Across the Mekong, organized crime shapes daily life—from illegal casinos in the Golden Triangle and synthetic drug production in Vietnam, to human trafficking, cyber scams, and the looting of forests and wildlife. Mekong Matters is a new podcast from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) featuring experts, investigators and local leaders who expose how criminal networks operate in their communities and across borders—and why their reach extends far beyond South East Asia.
In this series, we will be speaking on a diverse set of topics – from illegal casinos and laundering hubs - Synthetic drugs and cross-border drug trafficking - Human trafficking, forced scamming, and cyber-scam compounds - Corruption, shadow economies, and state capture - Money laundering and illicit finance - Wildlife trafficking, illegal rosewood logging, and environmental crime - Arms trafficking and smuggling routes - How crime impacts communities, healthcare, and governance.
Why it matters? The Mekong region (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam) is a global hub for transnational organized crime. - These criminal economies affect public safety, development, stability, public health, and democracy—locally and worldwide.
This podcast series is for journalists, researchers, policymakers, civil society, and anyone tracking the Mekong, South East Asia, or global illicit economies.
Subscribe for new episodes, and share to help shine a light on the networks shaping the Mekong—and the world.
🎧 First episode on Monday 27th of October.
🗓️ Monthly episodes on the the last Monday of the month.
🤳 Subscribe to our channel to keep up to date.
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Brought to you by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).
This podcast has been funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The views expressed in this publication are the author's alone and are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government.