Linkages of Organised crimes with terrorism

Linkages of Organised crimes with terrorism 

Organized crime is crime based on a cooperative effort like an organized business.  organized crime involves: 

(a) association of a small group of criminals for the execution of a certain type of crime, 

(b) chalking out plans by which detection may be avoided, 

(c) development of a fund of money for organizing criminal activities and providing protection to members, and 

(d) maintaining

Example : Pick-pocketing, robbery, burglary, smuggling, drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling are some of the crimes which involve association of a few criminals working as a team. The motive for committing these crimes is profit. Numerically, organized crime does not in love a large proportion of criminals, but, for society it is considered to be a serious problem.

Characteristics: Organized crime has following important characteristics

•  Team work: It involves association of a group of criminals which is relatively permanent and may even last decades.
• Hierarchical structure: It has a structure with grades of authority from the lowest to the highest, involving a system of specifically defined relationship with mutual obligations and privileges.
• Planning: It involves advance arrangements for successfully committing crimes, minimizing risks and insuring safety and protection.
• Centralized authority: It functions on the basis of centralized control and authority which is vested either in the hands of one individual or a few members.
•  Research fund: It maintains a reserve fund from profits which serves as capital for criminal enterprises, seeking help of the police, lawyers and even politicians, and for providing security to the arrested members and their families.
• Specialization: Some groups specialize in just one crime while some others may be simultaneously engaged in multiple crimes. Those groups which are engaged in multiple crimes are more powerful and influential. 
• Division of labour: Organized crime involves delegation of duties and responsibilities and specialization of functions.
• Violence: It depends upon use of force and violence to commit crimes and to maintain internal discipline and restrain external competition.

 Types of Organised Crime: Organized crime has three major types/forms: gang criminality, racketeering, and syndicate crime. The first has simple characteristics while the last one has a fully developed form because of which it is considered to be most dangerous to society.

Gang Criminality: This type of criminality includes kidnapping, extortion, robbery, vehicle theft, etc. on a large scale. Gangs are composed of tough and hardened criminals who do not hesitate to kill, assault, or use violence. They are equipped with modern pistols, bullet-proof vests, cars, etc.

Racketeering: This is an activity of an organized criminal gang engaged in extortion of money from both legitimate and illegitimate business through intimidation of force. It also involves dishonest way of getting money by deceiving or cheating people, selling worthless goods and articles, adulterated commodities, spurious drugs and so forth the racketeers, unlike organized criminal gangs do not take away all the profits but allow the owners of the illegitimate business to continue their operations like prostitution, gambling, liquor trafficking, drug peddling etc.,

. Syndicate Crime: This is furnishing illegal goods and services by an organised criminal gang, often called ‘Mafia’. The illegal goods could be drugs, liquor, etc. while the illegal services could be call-girls, gambling and so forth. The syndicates create their own 'business' procedures, usually operating from established headquarters. They avoid using violence which differentiates them from organised criminal gangs, who frequently use violence or threat of violence. Society knows the members of these syndicates as respectable citizens living in posh residential areas, freely associating with high-status persons and engaged in lawful earning pursuits. The syndicates generally operate in big metropolitan areas which happen to be big centres of communication, transportation and distribution of goods.

 Organized Crime in India: 

• After independence, organised crime in India expanded into a wider range of activities and extended over larger geographical areas. 
• The single event which brought about the greatest change in organised crime was the idea of prohibition, forbidding by law the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages.
•  Organised crime was able to provide illegal liquor demanded by a large number of people. 
• So many groups/gangs came to be engaged in manufacturing illicit liquor that they started fighting with one another.

The modern era of organised crime is represented by the crime syndicate.  

• Organised crime has been expanded to the point where policemen, political leaders, law officers, etc. have also come to be associated with the gangs and syndicates. 
• Many gang leaders contested elections to assemblies, parliament, municipal corporations, and gram panchayats, thereby securing political status which enables them to widen their social contacts, and use the influence of powerful people for escaping arrest after committing crimes. 
• These gangs and syndicates today not only enjoy large financial gains but also enjoy immunity from interference and possess monopolistic control in large geographical areas.

