Transnational Crime Booming Across SE Asia, Cambodia a hub for drug: UN

[geovalin]

BANGKOK (AFP) – Transnational crime is booming in Southeast Asia, the UN warned yesterday, aided by rapid regional economic integration and patchy cross-border police work.

The problem is so acute that the UN estimates illegal trade across East Asia and the Pacific is now worth more than $100 billion – more than the combined GDP’s of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

The stark assessment comes after the 10-nation ASEAN launched its regional economic bloc in December aimed at boosting trade and attracting more investment. The vision for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is a single market with a free flow of goods, capital and skilled labor, which should help the region compete with the likes of China for foreign investment.

But in a report released yesterday, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned moves to pull down barriers are likely to be a major boon to the region’s sophisticated criminal networks.

read more: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21895/transnational-crime-booming-across-se-asia--un/

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Cambodia a ‘hub for drugs’

Fri, 26 February 2016

Jack Davies and Bun Sengkong

A report released yesterday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) identifies Cambodia as a transportation hub of growing importance for heroin and methamphetamine as well as precursor chemicals used in their manufacture.

The report examines the rapid growth of transnational crime across the ASEAN region. It found that as regional integration has increased and economies have expanded, so too have organised crime networks.

The UNODC estimates transnational crime across Southeast Asia and China to be worth at least $100 billion annually.

Jeremy Douglas, UNODC’s regional representative, yesterday said the Kingdom’s developing role in the regional drugs trade was partly because of geography.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia-hub-drugs