The European Commission reported that counterfeit euros in across the European Union causes a $676 Million (€500 Million) financial impact.…
In the first 9 months of 2012, police reported an average of 512 barrels of oil per day being stolen. Police state that the high level of thefts are being conducted by drug trafficking who use the stolen oil to produce cocaine.
Illegal mining groups in Colombia are reported to be paying 1 percent of their total production to paramilitary groups such as the FARC. One miner who is involved in unlicensed mining stated that his group pays between $540 to 840 a month in extortion fees.
The Mine Minister of Colombia estimated that at least 40 percent of all mining activities in Colombia in 2011 was unlicensed. The drug trafficking and paramilitary organizations control at least 30 percent of the illegal mining activities.
The United Nations reported that there was roughly 160,000 acres of coca crops being grown in Colombia in 2011. In 2010, there was 155,000 acres of coca crops within the country.
The harvest was estimated to have produced up to 345 metric tons of cocaine.
Up to 30 percent of Colombia’s total mining industry is estimated to be controlled by drug trafficking organizations. It was previously reported that guerrilla group FARC generates up to $1 Million a month from illegal mining activities.
According to the intelligence chief of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Peru produces the most cocaine in the world, passing Colombia.
According to the Colombian Government’s Forest Sustainability Project, illegal logging activities in the country generates up to $200 Million a year. This is higher than the previously reported losses of $60 Million.
According to a study by two economists at the University of the Andes in Bogota, only 2.6 percent of the total street value of cocaine produced in Colombia remains in the country. The other 97.4 percent of the profits and money goes to the drug trafficking cartels and is laundered through banks in first-world countries.
90 percent of cocaine trafficked into the United States that was produced in Colombia and Venezuela is trafficked through Central America. More than a third of that cocaine is moved through the country of Honduras.
The market in counterfeit goods in Colombia is estimated to be worth between $4 Billion to $5 Billion a year. Up to 12 million pairs of counterfeit shoes from China enter Colombia each year. One out of ever two bottles of alcohol sold in the Northern Antioquia province was counterfeit.