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Organised crime in the EU evolves rapidly, becomes increasingly sophisticated, transnational and resilient, the EU’s law enforcement agency, Europol, stressed on Friday.
A staggering 731 criminal networks have been identified as operating within the EU, with over 400,000 members from 118 nationalities.
Their main business areas are drug trafficking, followed by fraud and online fraud.
The EU’s law enforcement agency highlights, in particular, the rise in cybercrime.
“All crime is nurtured online, is accelerated by AI and technology,” Jürgen Ebner, Acting Executive Director of Europol, said Friday during a press conference in Brussels.
Criminal networks also exploit weaknesses in financial systems and global trade.
“They have a very strong financial backup. They use sophisticated countermeasures. They use high levels of corruption. They are globally internationally connected cells across the EU and beyond, so an international enterprise,” Jürgen Ebner explained.
He stressed that law enforcement has to look at the relationship between organised crime and society.
Indeed, 85% of the most threatening criminal networks exploit legal business structures to facilitate their criminal activities.
Europol stresses that targeting individuals and identifying high-value targets is not enough because, as long as the business model survives, others will step in and replace them.
“Ultimately, our objective is not simply to arrest individual offenders, but to identify, disrupt, and dismantle entire criminal networks, target their leadership structures, and deprive them of the assets and profits that sustain their activities,” Themistos Arnaoutis, Chief of the Cyprus police, said.
Hence, the EU agency recommends strengthening coordination in European logistical hubs such as the Port Alliance. This public-private partnership was launched in 2024 to protect ports from drug trafficking and criminal infiltration.
Other recommendations include strengthening cross-border law enforcement, investing more in disrupting criminal digital infrastructure and following the money to recover criminal assets.
“The strength of criminal networks lies in their ability to operate across borders,” Themistos Arnaoutis said. “Therefore, our strength must lie in our ability to work across them.”