Transnational Criminal Networks Research Articles

Prevalence and Patterns of Drug Use Among People in Al-Najaf Governorate, Iraq

Background: After a series of instability Iraq confronted in the past decades, the drug abuse issue has grown and is now a complex national concern where the rise in drug transshipment through the country and neighbor countries accompanies noticeable increased consumption of drugs especially those associated with transnational criminal networks such as amphetamines. This is a descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted in Al-Najaf governorate from January to March 2024, qualitative data based on the correction institutions of the Ministry of the Interior using a non-probability sample since lack of precise sample frame or data about the real prevalence or rate of the problem. The study recruited 288 drug users all between 20-64 years, 31(10.8%) were females and 257(89.2%) were males (49%). 237 (82%) of the drug users of young adults between 20 to 40 years old. The objective was to investigate personal history and examine the extent and patterns of the abuse of drugs, using a structured questionnaire designed and modified after reviewing relevant studies. The study found that the majority of the participants smoked nicotine throughout their lifetime as 60.8% smoked hookah, 15% smoked e-cigarettes and 86% smoked cigarettes with about 75% current heavy smokers, 51% of participants used alcohol as lifetime prevalence with more than 32% used it weekly. A large percentage: 88% abused more than one type of illicit drug with amphetamine stimulants (methamphetamine and fenethylline) as the most commonly abused illicit drugs among the majority of the participants. The lifetime prevalence of prescription drug use was 86%. 60% used more than one method of administration, while 8% used drugs by injection. The study concluded that a large percentage of the study participants were polydrug abusers with extensive patterns of use which revealed the complex status of which stresses a holistic approach to managing the problem. Conclusion: The study concluded that a large percentage of the study participants were polydrug abusers with extensive patterns of use which revealed the complex status of which stresses a holistic approach to manage the problem.

Criminal community as a manifestation of organised crime: A comparative legal analysis

The issue of combating organised crime is gaining increased attention in the context of developing comprehensive strategies for combating and preventing organised crime after the establishment of the Department of Strategic Investigations in Ukraine and its powers to bring criminal authorities to justice. The study aims to conduct a comparative study of the criminal community, in particular, to highlight the content and essence of the phenomenon, and to identify the shortcomings of the current legislation which does not provide for this form of complicity. The following methods were used in the study: systemic method – for characterising a criminal association as a type of organised crime; formal and dogmatic method – for analysing legal structures; comparative legal method – for comparing the features of a criminal association as a type of national organised crime in Ukraine and other states. The main reasons for the formation of criminal communities, their strategies, and tactics, as well as their impact on social and economic processes in society were investigated. The methods of counteracting this phenomenon at various levels, including legal, police and social, were analysed. The importance of developing an effective system of counteracting criminal communities to ensure public safety and maintain law and order was emphasised. The structure and composition of criminal communities were characterised. The strategy and tactics used by criminal communities to achieve their goals, including the organisational structure, communication channels and division of responsibilities, were studied. The interaction of criminal communities with other components of organised crime, such as transnational criminal networks, corruption, etc. was investigated. Strategies and measures to counteract and stop the activities of criminal communities were considered. The conclusions of the study can serve as a basis for developing strategies and policies in the field of combating organised crime and improving the level of security in society

Analysis of Fundamental Challenges in the Combat of Transnational Crimes

Transnational Crimes have existed in some form and to some degree since the inception of organized societies. They have remained prominent in popular culture and policies, evolving through different eras, under different political and economic conditions. These crimes encompass various offences ranging from organized to corporate and political crimes. Specifically, some of the crimes that are transnational in nature include human trafficking, cybercrimes, drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, sea piracy, terrorism amongst others. Globalization enlarged their markets, technological advancements accelerated their trends and the internet fostered development of looser transnational criminal networks. Despite the challenges posed by state sovereignty, the International Community have been actively involved in the suppression of transnational crimes. This is evidenced in the evolution of various Suppression Conventions, principal of which is the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). Several International Institutions such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the International Criminal Police Organization are also in place to combat transnational crimes. The effectiveness of these mechanisms has been clogged by democratic deficits over the development of Transnational Criminal Law, state complicity in transnational crimes, the absence of a transnational criminal justice system amongst other problems. Recommendations were made in the study for the legitimization of Transnational Criminal Law, establishment of an effective central and neutral authority to oversee international cooperation in transnational criminal matters, stronger infusion of human rights safeguards in transnational criminal justice, establishment of a multi-disciplinary team for the investigation and prosecution of transnational crimes amongst other recommendations. The doctrinal research method was adopted for the study as information contained in the research was gathered from consultation of both secondary and primary sources which are related to the subject of discourse.

