The Index

Every year, the counterfeit pharmaceutical market generates up to $400 billion — dwarfing the global street drug trade. But the danger isn't just financial. Fake medicines may contain no active ingredients, toxic contaminants, or unregulated chemicals — and most people have no idea they're taking them. In this episode of The Index, we speak with Oksana Pyzik, Associate Professor at UCL School of P...

Scam call centres are no longer the work of lone fraudsters. They are sophisticated, hierarchical operations embedded within transnational organized crime networks. In Eurasia, tens of thousands of people are estimated to work in these centres, targeting victims across Europe and beyond, and siphoning money through cryptocurrency mixers, money mules, and shell companies. In this episode of The Ind...

South Africa has deployed its military to combat gang violence and illegal mining under President Cyril Ramaphosa's Operation Prosper, targeting hotspots in the Western Cape and Gauteng. But is armed force a genuine solution or just a short-term fix? Mark Shaw, Executive Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GITOC), joins the Index podcast to break down what Oper...

Synthetic drugs are reshaping the global drug market. Faster to produce, easier to move, and harder to regulate. This video unpacks the 2025 Global Organized Crime Index findings and expert insights on how fentanyl, methamphetamine, “kush,” and other synthetics are proliferating worldwide. From overdoses in North America’s to West Africa’s state-of-emergency responses, we explore why traditional,...

In January 2024, Fiji recorded the Pacific’s largest methamphetamine seizure of over four tons bound for Australia. If sold there, the drugs would have had an estimated street value up to 1.2 billion Australian dollars. This episode of The Index unpacks how Fiji has become a key transit hub and takes a closer look at the emerging domestic market, the role of foreign criminal networks and the devas...

A deadly turf war is unfolding inside Italy’s fast fashion supply chain. In April 2025, Chinese gangster Zhang Dayong was shot dead in Rome, an alleged professional hit linked by investigators to rival syndicates battling for control of logistics, transport, and even clothes hangers. Because in an industry that moves millions of units, shaving a few cents per piece translates into massive profits...

Criminal groups that once focused primarily on the cocaine trade are now diversifying into illegal gold mining, logging, and the wildlife trade - activities that are devastating the environment. The Amazon’s tri-border region (where Brazil, Colombia, and Peru meet) has become a hotbed for trafficking. The neighboring cities of Leticia and Tabatinga lie at its center, caught in a violent turf war b...

Organized criminal gangs were deployed by politicians to counter peaceful protests in Nairobi in June, triggering worries of violence in Kenya ahead of the 2027 general elections. On June 25, gangs unleashed terror on people, who took to the streets in a peaceful march to commemorate the lives of 60 people who were killed one year earlier, in a historic Gen Z uprising against punitive taxes. Just...

Celso Gamboa Sanchez, a former security minister and judge from Costa Rica, was arrested in June 2025 on international drug-trafficking charges. He denies the allegations. What makes the arrest interesting is that the federal indictment filed by the US included a request for his extradition. This is something which was only made possible in May 2025 when Costa Rica's constitution was amended so th...

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, cyber scams have surged across the Mekong region. Abandoned casinos and hotels have been turned into “scam compounds” serving as bases for romance scams, fake call centres, Ponzi schemes, and voice-phishing operations. These schemes have tricked hundreds of people to transfer money into mule accounts. But the problem goes far deeper. Criminal networks are profiting fro...

Underworlds with Mark Shaw is returning for another season. Mark sits down with authors to discuss their investigations into the murky world of organized crime. In season two, we hear about a range of stories such as money laundering and cryptocurrency; the 'Ndrangheta's expansion from Calabria, Italy to other countries of Europe. Also the story of a leading South African police officer, who was t...

Millions of unregistered firearms, surging drug addiction, and cross-border trafficking have turned Pakistan into a hotspot for organized crime. Corruption and economic instability have allowed illicit markets — from heroin to weapons — to flourish. Terrorist groups like the Tehrik-e-Taliban are thriving in this landscape, carrying out deadly attacks and deepening insecurity. And in the midst of t...

