David M. Luna 🦏 🌎 🐘 Threat Convergence ≜ Kine-Dynamics’ Post

View profile for David M. Luna 🦏 🌎 🐘 Threat Convergence ≜ Kine-Dynamics

CEO LGN/ICAIE Foundation; Former U.S. Diplomat; National Security/AITI@Terrorism Transnational Crime Corruption Center; Chair: BIAC OECD Anti-Illicit Trade; B20; WEF; TI-US; Chair: United Nations NCA Peace & Security

DEA's 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA) report informs on the continued penetration by the Sinaloa and Jalisco (CJNG) Mexican cartels in the United States, and world-wide. The new DEA NDTA report provides the latest strategic assessment of illicit drug threats and trafficking trends endangering the United States; and highlights the concerning role that Chinese suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and money launderers play in the deadly #illicittrade that has killed hundreds of thousands of American citizens over the years, and many more globally. Drug-related deaths claimed 107,941 American lives in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are responsible for approximately 70% of lives lost, while methamphetamine and other synthetic stimulants are responsible for approximately 30% of deaths. Social media platforms and encrypted apps extend the cartels’ reach into every community in the United States and across nearly 50 countries worldwide. Drug traffickers and their associates use technology to advertise and sell their products, collect payment, recruit and train couriers, and deliver drugs to customers without having to meet face-to-face. This new age of digital drug dealing has pushed the peddling of drugs off the streets of America and into our pockets and purses. The cartels have built mutually profitable partnerships with China-based precursor chemical companies to obtain the necessary ingredients to manufacturer synthetic drugs. They also work in partnership with Chinese money laundering organizations to launder drug proceeds and are increasingly using #cryptocurrency. Nearly all the #methamphetamines sold in the United States today is manufactured in Mexico, and it is purer and more potent than in years past. The shift to Mexican-manufactured methamphetamine is evidenced by the dramatic decline in domestic clandestine lab seizures. The #Sinaloa and #CJNG cartels control clandestine drug production sites and transportation routes inside Mexico and smuggling corridors into the United States and maintain large network “hubs” in U.S. cities along the Southwest Border and other key locations across the United States. They are also “transnational criminal organizations” because they are not just drug manufacturers and traffickers; they have diversified and are now involved in arms trafficking, #moneylaundering, migrant smuggling, sex trafficking, bribery, extortion, and a host of other crimes – and have a global reach extending into strategic transportation zones and profitable drug markets in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Find the Drug Enforcement Administration #DEA 2024 NDTA at: https://lnkd.in/eU75wnf6 International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE) / ICAIE Labs U.S. Department of Homeland Security U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of State #Mexico #China #drugtrafficking #fentanyl #opioids #corruption #TBML #mpayments

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Learn also about the Mexican cartels' diversification into illicit pharmaceuticals and counterfeit medicines in ICAIE policy brief, "Emerging Transnational Organized Crime Threats in Latin America: Converging Criminalized Markets & Illicit Vectors" at: https://icaie.com/2023/04/spring-icaie-policy-brief-emerging-transnational-organized-crime-threats-in-latin-america-converging-criminalized-markets-illicit-vectors/

Steve Johnson

Semi-Retired Safety Guy, Owner West Desert Photgraphy

9mo

I'm just an old guy lookin at this, but we're under attack, from the cartels. The sooner we recognize they're at war with us, mainly by poisoning thousands, the sooner we can get a handle on the problem.

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Marcel Wildenberg CISSP

Technical Information Security Officer a.i. / Security Awareness Consultant

9mo
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