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PALGRAVE ADVANCES IN CRIMINOLOGY
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Transnational Drug
Trafficking Across
the Vietnam–Laos Border
Hai Thanh Luong
Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal
Justice in Asia

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Criminology & Criminal Justice
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 Hai Thanh Luong

Transnational Drug
Trafficking Across
the Vietnam–Laos
Border
Hai Thanh Luong
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia

ISBN 978-3-030-15772-2 ISBN 978-3-030-15773-9 (eBook)
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For my parents, Minh Luong, Hoi Nguyen, Phu Chu, and Hao Nguyen
For my family, Anh Chu, Thien Luong, and Tai Luong
 Preface

Cross-border drug trafficking (CBDT) networks tend to be fluid in

nature; and their sophisticated modus operandi (MO), from prepara-
tion to the later stages of activity, enables criminal networks/syndicates
to achieve their goals. Practices show similar patterns to those found in
Latin America, but transnational organized crime (TOC) in the Asian
region is a distinctive category. CBDT entities spanning the Vietnam–
Lao PDR (hereafter Laos) border are different again from the Yakuza
and Triad gangs that have traditionally characterized so-called “Asian
crime”. Local criminal gangs in Vietnam are usually formed around
bonds of kinship, locality, and upbringing, as well as language and eth-
nic identity, which not only ensures cooperation but also has a major
bearing upon the organizational structure, internal relationships, and
MO of CBDT entities.
This book draws upon an extensive body of literature and a wide
range of analytical frameworks generated by research into CBDT in
Asia, Latin America, Oceania, the United States, and Europe, to formu-
late the first comprehensive study of the characteristics of CBDT, with
a focus on the organizational structure and MO of TOC entities oper-
ating across the Vietnam–Laos border. Since CBDT negatively impacts

vii
viii   Preface

relations between Vietnam and its neighbours, and the wider interna-
tional community, this project also assesses a range of possible effective
responses by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and proposes recommen-
dations to improve regional drug control cooperation between Vietnam
and Laos. The book considers two central issues: the nature of CBDT
between Vietnam and Laos, and the responses of LEAs seeking to com-
bat CBDT.
The book is organized in six chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on the the-
oretical guidelines and research methods applied in the study. First,
the application of social network analysis to CBDT is explained, with
a particular focus on structure, organization, and individual roles and
actors in the network. Then, talking about crime script analysis of
CBDT supply chains in Vietnam can assist readers to understand fully
the sophistication of traffickers and the complexity of their operations,
from preparation and transportation through to the trading of illegal
drugs across Vietnam’s border with Laos. The second half of the chapter
outlines the research methods and describes the process of data collec-
tion and analysis used in this mixed-method research project, including
qualitative and quantitative stages together with the final synthesis of
findings.
Chapter 2 reviews the background and how factors such as geog-
raphy, climate, and population impact directly and indirectly on the
drugs trade in general and CBDT in Vietnam and Laos in particular.
Taking advantage of geographical features, forest trails, streams, and riv-
ers across Vietnam’s borderland with Laos, traffickers use obscure routes
to evade detection by LEAs of the stockpiling, transport, and trade of
illegal drugs. Drug couriers from ethnic minorities use variable, increas-
ingly flexible and unpredictable MOs. Further, Laotian drug traffickers
maintain contact with their accomplices through family relationships
and friends in Vietnam, to facilitate drug transportation into Vietnam’s
borderland before spreading out into other domestic markets. This
creates complex trafficking networks across the Vietnam/Laos frontier
zone, particularly at international checkpoints, economic corridors, and
unofficial forest tracks.
In Chapter 3 the organizational structure of CBDT entities in
Vietnam is explored. The first section uses selected case studies to
 Preface   ix

