You are browsing the archives of 2007 September.

From Reuters:
China has launched rewards of 100,000 yuan and sometimes higher for citizens who snitch on copyright violators, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday, citing the National Copyright Administration.
An organisation or individual who provides information that leads to a prosecution would receive a reward of up to 100,000 yuan ($13,310), the NCA said in [...]

Stars and Stripes reports on US Soldiers targeting black market operations that funnel revenue to the Iraqi insurgency.
Organized crime is nothing new in Iraq. Smuggling has long been an intrinsic part of Iraq’s black market economy, most notably under Saddam Hussein. Many of these criminal networks have not gone away, but have simply adapted to [...]

A recent arrest of gorilla traffickers highlights the trade of these rare animals in Africa.
From Reuters Africa:
Congolese park rangers have arrested two members of a gang they suspect of trying to traffic rare gorillas for $8,000 (4,000 pounds) each, but were too late to save a young ape found rotting in the forest, conservationists said.
Poachers [...]

In another example of the interconnected structure of the illicit market, authorities in the United Kingdom are finding children who are trafficked to work as growers of marijuana.
From the Independent (UK):
Hundreds of young children illegally trafficked into the UK are the new victims of Britain’s booming cannabis trade. Figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday reveal [...]

According to the Los Angeles CBS affiliate:
According to marijuana advocates, more than $13 billion worth of marijuana was harvested in California last year, and Asian gangs have moved into the area to get a chunk of the market.
Worldwide, the Marijuana trade is estimated to be worth $141.80 billion.

The Times of London has an investigative article on the counterfeit drug industry in China.
Due to the lack of oversight during the creation of fake pharmaceutical drugs, numerous dangers exits in taking a counterfeit pill:
Some of the drugs originating in the Far East have been found to contain cement and brick dust, and be coloured with [...]

An article by the Washington Post raises questions on the number of people who are being trafficked into the United States. 
As part of the fight, President Bush has blanketed the nation with 42 Justice Department task forces and spent more than $150 million — all to find and help the estimated hundreds of thousands of [...]

A smuggler was charged by authorities in California for stealing endangered iguanas from a nature preserve in Fiji.  According to law enforcement officials, Jereme James smuggled the iguanas into America through his prosthetic leg.
From the AP:
Prosecutors say James stole the Fiji Island banded iguanas while visiting the South Pacific island in September 2002. He then [...]

From the New York Times:
Counterfeiting is so prevalent that the British American Tobacco company, the world’s second largest publicly traded tobacco group, estimates the total loss of sales incurred by tobacco companies at roughly $4 billion per year.
More information at our Counterfeit Cigarettes page.

UNICEF has released a report concerning the fate of child victims of trafficking in the United Kingdom.
The study published today calling for new safeguarding measures says official figures significantly underestimate the “hidden crime” of child trafficking, which sees children as young as five brought secretly into Britain to work as domestic servants, in cannabis factories, [...]