There are various forms of organized crimes. Some of them are as follows:

• Number Betting: Some people believe that illegal gambling in general and matka business (numbers racket) in Particular are on the decline following the spread of state lotteries, but matka activities, as easy sources of money-making, continue to exist in a large number of cities. Numbers betting is predominantly a feature of urban poor life. One estimate is that more than one-fourth of daily wage earners and low-salary class workers (like rikshawpullers, sweepers, kerosene-oil sellers, auto-rikshaw drivers, masons, laborers engaged in construction work, and domestic servants) spend an average of twenty rupees a week on numbers.

• Drug Trafficking: This involves carrying drugs from one country to another country or from one city to another city, and their distribution to addicts. The need for organisation, contacts, and large sums of money puts the business outside the reach of most individuals and small criminal groups. There are millions of persons addicted to drugs including heroin, opium, cocaine, etc. 

• . Estate Racketeering: Some gangs are engaged in get wig houses and shops vacated from tenants after ‘charging’ huge amounts of money from the house owners. These, gangs have the support of the police who get a share of the ‘earned’ money.

• Automobile theft: A good number of organised crime efforts are directed today at the kind of thievery that promises high returns while avoiding high risks, thefts of cars, motor-cycles, and scooters. Houses in big cities these days lack parking facilities which compel people living in them to keep their vehicles outside their houses. The 'experts' in stealing cars and two-wheelers have developed such skills of unlocking these vehicles that they can easily drive away these vehicles.

• Arms Trafficking: States in the North-East, Kashmir, Punjab, Bihar, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu are sonic of the areas where insurgents, terrorists, naxalites, and agitators are engaged in lighting the police and the military and threatening the masses for achieving their political goals. 

• Smuggling: Smuggling, which consists of clandenstine operations leading to unrecorded trade, is another major economic offence. The volume of smuggling depends on the nature of fiscal policies pursued by the Government. The nature of smuggled items and the quantum thereof is also determined by the prevailing fiscal policies. India has a vast coast line of about 7,500 kms and open borders with Nepal and Bhutan and is prone to large scale smuggling of contraband and other consumable items. 

• Money Laundering & Hawala :Money laundering means conversion of illegal and ill-gotten money into seeminglylegal money so that it can be integrated into the legitimate economy. Proceeds of drug related crimes are an important source of money laundering world over. Besides, tax evasion and violation of exchange regulations play an important role in merging this ill-gotten money with tax evaded income so as to obscure its origin. This aim is generally achieved via the intricate steps of placement, layering and integration so that the money so integrated in the legitimate economy can be freely used by the offenders without any fear of detection. Money laundering poses a serious threat world over, not only to the only to the criminal justice systems of the countries but also to their sovereignty.

•  Terrorism & Narco-Terrorism: Terrorism is a serious problem which India is facing. Conceptually, terrorism does not fall in the category of organised crime, as the dominant motive behind terrorism is political and/or ideological and not the acquisition of money-power. The Indian experience, however, shows that the criminals are perpetrating all kinds of crimes, such as killings, rapes, kidnappings, gun-running and drug trafficking, under the umbrella of terrorist organisations.

• Contract Killings :The offence of murder is punishable under section 302 IPC by life imprisonment or death sentence. Conviction rate in murder cases is about 38%. The chance of detection in contract kilings is quite low. The method adopted in contract killings is by engaging a professional gang for a monetary consideration.

• Kidnapping for Ransom :Kidnapping for ransom is a highly organised crime in urban conglomerates. There are several local as well as inter-State gangs involved in it as the financial rewards are immense vis-a-vis the labour and risk involved.

• Illegal Immigration :A large number of Indians are working abroad, particularly in the Gulf region. Young people want to move to foreign countries for lucrative jobs. Large scale migration is fostered by the high rate of unemployment in the country and higher wage levels in foreign lands. As it is not easy for the aspirants to obtain valid travel documents and jobs abroad, they fall into the trap of unscrupulous travel agents and employment agencies.

