US often remain legal in China or are poorly controlled, with chemicals such as fentanyl often in a limbo between licit pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs[8]. Although China listed all fentanyl analogues, criminalizing the non-regulated production of any chemical with a similar structure to fentanyl, the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl are often substituted as they are banned. In fact, they are referred to as designed precursors, since they are synthesized in a way that is sufficiently different to avoid government oversight, suggesting that their purpose is in fact to manufacture narcotic drugs. To evade the tightening of regulations, some Chinese have opted to move production to countries where controls are less severe, such as India, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of pharmaceuticals. In 2013, Chinese triads active in China shifted production to Myanmar, keeping full control of methamphetamine trafficking throughout the Asia-Pacific region. To complicate matters further, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel – has followed in Sinaloa’s footsteps by fiercely competing for the market in this region. This rivalry between the Mexican cartels could also put the Chinese triads in a position of confrontation with the Mexican cartels. But for the meantime, the Asia-Pacific region is still far from the kind of drug cartel violence that Latin America is facing, which does not rule out an escalation of violence.
Exported from China, fentanyl used to enter Mexico for distribution by the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels. And with synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamines a rising market in the United States and Europe, Mexican cartels have tailored their production, accordingly, pushing the production of cultivated natural drugs, such as opium and marijuana, into the background. Since 2017, Mexico has been supplying synthetic drugs by imported precursor chemicals from China. By the mid-2000s, fentanyl was already beginning to flood US illicit drug markets, driving up the number of fentanyl overdose deaths.
Chinese pharmaceutical and chemical producers have taken advantage of the controlled demand for drugs in the US by selling these precursor chemicals to Mexican cartels who traffic synthetic drugs to the US and Canada. China appears to be reluctant to take steps to control the flow of these precursor chemicals due to its own geopolitical imperatives. The Chinese government’s response to the export of these precursor chemicals for illicit use is limited to external pressures and Beijing’s real commitment to reducing the flow does not seem very convincing. In other words, China’s approach to drug control is shaped by its political and economic interests.
While China’s “predatory” loan strategy is weakening the sovereignty of some states in the Latin American and Caribbean region, some of these states, such as Mexico, do not possess a monopoly on the use of force in areas where illegal drugs are produced and smuggled. An example of such a situation is the notorious incident in Culiacán, where violence broke out in a clash between federal forces and the Sinaloa Cartel over the capture of Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Even though the drug trafficker’s son was arrested, given the levels of violence that broke out in the city, Ovidio Guzmán López had to be released[9].
In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, China has not only broadened its pharmaceutical industry, but has also further strengthened its influence in the region through what is already known as “covid diplomacy”[10]. This means selling medical and health supplies and vaccines to other countries in the response to the pandemic crisis. This is the case of Mexico, which is finding it difficult to pressure China to adopt measures to control the trafficking of chemical precursors, as Chinese pharmaceutical companies have supplied Mexico with tens of millions of doses to vaccinate the Mexican population against Covid-19.
Europe: the meth pandemic moves on in silence
On the other hand, the Sinaloa cartel has already built up a global network that dominates, so far, the fentanyl business. Sinaloa is opening new markets to introduce synthetic drugs. Fentanyl can be labelled as the game-changer in the drug trafficking business, overshadowing all other illicitly trafficked drugs. The overwhelming saturation of the North American market and the high returns on these drugs has pushed Mexican cartels to look for new business opportunities with these drugs and to spread worldwide. These cartels already have a presence in Europe, Asia, Australia and the African continent. This criminal industry moves millions of euros and dominates production and distribution from beginning to the end (they provide the facilities for laboratories, the supply of precursor chemicals, transportation, know-how, “kitchens”, etc.).
