It looks like Mexico isn’t sending its best to Australia and New Zealand.
No, I’m not talking about newbie politicians trying to get strings pulled to queue jump MIQ. Mexico’s latest exports to the Antipodes are even less desirable than a shifty list MP.
Mexican drug cartels have taken control of half the supply of methamphetamine to Australia and New Zealand after a concerted push to target the lucrative markets, a US official says […]
Australia and New Zealand are attractive markets because drug users pay among the highest prices in the world.
Yes, apparently Aussie and Kiwi tweakers are paying top dollar for their meth. Guess we know where all those extra COVID benefits are going, then.
Asian syndicates mass-producing meth in and around lawless regions of Myanmar had been behind as much as 80 per cent of the drug sold in Australia and New Zealand two years ago, the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s Australia attache, Kevin Merkel, said. Mexican gangs — in particular the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (Jalisco New Generation Cartel) or CJNG — had since dramatically increased their share of the markets as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains globally.
“Numbers are equalling out to maybe 50-50, with Mexican meth now being mixed in and supplementing or supplanting some of the Asian meth that’s being disrupted coming into Australia and New Zealand,” Mr Merkel said.
It also seems that peddling meth is even more lucrative than looting avocados.
Mr Merkel said that because some traffickers such as outlaw bikies, the Italian mafia and Balkan organised crime gangs had operated in Australia for decades and had connections around the world going back generations, there were “ebbs and flows” in the source of illicit drugs over time.
The pandemic “screwed up logistics” and made it difficult for syndicate members to meet in person, potentially contributing to a shift to Mexican cartels, he said[…]
A NSW Crime Commission report in January stated that crime groups were waiting many months for importations due to disruptions to the supply chain in China and Southeast Asia.
And here was I, grumbling that the latest book I ordered on Amazon was taking weeks. Guess I should spare a thought for the poor bikies.
An [Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission] ACIC report last week revealed that based on wastewater analysis, meth consumption in Australia had dropped to its lowest level in four years in August, before rebounding in capital cities in October.
The Australian
As it turns out, Adelaide is not just the serial killer capital of the world – it’s also Australia’s Tweaker Central.
But, just like the rugby, New Zealand leaves Australia for dust. Northland recorded twice as high meth consumption in its wastewater.
In fact, who needs the Mexican cartels? Just bottle the sewer water and sell it back. If you can’t reduce, then reuse and recycle!
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