The full-scale war in Ukraine has been raging for three years now. One of the defining military developments during this conflict has been the use of drones. And both sides have utilised them with devastating effect. These include the small drone operators dropping bombs on unsuspecting troops to the Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drones smashing into residential buildings in Ukrainian cities. I...

In August 2024, King Mohammed VI pardoned over 4800 Cannabis farmers in Morocco. This came as part of the country’s wider legalization efforts to tap into the economic potential of the booming global cannabis market. Morocco is one of the world's leading cannabis producers, and in 2021 it approved a bill regulating cannabis cultivation for medical, pharmaceutical and industrial purposes. According...

In Canada, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, often referred to as a "1%" Club, include infamous names like the Hells Angels, The Outlaws, Bandidos. The Hells Angels are reported to have over 450 chapters across almost 60 countries around the world – many of those are in Canada. According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, are involved in a range of illicit markets – fraud,...

In August police in Vietnam uncovered an infant trafficking ring which had purchased and resold at least 16 infants, ages ranging from just days to a few months old, leading to further investigations that uncovered 84 suspected trafficking cases across 32 provinces. In this episode, we delve into the harrowing realities of human trafficking in Vietnam. For more than two decades the country has bee...

The 'Marengo Trial' lasted years, finally resulting in multiple convictions of the so-called Mocro Mafia, including one of its most infamous leaders, Ridouan Taghi, who was convicted of murder among other things. Who are the Mocro Mafia? They were born out of the Dutch-Moroccan community in the Netherlands during the 90s, starting with the smuggling of hashish before moving onto the much more prof...

When we think about the global drugs trade – countries like Colombia and Mexico often come to mind. But according to the Global Organized Crime Index, the country that sits just behind those two is Paraguay. In fact, Paraguay sits 4th globally for levels of criminality, with 7.52 out of 10. It has really high scores for illicit markets like arms trafficking (9), counterfeit goods (9), Cocaine (8.5...

Welcome to Underworlds with Mark Shaw. Organized Crime is everywhere, hidden in plain sight. The stories from this world have been mythologised by Hollywood. But the reality can be even stranger and more exciting than fiction. From the golden age of the American mafia (La Cosa Nostra), to the modern-day cocaine empires, and from the shadowy links between organized crime and terrorism, to the twili...

Ivory poaching is a problem wherever we find elephants, and that is no different in India. The ivory taken from the Asian elephants has long been prized in both traditional Chinese medicine and also ivory artefacts. According to the Global Organized Crime Index, India has low score for Criminal Actors (4.8), but scores highly for Criminal Markets (6.7), where it sits 16th globally. Ivory poaching...

Ukraine (9/10) and Russia (8.5/10), alongside the former Soviet states of Moldova and Belarus, have some of the highest scores for arms trafficking in the Global Organized Crime Index. This is due to the significant levels of weapons and ammunition left over at the end of the Soviet period. In addition to the high levels of arms trafficking across this part of Europe, Central and Eastern Europe ha...

The Netherlands is an important global trading hub, with Rotterdam being one of the worlds largest container ports in the world. The country's high quality infrastructure and the well known liberal approach to drugs makes the Netherlands attractive to organized criminal groups. And those originating in the Western Balkans have long been active in the Netherlands. According to the Global Organized...

The largely unregulated taxi industry in South Africa has long been associated with violence., as taxi associations clash with one another over control of lucrative routes. Taxi-related violence ranges from shoot-out at taxi ranks to targeted hits on influential players in the industry, often sparking retaliatory killings, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of taxi operators and innocent bystande...

In March this year, gangs of armed men on motorcycles descended on a school in north-western state of Kaduna in Nigeria, kidnapping over 280 children. In the same week a similar mass kidnapping took place in the north-eastern state of Borno. Over the past few years, kidnappings have been a real issue in Nigeria, but have recently been in decline. So, who is behind these kidnappings? And why are th...

Brazil has long had a problem with mafia-style groups, according to the Global Organized Crime Index, with 8 out of 10, that places the country 3rd in South America. One such group are the so-called militias, made up of former and serving members of military police or law enforcement. The militias groups have sought to profit from the housing market , with many residents facing the threat of viole...