European authorities should be facing the worst. Europe can no longer turn its back on the synthetic drugs market. It seems worrying to see the attention this drug is getting and the possibility that it could be a serious and potential problem in Europe’s future.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s (EMCDDA) European Drug Report 2021 stated that Europe remains the main market, alongside the United States, for use of cocaine. But while methamphetamine demand and use has always been marginal in Europe, with demand concentrated in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the report warned that changes in production and trafficking highlight the risk of increasing use. These changes are linked to cooperation between European and Mexican criminal organizations. In fact, the most significant increases in seizures were of MDMA and methamphetamines, which increased by 290% and 182% respectively[11].
The latest EMCDDA report in 2022 already shows how events in Afghanistan have changed the flow of drugs and warns of the problems that the ongoing war in Ukraine may create. Regarding Europe, the report notes the rise of dangerous new psychoactive substances, warning of cathinones, and describes the increase in methamphetamine production as a worrying development. The report identifies six new synthetic opioids, six synthetic cathinones, and fifteen new synthetic cannabinoids as having been reported for the first time last year[12].
This trend in patterns of consumption is due to the ease of production of synthetic drugs, but also to the overwhelming saturation of the North American market (in particular for fentanyl and cocaine), the blockage of transport due to the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the legalization of cannabis in some North American states, which has led to a drop in demand for this substance. As a result, Mexican cartels have adapted their production towards synthetic drugs, using larger and bigger laboratories to produce higher quantities of these drugs and opiates, according to statistics on seizures.
The trend is towards opening up new routes to different countries, so that not only has a new market developed in Eastern Europe but also in Asia and Australia, with Mexican cartels also setting their sights on China. The seizure of liquid methamphetamine from Mexico in Bulgaria, a country where drug seizures from Latin America are not common, warns not only of Mexican cartels trying to transport drugs by air to Europe but also warns that the European continent has become an attractive market for the introduction of methamphetamines[13].
Afghanistan: New Dealer On The Block
However, the availability of methamphetamines on the market at a lower price is changing the situation. Criminal organizations have diversified their supply because, along with heroin, crystal meth has started to arrive from Afghanistan. Afghan methamphetamine is in competition in quality with methamphetamine produced in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Mexico. Afghanistan, which supplies 84% of the world’s illegal opiate market and ranks second as a hashish producer, has become an emerging methamphetamine manufacturer. According to the United Nations, the Taliban made a profit of 389 million euros in 2020 from the illicit drug trade, making Afghanistan one of the world’s largest illicit economies[14]. Drug trafficking in Afghanistan makes about $35 million a month for the Taliban and drug traffickers. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan has left behind a thriving and violent heroin and methamphetamine trade in the country. The chaotic political landscape in the country with a collapsing economy only encourages propitious conditions for the drug trade.
In 2017, Afghanistan found a way to produce pure methamphetamines from ephedra, a wild plant that grows in the country, and from which it can produce and export thousands of tons of methamphetamines per year, making it the most lucrative drug in the country. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction report also states that, regarding the destination of the ephedrine and methamphetamine produced, “there are indications in recent media reports suggesting that Iran may be one of the destinations. Iranian authorities have noted a dramatic increase in seizures of ephedrine and methamphetamine in the Afghan border area”. The report also reports evidence of Afghan-origin methamphetamine in Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Australia[15].
With decades of experience in processing and transporting heroin, the Taliban control most of Afghanistan’s drug distribution networks. Afghanistan’s drug trade has also overtaken Iran’s. In 2012, Iran was the world’s fourth largest importer of pseudoephedrine, the main precursor chemical used in methamphetamine production[16]. Now, Iranian traffickers are using Afghan mafias and the old opium smuggling infrastructure to traffic methamphetamines. Iran’s role as a key node in methamphetamine smuggling routes from Central Asia and Southeast Asia to Europe has left the country with a major drug problem. Since mid-2019, Iranian government officials are reporting that methamphetamine use has increased due to an influx of cheap but also lower quality Afghan methamphetamine, with negative health effects on drug consumers.
