4 ms·

We hear from time to time about how Mexican drug cartels are using drones and submarines to carry their product across the border, or co-opting local cell tower

by kijin 5y ago

We hear from time to time about how Mexican drug cartels are using drones and submarines to carry their product across the border, or co-opting local cell towers for their own communication needs. But the rest of the supply chain, and especially the last mile, seems so low-tech. It's just a mishmash of people connected by random chat apps. Maybe, one day, one of the drug lords who is fed up with these inefficiencies will invest a few million dollars to develop an "Uber for drug dealers" (only to get hacked by the DEA on day 1).

smogcutter 5y ago
The feds are also happy to cut out the middleman and just make the app themselves: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/08/fbi-app-arrests-australia-crime/%3foutputType=amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/world/20...
selectodude 5y ago
The FBI got a bunch of sophisticated career criminals to pay them for a chat app. Us normies don’t stand a chance.
sgregnt 5y ago
That reminds me of telegrass [1], which is highly organized place on telegram to order cannabis (not sure about other drugs though) shipment in Israel (cannabis is illegal in Israel). At some point telegraass had more than 200k members, which is fantastic for a such a small country like Israel (that would probably put it among some of the largest telegram channels in Israel). However, the main purpose of it's creators, as the story goes, was not for profit but to promote cannabis legalization in Israel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegrass https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegrass
chunky1994 5y ago
They don't need to do that. The majority of (monetary) value add in the supply chain is large-scale refinement and transportation of the drug product from a region of lower economic value to a region of higher economic value (i.e smuggling). Both the production and last-mile distribution are very decentralized and limited in terms of monetary compensation. If you've already made 95% of your profit in the central steps of the value chain, taking an increased risk to increase efficiency of last mile distribution is not worth it. Especially when centralization in an uber for drug dealers type of application heavily increases the risk of being neutralized and prosecuted by law enforcement rather than decentralized street level dealers who can never effectively compromise those higher up in the supply chain.
bick_nyers 5y ago
Sounds like the RICO app from Westworld Season 3

by kijin 5y ago

smogcutter 5y ago

The feds are also happy to cut out the middleman and just make the app themselves: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/08/fbi-app-arrests-australia-crime/%3foutputType=amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/world/20...

selectodude 5y ago

The FBI got a bunch of sophisticated career criminals to pay them for a chat app. Us normies don’t stand a chance.

sgregnt 5y ago

That reminds me of telegrass [1], which is highly organized place on telegram to order cannabis (not sure about other drugs though) shipment in Israel (cannabis is illegal in Israel). At some point telegraass had more than 200k members, which is fantastic for a such a small country like Israel (that would probably put it among some of the largest telegram channels in Israel). However, the main purpose of it's creators, as the story goes, was not for profit but to promote cannabis legalization in Israel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegrass https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegrass

chunky1994 5y ago

They don't need to do that. The majority of (monetary) value add in the supply chain is large-scale refinement and transportation of the drug product from a region of lower economic value to a region of higher economic value (i.e smuggling). Both the production and last-mile distribution are very decentralized and limited in terms of monetary compensation. If you've already made 95% of your profit in the central steps of the value chain, taking an increased risk to increase efficiency of last mile distribution is not worth it. Especially when centralization in an uber for drug dealers type of application heavily increases the risk of being neutralized and prosecuted by law enforcement rather than decentralized street level dealers who can never effectively compromise those higher up in the supply chain.

bick_nyers 5y ago

Sounds like the RICO app from Westworld Season 3