23.10.23 – Southern Africa’s security hinges on collectively actioning organised crime strategies, clamping down on trafficking. Organised crime in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) seems to be worsening. Porous borders, weak governance and development deficits make the region vulnerable to drug trafficking, arms smuggling, human and wildlife trafficking, and financial crimes. Political instability, weak government service delivery and socio-economic marginalisation provide fertile ground for extremist groups to operate. Organised crime and terrorism go hand-in-hand as the groups share common tactics such as acquiring local funding and resources, and benefit from each other’s illicit activities and networks. Terror threats in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and northern Mozambique are particularly concerning and are causing serious humanitarian crises.
24.10.23 – Police to treat shoplifting like organised crime. Shoplifting will be targeted like organised crime as part of a plan to help police to crack down on theft. A team of specialist analysts and officers is being put together to gather intelligence on crime gangs behind much of the shoplifting across England and Wales. Retailers have complained police are failing to tackle rising shoplifting. Under the plan, police have committed to attend more crime scenes and use facial recognition to target offenders.
26.10.23 – Australia police arrest seven in money laundering bust linked to Chinese organised crime. Australian police have arrested seven members of an alleged Chinese crime syndicate for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through one of the country’s largest money remitters after a giant sting operation involving U.S. Homeland Security. Police said on Thursday the Chinese Long River crime syndicate allegedly laundered A$229 million ($143 million) through the Changjiang Currency Exchange, one of the country’s largest independently owned remitters with dozens of shops nationwide, between 2020 and 2023.
26.10.23 – 78 involved in large-scale cannabis trafficking arrested in Spain and Italy. Europol supported the Italian Financial Guard (Guardia di Finanza) and Spanish Regional Catalan Police (Mossos d’Esquadra) in dismantling a large criminal network behind several tonnes of cannabis being trafficked to the EU. The investigation, also supported by Eurojust, dealt a blow to the money laundering network clearing the illicit proceeds.
28.10.23 – £10m buried in ship’s hull seized at Sheerness. Cocaine hidden deep within a container ship at Sheerness Port in Kent has been seized as part of a National Crime Agency investigation involving police officers and Border Force. The drugs, which weighed 137 kilos, were found on a Panamanian-registered ship carrying a load of bananas. They had been placed in four large holdalls which were hidden below the water line inside the sea chest, an intake area for sea water to assist stability.