Historically, opiates were smuggled into Europe from Iran to Turkey, either directly from Iran or from other regions such as northern Iraq before entering Turkey. Turkey has also seen an increase in methamphetamine seizures. Based on these data, reports suggest that methamphetamine from Iran is trafficked through Turkey to the European Union and from the EU to consumer markets in Australia and Asia[17]. This poses a risk to Europe. It is feared that methamphetamine could end up in Europe following the old heroin route through Pakistan, Iran and East Africa. Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are part of the so-called “Golden Crescent”. Another route used by the Taliban to move opiates, and now disrupted by the war in Ukraine, is the route through the Caucasus and the Balkans via Turkey to Western Europe. With Russia and Europe being one of the largest markets for narcotics, Central Asia forms the northern route, a transit zone for drugs, while at the same time hosting various terrorist groups. This route supplied heroin to Russia and Central Asia.
If the trend of low prices introduced by Afghan methamphetamine and the easy availability of ephedra continues, Afghanistan could soon play an important role in the global synthetic drug trade. It is expected that Afghanistan will continue to illegally export drugs such as heroin and methamphetamines around the world, threatening international security. Indeed, India, Russia and China have expressed concern about the smuggling of these substances from Afghanistan, which they see as a threat to regional security and stability[18].
The “Golden Triangle”
Over the past twenty years, methamphetamine production has been based in the so-called “Golden Triangle”, but it is still too early to venture if there will be a significant regional shift in the dynamics of production of this synthetic drug. While Afghanistan has a clear competitive advantage due to its ephedra and heroin processing and transportation expertise, the impact on Myanmar’s production cannot be predicted with certainty.
And what is going on in Myanmar and Afghanistan is also disrupting India, which is bracing itself for an increase in drug trafficking from these two countries, since political and economic crises in these countries have created the optimal conditions for the drug trade. For years, Bangladesh has been the South Asian country most affected by methamphetamine from the ‘Golden Triangle’, but India could be closing the gap, given that larger and more frequent seizures are indicating a higher level of smuggling across its land borders, putting the country’s fragile security at risk[19]. Not only on the other hand, but India’s also powerful pharmaceutical and chemical industry and the aftermath of the war in Ukraine has seen the country emerge as a major supplier of components for the manufacture of synthetic drugs.
The World will be “Breaking Bad”
It is imperative to closely monitoring how the illicit drug market evolves to measure the scale and nature of the threat it poses and, especially, how the methamphetamine market develops in relation to the opiate market in general. The production and trafficking of opiates and synthetic drugs may be projected separately rather than as substitutes for each other or may be run by the same criminal groups. For the moment, what has happened in Southeast Asia is that methamphetamine manufacture has expanded at the expense of opium production, which has declined.
It should be noted that there need not be a direct link between opiates and methamphetamines, although so far mixed seizures outside Afghanistan suggest that some groups are trafficking the two substances together. Now, the drop in opium production is associated with an increase in methamphetamine manufacture. Afghanistan’s emergence as a methamphetamine producer and its potential capacity raises many questions. In general, the production of methamphetamine, given the ease of synthesizing it, means that it is produced close to where it is consumed. Mexican cartels have moved production closer to countries such as the Netherlands and Nigeria. But what seems very likely to be happening already is that Afghanistan is competing, using old heroin trafficking routes to penetrate these consumer markets, indicating that there will be fighting among criminal groups for control of the drug consumption market. In Nigeria, Afghan merchandise has already been reported in a market that has been dominated by Mexican cartels since 2016[20]. And the situation has been the same in Australia, where eighty million dollar’s worth of liquid methamphetamine of Afghan origin was seized in mineral water bottles[21].
