The global situation, as the Mad Hatter would put it, has been growing curiouser and curiouser as the world grapples with a novel coronavirus pandemic. We have heard of dropping stock markets, trade being rattled, and important pharmaceutical nations now reducing drug export. However, as the world changes, one may not stop to consider the more delicate (read: downright unsavoury) matters of illegal trade, which also plays a very important role in this time: like that familiar actor you see in dozens of movies but can never quite place until they bust out a big TV show/movie of their own.
The first, foremost and rather obvious segment of illegal trade to be targeted is wildlife trafficking. Both the SARS outbreak and the current COVID-19 pandemic have been caused due to the flourishing illegal wildlife trade in Chinese meat markets and meatpacking districts. It is a low risk business with high returns, due to toothless laws, corruption and weak judicial sentences. Theresa Lim, of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, states “Actions on transboundary cooperation and promoting sustainable livelihoods in and around ASEAN heritage parks and natural habitats will help stop the reliance of local communities to poaching, overharvesting and illegal trading of wildlife and their by-products as means to earn income,”. China and Vietnam both finally imposed bans on wildlife consumption as of 28th March 2020. However, concerns remain due to China’s previously failed attempts at doing the same thing and the widespread online nature of the trade in question. According to TRAFFIC, there is a special focus on pangolin trade due to a 2019 paper published in Wuhan stating that pangolins may be vectors of the novel coronavirus.
To tell a story in numbers, 1 million pangolins have been poached in the past decade alone. 3 rhinos are successfully hunted every day for their horns. Remaining prevalent elephant species numbers are not pleasant: each has under 56,000 left in the wild; the low numbers are attributed to this form of trade.
The second form of illegal trade, ie drug trade is now swooning in horror, much like any character in a run-of-the-mill Indian sitcom after consuming poison in one form or another.
Simple logic dictates the mechanisms at work here. Taking the Mexican example, we see that most of the wares criminal groups in Mexico require, eg chemical precursors required for manufacturing fentanyl, an extremely powerful opioid come from contacts in China. Due to the pandemic, Chinese shipments have reduced, and these groups feel the pinch. La Unión de Tepito, which controls most of the sale of counterfeit goods from China, says that it is now facing pushback from businesses that are unwilling to pay extortion fares without Chinese goods. The Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación — CJNG) states that it is also struggling to source chemical precursors needed for fentanyl manufacture (see above). The amount of fentanyl in the picture below is enough to kill a fully grown adult.
The shutting down of air travel makes human trafficking, contraband smuggling and drug trade difficult; grounded flights (ah, how I completely do not miss airline food) make the transport of the same easier to track. Criminals are, however, nothing if not opportunistic; drug mules, referred to as coyotes, now have a lucrative business on their hands as they dramatically increase prices to ferry drugs across international borders.
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