As global attention on Southeast Asia’s transnational crime epidemic continues to increase, the sophistication of analysis on it is rising in sync. Last week’s U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report is an exemplar of this trend, its all-star team of authors setting a new standard for publicly available intelligence on the underground banking system and the myriad technological innovations underpinning “the most powerful criminal network of the modern era.”
The 142-page report packs in a stunning volume of information on how these criminal networks are leveraging existing infrastructure and adapting to market, regulatory, and enforcement efforts to disrupt their activities. As with UNODC’s January 2024 report on the region’s underground banking sector, this report centers the role of the gambling industry as the primary vehicle for laundering the magnificent proceeds of a true “golden era of organized crime.”
