Mexican cartels run a $172m illegal-timber trade and launder it into the fentanyl supply chain
Sinaloa and CJNG-allied factions match Chihuahua's legal logging output; PROFEPA shuts 25 sawmills as timber money buys Chinese precursors
Summary
Mexico's cartels have industrialised illegal logging. A January 2026 GI-TOC report ("Frontiers of Plunder") put the Sierra Tarahumara timber trade at ~$172m a year, matching Chihuahua's entire legal industry, naming the Sinaloa Cartel's Los Salgueiro and Cjng-allied La Línea as dominant operators. Cartel sawmills falsify documents to launder the wood, and the proceeds finance trade with Chinese precursor manufacturers, bridging forestry crime and the synthetic-opioid supply chain. Environmental enforcer PROFEPA's February 2026 operation closed 25 illegal sawmills across 28 states and seized 395 cubic metres of timber. Foreign Affairs calls illegal logging the third most lucrative transnational crime, after counterfeiting and narcotics.
By the numbers
- ~$172m/year, cartel illegal-timber trade in the Sierra Tarahumara (GI-TOC).
- $342m-$978m, US government estimate of annual laundered Mexican timber value.
- 25 sawmills / 395 m³, closed/seized in PROFEPA's February 2026 operation.
- ~$157bn, estimated annual global forestry-crime profits (CBP).
Why it matters
Timber laundering links environmental crime directly to the fentanyl pipeline: logging proceeds buy the Chinese precursors that cartels turn into synthetic opioids. It strips Mexico's old-growth forests, kills the activists and officials who resist, and gives cartels a low-risk revenue stream that enforcement barely touches.
What to watch
- Whether PROFEPA's multi-state operations dent cartel sawmill capacity.
- US scrutiny of timber-for-precursor laundering under trade/tariff pressure.
- Violence against forest defenders in Michoacán and Chihuahua.