The Wagner Group mercenaries still in\u00a0the Central African Republic have built a\u00a0drug empire on\u00a0the smuggling and sale of\u00a0tramadol, The Wall Street Journal reports.<\/p>\n
Tramadol is\u00a0a\u00a0synthetic opioid prescribed for pain relief. In\u00a0high doses, it\u00a0acts as\u00a0a\u00a0stimulant \u2014 which is\u00a0why, the newspaper notes, it\u00a0is\u00a0known as\u00a0the \u201cpoor man\u2019s cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The standard medical dose runs 50 to\u00a0100 milligrams, but tablets of\u00a0200 milligrams or\u00a0more are sold openly in\u00a0shops and market stalls across the CAR.<\/p>\n
The drug is\u00a0manufactured in\u00a0India, shipped to\u00a0the Democratic Republic of\u00a0Congo, and then moved up\u00a0the Ubangi River into the CAR, where Wagner mercenaries control its distribution, the Journal reports.<\/p>\n
Miners buy tramadol to\u00a0work long hours at\u00a0the gold mines, which Wagner also controls. Fighters take it\u00a0as\u00a0well, to\u00a0blunt fear and heighten aggression.<\/p>\n
The rise in\u00a0tramadol use in\u00a0the CAR has coincided with a\u00a0nearly 20-percent rise in\u00a0battlefield deaths \u2014 to\u00a0about 500 over the past year \u2014 in\u00a0fighting for control of\u00a0the country\u2019s mineral-rich regions, the Journal reports, citing data from Uppsala University.<\/p>\n
The trade has given Wagner fresh impetus after years of\u00a0setbacks, the Journal reports. Beyond generating revenue, it\u00a0helps the group maintain its gold mining operations in\u00a0the CAR \u2014 a\u00a0business that the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a\u00a0Geneva-based think tank, estimates earns Wagner $180 million a\u00a0year from illicit gold exports.<\/p>\n
Up\u00a0to\u00a0500 Wagner mercenaries remain in\u00a0the CAR, according to\u00a0the Journal, which reports that the veterans there are now led by\u00a0Yevgeny Prigozhin\u2019s son, Pavel.<\/p>\n
After the mercenary mutiny and Prigozhin\u2019s death in\u00a02023, the private military company was formally disbanded, and its operations in\u00a0Africa and the Middle East were reported to\u00a0be\u00a0headed for Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry. But the BBC\u2019s Russian Service reported in\u00a0the summer of\u00a02024\u00a0that<\/a>\u00a0Wagner was still operating in\u00a0the Central African Republic exactly as\u00a0before.<\/p>\n At\u00a0Meduza, we\u00a0are committed to\u00a0transparency about our use of\u00a0artificial intelligence in\u00a0the newsroom. The story you\u2019re reading was written by\u00a0one of\u00a0our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an\u00a0AI\u00a0model configured to\u00a0follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is\u00a0the result of\u00a0extensive testing and refinements to\u00a0ensure our English-language coverage is\u00a0timely and accurate. A\u00a0Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.<\/p>\n If\u00a0you find any errors in\u00a0this translation, please contact us\u00a0at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n