Latest news with #GlobalOrganisedCrimeIndex
Scoop
28-07-2025
- Scoop
Gangs Are Going Global And So Is The Illegal Gun Trade – NZ Can Do More To Fight It
, University of Waikato According to the Global Organised Crime Index, international criminal activity has increased over the past two years. And the politically fractured post-pandemic world has made this even harder for nations to combat. New Zealand is far from immune. According to official advice in late March to Minister of Customs and Associate Minister of Police Casey Costello: The threat posed by organised crime in New Zealand has increased substantially in the last five years. Even with the best of will, New Zealand is losing the fight. New criminal groups are becoming active here – from Burma via Malaysia, to the Comancheros and Mongols gangs. Each brings new networks, violent tactics and the potential to corrupt institutions in New Zealand and throughout the Pacific. As of October 2024, the national gang list contained 9,460 names. While there is debate about the accuracy of the figures, gang membership has grown considerably. This is fuelled by the global trade in illegal drugs, with local criminal profits conservatively estimated at NZ$500–600 million annually. The one relative bright spot is that New Zealand hasn't yet seen the levels of firearms-related violence driven by organised crime overseas. For example, European research shows the illegal trade in guns and drugs becoming increasingly intertwined. But waiting to catch up with those trends should not be an option. New Zealand already has a lot firearms. In the past six years, police conducting routine patrols have reportedly encountered 17,000 guns, or nearly ten every day, nationwide. In 2022, official figures showed, on average, approximately one firearms offence had been committed daily by gang members since 2019. The risk had become apparent much earlier, in 2016, with the discovery of fourteen military assault-grade AK47s and M16s in an Auckland house being used to manufacture methamphetamine. This year, another firearms cache, including assault rifles and semiautomatics, was found in Auckland. Progress and problems On the legal front, the main avenues New Zealand gangs use to obtain illegal firearms are being closed off. Under the Arms Act, members or close affiliates of a gang or an organised criminal group cannot be considered 'fit and proper' to lawfully possess a firearm. These people may have specific firearms prohibition orders added against them, which allow the police additional powers to ensure firearms don't fall into the wrong hands. The firearms registry is key to this. There are now more than 400,000 firearms fully accounted for, making it harder for so-called ' straw buyers ' to onsell them to gangs. Despite the progress, several challenges remain. In particular, the nature of the gun registry has been politicised, with the ACT and National parties disagreeing over a review of the system's scope. Arguments over the types of firearms covered and which agency looks after the registry risk undermining its central purpose of preventing criminals getting guns. Theft of firearms from lawful owners needs more attention, too. Making it a specific offence – not just illegal possession – would be an added deterrent. Tighter and targeted policy Accounting for all the estimated 1.5 million firearms in New Zealand will be very difficult – especially with the buy-back and amnesty for prohibited firearms after the Christchurch terror attack likely being far from complete. There are also tens of thousands of non-prohibited firearms in the hands of unlicensed but not necessarily criminal owners. Given all firearms must be registered by the end of August 2028, there should be another buy-back (at market rates) of all guns that should be on the register. This might be expensive, but the cost of opening a large pipeline to criminals would be worse. There needs to be greater investment in staff, education and technology within intelligence services and customs. This will help inform evidence-based policy, and support targeted law enforcement. A recent European Union initiative to track gun violence in real time is an example of how data can help in this way. New Zealand is a party to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (and its two protocols on people trafficking and migrant smuggling). But it is not a party to a supplementary protocol covering the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms and ammunition. That should change. Amendments to the Arms Act since 2019 mean New Zealand law and policy fit the protocol perfectly. By joining, New Zealand could strengthen regional cooperation and increase public safety, given the scale of the problem and its potential to get worse.
