This October, the sting was used to great effect to capture an infamous Somali pirate, to entrap the man behind the infamous online marketplace for illicit goods, the Silk Road.  In another interesting case, a Dutch NGO creates a virtual girl to ensnare over 1,000 child pornographers.  So in Analyzing Organized Crime for October, we investigate the efficacy of the sting as a response to organized crime.

We also explore growing criminal markets in two countries: in Syria and in Guinea Bissau.  For different reasons, both of these two fragile states are becoming hubs for trafficking and illicit trade.  Syria and its neighbours have witnessed a dramatic increase in the rate of drug seizure as law enforcement and border control weaken dramatically during the civil war.  Guinea Bissau has just postponed its elections planned for November 2013, with no confirmed date scheduled.  The country, which has been under a transitional administration since April 2012 is witnessing a growth in scale and diversity of criminal flows into this prolonged governance vacuum.

Finally, we chart the dramatic expansion of organized motorcycle gangs in Australia, and the impact that this may have for security and crime across the country.

We hope you find our briefs interesting and useful.  You can download the Analyzing Organized Crime Briefs for June 2013, July 2013, August 2013 and September 2013 here.  We are grateful for any feedback on how to make future editions more so, and welcome those wishing to alert us to their TOC related publications and events so that we can feature them in future editions.  Please do email the Secretariat (secretariat@globalinitiative.net) with your comments and suggestions.

If you want more regular updates on TOC issues, please also check out the Global Initiative on Facebook where we post stories and items of interest regularly, as well as on Twitter where we are actively sharing events and resources as they happen.

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