Methamphetamines have become one of Afghanistan’s main drug exports, fueling growing consumption around the world, and creating a huge profit for the Taliban. It should not be surprising that Afghan-ordered methamphetamines are found wherever Afghan heroin flows. The nexus between Taliban involvement in the illicit drug economy and the rise of methamphetamine production in Afghanistan raises questions about the Taliban’s role in the drug trade and the establishment of its priorities. Drug control could be used by the Taliban to push for legitimate international recognition and to demand economic aid. The economic collapse resulting from international isolation and economic sanctions will stimulate more drug production, but the Taliban could strategically use their position on drug production to gain legitimacy.
The potential consequences of these developments in the illicit drug market are only beginning to be noticed. Both the Taliban and the Mexican drug cartels have in common that they have become transnational drug trafficking organizations that are economically dependent on the drug trade and have behind them a history of violence that has given them power and control over the territory in which they operate. The fundamental difference is that while the Mexican cartels have managed to corrupt the state, the Taliban narco-traffickers are now state-forming and will use state institutions to expand the illicit drug trade.
Drug traffickers are continuously adapting and innovating to expand their business. For different criminal groups to rival and compete in the synthetic drugs market is an option that seems quite probably. It has been a decade since Mexican cartels established relationships with Afghans in exchange for weapons; the Sinaloa cartel bought heroin and precursor chemicals in Afghanistan, in collaboration with Turkish and Indian criminal groups[22]. But with the emergence of Afghan methamphetamine on the market, everything is changing. The impact on the illicit drugs market is already beginning to be recognized.
But the fact that we do not know the scale and scope of the Afghan methamphetamine industry and the presence of Mexican cartels in Europe and Africa does not mean that the worst predictions are not coming true. And added to this are the disruptive consequences of the Ukraine war on the drug trade and Russia’s growing influence in Africa. Russia’s approach to Africa involves a strategy of co-opting elites in order to serve Russian strategic interests. In recent years, Russia has established a series of military alliances with governments of African countries facing violent insurgencies or political instability, such as Libya, Mali, Sudan, Mozambique and the Central African Republic. The pretext for this Russian interference is the potential value of these countries as trading partners in sectors such as food, fertilizers and energy. However, the bulk of Russia’s relations with these countries is military equipment, which accounts for almost half of the imports of these African countries, and which are made up of materials such as tanks, warships, combat aircraft, weapons and assault rifles. Russia has taken advantage of the West’s strategic mistake in requesting African countries to take a position on the war in Ukraine to expand its sphere of influence.
Moreover, Africa has already been affected for decades by the presence of Mexican cartels, which established a route to distribute cocaine. The vast African territory ruled by militias and jihadist groups, as well as the weakness of security forces in West Africa and the instability of many African countries have made it easier to smuggle illicit drugs. Central and southern Africa has also been used strategically by Mexican cartels to smuggle methamphetamine precursors from China into Mexico, taking advantage of increased trade relations between China and the African continent.
What worries are the consequences of the synergies that can be created between drug cartels, militias, jihadist groups, criminal groups involved in human trafficking, and the global flow of commercial trafficking of goods for the benefit of drug traffickers.
Europe is also affected. It is not only the presence of Mexican cartels that must be taken into consideration, although not very notorious, but increasingly widespread. Also consider the risks and threats posed by changing patterns of illicit drug consumption if new consumer markets for methamphetamine or fentanyl are introduced, the arrival of Afghan drugs following the old heroin route, and worsening instability in African countries. Synthetic drugs are predefining the geography and geopolitics of the global drug trade, aided by the current environment, which provides propitious conditions for drug trade.
[1] Wallen, J. (December 28, 2021), “Military coup fallout turns Myanmar into world’s largest synthetic drugs hotspot”, The Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/military-coup-fallout-turns-myanmar-worlds-largest-synthetic/
[2] This is stated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. See https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Ukraine/Ukraine_drug_demand_supply.pdf
[3] González, G. (December 14, 2021), “Cae una banda de ‘narcos’ mexicanos que introducía cocaína oculta en bloques de hormigón por el puerto de Barcelona”, El Mundo, https://www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2021/12/14/61b86ab7fc6c83887e8b459f.html
[4] Snyder, I. (December 16, 2021), “‘This is not a recreational drug. This is death’: Record 1.7M fentanyl pills seized in Arizona”, Fox10 Phoenix, https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/scottsdale-police-hold-news-conference-on-record-fentanyl-seizure
[5] As the Internet offers many manufacturers to choose from, buyers in the US were able to switch suppliers constantly, making it difficult to detect patterns in purchases.