analyse and compare the nature of drug trafficking groups with others
through four characteristics: group size, central factor (drug leaders),
adaptation and flexibility, and age and responsibilities. The second sec-
tion of the chapter assesses two characteristic features in CBDT enti-
ties: their family-based structure and the association between fellow
countrymen. The study indicates that the preferred option for principal
traffickers or related actors recruiting associates for a variety of roles in
the operation is family members. Family ties of parents and children,
between siblings, and through marriage are the most likely to estab-
lish a solid network, often important in subgroups involved at different
stages of the procurement and supply process. Second, in CBDT activ-
ities in the different regions of Vietnam, relationships between primary
offenders (leaders) and their accomplices (related actors) are often vil-
lage based. Two main factors explain why leaders prefer to recruit locals
to join in drug-trafficking activities: ensuring trust and establishing a
close-knitcommunity.
Chapter 4 looks at the literature on crime theory and draws on inter-
view records by LEAs to reconstruct the complete sequence of instru-
mental decisions and actions prior to, during, and following a criminal
act, and to identify the modus operandi of drug traffickers. This approach
assesses the difficulties and challenges faced by LEAs investigating these
drug-related crimes in practice. Chapter 5 is based on qualitative find-
ings from a survey of Criminal Investigation Police on Drug-Related
Crimes (CIPDRC) officers from the Vietnam/Laosborderland prov-
inces. At least five main challenges for LEAs, and their implications,
are identified. First, drug traffickers take advantage of the mountain-
ous terrain, dense forest, and shallow streams, together with weak bor-
der controls, to transport illegal drugs from Laos to Vietnam. Second,
lack of competence in information sharing hinders the development of
strategies and the setting of resourcing priorities required for multiple
anti-CBDT operations by both sides. Third, a number of obstacles to
cooperation between Vietnam and Laos contributes to limit effective
prevention of drug trafficking. Fourth, disparities in technical capa-
bilities, border officials’ knowledge, and overall operational capacities
have led to an unequal distribution of anti-CBDT LEAs between the
two sides. Finally, increased transportation and trade between nations
x   Preface

has increased the pressure on border controls for both countries.

Recommendations and priorities for improving regional cooperation
between LEAs in Vietnam and Laos are presented in Chapter 6.
Chapter 7 restates the book’s key findings and contributions to
knowledge. It also identifies limitations and outlines possible govern-
ance and law enforcement strategies to address the risks and the realities
of CBDT. It is evident that CBDT in Vietnam, particularly across the
border with Laos, exhibits different characteristics in relation to drug
trafficking from other well-known transnational criminal entities in
Asia and Europe, namely the Triad in Hong Kong, the Yakuza in Japan,
and the Mafia in Italy. With respect to structure and modus operandi of
CBDT entities in Vietnam, this study finds fluidity, adaptability, and
flexibility of movement form the key challenges to highly centralized,
bureaucratic, and inward-looking law enforcement systems. Some par-
allels can be seen with the developments in narcotics networks in Latin
America, but without the existence of large and centrally coordinated
cartels. Without a more adaptive, outward-looking and better-resourced
approach, CIPDRC forces, not just in Vietnam but also across South-
east Asia, will struggle to stem the rising tide of drugs and drug-related
crime.

Melbourne, Australia Hai Thanh Luong

 Acknowledgements

Any scholars publishing their first sole book, particularly those from
non-English speaking countries, face a number of linguistic and struc-
tural challenges and difficulties before publication. Such a book cannot
perhaps be finished without help and assistance from multiple sources.
This book was originally based on my doctoral thesis, which I achieved
in May 2017. Although two more years were needed for further clari-
fication and professionalization, the book has really been in the mak-
ing since 2014 when I began to lecture and research drug trafficking
across the border between Vietnam and Laos. This study could not have
been completed but for the help of generous people I encountered in
the writing process. I would like, therefore, to express my special thanks
to key people, nationally and internationally, who unhesitatingly offered
support during its preparation and completion.
First and foremost, I am indebted to my former principal supervi-
sor, Associate Professor Paul Battersby, Associate Dean, School of
Global, Urban, and Social Studies (GUSS), RMIT University, for his
international expertise, for providing me with keen insights to improve
my understanding of the research process, for his extensive critique
of each paper and draft, and for his support throughout the academic

xi
xii   Acknowledgements

journey. Professor Battersby also encouraged me in my early academic

career via a new position, honorary principal research fellow at the
Center of Global Studies at GUSS. I would like to thank the editorial
team at Palgrave Macmillan for guidance and instructions for meeting
standard publication requirements. Particular thanks are due to Josie
Taylor, Poppy Hull, and Liam Inscoe-Jones for extensive information
and advice. I am indebted to B. Hebenton, S. Jou, and L. Y. Chang of
the Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia Series
for their recommendations and advice through the Macmillan editorial
team. Anonymous internal and external reviewers made very helpful
contributions for which I am grateful. Helpful discussions and impres-
sive contributions to this work were provided by colleagues and alumni
of the Asian and Pacific Regional Law Enforcement Management
Program (ARLEMP), funded by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
In Vietnam, I would like to thank colleagues at the Faculty of
Criminal Investigation, the Faculty of Anti-Narcotics Police, Center of
Criminology Research and Criminal Investigation, the People’s Police
Academy of Vietnam (PPA) for unlimited support and useful contri-
butions. I am also grateful for data collection support and informa-
tion sharing to the Criminal Investigation Police on Drug-Related
Crime Department at six provinces sharing a border with Laos PDR –
Dienbien, Sonla, Nghean, Quangbinh, Quangtri, and Kontum. I also
wish to express my personal respect for undergraduate and postgraduate
students at the PPA, particularly to Vietnamese and Laotian CIPDRC
candidates who shared their individual stories and experiences of anti-
CBDT operations across the Vietnam/Laos border when I was teaching
them.
This book is sincerely dedicated to both my wife’s and my own fam-
ily. Their wholehearted support has encouraged me to pursue my goal
since 2010. I am deeply grateful for the love and loyalty of my wife,
Anh Chu, who provided me with confidence and emotional support
when we were living away from my country of origin. This work is also
dedicated to my two “naughty boys”, Thien Luong and Tai Luong, who
gave me the inspiration and motivation to complete my book.
 Contents

