This is The Indicator for Planet Money.
I'm Adrian Ma.
And I'm Waylon Wong.
In May of this year, along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica,
federal law enforcement officials chased down a vehicle that tried to flee a highway checkpoint.
When police searched the car, they found crack cocaine, marijuana, and five capybaras.
Bet you didn't see that coming.
No. I mean, think of a 170-pound guinea pig with partially webbed feet.
And these things are kind of social media famous for being cute.
And they're also part of a growing, illegal, exotic animal trade.
Costa Rican authorities said this seizure was the country's first recorded case of Capybara trafficking.
Wildlife trafficking is a business that is increasingly intersecting with the illicit drug trade as cartels diversify their operations.
The result is something called narco degradation.
This refers to environmental harm caused by the illegal trade in cocaine and other drugs.
This week on The Indicator, we're bringing you a special series on the evolving business of crime.
On today's show,
we look at what's driving cartels to expand into areas beyond drugs and how this is wreaking havoc on ecosystems in Central America.
American demand for cocaine and fentanyl has driven the transnational drug trade to new levels.
Within that industry, Mexican cartels are among the top traffickers of cocaine into the US,
and they're some of the biggest producers of synthetic drugs like fentanyl.