Human and Drug Trafficking between Russia and EU

1
Human and Drug Trafficking between Russia and EU

• Dina Siegel
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• 21 September 2006
• St. Petersburg

2
Programs for academic research on organized crime
in the European Union

• Grotius
• Oisin
• Hippocrates
• Falcone
• STOP
• Agis

3
Sources of Information

• Interpol
• Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• U.S. Customs Service (USCS)
• Russian Ministry of Interior (MVD)
• Russian Customs State Committee (GTK)

• Center for Strategic and International Studies
  (CSIS)
• Task Force Report (1997)
• TRACC Reports (2000-2004)
• Geopolitical Drug Dispatch reports(1994-2004)
• CIROC information (2002 2006)
• Criminological literature

4
Definition of trafficking

• Trafficking is a form of international business
  facilitating movement of goods or people from
  origin to destination countries
• Trafficking system involves planning of
  smuggling operations, information gathering,
  financing and operationalisation of specific acts
  (Salt, 2000).

5
Drug Trafficking
6
Transnational drug trafficking

• economic infrastructure
• social capital
• strategic and tactic investigation risks

7
Economic infrastructure

• Transport and communication  
• Import-export arrangements
• Business environment

8
Social capital

• local presence of partners and clients 
• access to corrupted officials

9
Strategic and tactic investigation risks

• - manner of work of police, customs and border
  control
• - prison conditions
• - social climate
• - violence level and violence tradition
• - opportunities for money laundering

10
Synthetic drugs (the case of XTC)
11
Price of XTC

• The manufacturing price - 50 cent 1 US in the
  Netherlands
• The consuming price - 40 to 50 per tablet in
  St. Petersburg and Moscow

12
Organized crime groups involved in XTC trafficking

• More than 1,600 Russian OC groups are involved in
  drug trafficking in general
• About 150 criminal groups, based on ethnic
  background involved in synthetic drugs
  distribution
• In Lithuanian - 137 gangs, related to drugs
  trafficking
• 23 of these gangs deal in synthetic drugs (7
  Russian) OC groups
• 27 Russian OC groups involved in drug
  trafficking in the United States

13
Ways of XTC smuggling

• Individually
• Groups
• Luggage
• With Decoys
• Parcel mail

14
Trafficking of other drugs

• Continuous increase in the involvement of Russian
  criminals in trafficking of cocaine, where Spain
  and the Netherlands play the transit role.
• Exchange of Colombian cocaine for Russian and
  Czech weapon.
• Flowers transports from the Netherlands are used
  as a mantle for big transports of cocaine to
  Russia.

15
Other drugs

• In trafficking of heroin to the West Europe,
  Russia plays only a transit role to the Baltic
  countries and Finland
• No significant evidences of illicit export of
  heroin from EU to Russia

16
New drugs

• The most recent trend is trafficking of a new
  drug subitec from Belgium and France by Russian
  and Georgian OC groups to Russia and Georgia.

17
Drugs trafficking routes to the EU

• Two northern routes
• from Russia via the Baltic States to Scandinavia,
  or Austria and Germany
• the second one passes through Russia, Poland or
  Czech Republic again to Austria and Germany.
• The Balkan route via Bosnia Herzegovina or
  Albania to Italy or Greece.
• And the last route is from Turkey and the Middle
  East to Italian or Spanish costs.

18
Drugs trafficking routes to Russia

• To Russia drugs are brought
• through the Russia-Kazakhstan (cannabis) border
• through the borders with the Transcaucasian
  states, China, Ukraine, Byelorussia and the
  Baltic states
• Direct flights from EU to Russia (XTC)

19
Definitionsof human trafficking

• Trafficking in human beings is related to the
  recruitment and/or transport of a person within
  or beyond the national frontiers, whose end goal
  is to extract labour or services with the use of
  violence, abuse of authority, or a position of
  domination.
• Smuggling is related to illegal export/import of
  persons from one country to another. It is a
  business open to all with appropriate
  connections, courage and opportunities.

20
Smuggling of illegal immigrants

• In Germany 0.5 to 1.5 million
• In the Netherlands - 46.000 to 110.000
• In France about 400.000
• (2002)

21
Trafficking of humansfor prostitution

• 1,500 women per year in the United Kingdom
• In Belgium only in 1999 429 cases of human
  trafficking were prosecuted
• In Germany 176
• In Italy 5000
• In Spain 1008 (2001)
• An estimation of about 50.000 Russian women per
  year in the sex business abroad.

22
Human trafficking routes to the Western Europe

• There are four main trajectories
• The most northern is through Russia, the Baltic
  and Poland.
• To the south through Ukraine, the Balkans and the
  Czech and Slovak Republics.
• Through Bulgaria, Romania and the Balkans.
• Through the Middle East from North Africa to
  Italy and the Iberian peninsula.

23
Conclusions

• Lack of the continous empirical research on
  trafficking
• Lack of knowledge on trafficking of specific
  drugs between Russian and EU (heroin and
  cannabis)
• Information and statistic data is fragmented
• Lack of data-bank on transnational trafficking of
  drugs in humans
• Lack of knowledge on the on-going developments in
  international trafficking

24
Recommendations

• Serious international research cooperation on the
  trends and developments of OC groupss activities
• Empirical research on nature and specific
  activities of the OC groups involved in drug and
  human trafficking
• Collection and exchange of local information
  between Russia and EU