Understanding Illegal Methamphetamine Manufacture in Afghanistan, highlights a drastic increase in seizures of the drug, from 2.5 tons in 2017 to 29.7 tons in 2021. In its street drug form, meth or “crystal meth” it is a powerful and highly addictive stimulant that impacts the central nervous system and can...
“I used to transport sugar from Malawi,” said an anonymous driver, who was arrested for migrant trafficking. “In 2016, I had to wait for several days at a border crossing in Tanzania for customs checks. I was approached by a man who offered me a lot of money to transport...
“I used to transport sugar from Malawi,” said an anonymous driver, who was arrested for migrant trafficking. “In 2016, I had to wait for several days at a border crossing in Tanzania for customs checks. I was approached by a man who offered me a lot of money to transport...
The effort is centred on the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet and from where illicit items including drugs are trafficked to lucrative markets across Southeast Asia. UN News spoke with Jeremy Douglas, the Regional Representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)...
In this feature, part of a series exploring trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on migrant smuggling. Migrant smugglers have been reaping rich dividends over the past decade in the Sahel, where armed violence, terrorist attacks, and climate shocks have displaced three million people and triggered growing numbers of others...
In this feature, part of a series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on the illegal arms trade that is fuelling conflict and terrorism. In the Sahel, home to 300 million people, it’s a buyer’s market for guns. Insurgency and banditry plague the region, rooted...
In this feature, part of a series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on the illegal fuel trade in the region. Transported by criminal networks and taxed by terrorist groups, illegal fuel flows along four major routes snaking across the Sahel towards ready buyers, siphoning...
This feature, which focuses on the illegal trade in substandard and fake medicines, is part of a UN News series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel. From ineffective hand sanitizer to fake antimalarial pills, an illicit trade that grew during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is being meticulously...
“The surge in the global cocaine supply should put all of us on high alert,” UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said. “The potential for the cocaine market to expand in Africa and Asia is a dangerous reality.” Sky high supply and demand Criminal networks are now diversifying with alarming results...
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, Haiti’s criminal markets: mapping trends in firearms and drug trafficking, warns that a recent increase in arms seizures alongside intelligence and law enforcement reporting, suggests trafficking of weapons is on the rise. ‘Volatile situation’ “By providing a rapid assessment of illicit...
“Despite the abolition of the tenancy system, serious concerns persist in relation to risks of trafficking of children and forced labour”, the experts said. “Countries where tobacco companies are headquartered must strengthen action to prevent trafficking for purposes of child and forced labour”. Working towards this end, the experts have...
The credibility of victims of trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery – including migrants and nationals – is now under attack in the UK, the Human Rights Council-appointed experts warned, in a statement published on Monday. ‘Unsubstantiated claims’ “We are alarmed by the rise in unsubstantiated claims by public officials...