Traffickers in Transit: Analysing the Logistics and Involvement Mechanisms of Organised Crime at Logistical Nodes in the Netherlands: Empirical Results of the Dutch Organised Crime Monitor

The Netherlands functions as an important source and transit country for international organised drug trafficking. This is in part due to its large logistical nodes in the world economy, like the airport and the seaport. Although knowledge on organised crime offenders engaging in transit crime has accumulated recently, systematic analyses of offenders operating on logistical nodes are still rare.

Based on in-depth analyses of 16 cases of the Dutch Organised Crime Monitor, this chapter explores how drug traffickers operate at logistical nodes, in particular airports. Furthermore, the occupational and social embeddedness of organised crime activities and the personal motivations of drug traffickers to become and stay involved are analysed. Although the main analyses focus on organised crime at airports (11 cases), organised crime at seaports (5 cases) is analysed as well in order to compare the logistics and involvement mechanisms at the airport with those at the seaport.

The results demonstrate that organised crime groups deploy mainly three types of tactics to traffic drugs, namely defying, avoiding, and neutralising security checks. Occupational embeddedness is manifested through several job-related factors. Autonomy, mobility, and the similarity between legitimate duties and criminal activities facilitate discrete engagement in organised crime activities during work time. Port employees are also attractive to organised crime groups because of their job-related social capital and knowledge. Co-offenders are recruited through snowballing and are most often family members or (former) colleagues. Finally, social bonds and money are both important in becoming and staying involved. Greed is more often a reason to stay involved than a need for money. If members do want to leave the group, threats of violence are not shunned.