More than 6,500 people marched across French Polynesia with one message: “No to ice.” Crystal methamphetamine has become a growing concern across the territory, where meth is exceptionally expensive and communities are grappling with addiction, trafficking and its wider social impact. In this video, we look at how the methamphetamine market developed in French Polynesia, why the drug commands such extraordinary prices, and what its rise reveals about the challenges facing law enforcement, public health and local communities. We also examine who is responsible for tackling the problem — and why French Polynesia’s unique political relationship with France matters.

To learn more about organized crime in French Polynesia, visit: ocindex.net

Polynesian Citizens’ Federation for the Fight Against Drugs and Drug Addiction's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571607404455

How does a car stolen from a driveway in the UK or Europe make its way to a different continent, and end up for sale thousands of miles away?

There is no single route, or criminal organization controlling this trade. Instead it relies on a network of specialist, and the involvement of private-sector actors who either knowingly cooperate, or may be coerced.

Between 2023 and 2025, the Global Organized Crime Index recorded an increase in the influence in the influence of private-sector actors - the steepest rise among all the criminal actor types monitored.

We examine how vehicles are moved into overseas markets, the actors who enable the trade, and why it remains so difficult to stop.

Cattle rustling in Kenya's North Rift has evolved from a small-scale cultural tradition into an organised, heavily armed, and highly profitable criminal enterprise. Raids can involve hundreds of people, strip families of generational wealth, and displace entire communities. And it's no longer driven by cattle alone, but by a wider scramble for territory, political power, and access to oil, gold, and other resources. In this episode of The Index, we examine who profits from this criminal economy and why efforts to stop it have failed.

To learn more about organized crime in Kenya, visit: ocindex.net

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 Pharmacy and founder of its Fight the Fakes Collaborating Centre, about the growing threat of counterfeit pharmaceuticals: who's buying them, who's producing them, and why criminal networks are increasingly choosing fake medicines over street drugs.

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 Index, Brian Lee, Head of Program for the Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eurasia at GI-TOC, breaks down how these operations are structured, who works in them, and why Eurasia has become a key hub for financial crime.

🔗 Explore the Global Organized Crime Index for free: ocindex.net

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 Operation Prosper means for South Africa, how it compares to past military deployments and global examples like El Salvador and Guatemala, and what success or failure will actually look like.

To learn more about organized crime in South Africa, visit the Organized Crime Index: ocindex.net

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, geography-based drug policies no longer fit today’s reality; and what cross-sector, cross-border solutions could work.

Host:

Thin Lei Win - Investigative Journalist and Podcast Host

Guests:

Jason Eligh - Senior Expert on Drugs and Drug Markets Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Cecilia Farfán-Méndez - Head of the North American Observatory, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

H.E. Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman - Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations (Vienna)

Learn more: ocindex.net

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 devastating impacts on Fijian society, including a tenfold rise in HIV cases over the past decade.

Guests:

Virginia Comolli, Head of Pacific Programme, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Sesenieli Naitala, Survival Advocacy Network - Fiji

Host:

Thin Lei Win

Learn more: Global Organized Crime Index — ocindex.net

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