Transnational Crime Essay

To begin, pirates have been prowling the seas as far back as ancient times, such as the “Phoenicians and Greeks in the Mediterranean.” As well Muslim piracy as Jihad has existed since the 17th Century along the Barbary Coast of North Africa.2 These pirates were known as Barbary corsairs, and they would attack ships from Christian countries, seizing their ships and, and selling the sailors into slavery. Today, Somali pirates are seizing ships and taking hostages for ransom along the waters off the coast of Somali and the Gulf of Aden.

In order to successfully launder money three processes are needed: placement, layering, and integration. In the first state, placement, the illegal proceeding are disengaged from direct association with the crime or criminal. In the second stage, layering, the money is used in some legal financial transaction in order to “camouflage” the cash. In the third stage, integration, the apparently legal money is available to the money launder (Kelly, Maghan and Joseph). For better understanding, the fig 1 gives a real life example on how money laundering is done.

The incredibly broad international problem of criminal networks remains so in fact because it is prominently an international issue with wide-ranging subjects all interconnected. The interconnection of crimes such as arms trafficking and drug smuggling is not innovative, however the effect of globalization has led to a change in the “understanding of culture” and its influence in the context of crimes and their impact. These crimes all, in their various focuses, have existed in various forms for decades and were viewed in culturally specific contexts for much of their continuation. However, in the new modern era these crimes are strengthened through global governments’ “obsolete tools [and] inadequate laws” used to combat them, and so must be attacked using new forms of international cooperation on numerous levels. Such efforts are acted upon through the United Nations and its many branches; and the more economical focused organizations such as the World Bank, or lawful, such as the International Criminal Court.

Rewrite)A second form from the seven forms of transnational criminality would be money laundering, which is dirty money that is illegally obtained money that cannot be spent freely. While there is evidence that terrorist weapons have been obtained by direct exchange for drugs, or for “dirty” money, most expenditures by terrorists are for goods or services obtained on the free market, which demands clean cash. Hence, much of the dirty money must be laundered in a vast criminal enterprise called money laundering. Since at least the 1970s, there has been a sustained and increasingly global interest in stopping money laundering. Terrorists financing requirements reflect this diversity, varying greatly between organizations. Financing is required

By all means, existence of organized crime is an indicator of that the laws in the hosting country are not being executed well enough or that laws regulating such acts are not issued yet. In case of transnational organized crime, the scale of lawlessness is considerably higher since it takes place in several countries. This is the reason why transnational organized crime is the most developed in countries with weak legislation and law enforcement systems. Moreover, transnational organized crime involves systematic violence, which is destructive for the society. Either way, domestic organized crime and transnational organized crime are similar in how and why they operate, while the major difference between them is complexity of operations and their scale. While the phenomenon of transnational organized crime is based on domestic organized crime, there is also a possibility of their cooperation, which complicates the process of law enforcement. For instance, while transnational organizations can conduct drug trafficking, domestic organizations can cooperate with them as local distributors. This way, transnational organized crime tends to cover larger territories and cause even more

Crime has continually evolved thus becoming more complicated especially due to technological developments. The other factors that have contributed to crime complexity includes demographic changes for males below 30 years of age which is a crime-prone age limit; and macro-economic scales that include the unemployment rate, consumers' spending power and economic stability of the region. These factors revolve around individual's income generating potential which is an aspect that draws a line between wealth and poverty. International borders have currently become porous due to intensified trading between regions, travel needs that are driven by various

Transnational crimes, including the trafficking of human, drugs and weapons, corruption have the ability threaten the stability of a nation and regional organisation such as ASEAN. Indonesia’s abundance of transnational crime is considered an obstacle to regional security of Southeast Asia. UNODC estimates over $1.4 billion of revenue obtained from transnational crimes in 2014. With over four million methamphetamine users the production and shipping of drugs within Indonesia poses a significant risk to the region and Australia in particular due to their geographical proximity. Organised crime is also affecting the state directly as there have be issues of resorting stolen state funds from overseas accounts. There exists a risk that should Indonesia continue to grow economically then organised criminal may be in a position to exploit the existing system of corruption and undermine international trust in the

