---
title: "The New Underworld: How Covid-19 helps create new kinds of criminals"
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Articles"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-06-01-the-new-underworld-how-covid-19-helps-create-new-kinds-of-criminals/"
published: "2020-06-01T00:00:00"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 210
---

# The New Underworld: How Covid-19 helps create new kinds of criminals

Published 1 June 2020, 02:00 SAST

## Content

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[Media](https://iframe.iono.fm/e/869247)

## The New Underworld: How Covid-19 helps create new kinds of criminals

Lockdown conditions imposed all over the world have succeeded in halting certain types of illegal trade – but also given rise to new and expanded black markets. And while some of them are relatively benign, others are anything but.

In this episode of our podcast, we’re taking a look at the Covid-19 underworld: how the global lockdown has both disrupted traditional black markets, but also birthed new kinds of criminals. We’re taking a trip to the underbelly of the Dark Web, where the illegal products for sale now include the blood of people who have tested positive for coronavirus; and we’re zooming in on one particular South African black market, the trade in abalone, to see what effects the lockdown has had on this type of illegal trade.

**Additional audio:**

The Most Trafficked Animal in The World is Probably One You’ve Never Heard Of, by Fusion Media

Motherhacker podcast: [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/motherhacker/](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/motherhacker/id1487213874)

**Additional reading:**

[Coronavirus source found in pangolin meat](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-02-07-coronavirus-source-found-in-pangolin-meat/), by Don Pinnock and Tiara Walters on Daily Maverick

[South Africa’s abalone black market is being squeezed by Covid-19](https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/south-africas-abalone-black-market-is-being-squeezed-by-covid-19/), by Kimon de Greef on Haika

[Poacher: Confessions from the Abalone underworld](https://www.takealot.com/poacher/PLID52034801), by Kimon de Greef and Shuhood Abader

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