ANALYSIS: The latest UN World Drug Report has highlighted how organised crime groups adapted to the impact of COVID-19 on drug trafficking, and the continuing growth of the dark web marketplace for narcotics; in this second of two articles focusing on the report, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the changes in the production, transportation and sale of the world’s most popular illegal drugs, with a focus on cocaine and methamphetamine.

ANALYSIS: The latest UN World Drug Report has highlighted that while the COVID-19 pandemic briefly interrupted the international drug trade, organised crime groups soon adapted to the new conditions, and the dark web continued to be a key marketplace for narcotics; in the first of two articles focusing on the report, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the expansion of the dark web, and the key drug trafficking trends.

FEATURE: Organised crime groups have a long history of infiltrating the legitimate transport industry to move illicit goods and ‘commodities’ around the globe; now a new report has highlighted how those criminal networks are increasingly targeting the tow-truck sector as cover for their illegal activities, as Policing Insight's Chris Allen explains.

FEATURE: While COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns significantly impacted on criminal activity in many areas, the latest Europol report confirms that migrant smuggling and human trafficking quickly adapted to a new normal; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the scale of the problem, efforts to target smuggling and trafficking operations, and the trade-off between the right to privacy and the criminal exploitation of encrypted communications channels.

FEATURE: New research has highlighted the hugely profitable, ‘industrial scale’ wildlife crime taking place in West Africa, co-ordinated largely by organised crime groups, as well as the potential for financial investigators to target the criminals; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the options for tackling a severely damaging global trade, often undertaken at a local level by some of the world’s poorest people.

FEATURE: The idea of drug-filled submarines bringing cocaine from Colombia to Europe may seem more suited to the cinema screen than the Atlantic, but as Policing insight’s Chris Allen reports, recent seizures would suggest that narco-subs built in South America are now able to travel much longer distances, bringing their lethal cargo to a much larger market.

ANALYSIS: A new report on the global illicit economy and the activities of transnational organised crime groups has warned that the impact of the pandemic could see many criminal networks growing in power and influence; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the predicted trajectory for OCGs, as well as some of the steps that could be taken to halt them.

ANALYSIS: New research has highlighted the increased frequency and volume of cocaine shipments into Europe from South America; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the reasons behind the changes to the drugs market, and how the trade and trafficking routes are likely to evolve in the future. 

ANALYSIS: Policing Insight’s Chris Allen examines how the pandemic has forced drug traffickers to change tried and tested smuggling routes, and explores how this will impact on the new transit countries as well as the wider European cocaine trade.

FEATURE: Now the dust has settled on the Brexit agreement, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen examines the impact that the UK’s deal with the EU will have on information exchange, collaboration and co-operation, and the policing of serious and organised crime.

FEATURE: The recent discovery that the world’s most fertile breeding ground for heroin is also home to the plant used to make the main ingredient in crystal meth went largely unnoticed in the mainstream media; but as Policing Insight’s Chris Allen explains, it has huge consequences for organised crime both internationally and in the UK.