Summary:
Australian officials say they have uncovered a link between Mexican-based criminals and the country's cocaine market.

Full article:
(CNN) -- A majority of cocaine imported into Australia over the past two years came from Mexico, the Australian Crime Commission told CNN in a statement Thursday. "This is in part due to the strong links ethnic South Americans and Mexicans have with cocaine producers in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru," the commission said. The intelligence came from a "comprehensive national picture of the overall illicit drug market," which involved data collected by a multitude of agencies, according to the statement. Although the statement stopped short of naming the specific organized crime connection between Australia and Mexico, they said, "opportunities brought by technology, by globalization ... and new information, brings with it opportunities for crime that were previously unimaginable." "We are also seeing more dispersed criminal networks," the statement said. "In addition, it may indicate more networking by criminal groups who are effectively subcontracting distribution rather than take the entire risk." Cocaine consumption in Australia is increasing, according to authorities, with a total of 359 importations detected between 2008 and 2009. "Recent increases in cocaine arrests and reported use, as well as considerable seizures of the drug in recent years indicate potential expansion of the Australia cocaine market," the statement said.