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL TO ANALYZE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS IN COMBATING ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFICKING ACROSS BORDERS

Globalization has facilitated cross-border exchanges of goods and services, but it has also led to the growth of transnational criminal networks and illicit activities such as drug trafficking. To counter international crimes, various cooperative efforts have emerged; however, these lack a universal performance measurement framework. This systematic review examines 23 relevant articles out of 57, aiming to propose a model for assessing international cooperation effectiveness in combating illicit drug trafficking. The study identifies six key areas for enhancing cooperation: Effective Strategies, Local and International Collaboration, Communication, Mutual Legal Assistance, Transnational Crime Rate, and Knowledge Sharing. The influence of globalization and global governance on tackling drug trafficking is also highlighted. The developed model serves as a practical and theoretical tool for academics and practitioners involved in evaluating and improving international cooperation.

ANALYZING THE ROLE OF TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME IN TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS IN INDONESIA: A CASE STUDY ON MIDDLE EAST ILLEGAL MIGRATION ROUTES

This study analyzes the role of transnational organized crime in human trafficking in Indonesia, especially in illegal immigration routes in the Middle East. The case studies conducted in this study will provide a clear picture of the modus operandi, perpetrators and victims of human trafficking incidents involving transnational criminal networks. Efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking in Indonesia can be implemented through a variety of strategies, including public awareness-raising, enforce rigorous prosecution of perpetrators, strengthen international cooperation, and provide victims with adequate protection and rehabilitation. However, many challenges remain, including lack of coordination.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol On Free Movement and National Security: A Case Study of Nigeria

Ensuring the safety and security of countries is a priority for governments worldwide. As a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Nigeria has supported the integration and movement of goods, people, and services through the adoption of the Protocol on Free Movement (PFM). However, the unrestricted movement of people across porous borders can pose security threats, particularly with the trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW). This paper examines the potential security threats that could arise from the protocol on free movement of people and goods and highlights the importance of collaboration with other countries to achieve safe and secure borders. The study utilized a desk research method that relied heavily on secondary data to analyze relevant materials. The findings indicate that while the protocol enhances economic integration and financial stability, organized transnational criminal networks have taken advantage of free movement to perpetuate various forms of crime such as human trafficking, arms trafficking, and terrorism. The paper argues that regional integration is crucial but must be balanced with the need to maintain National Security in Nigeria. To address the challenges posed by free movement, the paper recommends that the Nigerian government needs to be strategic while endorsing international treaties to reflect the national interest of securing the Country. Strategies should be developed to monitor porous borders to check the illegal flow of arms, and efforts should be made to mop up illegal arms through the speedy establishment of the National Commission for the coordination and control of the proliferation of small Arms and Light Weapon (NATCOM) bill awaiting assent from the president. Additionally, intelligence sharing should be enhanced to promote regional integration while maintaining national security.

The organization of the human organ trade: a comparative crime script analysis

This study fills critical knowledge gaps into the organization of organ trade utilizing crime script analysis. Adopting a situational crime prevention approach, this article draws from law enforcement data to compare the crime commission process (activities, cast and locations) of 2 prosecuted organ trade cases: the Medicus case and the Netcare case. Both cases involved transnational criminal networks that performed kidney transplants from living donors. We further present similarities and differences between illegal and legal living donor kidney transplants that may help guide identification and disruption of illegal transplants. Our analysis reveal the similar crime trajectories of both criminal cases, in particular the extensive preparations and high degree of organization that were needed to execute the illegal transplants. Offenders in the illegal transplant schemes utilized the same opportunity structures that facilitate legal transplants, such as transplant units, hospitals and blood banks. Our results indicate that the trade is embedded within the transplant industry and intersects with the transport- and hospitality sector. The transplant industry in the studied cases was particularly found to provide the medical infrastructure needed to facilitate and sustain organ trade. When compared to legal transplants, the studied illegal transplant scripts reveal a wider diversity in recruitment tactics and concealment strategies and a higher diversity in locations for the pre-operative work-up of donors and recipients. The results suggest the need for a broader conceptualization of the organ trade that incorporates both organized crime and white collar crime perspectives.

Terrorist organizations as hybrid actors of the international political process: a new challenge to the transatlantic community

The subject of the study is to identify the place and role of terrorist organizations in the system of international relations and global security from the point of view of strategic approaches of the Western expert-analytical community and official political institutions of nation states, the EU and NATO. Globalization, the growing influence of non-State actors, including armed groups, as well as changing views on the nature and essence of the State have contributed to the hidden or explicit subjectivization of many participants in the international political process. Special attention is paid in the article to the new concept of "hybrid actor", which is widely discussed among experts and scientists at the present time. For the first time, the paper attempts to compare the positions of the United States and its European allies on interaction with hybrid actors. Thus, in recent decades, non-State actors have evolved in terms of political, social and military capabilities. This trend is evident in the Middle East and North Africa region, where the combination of weak State institutions, the presence of conflicts and instability has provided fertile ground for the actions of armed groups. Non-State armed groups in the Middle East are extremely diverse and include local, tribal and communal formations, transnational criminal organizations and networks, classic rebel opposition groups and so on. Within this broad category, a number of non-State armed groups have evolved to perform political, social and managerial functions.

