InSight Crime is pleased to share the latest chapter of our multi-year investigation.


** New Chapter
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** Brokers: Lynchpins of the Precursor Chemical Flow to Mexico
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#fentanyl

Dear Reader

InSight Crime is pleased to share the latest chapter of our multi-year investigation into precursor chemical trafficking and synthetic drug production in Mexico – “Brokers: Lynchpins of the Precursor Chemical Flow to Mexico ([link removed]) .”
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In this deep dive, we explore the case of Ana Gabriela Rubio Zea. US prosecutors say she helped the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel obtain precursor chemicals from China to produce fentanyl, but her name was all but lost amid the 22 others indicted with her. In fact, the role of brokers like her has largely been overshadowed by narratives and security strategies that focus on kingpins and “cartels,” the catch-all phrase so often used to describe complex criminal networks.

Brokers are not only in charge of linking different players in multiple countries, but they also act as the bridge between the mostly legal world of chemical production and the Mexican underworld. This makes them the bottleneck of the synthetic drug supply chain, and a key target for law enforcement.
Read the full investigation ([link removed])

InSight Crime will soon publish another three chapters in this series, which follows a previous in-depth study ([link removed]) on Mexico’s synthetic drug trade:
* February 28, 2024 - The Global Reach of the Precursor Chemical Flow
* April 3, 2024 - The Financial Flows Behind Precursor Chemicals
* May 2, 2024 - Public-Private Collaborations to Curb Chemical Diversion

Regards,

The InSight Crime Team


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