Serious organised crime – including drug and people trafficking, illegal arms sales, cyberattacks and fraud – has become a strategic threat to national resilience and international stability; and UK government must lead an International Serious and Organised Crime Alliance to not just catch the criminals, but eliminate their operations, the think-tank the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has argued in a paper.
No longer loyalty-bound, hierarchical mobs, modern organised crime gangs are now decentralised, highly adaptable, and ruthlessly entrepreneurial, mirroring the structure and ambition of high-growth companies. Groups operate fluidly across borders, exploiting regulatory grey zones, and using advanced technologies to outpace law enforcement, according to the paper, โA New International Approach to Beating Serious and Organised Crimeโ.
Sir Stephen Kavanagh, former Executive Director of Police Services at the international Lyon-based police agency Interpol, is author of the paperโs foreword. He said: โMy time at Interpol fundamentally changed not just the way I see crime but the way I see the business models behind that crime. Whether it was the fallout of the Afghan governmentโs collapse on drug flows and human trafficking, or the levels of sophistication, reach and ruthlessness of West African organised crime groups, the conclusion was the same: the criminal threats have moved on, and we havenโt.
โIt is time for a new mindset: one that treats data and computing power as strategic assets, accepts disruption as vital tools, and one that is willing to experiment with new institutional models that break with convention.โ
Hence the idea of an International Serious and Organised Crime Alliance, on the lines of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence partnership, of trusted states, Britain and its closest allies the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; with France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. The Alliance would be share intelligence, combining technology resources (for hacking and infiltrating communications channels used by organised crime gangs and flooding their services with fake targets), and delivering ‘disruption’ of criminals across jurisdictions.
Unlike Interpol, it’s proposed the Alliance would not focus on prosecuting individuals, but dismantling criminal business models by targeting enablers and their intermediaries; such as banks and law firms.
Alexander Iosad, Director of Government Innovation Policy at TBI, said: โOrganised crime has evolved. We are no longer facing mob bosses and gangsters, but agile, global businesses built for speed, scale and profit. The UK cannot afford to let them enrich themselves at the expense of our citizensโ wallets and the safety of our streets.
โTo stop this, you donโt go after low-level operatives while the rest of the organisation covers up and adapts. You take out its entire ability to operate; you sanction the leaders and enablers, you remove its capital, institutions, methods, technology and supply lines they operate on.
โCriminals donโt respect borders so we must work across them to win. An Alliance of countries, united by shared values and desire to stop these modern mafias, can create international black-out zones, ceasing their operations and their impact on our communities entirely.โ
For the paper in full visit https://institute.global/insights/public-services/a-new-international-approach-to-beating-serious-and-organised-crime.
