Smuggling and Trafficking of Illicit Goods by Sea

Abstract

Transnational maritime crime is increasingly sophisticated, and it is expanding, both in terms of size and types of criminal activities…[t]hese crimes pose an immediate danger to people's lives and safety, they undermine human rights, hinder sustainable development and… threaten international peace and security" -Yuri Fedotov, former executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019. The oceans provide a vast, uncontrolled arena to those engaged in illicit trade and transnational organised crime. Their activities include crimes which are maritime by nature, such as IUU fishing, as well as crimes which rely on the ocean for transport, such as drug -and wildlife trafficking. Organised criminal networks are moving these illicit commodities across the world's oceans using both commercial transport and vessels used exclusively for trafficking purposes. This chapter explores the nature of smuggling and trafficking by sea, the international legal frameworks applicable thereto and considers the case study of heroin trafficking in the Indian Ocean to illustrate how illicit trade and counteroperations work in practice.

Martial law and smuggling of goods: the search for the optimal model of legal liability

“…Dopilko (2019) investigated the current problems of organisational and legal means of combating smuggling and violations of customs rules in transport and proposed ways to improve organisational and legal means of combating smuggling and violations of customs rules in transport. Bruwer (2020), researching the issue of smuggling in the water space, emphasised that smuggling undermines human rights and is a vast, uncontrolled arena for those engaged in illicit trade and transnational organised crime.…”

“…Thus, Sarvananthan (2001) notes that states with adjacent borders to EU countries are attractive for smuggling goods, which leads to distortion of foreign trade. Bruwer (2020) emphasises that smuggling undermines human rights and is an uncontrolled arena for subjects of international organised crime. In these conditions, according to Khizhnyak (2015), the role of state cooperation in preventing smuggling as a transnational criminal offence is growing.…”