Coca cultivation in Colombia increased 27 percent in 2007
Source: “The unstoppable crop,” The Economist, June 21, 2008, page 50.
Feds seized $1.6 billion in drug money on US-Mexico border in 2007
The $1.6 billion is out of a total $12 billion that is estimated to be smuggled over the border.
Source: “The sheriffs stash,” The Economist, July 12, 2008, page. 42.
Half of all seized counterfeit dollars in 2003 were from Colombia
Source: Bill Faries, “Made in South America: New Breed of Fake US Dollars,” Christian Science Monitor, April 14, 2005.
Tenfold increase in seizure of ecstasy on US-Canada border
Seizures of ecstasy increased tenfold between 2003 and 2005 on the US-Canada border.
Source: Jane Gross, “Rise Seen in Trafficking of Enhanced Ecstasy“, New York Times, January 9, 2008.
There are over 900 organized crime groups in Canada
Source: AFP, “Criminals dumping weak US dollar for euro,” Yahoo News, August 22, 2008.
As many as 7,000 people kidnaped in Mexico in 2007
Estimates by independent crime researches in Mexico state that as many as 7,000 people could have been kidnapped in Mexico in 2007.
Source: Reuters, “Satellites track Mexico kidnap victims with chips,” Yahoo News, August 21, 2008.
Kidnapping in Mexico increased 40 percent between 2004 and 2007
Source: Reuters, “Satellites track Mexico kidnap victims with chips,” Yahoo News, August 21, 2008.
More than 430 kidnapping in Mexico reported in 2007
Figure is up 45 percent from the previous year.
Source: “Mexico launches anti-kidnap squad,” BBC News, August 12, 2008.
$23 billion annual revenue in drug trafficking in Mexico
Mexican drug cartels bring in as much as $23 billion a year in revenue, according to the United States Government Accountability Office.
Source: Manuel Roig-Franzia, “Mexican Drug Cartels Move North,” Washington Post, September 20,2007,(last accessed: October 6, 2007).
Human smuggling market in Mexico
According to author Moises Naim, the FBI estimates that “the Mexican people trade earns the networks $6 to $9 billion each year.
Source: Moises Naim, Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are hijacking the global economy, (New York: Doubleday, 2005), pg. 88.