• Human trafficking :Trading in sex and human trafficking is a very profitable business in which the underworld plays an important part. Flesh trade has been flourishing in India in various places and in different forms. The underworld is closely connected with brothels and call girl rackets, making plenty of money through this activity. They supply young girls to brothels in different parts of the country, shuttling them to and from the city to minimise the risk of their being rescued.

Organised Crime Syndicates and its Threat to Internal Security

The term ‘crime syndicate’ refers to a gang of criminals engaged in the business of providing some forbidden or illegal service to the customers who are desirous of having it and are willing to pay handsomely for that service. Crime syndicates operate because of the availability of market for certain illegal prohibited service. Thus, gambling, bootlegging commercialized prostitution, supply of narcotic drugs and other intoxicants, etc. are mostly carried on by the syndicates of criminals. 

Organised Crime Syndicates in India: India, as a growing democracy, is suffering from a wide range of crime, conventional or modern, organised that weakens the internal security of the nation. Some the most serious organised crime syndicates in India are as follows:

1.  Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking
2. Smuggling
3. . Money Laundering & Hawala
4. Terrorism & Narco-Terrorism
5. Contract Killings
6. 6. Kidnapping for Ransom
7. llegal Immigration
8. . Prostitution 

How Organised crimes are threat to internal security :

 Organized criminal groups connect with terrorist groups as financers of attacks. Thus the connection between money and violence is established, which in contemporary social circumstances represents an ideal combination for the fulfillment of various extremist goals. 

• Organized Crime represents a new form of security threats, which is also called non-traditional or soft security threats, whereby a distinction from traditional security threats is made, which were primarily related to war and the danger of invasion
• Organized crime is a threat that is well connected with terrorism in India. Criminal groups in south Asia have been known to collaborate with terrorist groups in international operations on a variety of levels.
• The connections include logistical support in weapons procurement, shared routes, training, and ideological overlap. Criminal syndicates have also been identified for their involvement in the nuclear smuggling network of Pakistan’s A. Q. Khan
• While organized crime involves many activities, its linkages with terrorism stem from illegal trafficking of drugs, arms and human beings and money laundering.
• Terrorist groups, whether indigenous or sponsored by outside states, need arms and money for their fight against the security forces. Organized crime conglomerates need a clientele and couriers who can smuggle drugs, arms and human beings across the countries and regions. 
• In India, the linkages between the two exist at national and transnational levels. At the national level, both terrorists and those involved in organized crime are within India. At the international level, collaboration exists between transnational syndicates and terrorists from inside and outside India.
• Terrorist organizations in India, especially in the northeast, mobilize funds by becoming couriers of illegal drugs and arms and at times even human beings from one point to another within the country. Some of the infamous entry points from Southeast Asia include Moreh and the entire Chittagong Hill tracts, especially Cox’s Bazaar. Initially, international criminal syndicates had their own network; however, with these routes being taken over by various terrorist groups in the northeastern states, the syndicates started using these groups instead of bribing them to let their consignments get through.
• In Kashmir, the linkages between terrorists and organized crime exist at a different level. Unlike the northeast, reliance on funds from extortion and other related means is minimal. External funds reach the militant organizations fighting in Kashmir thorough various means. For instance, enormous funds that are mobilized in Pakistan and other Muslim countries, especially in the Gulf, are channeled through various organizations in Pakistan to Kashmir.
• Another significant relationship between organized crime and terrorism, especially in Kashmir, is through the spread of counterfeit currency. Terrorists are the main couriers of Indian counterfeit currency inside Kashmir, which then spreads all over India. Even guides for the militants from across the border are paid with counterfeit money. In fact, when some of the ‘indigenous’ militants were also paid with counterfeits, it resulted in squabble between them and the so-called guest militants. Besides Kashmir and the northeast, sporadic incidents in other parts of India like the Bombay blasts, for instance, have exposed the connection between terrorism and organized crime. This is distinct from the traditional linkages flourishing between organized crime syndicates and local criminals.
• Drug trafficking poses a highly entrenched threat to India. Much of the trafficking of narcotics and other illegal drugs in Asia traverses south Asia. Routes cross from Burma, Laos and Thailand (golden triangle) through India, as well as from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran (golden crescent). Traffickers send narcotics from Afghanistan to Pakistan and through south India to the ocean and on to destinations in Europe and Russia.
• Women are smuggled into India from Nepal and Bangladesh. The trafficking leads to yet another transnational threat, the rapid spread of AIDS in the region. Approximately 0.36 percent of the adult population of India was infected with AIDS in 2006, representing more than 2.5 million people. The fact that a large number of the prostitutes in India are trafficked underlines the need for a concerted effort to combat both challenges.
• Transnational money laundering networks, also known in south Asia as ‘Hawala’, pose a threat in several arenas. These Hawala networks originally arose from the weakness of the banking system in rural areas. The system, which relies on trust between individuals and social networks, is common in south Asia and the Middle East.