Daily Mirror
13-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Dark underworld of 'Europe's Maldives' where Mafia 'run resorts' with 77p pints
The Albanian Riviera boasts stunning sights, beautiful beaches and crystal-clear waters, but experts are warning that many of the resorts where Brits are flocking are funded by 'dirty money' It's hailed as 'Europe's Maldives' – a stunning Balkan gem with turquoise waters, stunning mountains, and bargain prices. But behind the beauty of Albania's glittering coastline lies a darker, deadlier truth. The small nation is fast becoming a top holiday hotspot, with over 120,000 Brits heading there each year to soak up the sun on the now-famous Albanian Riviera, with some places just a cheap, three-hour flight away. The country is also known for having very affordable beer prices, with some as little as 77p a pint. But while tourists flock to idyllic coastal destinations like Ksamil and Vlore, mafia gangs are allegedly laundering millions through the very resorts they're staying in. Experts are warning holidaymakers that luxury hotels, bars and beach clubs may be fronts for Albania's booming organised crime industry. According to a 2023 report by the Global Organised Crime Index, Albania is a transit country for heroin trafficked from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to Europe. It's also a transit hub for cocaine smuggled from Latin America into Europe and the UK, the report says. Over the years, heroin and cocaine processing labs have been discovered in cities like Elbasan, Fier and Tirana. Meanwhile, Italian authorities estimated in 2016 that Albania's cannabis production alone was worth as much as €4.5 billion (£3.85 billion). Besides drug trafficking, the report says the main criminal activities attributed to Albanian mafia groups – both domestically and internationally – are human smuggling and trafficking, as well as money laundering. Albania's mafia is now in control of most of Europe's trafficking network. Of the 45,000 migrants who crossed illegally into England in 2022, 12,000 were Albanians. And last year, a leaked Home Office legal document described Albanian criminal gangs as an 'acute threat' to the UK and 'highly prevalent across serious and organised crime' in Britain, including several murders. Albanian gangs are believed to dominate the UK's illicit cocaine trade, said to be worth £5bn a year. Criminologist Professor Xavier Raufer of Paris-Sorbonne University, who has studied the mafia for decades, says these are not just typical crime rings: "In the whole of Albania, there are maybe 30 big mafia families, with some of their traditions dating back to the Middle Ages. This makes them more dangerous as they operate with very strict rules and secretly." He added: 'You'll find these families all over Albania – of course, the most powerful being the one along the sea because it's better for trafficking.' Last year, Albania saw 39 killings, with most attributed to mafia-style assassinations. The country's strategic position has made it ideal for smugglers, and tourism, it seems, is now part of that equation. "People involved in real estate and tourism are increasingly linked to organised crime," says the country's crime index report. Professor Raufer said, "No tourist will ever see it. If you go there, you are not even able to guess it because it's a secret." Former Albanian MP Rudina Hajdari blames the issue on state corruption: "Corruption has gotten higher and higher," she said. "There have been allegations that many of these hotels in southern Albania were funded by drug traffickers." She explained how they set up bank accounts through friends or relatives, gradually investing in real estate to launder money. "The government clearly allows that – whether they think it's a good idea to invest in tourism, infrastructure or just keep them in power. There's a lot of money going into Albania that is primarily dirty." According to reports, customs officials in the key port of Durres have allegedly been discouraged from checking certain vehicles, allowing drugs to be smuggled in cars, buses and trucks. In the southern seaside town of Himare, the mayor was arrested last year on corruption charges, accused of forging documents to seize government land for a private resort. Despite it all, Albania's image abroad continues to shine. In 2024, it saw 11.7 million tourists, almost doubling its pre-pandemic figure, with an 8% year-on-year rise in visitor numbers. And now, even Jared Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump, is seeing the potential for profit. He has put forward plans to Sazan Island, an uninhabited island which was once a military base, into a luxury resort. His plans to turn the island into a holiday resort are estimated to cost €1.4 billion (£1.2 billion), and says it will create 1,000 tourism jobs. Still, Hajdari insists the problem doesn't lie with ordinary people. She says: "This does not in any way reflect Albanian people – Albanians are just the most generous, welcoming, nicest people when people come and travel." "Albania's lack of opportunities and high corruption have created the ground for these illegal activities to flourish."
