International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime

  What if drug traffickers had already taken control of Europe’s major seaports? This alarming prospect is not just the stuff of crime fiction. The 116 tonnes of cocaine seized in 2023 at the Belgian port of Antwerp serve as a stark reminder of the growing scale of the illicit drug trade. The expansion of cultivation areas, improvements in yields and processing techniques for coca leaves and poppy bulbs, and the rise in global demand illustrate the increasing scale of drug organizations. Chartered fleets of sailboats and commercial vessels, narcosubmarines , container contamination, cyberattacks on port infrastructure , dropoffs from cargo giants… the determination of this criminal thalassocracy knows no bounds.

  Analysis from Haiti Observatories on Violence and Resilience .

  Analysis from the Arab Region Observatories and South East Europe Observatories on Cocaine connections: Links between the Western Balkans and South America.

   Analysis on Sanctions and Organized Crime concerning the Asia -Asia/Pacific Observatories

     Analysis from the  Asia - Asia/Pacific Observatories

  Investigation.

Criminals exploit crypto , shell companies and decentralized finance to move money invisibly across borders. Professional laundering services – yes, that’s a thing – help criminal networks hide their illicit gains and bypass regulations using mixers, privacy coins and layered transactions. Money laundering is the illegal process of concealing the origins of illegally obtained money (often called "dirty money") so that it appears to have come from legitimate sources. This process is crucial for criminals because it allows them to use their illicit profits without attracting attention from law enforcement or tax authorities, effectively making the "dirty money" seem "clean". The Three Stages of Money Laundering: The process typically involves three distinct stages, though they may be combined or repeated depending on the scheme:  Placement : The initial step where illicit funds are furtively introduced into the legitimate financial system. This might invol...