The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that among the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, there has been an increase in the use of bitcoin for the sale of drugs and money laundering.
According to the UN International Narcotics Control Board, Mexico’s largest cartel, Sinaloa, and its main competitor, the relatively young and fast-growing Jalisco New Generation Cartel, use bitcoin to carry out illegal activities.
It turned out that in Mexico alone, drug cartels launder about $25 billion through cryptocurrencies. Colombian organized crime groups also prefer to use digital assets due to their anonymity and high transaction speed.
Cartel leaders divide the proceeds from the sale of drugs into small amounts. On them, they buy bitcoins to hide the origin of the money received, and also pay with crypto assets with partners from other countries. The committee also reported that drug cartels have begun to “resurrect” old synthetic drug formulations that have ceased to be manufactured due to their dangerous side effects.
Drug dealers often sell illegal substances on the dark web. However, despite the use of darknet platforms, law enforcement agencies manage to identify drug traffickers and bring them to justice. So, in 2020, the US Department of Justice confiscated $6.5 million in cryptocurrencies and regular money from smugglers and operators of drug sites on the dark web.
According to a report last year by the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s Strategic Intelligence Division, crypto ATMs are becoming especially popular among drug traffickers.
Source: Bits
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