Chemical profiling: A tool to decipher the structure and organisation of illicit drug markets

Broséus, Julian; Baechler, Simon; Gentile, Natacha; Esseiva, Pierre

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.04.008

Cited by 33 publications

(72 citation statements)

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“…They result from the analysis of cocaine specimens confiscated by police and customs. Circumstantial information (criminal case number, mass of drugs seized, date and place of the seizure) is also collated [34][35][36]. In this research work, cocaine specimens purchased on Evolution were profiled and then compared to the profiles stored in this database.…”

Section: Illicit Drugs Chemical Analysis and Profilingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buying drugs on a Darknet market: A better deal? Studying the online illicit drug market through the analysis of digital, physical and chemical data

Rhumorbarbe

Staehli

Broséus

et al. 2016

Forensic Science International

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Darknet markets, also known as cryptomarkets, are websites located on the Darknet and designed to allow the trafficking of illicit products, mainly drugs. This study aims at presenting the added value of combining digital, chemical and physical information to reconstruct sellers' activities. In particular, this research focuses on Evolution, one of the most popular cryptomarkets active from January 2014 to March 2015. Evolution source code files were analysed using Python scripts based on regular expressions to extract information about listings (i.e., sales proposals) and sellers. The results revealed more than 48,000 listings and around 2700 vendors claiming to send illicit drug products from 70 countries. The most frequent categories of illicit drugs offered by vendors were cannabis-related products (around 25%) followed by ecstasy (MDA, MDMA) and stimulants (cocaine, speed). The cryptomarket was then especially studied from a Swiss point of view. Illicit drugs were purchased from three sellers located in Switzerland. The purchases were carried out to confront digital information (e.g., the type of drug, the purity, the shipping country and the concealment methods mentioned on listings) with the physical analysis of the shipment packaging and the chemical analysis of the received product (purity, cutting agents, chemical profile based on minor and major alkaloids, chemical class). The results show that digital information, such as concealment methods and shipping country, seems accurate. But the illicit drugs purity is found to be different from the information indicated on their respective listings. Moreover, chemical profiling highlighted links between cocaine sold online and specimens seized in Western Switzerland. This study highlights that (1) the forensic analysis of the received products allows the evaluation of the accuracy of digital data collected on the website, and (2) the information from digital and physical/ chemical traces are complementary to evaluate the practices of the online selling of illicit drugs on cryptomarkets.

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Section: Illicit Drugs Chemical Analysis and Profilingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buying drugs on a Darknet market: A better deal? Studying the online illicit drug market through the analysis of digital, physical and chemical data

Rhumorbarbe

Staehli

Broséus

et al. 2016

Forensic Science International

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“…The purity of heroin, by-products, impurities and concentration, and nature of adulterants varies from sample to sample in street heroin. The most common adulterants are caffeine, acetaminophen (Andreasen et al, 2009;Broséus et al, 2016a;Broséus et al, 2016b), dextromethorphan (Chan et al, 2012), phenobarbital, acetylthebaol, diazepam, clonazepam, pheniramine, biperiden, tramadol (Akhgari et al, 2012, chloroquine (Sulaiman et al, 2017) and lidocaine (Pichini et al, 2017). The qualitative analysis of morphia tablets using GC-MS showed that in addition to heroin tablets, sample A also contained caffeine, dextromethorphan, hydromorphone, and acetylcodiene, while sample B contained caffeine acetylcodiene, papaverine, and noscapine ( Table 2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Component analysis of illicit morphia tablets (clandestine laboratory preparation) using gas chromatography mass spectrometry: a case study

Usman¹,

Jamshaid²,

Naseer³

et al. 2018

Egypt J Forensic Sci

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Background: Various synthetic or semi-synthetic drugs like cocaine, amphetamine type stimulants (ATS), and heroin are produced and processed in clandestine laboratories. Every clan lab has its own procedures and protocols for drug synthesis and processing. A drug can be brought up in different forms like pharmaceutical tablets or raw street powder or any else, depending upon different types of adulterants or diluents and the physical modifications required for its transportation. Since a specific drug is synthesized by various clandestine laboratories, it is likely to have some differences between the two samples due to slightly different synthesis protocols used or the nature and concentration of adulterants. Detailed analysis of drug samples can determine, whether the drug belongs to common source or not. The basic purpose of alterations in physical form is to deceive the law enforcement agencies and to increase the bulk. Case presentation: In this article, a clandestine product of an altered form of a drug was analyzed and reported. Two samples of orange colored "morphia tablets" seized by law enforcement officials were submitted for chemical analysis. Both of the samples were analyzed to determine physical and chemical characteristics. In both samples, the tablets were orange in color. The average weight of a tablet was 58.24 mg for sample A, and 68.85 mg for sample B. Qualitative analysis using GC-MS showed that tablets in sample A were composed of caffeine, dextromethorphan, hydromorphone, acetylcodeine, and heroin, while the tablets in sample B were composed of caffeine, acetylcodeine, heroin, papaverine, and noscapine. The concentration of heroin in sample B was much higher than that in sample A. Conclusion: The analysis of morphia tablets showed that these tablets were an altered form of street heroin. On the basis of variation in weight, heroin concentration, impurities, and adulterants in both the samples analyzed, it can be concluded that they belonged to some different sources. Complete drug profiling for organic and inorganic components of tablets is recommended for future prospective.

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“…Il tirera par exemple parti des informations policières, des rapports publiés par les organismes internationaux, du profilage chimique des saisies policières ou douanières informant sur la pureté et la composition des produits stupéfiants, de la surveillance des espaces numériques, ou encore des informations collectées auprès des consommateurs. Au final, l'analyste parviendra peut-être à la conclusion que le marché de l'héroïne est plus structuré et beaucoup moins dynamique que celui de la cocaïne (Broséus, Baechler, Gentile et Esseiva, 2016 ;Morelato, Franscella, Esseiva et Broséus, 2019 ;Zobel, Esseiva, Udrisard, Lociciro et Samitca, 2017. L'entropie qui prévalait autour du problème de départ se voit ainsi significativement réduite.…”

Section: F I G U R Eunclassified

Un modèle continu, non linéaire et collaboratif de l’enquête

Baechler

Morelato

Roux

et al. 2020

crimino

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L'article propose un modèle continu, non linéaire, itératif et collaboratif de l'enquête. Celui-ci décrit le processus d'enquête appliqué au traitement des problèmes criminels et sécuritaires, faisant appel à des notions clés telles que l'entropie, le raisonnement hypothético-déductif, la méthode scientifique et la pensée itérative. Le modèle se concentre sur la démarche inférentielle et intellectuelle de l'enquête plutôt 1. École des sciences criminelles, Université de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Suisse. 2. Aucun soutien financier particulier n'a été reçu pour cet article.

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Chemical profiling: A tool to decipher the structure and organisation of illicit drug markets

Cited by 33 publications

References 34 publications

Buying drugs on a Darknet market: A better deal? Studying the online illicit drug market through the analysis of digital, physical and chemical data

Buying drugs on a Darknet market: A better deal? Studying the online illicit drug market through the analysis of digital, physical and chemical data

Component analysis of illicit morphia tablets (clandestine laboratory preparation) using gas chromatography mass spectrometry: a case study

Un modèle continu, non linéaire et collaboratif de l’enquête

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