All About Fentanyl

ANALYSIS

Mexico’s Fentanyl Crisis Reached New Heights in 2020

FENTANYL / 14 JAN 2021

Trafficking of the deadly opioid fentanyl skyrocketed in 2020 throughout Mexico, solidifying the synthetic drug's status as a top criminal economy and the country's role as an international trafficking transit…

US Chemicals Help Fuel Mexico Drug Production: Report

FENTANYL / 11 SEP 2020

Authorities in Mexico said they will look into the mass-scale diversion of chemicals from US companies to produce drugs that are trafficked over the border to feed consumers in the…

Mexico City Fentanyl Seizures May Point to Shifting Trafficking Trends

COVID AND CRIME / 21 AUG 2020

Authorities in Mexico have recently seized large quantities of fentanyl and precursor chemicals used to make the synthetic drug at the international airport in the capital, raising questions as to…

Continued Street Drug Sales in Tijuana Puts Users at Risk of Coronavirus

COVID AND CRIME / 2 JUN 2020

A coronavirus outbreak in the Mexico border city of Tijuana has not stymied street-level heroin and methamphetamine sales, and its large population of drug users is at high risk of…

Coronavirus Squeezing Finances of Mexico’s Criminal Groups

CONTRABAND / 18 MAR 2020

Contacts in China provide Mexican criminal groups with everything from counterfeit luxury goods to chemical precursors for making fentanyl. But with the spread of the coronavirus, shipments from China have…

Fentanyl Trade Fuels Cartel Battle in Central Mexico

FENTANYL / 2 MAR 2020

Five gangs are reportedly vying for control of the fentanyl trade in Mexico’s inland state of Zacatecas, suggesting that trafficking of this dangerous opioid is happening more widely across Mexico.

Fentanyl Enters Heroin Supply in Tijuana, Mexico

FENTANYL / 30 JAN 2020

Drug users in Tijuana are being unwittingly exposed to the deadly opioid fentanyl in a corridor where the drug is frequently smuggled, but where the effects of the opioid crisis…

China Fentanyl Ban Yet to Hamper Mexico’s Crime Groups

CHINA AND CRIME / 4 SEP 2019

Authorities in Mexico continue to make large seizures of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, even as China, the world’s top producer of the drug, tightens regulations. …

The End of the Big Cartels – Why There Won’t Be Another Chapo

DRUG POLICY / 18 MAR 2019

Earlier this month, a federal jury in New York convicted Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the former kingpin of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel, on ten charges related to drug trafficking.

US Mailing System Key to Future Fentanyl Trafficking Prevention

FENTANYL / 6 MAR 2019

Authorities in the United States and Mexico are working together to combat criminal groups capitalizing on growing demand for the deadly and highly lucrative synthetic opioid fentanyl, but the US…

Craigslist Now Hotspot for Fentanyl Sales in Los Angeles

FENTANYL / 4 MAR 2019

In Los Angeles, Craigslist has emerged in the last few months as a major new marketplace for illicit fentanyl. The online classified ad service has for several years been a…

The Fentanyl Trade Through Mexico, Explained in 8 Graphs

FENTANYL / 19 FEB 2019

Fentanyl use is booming in the United States. With support from the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, InSight Crime mapped the distribution chain, and the role of Mexico's…

End of Heroin is Bad News for US Fentanyl Hotbeds

DRUG POLICY / 15 FEB 2019

On October 22, 2018, authorities pulled over a Dominican national identifying himself as Angel Javier Morell-Oneill as he drove in Methuen, Massachusetts. They had been investigating him since June 2018,…

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Strategic Communications Manager Job Description

12 FEB 2021

InSight Crime is looking for a full-time strategic communications manager. This person needs to be able to work in a fast-paced world of daily news, high-profile investigations, national and international…

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InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area

ARGENTINA / 25 JAN 2021

Through several rounds of extensive field investigations, our researchers have analyzed and mapped out the main illicit economies and criminal groups present in 39 border departments spread across the six countries of study – the Northern Triangle trio of Guatemala, Honduras, and El…

BRIEF

InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize

COLOMBIA / 20 NOV 2020

The staff at InSight Crime was awarded the prestigious Simón Bolívar national journalism prize in Colombia for its two-year investigation into the drug trafficker known as “Memo Fantasma,” which was…

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works

COLOMBIA / 12 NOV 2020

This project began 10 years ago as an effort to address a problem: the lack of daily coverage, investigative stories and analysis of organized crime in the Americas. …