Mexico remains the main international provider of marijuana for the United States, but this has greatly diminished since 2013, forcing certain criminal groups to adapt and look for other funds.
As gold prices have skyrocketed, criminal groups once solely dedicated to the trafficking of drugs and arms have moved into illegal mining.
Deforestation is the most visible face of environmental crime in Colombia’s Amazon.
Emerging from almost six decades of civil conflict, the world’s number one cocaine producer has paid scant attention to environmental crime.
Seizures of illegally harvested octopus off Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula are shedding light on how corruption in a coastal community facilitates the black market in marine life.
Authorities in Peru have dismantled a ring that sold explosives to gangs involved in illegal mining, showing how dangerous products needed to mine gold generate illicit profits.
Despite its small size, Paraguay continues to shock Latin America with its extremely high levels of deforestation, outnumbering most of its much larger neighbors -- especially in the destruction of…
The alleged exporter of a shipment of 26 tons of illegal shark fins from Ecuador to Hong Kong has received a fine of a few thousand dollars, showing how people…
There is one crucial quality for any successful wildlife trafficker: tenacity. And Kirill Kravchenko had it in spades.
A number of arrests made to tackle a sophisticated cattle rustling operation in Brazil have suggested authorities are stepping up efforts to target the crime.
Mexico's largest criminal groups are outsourcing the retrieval of cocaine shipments to smaller groups posing as fishing cooperatives, providing another example of how maritime infrastructure is subverted by the drug…
Living two weeks in the jungle wasn't bad really. While spending eight hours a day felling trees with an axe and a chainsaw wasn't exactly a holiday, it did create…
About InSight Crime
Who Are Memo Fantasma and Sergio Roberto de Carvalho?
Inside the criminal career of Memo Fantasma In March 2020, InSight Crime revealed the identity and whereabouts of Memo Fantasma, a paramilitary commander and drug trafficker living in…
Environmental and Academic Praise
InSight Crime’s six-part series on the plunder of the Peruvian Amazon continues to inform the debate on environmental security in the region. Our Environmental Crimes Project Manager, María Fernanda Ramírez,…
Series on Plunder of Peru’s Amazon Makes Headlines
Since launching on June 2, InSight Crime’s six-part series on environmental crime in Peru’s Amazon has been well-received. Detailing the shocking impunity enjoyed by those plundering the rainforest, the investigation…
Duarte’s Death Makes Waves
The announcement of the death of Gentil Duarte, one of the top dissident commanders of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), continues to reverberate in Venezuela and Colombia.
Cattle Trafficking Acclaim, Investigation into Peru’s Amazon
On May 18, InSight Crime launched its most recent investigation into cattle trafficking between Central America and Mexico. It showed precisely how beef, illicitly produced in Honduras, Guatemala…
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