 Problems in Control Efforts: There are many legislatives and implementation issues due to which the efforts made to combat the organised crimes are not fruitful. Some them may be understood by examining following mentioned:

1.Inadequate Legal Structure: 

There are several difficulties in combating organised crime. First of all, India does not have a special law to control/suppress organised crime. Being a continuing conspiracy, the incidents of organised crime are dealt with under the general conspiracy law and relevant special Acts. The existing law is inadequate as it targets individuals and not the criminal groups or criminal enterprises. Conspiracies are hatched in darkness and proving them in a court of law is a herculean task.

2.Difficulties in Obtaining Proof: 

As organised criminal groups are structured in a hierarchical manner, the higher echelons of leadership are insulated from law enforcement. It may be possible to have the actual perpetrators of crime convicted, but it is difficult to go beyond them in the hierarchy because of rules of evidence, particularly, non-admissibility of confessions made by criminals before the police. The witnesses are not willing to depose for fear of their lives and there is no law to provide protection to the witnesses against organized gangs. The informers are not willing to come forward as some kind of stigma is attached to being an ‘informer’.

3.Lack of Resources & Training: 

In our Constitutional frame-work, the police are the State’s subject. Investigation of cases, their prosecution and the setting up of the criminal courts is the responsibility of the State Government concerned. Most of the States face a resources crunch and are not in the position to spare adequate resources for the criminal justice system agencies. The number of police personnel posted in police stations is inadequate. Besides, hardly any training facilities exist for the investigation of organised crime.

4.Lack of Co-ordination:

India does not have a national level agency to co-ordinate the efforts of the State/city police organizations as well as central enforcement agencies, for combating organised crime. Further, there is no agency to collect, collate, analyze, document and function as a central exchange of information relating to international and inter-state gangs operating in India and abroad. Similarly, there is no system of sustained pursuit of selected gangs at the national and State level. Apart from lack of institutional frame-work, there are problems of coordination between the Central Government and the State Governments and between one State Government and another State Government due to differences in political perceptions.

5. Criminal, Political & Bureaucratic Nexus

There has been a rapid spread and growth of criminal gangs, armed forces, drug mafias, smuggling gangs, drug peddlers and economic lobbyists in the country which have, over the years, developed an extensive network of contacts with the bureaucrats, government functionaries, politicians, media persons and democratically elected individuals at the local level. Some of these syndicates also have international linkages, including with the foreign intelligence agencies. In certain States like Bihar, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, these gangs enjoy the patronage of local level politicians cutting across party lines

6.. Dual Criminality:

The crime syndicates do not respect national boundaries. Certain crimes, particularly drug trafficking, are planned in one part of the world and executed in another. Criminals also move fast from one part of the globe to another. Different nations have different legal structures. A certain act may be ‘crime’ in one country but not in another. To illustrate, money laundering is crime in USA and several European countries but not in India.

Indian Legislative Measures for The Protection and Control of Organized Crime:

Major forms of organized crime: a) Illicit Drug Trafficking; b) Alien Smuggling; c) Money Laundering; d) Financial Fraud; e) Counterfeiting f) Illegal Arms Trafficking; g) International Car Theft Rings; and h) Prostitution

 Prevention of Drug Trafficking in India:

• India being a party to three United Nations drug conventions – the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961 Convention), the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971 Convention) and the 1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988 Convention).
•  the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985(hereinafter referred as the NDPS Act)

Remember three points NDPS ACt:

1.prohibits cultivation, production, possession, sale, purchase, trade, import, export, use and consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances

2.constitution of a National Fund licensing over chemical substance banning totally suspension, remission or commutation of sentences

3.provides for punishment relating to the violation of this law which ranges from six month to twenty years depending on the gravity of the offence committed.

