Dear Reader,

Over the last five months, we have published a series of chapters complementing our in-depth study of the supply chain of precursor chemicals used to produce methamphetamine and fentanyl in Mexico that we released last year.

For this second phase of the investigation, we conducted fieldwork in some of Mexico’s epicenters for synthetic drug production, interviewing dozens of actors involved in the trade. We also traveled to China to understand the inner-workings of the grey-market chemical industry, where producers and sellers intensely advertise controlled substances to reach Mexican buyers.

The result is a comprehensive exploration featuring several case studies that detail how the synthetic drug supply chain works: from the key actors involved and the various routes used to traffic precursor chemicals, to the methods through which money flows to finance these operations, and the limited capabilities of governments and the private sector to stop it.

Chapters:

1. Brokers: Lynchpins of the Precursor Chemical Flow to Mexico

2. The Synthetic Silk Road: Tracing China’s Grey-Market Precursor Chemical Trade

3. Beyond China: How Other Countries Provide Precursor Chemicals to Mexico

4. How Mexico Loses the Precursor Chemical Money Trail

5. In Battle to Slow Precursor Chemicals in Mexico, Public-Private Partnerships are a Path Not Taken

We have also partnered with the Program for Citizen Security at Universidad Iberoamericana to develop a series of policy recommendations directed at government and private sector actors around the world.

Regards,    

The InSight Crime Team

We want to continue exposing criminals in Latin America

An investigation such as this one requires time and resources. We want

to continue contributing to the debate on organized crime across the continent

and for our content to remain free for the general public to access. For this,

we need your support.