Ireland remains one of the "preferred destinations" in the EU for cigarette smuggling because of its comparatively high taxes on tobacco, a new report into criminal activity in the union has found.
Europol, the agency that handles criminal intelligence within the union, published its EU Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2011 today.
It covers a wide range of criminal activity, including the drugs trade, illegal immigration, human trafficking, fraud, counterfeiting, property and environmental crime and weapons trafficking.
Europol says the “outstanding” feature of its latest assessment is the increasing diversification of the organised crime threat.
While Ireland does not feature strongly in the report, it identifies five major geographical “criminal hubs” based on their proximity to markets, commercial and transport infrastructure, the prevalence of criminal groups and “opportunities for criminal migration”.
On cigarette smuggling, the report describes its economic impact on the EU as “significant”. It estimates the “substantial loss” to national and EU budgets at about €10 billion per year.
“Organised crime groups based in the EU are increasingly active in cigarette smuggling, seen as an attractive alternative to drug trafficking because of its lower penalties and large profits,” the report says.
Criminals attempt to move goods through the free trade zones of Dubai and Jebel Ali (UAE) and Port Said (Egypt), or through regions in which the EU law enforcement community has “weaker co-operation arrangements”.
These include Indonesia, the northern Philippines and areas of the Republic of Cyprus in which the government of Cyprus “does not exercise effective control”, the report says.
“Preferred destinations within the EU are countries with comparatively high taxes on tobacco, such as the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Spain, the UK and Ireland.”
It notes “destination countries” may also serve as transit points to larger markets in other member states, as in Ireland’s case, where the border with Northern Ireland is “susceptible to smuggling into the UK”.
The report also notes that large-scale domestic cultivation of herbal cannabis continues to increase in the EU and says a further expansion is expected.
It says what it describes as “Vietnamese groups” are prominent in the indoor cultivation of cannabis, particularly in Ireland, the UK, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Poland.
“Traditionally hierarchical in structure, these have expanded to incorporate specialist roles for electricians, plumbers and the management of cultivation facilities. Gardeners tending to the cannabis are often illegal migrants working to pay off their transportation fees.”
The report says indoor cultivation is mostly apparent in northern and eastern Europe, with what it describes as “the north west criminal hub” continuing to play an important role in production, storage and packaging.
“From the Netherlands cannabis is distributed to destinations including the UK, France, the Nordic countries, the Baltic States and the Russian Federation.”
Cultivation by Dutch organised crime groups has spilled over into neighbouring countries such as Belgium and Germany.
Europol says cocaine supply to and via the EU is likely to be affected by the continued growth of consumption in the Russian Federation and Asia.
“Wholesale prices in these markets in 2008 were more than double those recorded in Europe.
“Should this marked contrast persist, diversion of cocaine to more lucrative markets may result in more sustained shortages in the EU. In turn this is likely to prompt a further surge in the consumption of synthetic stimulants.”
On illegal immigration, the report says Turkey is a “key nexus point” for transit to the EU while Greece is the current focus for illegal entry.
Europol also notes the “substantial” economic and social impact of VAT fraud. Annual losses by member states in some cases up to €3 billion, “imply this is a significant, multi-billion euro illegal business”, it says.
The report says such crime “distorts the functioning of the single market, accounts for the loss of significant public revenue and affects the financing of the European Community budget”.
“VAT fraudsters have created global networks to facilitate the commission of VAT fraud across the EU, largely independently from local crime groups.”
Increasing proximity between organised crime groups and "legitimate business structures" in the commission of fraud also complicates the task of law enforcement, the report adds.
“Widespread indifference to, and even social tolerance for, ‘victimless’ offences such as fiscal fraud, combined with a lack of knowledge of their impact on society and those responsible, has a detrimental effect on the prioritisation of resources to deal with the problem.”
In 2009 organised crime groups derived more than €1.5 billion from payment card fraud in the EU. The union is the world’s largest market for payment card transactions, the report says.
About 80 per cent of non-EU fraud against EU payment cards is committed in the US.
With regard to trafficking in human beings, the Europol report says Nigerian and Chinese organised crime groups are proficient in the production of falsified and counterfeit travel documents to facilitate such trafficking.
It notes the “rapidly expanding” use of the internet, both for the recruitment of victims and for advertising their services.
“The perceived anonymity and mass audience of online services increases both the discretion and profitability of these services, making it very hard to identify criminals using traditional police techniques.”
Internet technology, according to the report, has now emerged as “a key facilitator for the vast majority of offline organised crime activity”.
The report says the effects of the global economic crisis are likely to make the fight against organised crime “increasingly challenging”, particularly in member states which experienced “negative growth” last year.