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Chinese organized crime and situational context: comparing human smuggling and synthetic drugs trafficking

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Abstract

This article criticizes the ‘ethnic’ conception of organized crime and puts forward an alternative view that does not put ethnicity first, but rather social networks and situational context. It focuses upon Chinese organized crime, a phenomenon where the preoccupation with ethnicity is paramount, and compares findings from extensive research into two different transnational criminal activities that are carried out by Chinese offenders in the Netherlands. The first topic, human smuggling, is well researched, whereas research into the second topic, trafficking in precursors (the basic ingredients for the production of synthetic drugs), is largely lacking. The article highlights the major theoretical and empirical similarities and differences between these two criminal activities and discusses the relevance of the main findings for theory and research.

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Notes

  1. Paoli [31] makes similar remarks regarding international drug trafficking and geographically constrained Italian Mafia groups.

  2. For more information, see Soudijn [39].

  3. UNODC reports that the importance of Europe, particularly the Netherlands and Belgium, as a source is declining as manufacturing continues to shift and spread (p.149). See also Blickman [4] for a discussion on worldwide figures.

  4. This relates to the literature on brokerage positioning in organized crime (for an overview, see e.g. [44]; [30]).

  5. A well-known Hong Kong based Triad (see, e.g. [46]).

  6. People in different parts of China may show different opinions on illegal migration, based on different levels of economic development. Note that people from Hong Kong also do not feel the urge to migrate illegally. The economy is on par with Western countries and provides ample job opportunities. This is a completely different situation from the 1950s. Dutch archives show that at that time people from Hong Kong arrived illegally with the help of their compatriots. See also Soudijn [39].

  7. For years, ecstasy pills produced in China could not reach the quality level of the Dutch ones. Interviews with drug experts attribute this discrepancy to years of experience and the chemical sophistication of the Dutch producers.

  8. This kind of extortion is not restricted to Chinese human smugglers. An Albanian group, for example, extorted dues from any human smuggler who wanted to make use of a certain harbor [40].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Police Agency, Driebergen, The Netherlands

    Melvin R. J. Soudijn

  2. Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), The Hague, The Netherlands

    Edward R. Kleemans

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  1. Melvin R. J. Soudijn
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  2. Edward R. Kleemans
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Correspondence to Melvin R. J. Soudijn.

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Soudijn, M.R.J., Kleemans, E.R. Chinese organized crime and situational context: comparing human smuggling and synthetic drugs trafficking. Crime Law Soc Change 52, 457–474 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-009-9203-3

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