SINGAPORE – Transnational crime syndicates are raking in tens of billions of US dollars a year selling everything from drugs to counterfeit goods as cartels outpace law enforcement to expand their influence across Southeast Asia, the United Nations has found.
Major crime groups operating in the region – some based in Macau, mainland China and Hong Kong –have achieved “unprecedented influence” working in tandem with corrupt government officials and private enterprises, according to a new United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report released yesterday.
“Profits have expanded and illicit money is increasingly moving through the regional casino industry and other large cash flow businesses,” Regional Representative Jeremy Douglas said in a statement. “While law enforcement and border management in the region are robust in some jurisdictions, they are effectively not functioning in others, and limited cross-border cooperation and corruption are serious problems.”
