"These cross-cutting criminal threats enable and facilitate most, if not all, other types of serious and organized crime," such as drugs and people trafficking, Europol said in a study of organised crime that it publishes every four years. So-called "ransomware", which blocks a person or company's computer until a fee is paid to unlock it, has become a major concern. Europol says there are some 5,000 international crime groups under investigation, with members from more than 180 nationalities. Drug trafficking remained the largest criminal market in the European Union, generating some 24 billion euros ($25 billion) of profit per year. "Nearly all of the irregular migrants arriving in the EU along these routes use the services offered by criminal networks at some point during their journey," Europol said.

Source: bd News24 March 09, 2017 20:49 UTC