Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Illegal Chinese Cigarettes Flooding Latin America Flow Through Panama

China Tobacco’s factory in Panama was shut down by authorities after its cigarettes kept making their way onto the black market there. A network of companies sprang ...

23 Jun 2021

Nathan Jaccard (OCCRP), Sol Lauría (Concolón), David Tarazona (Cuestión Pública), Mateo Yepes (Cuestión Pública), Lilia Saúl (OCCRP)

DIY: The New Amphetamine Trade

By Mujtaba Ali

Last summer, when UK police raided an industrial building in the picturesque market town of Newton-le-Willows, about 20 ...

Webinar with OCCRP’s Africa Team: How Illicit Finance Fuels Corruption and

Grand corruption in Gambia. State capture in South Africa. Rosewood plunder in Namibia. Azerbaijani weapon deals in Congo. A secret ...

New Husband of Putin's Ex-Wife Buys Posh Villa in South of

When Lyudmila Putin, 59, divorced Russian President Vladimir Putin and married the director of a Russian non-profit organization, she might ...

Features

People Smugglers in Syria Take to TikTok

Fearing conscription by the Assad regime? Want to start a new life in Europe?

Surf online a bit, and you’ll find ...

Myanmar Security Forces Using Western Surveillance Tech Against Civilians

Myanmar security forces appear to be using surveillance technology sourced from European and North American companies against civilians who have ...

Syria’s Reconstruction Tax Props up the Assad Regime

Um Ahmed left everything when she and her four children fled their home in Daraya, south of Damascus — toys ...

From Our Member Centers

iStories: Top Russian FSB Official Has Multiple Underworld Ties

Sergei Korolev, who was appointed to a key FSB position earlier this year by President ...

Asset Declarations of Kyrgyz Officials Increasingly Useless as Anti-Corruption...

Kyrgyzstan is the only Central Asian country that publishes its officials’ asset declarations. But the ...

Slovak Businessman Accused of Masterminding Ján Kuciak's Murder Had...

Thousands of Marian Kočner’s text messages, backed by court testimony, provide a remarkable inside look ...

Featured

Huge Quantities of Chinese Cigarettes Smuggled Into Ukraine

China Tobacco’s factory in Europe is selling hundreds of millions of cigarettes to companies in Ukraine under investigation for cigarette smuggling — one co-owned by a former border official with ties to the president.

Chinese-Smoke-Ukrain

China Tobacco 'Very Discreetly' Becomes Leaf-Buying Powerhouse in Brazil

China is complying with recommendations under a global treaty to decrease the amount of land under tobacco cultivation –– but its massive state-owned conglomerate is shifting production overseas. Brazil has become a major supplier, with farmers working under difficult conditions to grow tobacco for Chinese cigarettes.

Chinese-Brazil

A Fake Shipping Container Leads to Chinese Cigarettes — and Italy's Camorra Crime Group

A bust of 17 tons of illicit cigarettes in Italy led back to China Tobacco’s European factory — where an executive was working closely with a group of smugglers to help them move cigarettes around Europe. Reporters found the company shipping large numbers of cigarettes to suspicious buyers in Iraq, Montenegro, Moldova, and more.

Chinese-Smoke-European

Illegal Chinese Cigarettes Flooding Latin America Flow Through Panama

China Tobacco’s factory in Panama was shut down by authorities after its cigarettes kept making their way onto the black market there. A network of companies sprang up in its place — and have been shipping huge numbers of cigarettes from Panama around the region.

Chinese-Cigarets-Amerika

China’s State Tobacco Company is Massive at Home. Now it’s Ready to Take Over the World

China Tobacco is using advertising, investment, and social projects to influence governments and consumers around the world, while flooding markets in countries where its cigarettes cannot legally be sold — all methods "Big Tobacco" has employed for decades.

Chinese-Smoke-2

People Smugglers in Syria Take to TikTok

Fearing conscription by the Assad regime? Want to start a new life in Europe?

Surf online a bit, and you’ll find that a quick chat with the right people might just solve your problem.

Human smugglers in Syria have taken increasingly to the social media app TikTok in recent months to advertise their services, which include “traveling without borders” in luxury vehicles that breeze through the military checkpoints dotting the mountain highway from Damascus to Beirut.

People-Smugglers-TikTok

China Tobacco Goes Global

China's state tobacco company has quietly set its sights on global domination.

Chinese-Project-Page

Greek Captagon Bust Leads to a Criminal Gang and the Port at the Heart of Syria’s Booming New Drug Trade

In late 2018, Greek authorities busted a freighter carrying over $100 million worth of cannabis and the speed-like drug Captagon, evidence of a booming Mediterranean drug trade fueled by Syria’s civil war. An investigation into the vessel reveals a network of criminals associated with the shipment — with connections to the Assad family, a gang in Libya, and London-registered shell companies.

Captagon-OCCRP-Top

Myanmar Security Forces Using Western Surveillance Tech Against Civilians

Myanmar security forces appear to be using surveillance technology sourced from European and North American companies against civilians who have spent months protesting against a military coup.

Protestors-Yangon-2021 Protestors barricaded a street in Yangon on March 27, 2021, in a showdown with police who used live ammunition and tear gas. (Credit: Sipa USA/Alamy)

Montenegrin Tycoon’s Lawsuit Against Media Highlights a Trail of Controversial Deals

Leaked bank records show transactions between one of Zoran Bećirović’s companies and a firm at the center of a massive money laundering operation.

Kolasin-Property-Top

Page 1 of 52

Intro

Slideshow

Huge Quantities of Chinese Cigarettes Smuggled Into Ukraine

Human Rights Advocates Warn of Police Brutality in Tunisia

Report: In the DRC, Youth Gangs Straddle Crime and Vigilantism

Belgium Takes Steps to Curb Money Laundering

Webinar with OCCRP’s Africa Team: How Illicit Finance Fuels Corruption and Environmental Destruction on the Continent

China Tobacco 'Very Discreetly' Becomes Leaf-Buying Powerhouse in Brazil

A Fake Shipping Container Leads to Chinese Cigarettes — and Italy's Camorra Crime Group

Illegal Chinese Cigarettes Flooding Latin America Flow Through Panama

China’s State Tobacco Company is Massive at Home. Now it’s Ready to Take Over the World

People Smugglers in Syria Take to TikTok

China Tobacco Goes Global

Resources

OCCRP Aleph

OCCRP ID

Featured

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter!

Your cookie preferences