How Mexican cartels and Chinese criminal networks are moving 'cocaine of the sea' through Canadian ports

Chinese organized crime networks and Mexican cartels are using Canadian ports to trade highly lucrative fish bladders for the precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl, according to a memo from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

It said organized criminal networks transport the fish — called totoaba — from the West Coast to China, while the chemical precursors to make toxic drugs are sent through Canadian ports. 

The report from the CBSA, first obtained by Radio-Canada through a freedom of information request, said Canada is being used as a "transit point" for the illegal product — though the quantity of fish passing through Canada and the amount of fentanyl precursors being exchanged for it, were not included in the report. 

The document, originally published in French in October of 2024, says, "Chinese organized crime, in collaboration with Mexican cartels, facilitates the illicit movement of totoaba. Illicit wildlife trafficking networks are of a poly-criminal nature and engage in serious criminal behaviour."

Poly-criminal groups refer to networks that traffic more than one illicit commodity, such as counterfeit goods or illicit drugs.

The CBSA report indicates that a new criminal network known as the "Dragon Cartel," comprised of Chinese and Mexican nationals, has been created to deal specifically with totoaba trafficking.

The seven-page document says western ports are a target, and that "people in Canada regularly engage in the illicit import, export and breeding of protected species."

Luis Horacio Nájera, a Mexican journalist who has investigated cartel activity, said the Vancouver port, in particular, is vulnerable to criminal activity because it connects the West Coast ports of Manzanillo and Los Angeles to Asian and European markets.

"As the world is globalized, organized crime is also globalized," he said.

"This is kind of the strategic point for doing this exchange of illegal goods, and they found the opportunity, the possibility and the infrastructure to do these illegal trades in Vancouver."

A 2023 press release from the U.S. Treasury Department also found Vancouver has become a "strategic" post for the Sinaloa cartel in the distribution of fentanyl.

The totoaba is an endangered fish species living in the Gulf of California off the west coast of Mexico. The species can reach two metres in length and has been the subject of massive levels of poaching for several years.

But the fish are mainly known for their swim bladders, which sell for such high prices they've been dubbed "the cocaine of the sea." 

Totoaba swim bladders are sold on the Chinese black market for use in traditional cuisine, medicine and cosmetics, and can sell for as much as $80,000 per kilogram.