Shanghai (China), 24 October 2024 – The synthetic drug market in East and Southeast Asia continues to grow at unprecedented levels, fueled by organized crime groups leveraging creative chemistry and gaps in precursor regulatory frameworks to supply a growing range of controlled and non-controlled chemicals and designer precursors to expand their production.
In an effort to improve cross-border cooperation and coordination on chemical control and disrupt the trafficking of chemicals used in drug production in the Mekong subregion, the National Narcotics Control Commission of China (NNCC) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have convened the Mekong MOU Working Group on Chemical Control, holding a workshop on prevention of chemical diversion facilitated by international experts and industry partners.
“The drug trafficking and production situation in Southeast Asia has become increasingly complex, with organized crime groups lowering the production costs and scaling up production by rapidly shifting to non-controlled chemicals and designer precursors which now represent the vast majority of seizures being reported in the region” said Ms. Shan Yehua, NNCC Deputy Secretary General. “Disrupting the diversion and trafficking of precursor chemicals is a top priority for the People’s Republic of China, and we are pleased to work together with UNODC and our Mekong partners under the Mekong MOU framework to strengthen efforts addressing the situation”, she added.
In recent years, innovative transnational criminal networks based in the region have proven highly effective in their ability to actively circumvent regulatory controls, enabling them to divert, traffic and manufacture massive quantities of chemicals in the region. Beyond the evolution of substances being used for production, enhanced enforcement efforts in some countries have resulted in the targeting of vulnerabilities in others which increasingly serve as breakdown points that allow for diversion, transshipment and trafficking. Moreover, areas in the region facing significant governance challenges, slow inter-agency coordination, and limited forensic capacity, continue to provide organized crime with an optimal environment for production and trafficking.
“Organized crime groups operating in Southeast Asia have a clear demonstrated advantage when it comes to sourcing and trafficking chemicals, with massive quantities being trafficked into militia-controlled areas in and around the Golden Triangle including through Thailand, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam – both through porous border areas and official trade channels”, remarked Mr. Reiner Pungs, UNODC Programme Manager on Drugs and Precursors. “The Mekong is unique in that it is situated between the two of the world’s largest chemical producing countries, while some other countries in Southeast Asia have also experienced rapid growth in their own chemical industries in recent years – and some parts of the region are more vulnerable than ever to diversion and trafficking of chemicals used in drug production.”
Organized under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Drug Control in the Greater Mekong Subregion, the meeting builds on the inaugural Working Group meeting held in Bangkok in July 2024 and is the first activity organized under the Chemical Control Working Group of the Mekong MOU. The workshop is part of a series of ongoing exchanges designed to address the challenge of precursor chemical management, coordination, monitoring and trafficking in the region, and the connection to the intensifying regional drug situation.
“Communication, coordination and active monitoring between competent authorities is fundamental to reaching the goal of effective precursor control,” said Hans Hendriks, Senior Advisor and Liaison Officer of the Criminal Investigation Service of Tax and Customs of the Netherlands (FIOD). “Transnational organized crime groups operating in the Asia-Pacific region have proven highly innovative, and recent trends point clearly to the shift towards non-controlled chemicals and creative chemistry solutions, making it vital for cooperation at both the national and international levels to extend beyond traditionally controlled substances.”
The city of Shanghai was selected for this meeting due to representing one of the most significant cities related to the global chemical trade, with more than 70 per cent of all Chinese chemical import and exports transiting through the Shanghai port. In 2023, Shanghai boasted more than 700,000 registered companies dealing in chemicals within the biochemical, pharmaceutical and new materials industries, reflective of the city’s reputation as one of the largest innovation and research hubs for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries in the country.
Working Group participants were able to observe a comprehensive technical briefing and demonstration by Li Jian, Division Director of the Shanghai Narcotics Control Commission (NCC), of the municipality's integrated drug and precursor monitoring and data analysis platform, highlighting Shanghai's domestic control and supply chain monitoring efforts.
Representatives from the Shanghai Chemical Industry Association and a Shanghai-based biochemical company also shared their roles and responsibilities in preventing chemical diversion in the supply chain system, and how the public-private partnership between the government and their organizations has facilitated the healthy growth of the industry.
In addition to working through real life scenario exercises and sharing recent cases, best practices, and challenges relating to combating sophisticated online advertising tactics and cryptocurrency payments, the workshop, which is the first of its kind in the region, showcased the different tools that can be leveraged to improve monitoring of chemicals, materials, and equipment that may be used in illicit drug manufacture. This included a specific focus on both chemicals internationally controlled under the 1988 Convention as well as various non-controlled chemicals that have also been encountered as their substitutes and that have been included on the International Special Surveillance List (ISSL).
UNODC’s regional precursor programme supports countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific in understanding and prioritizing precursor chemical control, and in taking the necessary steps to address diversion of and trafficking in precursor chemicals into illicit drug manufacture.
Click here to learn more about the UNODC Regional Programme for Southeast Asia and the Pacific
Click here to learn more about the Mekong MOU on Drug Control.
