Brokering transnational networks: emerging connections between organised crime groups in the Pacific and Indian Oceans

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe current explosion of cocaine, illicit methamphetamine and fentanyl in the Asia Pacific is the result of increased collaboration between Chinese and Latin American organized crime groups operating across the Pacific littoral. These networks are connected through brokers who operate as channels between these discrete criminal. Recently, elements of these networks in the Pacific have begun to appear in the Indian Ocean region, demonstrating the cumulative reach of these criminal organizations. Australian law enforcement and intelligence officials will need to focus intelligence gathering activities on identifying key brokers in order to disrupt these criminal networks. Specific attention should be paid to emergent networks in the Indian Ocean which could prove to be the missing piece of the puzzle to understanding the scope and depth of these linked criminal organizations that operate across all four corners of the globe.