Trends in Serious and organised crime

Illicit Trade

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Tamara Schotte

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Background

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The EU Policy Cycle

The policy cycle ensures effective cooperation between national law enforcement agencies, EU institutions, EU Agencies and other relevant partners in the fight against serious and organised crime.

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SOCTA 2013

• Europol’s flagship product

• Cornerstone of the EU Policy Cycle

• The basis for the next 4 years

• Strategic guidance and operational action

• Implementation: Europol and Member States

• Effective cooperation key partners

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EMPACT: European Multi disciplinary approach against criminal threats

•2014 -2017:

• 9 EU priorities

• All EU + third partners coordinated operational actions against SOC

• Multi disciplinary approach

• Continuous scanning of the environment

• Follow up on new and emerging threats

• Strategic recommendations , operational coordination

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Added value of EMPACT

• EU unified approach

• Coordinated action

• MS driven

• Financial, logistical, strategic and operational support

• Facilitates information sharing

• Improves cooperation

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Key capabilities Europol – Our people

• Top specialists in combating serious crime and terrorism

• Every major EU national law enforcement agency • Focal points per criminal market/ OC groups

• Centre of EU expertise

• Best +100 criminal analysts

• Unique concept of the Liaison Officers’ network

• European Cyber Crime Centre

• Cooperation third countries and private sector

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EU Priorities 2014- 2017

• Synthetic drugs • Facilitation of illegal immigration • Trafficking in human beings • Production and distribution of counterfeited goods • MTIC Fraud + Excise • Cybercrime • Weapons trafficking • Cocaine/ heroin trafficking • Organised property crime

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Trends

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Key Judgments

• Increasingly dynamic and complex

• An estimated 3,600 groups

• Network style groups

• Globalisation

• Economic crisis

• Traditional crimes but also new variations of crime

• A strategic shift in EU response

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Drugs Trafficking

The most dynamic crime area:

• The drugs market is highly competitive

• Trafficking routes are continuously diversifying

• Poly-drug trafficking is now a common modi operandi

• Multi billion market

• OCGs in this crime area are highly innovative

• Number of new psycho-active substances detected: increasing

• 2013-2014: new deadly drugs

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Operational response: Project Synergy

• Aim:

to support MS in combating OC relating to synthetic drug production and trafficking plus the diversion or supply of relevant materials, equipment and precursors

• Components:

FP

EMPACT Priority

Expert Systems ‘On-the-spot’ support (laboratory dismantling)

Training

EWN (NPS)

• Participants:

23 MS (all except BG, LU, MT, SI)

6 TP (AU, CA, CH, EJ, IS, US-DEA)

Other partners (EMCDDA, CEPOL, OLAF)

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Synthetics Drugs Investigations 2013

- 2013: Largest labs ever detected in the EU (Belgium)

- Operation Provence: Hungary, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden, Europol, Eurojust

- Nearly 200 kg of amphetamine (4 million euros ) + heroin + hashish + 400 000 tablets Rivotril

Europol assisted the operations with the exchange of criminal intelligence, operational analysis and the facilitation of operational meetings.

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Crimes against persons: Facilitation of illegal immigration

• Persistent push and pull factors will result in increased pressure from migratory flows and related OCG involvement

• Traditional routes remain largely the same

• Intra-EU movements of irregular migrants generally do not follow established routes

• The abuse of legal channels is increasing

• Migrants arriving in destination countries are exposed to labour and sexual exploitation

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International Cooperation

FIMATHU Project

• in 2011 huge increase in the facilitated illegal immigration (FII) to

AT & HU => initiated the FIMATHU Project

• currently focus on FII through the Western Balkans

• in the meantime 14 member countries (AT, BA, BG, CZ, DE, GR, HR,

HU, PL, RO, RS, SI, SK) & EULEX supported by EUROPOL

• support of parallel or partially linked investigations

• 29 Jan 2013 ‘common action day’ in 10 European countries: 103

arrests

• participation of more than 1200 police officers

•Europol support – analysis, meetings, International Coordination

Centre, on-the-spot (UFED & Mobile Office)

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Crimes against persons: Trafficking in human beings

• Levels of intra-EU trafficking are escalating

• OCGs :very flexible and adapt quickly to changes in legislation and law enforcement tactics

• An increase in THB linked to benefit fraud

• The economic crisis has increased demand on the illegal labour market

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Counterfeiting: Commodity counterfeiting

• Low risks and high profitability increasingly attract OCGs to the illicit trade in sub-standard goods and goods infringing IPR

• Seizures: health and safety products is continuously increasing

• Distributed via illicit online pharmacies, but have also infiltrated the legitimate supply chain

• Increasingly produced in EU MS

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Operation OPSON III

19 EU MS 14 Non EU MS

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech

Republic, Denmark,

Finland, France, Germany,

Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia,

Luxembourg, The Netherlands,

Portugal, Romania,

Sweden, Spain, United Kingdom

Belarus, Chili, Colombia, Côte

d’Ivoire, FYROM, Iceland, Peru,

Philippines, Qatar, South Korea,

Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, USA

In total

33 countries

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Participants – Private Partners

•CIVC

•Colgate Palmolive

•Consorzio di Tutela Gorgonzola

•Consorzio di Tutela Prosecco

•Unaprol Consorzio Olivicolo Italiano

•Ferrero Spa

•IFSP

•Moët Hennessy

•Nestlé

•REACT

•Danone

•Consejo Regulador de Tequila

•Scotch Whisky Association

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Results Opson 3 – emerging market

> 1200 tonnes of fake substandard goods

430 000 litres of counterfeit drinks

Increase compared to previous actions

Opson 1 2654,58 Tons, 13003.24 Litres

Opson 2 262,86 Tons, 35 702,48 Litres

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Economic crimes: Fraud

• MTIC fraud generates multi-billion losses to the EU MS

• Excise tax fraud causes major financial losses to EU MS in uncollected excise duties

• Lack of awareness by individuals and investors targeted

• Modern ICT facilitates access to a large pool of potential victims

• Cloud computing and cloud-based fraud facilitating payment platforms

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Environmental crime: Illicit waste trafficking, endangered species

• Increasing amounts of waste and the high price of waste disposal attracts the involvement of OCG in this sector

• Illicit waste is smuggled to West Africa and China and illicit waste dumping is increasingly reported by EU MS

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Environmental crime: Endangered species

• EU remains one of the most important markets for

the trafficking of endangered species

• Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) increasingly target

wildlife covered by CITES due to increasing demand

• Rhino horn, elephant ivory and birds of prey among

the most typical trafficked animal species

• Impact of economic developments

• Internet trade allows OCGs to meet specific demand

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Weapons trafficking

• The illicit trade in firearms in the EU remains limited in size

• Where demand exists criminals will exploit vulnerabilities in legitimate supply chains to obtain weapons and ammunition

• E- commerce

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Future

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Future

• Traditional crime areas will remain strong

• Emergence of new criminal phenomena, new types of illicit trade

• Impact of economic, social developments and Internet

• Online trading

• ‘New breed’ of OC groups

• An increase of the international dimension of crimes

• Convergence and Coordination

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Future implications

• Holistic response model: investigation, disruption and prevention

• Prevention and enforcement from a global perspective

• Sovereignty and international law

• Policing and reacting where needed

• Technology, Privacy and Security

Technology, Privacy and Security

Europol Unclassified - Basic Protection Level

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