Crime-Terror Nexus: Assessing East Africa’s Responses

There is growing international concern over the nexus between transnational organized crime, and terrorism – a significant, complex, and dynamic threat to global security. Considerable evidence from different regions in the world, such as South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, suggests that there has been greater collaboration between terrorist groups and transnational criminal networks in the trafficking of narcotics and arming of terrorist groups. Complex as implementing legislation and law enforcement operations are limited in capacity and dynamic as this nexus keeps changing. The burden of proof in convicting such crimes has remained challenging, with law enforcement often preferring to use penal code than anti-terrorism instruments. Thus the scale of this nexus has not been verified systematically by frontline state agencies and non-state experts. This paper assesses challenges, achievements, and solutions to address the nexus between transnational organized crime and terrorism in East Africa. In so doing, the report explores ways in which transnational organized crime and terrorism are linked. Addressing this linkage is a priority for many countries in East Africa, one of the regions most affected by terrorism and transnational organized crime in Africa.

A intervenção federal e a construção do problema da segurança pública no Rio de Janeiro depois da redemocratização

Este artigo argumenta que, para compreender o quadro dentro do qual a intervenção federal no estado do Rio de Janeiro se dá em 2018, é necessário observar a convergência de dois processos: um é a institucionalização do emprego das Forças Armadas em operações de garantia da lei e da ordem dentro do cenário do estado; o outro é a transformação que atravessa a política de policiamento comunitário desde os anos 1980 até a política de pacificação, de uma agenda de reforma policial para um instrumento de legitimação da ação policial dentro da favela. Os dois processos são marcados por uma narrativa sobre o problema da segurança pública ligada a um inimigo interno materializado na figura do crime organizado ligado ao tráfico de drogas internacional.

A Rising Tide that Lifts no Boats. The European Union and the Development of the Transnational Economy of Crimigration

Abstract The author of the article focuses on investigating the relationship between the outbreak of irregular migration to Europe and the increasing importance of transnational criminal networks. The starting point is the assumption that the transnational economy of crimigration (TEC) is driven by the illicit activity of private actors (the supply side) and potential migrants who create the demand for this kind of services, often not realizing the full extent of the consequences of entering into contractual relationships with groups of smugglers (the demand side). It is also assumed that the dynamics of the transnational economy of crimigration is one of the main causes of the rising wave of irregular migration and the migration crisis in the European Union.

Economía del narco: prohibicionismo, violencias sistémicas y capital criminal

Los principales grupos de narcotraficantes activos en México han configurado una economía criminal que ya no sólo se sostiene en la cadena de valor de la droga, sino que ahora se ha ramificado hacia delitos diversos, incluidos los que atentan contra la vida digna y por ende el desarrollo humano. Sus reacomodos organizacionales internos, el tipo de expansión hacia el exterior y el tinglado de actividades que realizan dichos grupos más allá de las fronteras mexicanas, llevan a considerarlos parte de Redes Transnacionales de Criminalidad. En la necesidad de comprender este vuelco que representa la evolución de la actividad del simple y llano tráfico de estupefacientes, es preciso dimensionar este componente de las RTC en el marco del modelo neoliberal mexicano, y abordar el papel de Estados Unidos como consumidor, pero también como propulsor de políticas prohibicionistas y punitivas.

Police and cross-border crime in an era of globalisation: The case of the Benin–Nigeria border

West Africa has become notorious for instability and armed conflict and is increasingly known for transnational criminal networks. Free movement across borders creates security threats in the sub-region. Smugglers, traffickers, terrorists and armed robbers traverse the sub-regional borders without major challenge. Neo-liberal discourses promoting globalisation prioritise economic interconnectedness at the expense of border control. This study examines the factors behind cross-border crime at the Nigeria–Benin border, and police efforts to combat it. This is an important case study for two reasons. First, this zone is among the most significant for cross-border crime and trafficking in the region. Second, the two countries, both members of the Economic Community of West African States, exhibit the two dominant modes of policing in the region, associated with British and French colonial histories. Semi-structured interviews with n=260 police officers in Nigeria and Benin are used. The study finds evidence to support Findlay’s contention that globalisation is crimogenic and that globalisation and crime are mutually constituted but that outcomes are also subject to localised factors. The study makes recommendations for improved police cooperation to improve security.

El Derecho penal del riesgo globalizado. Desafíos para un Derecho penal legítimo y trasnacionalmente efectivo

Globalization has caused a rise of transnational crime and multinational criminal networks, which require, in return, the development of new rules of law. This article deals with the challenges of criminal law to transform itself as transnationally effective, and to maintain its democratic legitimacy.