The assigned reading thus far has been able to discuss and elaborate on the factors that are shaping transnational crime and its relations to national security. Four factors that can be considered is the fall of communism, failed governments, advancement in technology and finally economic liberalization. To begin with, the fall of communism lead to a breakdown of political and economic barriers in the world. With this sudden shift, people began to migrate between countries, deregulation of trade barriers began, and money being moved between free market countries and democracies were no longer regulated by the Soviet Union. However, though the Soviet Union was no longer in control there was a new power uprising. This new found power was at

Transnational crime offenders tend to be well trained and operate in structured groups they usually are headed by a powerful authoritative leader, and their intentions solely focused on making a profit from illegal activities, because these group sometimes spread their operations internationally they have become a threat

However, this process can be messy at times. This strategy is crucial for early steps of an investigation. A few major problems come to play when trying to “follow the money” One major problem with this strategy is that money laundering is international, which makes it harder to track money. First, financial intelligence is unable to gain evidence from law enforcement records because law enforcement interest lie in drugs or violence of a criminal enterprise rather than financial details. Second, some money laundering schemes can be a complex process of layering so that a specialist should be attached to the investigation so they can use their expertise. Finally, money laundering is an international problem. Money can be moved in many ways, for instance, wiring money, using foreign banks, and investing in companies overseas just to name a few (Soudijn, 2014, p.214). The concept of “follow the money” can be a long and complex process when investigating criminal

What do we mean when we refer to a criminal act to be transnational? Well, transnational crime is a criminal act that extent national borders, therefore, violating the laws of more than one country. These are the elements that apply for a criminal act to be considering transnational. These elements are as follow, it is committed in more than one country, and it is committed in one country but a portion of its planning takes place in another country. It is committed in one country but contains an organized criminal group that engages in criminal acts in more than one country. Finally, it is committed in one country but has strong effects in another country.

As a 1993 UN Report noted: The essential features of laundering of profits of crime are its global nature, the flexibility and adapbility of its operations. These make the crime in an organized manner. Moreover, a very important point which should not be ignored at any cost

It is becoming one of the biggest threats to global trade and piracy in Somalia and The Gulf of Aden is a perfect example of this. The Rise of Piracy Worldwide Incidents (2015) reports over 246 attacks worldwide. This is down to the reward outweighing risk, as according to Pham (2010: 333) “the amounts which pirates can earn for the successful capture of a merchant vessel have spiralled upward.’ Murphy (2007) lists a number of conditions conducive to piracy these can include the promise of Reward and Conflict and disorder. As mentioned, much of the motivation for piracy comes from over fishing and pollution in Somali waters. With the federal government having no authority to enforce territorial sea rights, over-fishing has become infinite. Pirates have had so much success mainly because of their ability to effectively upgrade their technology with the use of automatic weapons. The attempt to combat piracy consists of patrols in the area sending naval forces. However, the problem with maintaining piracy is that this becomes expensive and therefore unable to look beyond the area of water to see any incoming pirates. By addressing these issues there is hope in solving the crisis of high seas

So what is money laundering? Our trip to HSBC, Nick Batterton, provided us with a detailed overview and a case scenario to show just how easily one may launder money. The three core stages of money laundering are the placement, layering, and integration. You must first enter your illegal funds into the financial system through deposit, usually through a legitimate looking business. Then you layer or launder, where you make multiple complex transactions to displace it from the origin deposit. Once complete you re-enter the funds into ligament purchases such as luxury purchases and financial investments. So why are the banks in

Money laundering is the generic term used to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of the proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to have derived from a legitimate source . In other words it is a practice which engages in specific financial transactions, in order to conceal the identity, source or destination of money. It is the main operation of underground economy. The Interpol General Secretariat Assembly in 1995 defined money laundering as: “Any act or attempted act to conceal or disguise the identity of illegally obtained proceeds, so that they appear to have originated from legitimate sources”.