‘Organised Crime & Common Transit Networks’, Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice No. 233

The Australian Institute of Criminology has produced a diverse range of studies on illicit markets, including those in drugs, diamonds, stolen vehicle parts, abalone, plastic payment cards and antiquities. This paper draws together information on one aspect that these markets have in common— networks of transportation. In view of the common structure of these networks for transporting and distributing illicit goods, and the common nature of the skills required to successfully operate underground trading links, this paper questions whether the same personnel are involved in the movement of all or some of these goods and, if so, what implications this might have for crime prevention and detection initiatives.