Category: Crime
Nigeria: more than 2 million people kidnapped in one year
Nigerian security officials are alarmed by a National Bureau of Statistics report revealing over 2 million kidnappings and $1.42 billion paid in ransoms between May 2023 and April 2024. The…
The Who’s Who of the Assad Clan
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has fled Damascus, marking the collapse of his rule after over a decade of civil war. Rebel groups, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have made significant advances,…
Who Will Inherit Assad’s Captagon Empire?
Captagon, originally developed as a pharmaceutical amphetamine in the 1960s, has evolved into a highly addictive black-market drug with widespread abuse in the Middle East. Known as “Abu Hilalain” in…
The Police State Is America’s New Crime Boss
Thirty years after then-President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law, its enduring legacy of mass incarceration, police militarization, and over-criminalization continues to cast…
Cattle Rustling: A Lifeline For Boko Haram Terrorists
In Africa, transnational cattle rustling – the forceful theft of livestock for illicit commercial gain – is increasingly linked to organised criminal and terrorist groups. It is a source of…
How Syria Became the Middle East’s Drug Dealer
Captagon is a drug that was originally invented in Germany. Today, the amphetamine pills are primarily rampant in the Middle East—thanks to Assad. A former official of the U.S. Drug…
CRS Report: The Dark Web
Many consider the internet and web to be synonymous; they are not. The web is just one portion of the internet, and a medium through which information may be accessed….
Russian Organised Crime and Illicit Finance
At the heart of the Russian money-laundering network are two linked criminal networks, Smart and TGR. These groups provide professional money-laundering services to numerous organised criminal groups operating in the…
How Do Uzbek Men Kill Women?
Femicide has no legal definition in Uzbekistan. Patriarchal norms in Uzbek society not only enable, justify, and overlook female killings, but also place blame on the victim. Not only are…