The puzzling resilience of transnational organized criminal networks

Why is transnational organized crime so difficult to dismantle? While organized crime networks within states have received some attention, actual transnational operations have not. In this article, we study the transnational drug and gun trafficking operations of the Shower Posse, a violent international organized crime syndicate based in Jamaica, whose resilience proves particularly puzzling. We were curious to know whether there is any evidence that international borders have an effect on the structure of illicit networks that cross them. It turns out that transnational drug distribution networks such as the Shower Posse rely on a small number of brokers whose role is to connect otherwise distinct domestic markets. Due to the high transaction costs associated with developing and maintaining transnational movement, the role of such brokers appears particularly important in facilitating the flow of illicit commodities across national borders. These brokers coordinate their own smaller subnetworks, while still maintaining the communication and collaboration necessary to ensure that the overall aims of the network are achieved.

Combating Transnational Crimes in the Era of Globalization

The Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) have emerged as one of the biggest threats to sovereignty and economic development of the modern States. With globalization of business, improved connectivity and rapid development of technologies, TCOs have attained global presence. Traditionally, the States are tuned to deal with threats arising out of other State actors. Hence, they were initially not clear as to how non-traditional threats posed by transnational criminal networks should be dealt. Developing military capabilities, effective border patrol, strengthening military intelligence, etc., were then viewed as effective deterrents to the challenges that these non-State actors pose. However, the experience has compelled the States to devise appropriate strategies at regional and global levels to counter the transnational threats. In the background of different initiatives taken at regional and global levels, the article evaluates the initiatives taken by India and the ASEAN countries in combating the threats posed by the TCOs. The article emphasizes on the need to develop a comprehensive approach that looks beyond military solutions and advocates that it is essential to address the genuine problems and concerns of the people, and involve the people in fighting against the TCOs.

THE U.S. AS THE NEW ROME: DISPUTING THE NEW WORLD ORDER

The starting point of the conclusions of politicians and experts was the recognition of the changed nature of threats to the New World Order. In post-Westfalia system of international relations the main actors are not sovereigns, but transnational actors of world politics, including transnational terrorist and criminal networks. In this situation, the support of global security threat serves the underground world – terrorists, shady business structures, failed states. The unconventional nature of the threat to peace and stability of the New World Order requires an equally innovative response which transcends the formal constraints of international law and the traditional doctrine of deterrence. An analysis of the U.S. foreign policy concepts suggests that today’s academic and political community has promoted consensus of neoliberals and neoconservatives, supporters of the institutional functionalism and representatives of the school of Realpolitik. This consensus was based on the recognition of the admissibility of pre-emptive strikes on the territory of failed states, sponsoring international terrorism, or the implementation of open interference in the internal affairs of “rogue states” for human rights and democratic freedoms guarantee.

FACTORS OF FOREIGN MILITARY INTERVENTION RISK ASSESSMENT IN THE MODERN WORLD

The starting point of the conclusions of politicians and experts was the recognition of the changed nature of threats to the New World Order. In post-Westfalia system of international relations the main actors are not sovereigns, but transnational actors of world politics, including transnational terrorist and criminal networks. In this situation, the support of global security threat serves the underground world – terrorists, shady business structures, failed states. The unconventional nature of the threat to peace and stability of the New World Order requires an equally innovative response which transcends the formal constraints of international law and the traditional doctrine of deterrence. An analysis of the U.S. foreign policy concepts suggests that today’s academic and political community has promoted consensus of neoliberals and neoconservatives, supporters of the institutional functionalism and representatives of the school of Realpolitik. This consensus was based on the recognition of the admissibility of pre-emptive strikes on the territory of failed states, sponsoring international terrorism, or the implementation of open interference in the internal affairs of “rogue states” for human rights and democratic freedoms guarantee.

The Big Question: Fixing Roles

The Big Question: Fixing Roles

Links Between Terrorism, Organized Crime and Crime: The Case of the Sahel Region

Many observers hold that terrorist groups and transnational criminal networks share many of the same characteristics, methods and tactics. There are many examples cited to demonstrate these observations are not coincidental, but indicative of a trend: a trend that is a growing threat to the security interests of many nations. We propose that the intersection of criminal networks and terrorist organizations can be broadly grouped into three categories – coexistence (they coincidentally occupy and operate in the same geographic space at the same time), cooperation (they decide that their mutual interests are both served, or at not least severely threatened, by temporarily working together) and convergence (each begins to engage in behavior(s) that is/are more commonly associated with the other). The activities of these types of organizations in the Sahel region of Africa provide examples of all three categories of interactions. This perceived threat has prompted action and policy choices by a number of actors in the sub-region. But this assessment might not be accurate and may, in fact, be an attempt to force an extra-regional, inappropriate paradigm upon a specific situation and set of circumstances where they do not apply.