Recent Trends in Cocaine Trafficking in the Netherlands and Spain

The illicit medicines trade from within An analysis of the demand and supply sides of the illicit market for lifestyle medicines

“…The notion of the disorganized structure of illicit markets is found in other studies as well (e.g. Adler, 1993;van Duyne, 1996;Paoli, 2002;Zaitch, 2002;Antonopoulos, 2008).…”

“…Although these quantitative studies on illicit markets have offered new insights into a relatively understudied phenomenon, they can hardly offer an understanding of the market actors involved, while a reliable picture of the scope of such hidden markets is almost impossible to estimate (Thoumi, 2005). To grasp a full and rich criminological understanding of an illicit market, it is therefore important to retrieve in-depth information about the cultural context and social dynamics between different actors in the market (Paoli, 2000;Zaitch, 2002;Dwyer & Moore, 2010).…”

“…In-depth ethnographic research on Colombian market actors in the transnational cocaine trade reveal the involvement of small, flexible and informal firms and groups, thus challenging the existence and certainly the relevance of large and organized Colombian cartels (Zaitch, 2002). Similarly, the illegal market for cigarettes is characterized by low density groups, individual actors and basic structured enterprises (Von Lampe, 2003).…”

‘Diving for dope’: Identity in submarine drug policing at the ‘maritime gateway to Europe’

“…Various global criminal organizations, such as the Italian 'Ndrangheta, the Columbian traquetos and the Chinese Triads, and more recently the Albanian Mafia Shqiptare, run their illegal businesses -sometimes collaboratively -in PoR (Bovenkerk et al, 2003;De Jong and Voskuil, 2017). Of all the illegal trades, one has remained the most prevalent in PoR: illegal drug trafficking of, especially, cocaine (Eski and Buijt, 2016;Gruter and Van De Mheen, 2005;Zaitch, 2002Zaitch, , 2003. PoR attracts criminal networks to use its logistical position, because its sizeapproximately 6000 ha of its landside -and the vast numbers of containers coming through PoR decrease the chances of being caught by local authorities (Zaitch, 2002: 243).…”

Mafias, Markets, Mules: Gender Stereotypes in Discourses About Drug Trafficking

“…Cocaine, heroin, amphetamines and cannabis can now be found in most industrialised nations and in many developing ones, although each region/nation has its own peculiarities (UNODC ). Coca plant is grown and processed into cocaine in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru (EMCCDA ; Gootenberg ; UNODC ; Zaitch , ). Most is exported to the United States and Western/Central Europe, sometimes via transit countries in the Caribbean and West Africa (UNODC ), although this changes from year to year.…”