4.central government to take measures for preventing and combating abuse of and illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs.

5.It is the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) which has a mandate to monitor India's licit opium production and prevent diversion.43 The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) which is the national drug control agency is established to prevent and combat the abuse of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances

 Prevention of Smuggling in India:

Smuggling into and out of India is generally driven with the following objectives - to evade customs duty; or to corner undue export incentive by over-valuation of exports; or to launder ill-gotten fund by means of invoice manipulation; or to evade prohibition under the Customs laws and any other laws for the time being in force, such as the one covering narcotic drugs, explosives, counterfeit goods etc.

1.The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (COFEPOSA) was enacted by the Indian Parliament to provide preventive detention and to protect and augment the guidelines of foreign exchange

• enacted to provide preventive detention and to protect and augment the guidelines of foreign exchange • to control smuggling activities and other issues in relation to these activities

2.The Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (forfeiture of property) Act, 1976 (SAFEMA) is another Act whose purpose is to forfeit the illegally acquired properties of the smugglers and foreign exchange manipulators.

• • purpose is to forfeit the illegally acquired properties of the smugglers and foreign exchange manipulators • property can be forfeited merely on the ground that the person possessing these properties was detained under COFEPOSA.

 Prevention of Illegal Firearms Trafficking in India:

Trafficking of firearms is a matter of global concern. It is generally resorted to for pecuniary gain, trafficking of narcotics and aiding other illegal acts of organized crime gangs. In India the sensational case of Purulia arms drop is an example of illicit arms trafficking by air.

1.In pursuant to prevention of illicit trafficking of firearms the “provisions of the Arms Act (1959) and Arms Rules (1962) governing the export and import of small arms have been made very stringent. Section 10 of the Arms Act (1959) requires that any one intending to engage in export/ import of arms should first acquire the requisite license.

 Prevention of Illegal Human Trafficking in India:

After drugs and arms trade across the globe human trafficking is the third largest organized crime. As per Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons –“trafficking is any activity leading to recruitment, transportation, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or a position of vulnerability”

1. India is signatory of a number of conventions on the protection of trafficking and forced labour for example: “The Forced Labour Convention of the International Labour Organization, 1930; Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of Prostitutions of Others 1949; Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, 1956; The International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966; The International Covenant for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, (ICESCR), 1966; 

The Judicial Process for trafficking cases are: i. Rescue ii. Investigation iii. Inquiry iv. Trial v. Post-conviction

Prevention of Terrorism in India

• The Natioanl Security Act, 1980 • Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 • Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958

Control and Prevent Organized Crime:

By adopting its strategy for the prevention and control of organized crime

• to strengthen the collection and analysis of data on organised crime;
•  to prevent penetration of organised crime in the public and the legitimate private sector;
• to strengthen the prevention of organised crime and strengthen partnerships between the criminal justice system and civil society;
• to review and improve legislation and control and regulatory policies at national and European Union level;
• to strengthen the investigation of organised crime
• to strengthen Europol;
• to trace, freeze, seize and confiscate the proceeds of crime;
• to strengthen cooperation between law enforcement and judicial authorities nationally and within the European Union;
• to strengthen cooperation with the applicant countries;
• to strengthen cooperation with third countries and other international organisations;

Conclusion: It may be concluded that with the widespread use of electronic communication and rise of internet to handles things such as e-trading, shopping, banking etc. the security and reliability of these networks needs to be assured for the well being of trade, commerce and industry. The emerging trend of cyber crimes which are committed in an organized manner necessitates adequate legal measures to be initiated to ensure that perpetrators of such crimes are held accountable for their illegal activities. The International Chamber of Commerce has established an Anti-Cyber Crime Unit which will work in cooperation with INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) to combat organized cyber crimes