[6] From April 2020 to April 2021, 100,000 overdose deaths were reported in the United States, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm.
[7] Greenwood, L., Fashola, K. (August 24, 2021), Illicit Fentanyl from China: An Evolving Global Operation, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/2021-08/Illicit_Fentanyl_from_China-An_Evolving_Global_Operation.pdf
[8] O’Connor, S. (February 1, 2017), Fentanyl: China’s Deadly Export to the United States. U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Research/USCC%20Staff%20Report_Fentanyl-China’s%20Deadly%20Export%20to%20the%20United%20States020117.pdf
[9] Ordaz, A. (October 17, 2020), “‘Culiacanazo’, la batalla que ganó el crimen organizado a las fuerzas federales de AMLO”, Forbes México, https://www.forbes.com.mx/noticias-culiacanazo-batalla-gano-crimen-organizado-fuerzas-federales/
[10] Barría, C. (December 30, 2021), “Los 3 pilares de la expansión china en América Latina y el Caribe en dos años de pandemia”, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-59823320
[11] “European Drug Report. Trends and developments. 2021”, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), p. 14, https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/13838/2021.2256_ES0906.pdf.
[12] More information on the report can be consulted at: https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/news/2022/news-eu4monitoring-drugs-emcdda-technical-cooperation-project_en
[13] “Incautado en Bulgaria un cargamento récord de metanfetamina desde México”, (November 3, 2021), SWI Swissinfo.ch, https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/narcotráfico-méxico_incautado-en-bulgaria-un-cargamento-récord-de-metanfetamina-desde-méxico/47081434
[14] World Drug Report 2020, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
[15] Emerging evidence of Afghanistan’s role as a producer and supplier of ephedrine and methamphetamine, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction, (November, 2020), https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/13410/emcdda-methamphetamine-in-Afghanistan-report.pdf
[16] Transnational Organized Crime in East Asia and the Pacific. A Threat Assessment, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (April, 2013), https://www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacific//Publications/2013/TOCTA_EAP_web.pdf
[17] Methamphetamine developments in South Asia: the situation in Iran and the implications for the EU and its neighbors, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction, (April, 2021), https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/13703/EU4MD_Methamphetamine-situation-in-Iran_final.pdf
[18] “Afghan humanitarian crisis, drug trafficking alarm India, Russia, China”, (26, November, 2021), Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/world/china/india-russia-china-worried-by-afghanistan-humanitarian-situation-2021-11-26/
[19] Stone, R. (January 4, 2022), “India faces double drugs threat from Afghanistan, Myanmar”, Nikkei Asia, https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/India-faces-double-drugs-threat-from-Afghanistan-Myanmar
[20] “Mexicans Set Up Labs In Nigeria To Produce Meth, Reps Confirm”, (November, 26, 2021), The Tide, http://www.thetidenewsonline.com/2021/11/26/mexicans-set-up-labs-in-nigeria-to-produce-meth-reps-confirm/
[21] Cormack, L. (April 24, 2020), “Two charged after $80 million of liquid meth found inside bottles of mineral water”, The Sidney Morning Herald, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/two-charged-after-80-million-of-liquid-meth-found-inside-bottles-of-mineral-water-20200424-p54mtw.html
[22] Gómora, D. (January 4, 2011), “Cárteles mexicanos compran droga en Afganistán, alertan”. El Universal, https://archivo.eluniversal.com.mx/primera/36134.html