New Report Release: Unraveling the Criminal Processes Behind the Illicit Totoaba Trade through Crime Script Analysis
Earth League International (ELI); the City University of New York – John Jay College of Criminal Justice; and the State University of New York – Farmingdale, are excited to collaborate on the launch of the “Trafficking Diaries” research series.
This series will use one of the most robust crime science analytical techniques, crime script analysis, to develop insights into poaching and trafficking, while emphasizing the importance and significance of crime convergence within the illegal wildlife trade value chain. The series aims to provide law enforcement agencies with the hands-on, practical, and scientifically-proven tools to counter wildlife trafficking.
Using the crime script analytical technique, and the meticulously-recorded first-hand investigative materials by Earth League International, the first report of the series analyzes the intricacies involved in trafficking totoaba swim bladder from Mexico to international destinations.
In response to the dire circumstances facing the vaquita porpoise as by-catch of the illegal totoaba trade, in 2018 Earth League International (ELI) commenced an intelligence gathering operation called Operation FAKE GOLD. Since then, ELI has been discreetly investigating totoaba trafficking and the Vaquita situation, mapping and researching the entire illicit totoaba maw (swim bladder) supply chain, from the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, through the United States, and to Southern China’s Guangdong Province.
ELI identified all the most important players and transnational trafficking networks involved in totoaba fishing and trafficking, with links to Mexican organized crime and a significant convergence with other serious crimes, such as money laundering, human smuggling, drugs and corruption.
Future reports in the series will continue providing insights into wildlife trafficking operations, fostering greater understanding and targeted action against these destructive practices.
Download the report here: Unraveling the Criminal Processes Behind the Illicit Totoaba Trade through Crime Script Analysis
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