Organised Crime Situation Report 2000
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Council of Europe Organised crime situation report 2000 PC-S-CO (2001) 13E (Provisional) Strasbourg, December 2001 Council of Europe - Organ ised Crime situation report 2000 Document prepared by members and scientific experts of the Group of specialists on criminal law and criminological aspects of organised crime (PC-S-CO): Mr. Kauko AROMAA Director, European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the UN (HEUNI), P.O. Box 161, FIN-00131 HELSINKI E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Maximilian EDELBACHER Head, Major Crime Bureau, Rossauer Lände 5, A-1090 VIENNA Tel: 43-1-3134-636002, Fax: 43-1-3134-636008 E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Thierry GODEFROY CESDIP, Immeuble Edison, 43 Boulevard Vauban, F- 78280 GUYANCOURT Tel: 33-134 521712; Fax: 33-134 521717 E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Michael LEVI Professor of Criminology, Cardiff University, Clamorgaan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, GB–CARDIFF CF10 3WT Tel: 44-29-2087 4376, Fax: 44-29-2087 4436 E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Toon VAN DER HEIJDEN Senior Policy Advisor on Drugs and Organised Crime, Criminal Intelligence Division, National Police Agency (KLPD), P.O. Box 3016, NL-2700 KX ZOETERMEER Tel: 31-79345 9312, Fax: 31-79345 9152 E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Tom VANDER BEKEN Professor in Criminal Law, Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy, Ghent University, Universiteitstraat 4, 9000 GENT Tel: +32-9-264.69.39, Fax: 32-9-236.6971 E-mail: [email protected] 2 Council of Europe - Organ ised Crime situation report 2000 Contents 1 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 5 2 Organised crime situation_______________________________________________ 7 2.1 Characteristics of groups involved in organised crime ______________________ 7 2.1.1 Structure of the groups ___________________________________________________ 7 2.1.2 Geographical grouping ____________________________________________________ 8 2.1.3 Number of organised criminal groups and participants __________________________ 33 2.2 Criminal activities of the groups ______________________________________ 35 2.2.1 Fraud ________________________________________________________________ 35 2.2.2 Counterfeiting__________________________________________________________ 41 2.2.3 Trafficking in illicit drugs __________________________________________________ 43 2.2.4 Theft of vehicles and trafficking in stolen vehicles _____________________________ 55 2.2.5 Smuggling of contraband goods____________________________________________ 58 2.2.6 Illegal arms trading ______________________________________________________ 61 2.2.7 Theft and crimes of violence ______________________________________________ 63 2.2.8 Illegal immigration _______________________________________________________ 66 2.2.9 Trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation ____________________________ 70 2.2.10 Child pornography ______________________________________________________ 72 2.2.11 Illegal gambling _________________________________________________________ 74 2.2.12 Environmental crime _____________________________________________________ 75 2.2.13 Cyber crime ___________________________________________________________ 76 2.3 Use of influence __________________________________________________ 78 2.4 Use of violence ___________________________________________________ 81 2.4.1 Violence within the criminal world __________________________________________ 81 2.4.2 Use of violence outside the criminal world____________________________________ 83 2.4.3 Number of people killed by organised criminal groups ___________________________ 84 2.5 Investment of the proceeds of crime___________________________________ 87 3 Measures against organised crime ______________________________________ 93 3.1 Seizures, arrests and convictions _____________________________________ 93 3.2 International cooperation ___________________________________________ 98 3.2.1 Preliminary remarks _____________________________________________________ 98 3.2.2 Number of outgoing requests for judicial assistance___________________________ 100 3.2.3 Number of incoming requests for judicial assistance___________________________ 102 3.2.4 Sources _____________________________________________________________ 104 4 Appendix __________________________________________________________ 109 4.1 Replies to the 2000 Questionnaire ___________________________________ 109 4.2 Illicit drugs seized in European countries (1995-1999) ____________________ 110 4.3 References_____________________________________________________ 130 3 Council of Europe - Organ ised Crime situation report 2000 List of tables Table 1: Estimated number of organised criminal groups in 2000_______________ 33 Table 2: Estimated number of participants in organised criminal groups in 2000___ 34 Table 3: Vehicle theft _________________________________________________ 57 Table 4: Illicit arms seized in member States_______________________________ 62 Table 5: Armed bank robberies _________________________________________ 64 Table 6: Illegal entries_________________________________________________ 69 Table 7: Number of Dutch investigations in 2000 in which reference is made to corruptive contacts ____________________________________________ 80 Table 8: Number of people killed by organised criminal groups_________________ 85 Table 9: Reports on suspicious transactions_______________________________ 90 Table 10: Seizures of illicit drugs and arrests for drug trafficking ________________ 94 Table 11: Arrests and convictions for vehicle theft ___________________________ 95 Table 12: Seizures and arrests for illegal arms trafficking _____________________ 96 Table 13: Number of cases/investigations and arrests for illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings______________________________________ 97 Table 14: Heroin (kg seized) ____________________________________________ 111 Table 15: Cocaine (kg seized) ___________________________________________ 112 Table 16: Amphetamines and analogues (kg seized) _________________________ 113 Table 17: Cannabis (herbal and resin in kg) ________________________________ 114 Table 18: LSD (trips/doses seized)_______________________________________ 116 Table 19: Other narcotics ______________________________________________ 117 Table 20: Other depressants ___________________________________________ 119 Table 21: Cannabis (except herbal and resin) ______________________________ 121 Table 22: Other hallucinogens __________________________________________ 125 Table 23: Doping substances ___________________________________________ 125 Table 24: Other stimulants _____________________________________________ 126 Table 25: Other illegal drugs____________________________________________ 126 Table 26: Precursors _________________________________________________ 128 4 Council of Europe - Organ ised Crime situation report 2000 1 Introduction The Group of experts on criminological and criminal law aspects of organised crime (PC- S-CO) was set up by a decision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.1 The task of the Group is to analyse - under the authority of the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) - the characteristics of organised crime in the member States of the Council of Europe, to assess the counter-measures adopted (including legislation) and to identify means of improving the effectiveness of both national responses and international cooperation in this respect. For this purpose, the PC-S-CO carries out “best practice surveys” on selected topics2 and prepares the annual “organised crime situation report” of the Council of Europe. In March 2001, the member States received a questionnaire concerning the organised crime situation in their country in 2000. In order to obtain comparable data, the questionnaire used was to a large extent the same as the one of previous years (1996 to 1999). The questionnaire was divided into the following six parts: I. Introduction, II. Criteria for identifying organised crime groups, III. Organised crime situation, IV. Statistics on specific topics, V. Methodology, VI. Data of the persons(s) providing the answers. The report is based primarily on an analysis of the replies to the questionnaire. The fact that the same questionnaire went out to more than 40 countries – the entire Council of Europe membership – makes them a unique source of information. The quality of the information supplied, however, was very uneven: § Firstly, not all the countries replied. Only 32 out of 43 questionnaires were returned in time for consideration in this report. No replies were received from Austria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Latvia, the Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovenia, Sweden, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and the United Kingdom, while Greece submitted its report after the final compilation of the present report. § The value of the replies varied greatly. Some of them were not complete, and some respondents submitted discursive text without supporting data. § Data collection methods differed. Some replies, for example, refer to investigations others to convictions. Some refer to all recorded offences, others specifically to organised criminal groups. Nevertheless, all replies received from member States were used for the compilation of this report. To a limited extent, other sources were used as well.3 1 This group took over the activities carried out between 1997 and 1999 by the Committee of experts on criminological and criminal law aspects of organised crime