1 Introduction 1
Theoretical Application 3
Research Methods 8
Qualitative Research Sites 8
Data Collection 10
Constructing the Questionnaire and Its Samples 14
Pilot and Survey Response Rate 19
Some Constraints and Solutions 21
References 23

2 Drug Trafficking Across Vietnam’s Borderlands 27

Background: Vietnam 28
The Impact of Geography 28
The Impact of Climate 32
The Impact of the Population Structure 33
Drug Trafficking in Mainland South-East Asia 36
Drug Production, Consumption, and Trafficking:
An Overview 36
Laos Illicit Drug Markets 38

xiii
xiv   Contents

Drug Concerns in Vietnam 41

Transnational Narcotics Trafficking 43
References 47

3 Family-Based Structures and Association

with Fellow-Countrymen 53
Group Size 54
The Central Actors 62
Adaptability and Flexibility 67
Age and Responsibility 71
Family-Based Structures 74
Association with Fellow Countrymen 83
Ensuring Trust for Co-offending 84
Establishing a Close-Knit Community 87
References 89

4 Modus Operandi of Cross-Border Drug Trafficking

in Vietnam 95
Preparation 98
Exploiting Drug Sources 98
Sale-and-Buy Agreement 100
Protecting Drug Operations Against Sanctions 102
Pre-activity 103
Pack-and-Conceal Process 103
Transporting 106
Activity 107
Exchange Processes 107
Cutting 110
Post-activity 111
Distribution 111
Illegal Profits 113
References 118
 Contents   xv

5 Barriers to Combating Transnational Narcotics Trafficking 123

Porous Borders and Their “Blurred Points” 125
Data Sharing and Related Information 129
Inability to Build Cooperative Instruments 132
Uneven Distribution of Law Enforcement 135
Increased Transport and Trade Across Shared Borders 139
References 142

6 Proposed Initiatives to Combat Cross-Border

Drug Trafficking 147
Recommendation 1: Improve Technological Controls at
Border Checkpoints 151
Initiative 1: Developing Human Resources at BLOs 151
Initiative 2: Providing Modern Equipment and Technical
Applications 151
Initiative 3: Encouraging Use of E-Passport at Cross-
Border Checkpoints 153
Recommendation 2: Establish Mechanisms to Improve Data
Collection and Sharing 154
Initiative 4: Establishing an Intelligence Database Between
Two Countries 154
Initiative 5: Information and Data Sharing at BLOs 157
Recommendation 3: Link Border Liaison Offices
to Intelligence Centres and Other Specialized Units 158
Initiative 6: Joint Investigation Between LEAs and BLOs 158
Initiative 7: Constructing an Online Website Dedicated
to Combating CBDT 160
Initiative 8: Establishing New BLOs on Both Sides
of the Remaining International Border Gates 160
Recommendation 4: Improving Anti-Narcotics Trafficking
Skills in a Coherent and Sustainable Way around the Region 161
Initiative 9: Enhancing Education and Training for LEA
Officers 161
xvi   Contents

Initiative 10: Promoting the Building of an ASEAN

Centre on Transnational Crime and Establishment
of an ASEAN Police College 163
Recommendation 5: Promote Standard Operating
Procedures for Bilateral Drug Control Cooperation
at the Border 164
Initiative 11: Utilizing Controlled Delivery Techniques
to Investigate CBDT Cases 165
References 166

7 Conclusions 169
Organizational Structure and Modus Operandi of CBDT
in Vietnam 170
Challenges and Priorities in the Battle Against CBDT 175
Next Steps 178
References 180

References 183

Index 203
 Abbreviations

AIFOCOM The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Fact-Finding

Committee
AIPA The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly
ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASEANPOL ASEAN Chief of Police
ATS Amphetamine-Type Stimulants
BLO Border Liaison Office
CBDT Cross-Border Drug Trafficking
CCV Criminal Code of Vietnam
CIPDRC Criminal Investigation Police on Drug-Related Crimes
CPC Criminal Procedure Code of Vietnam
DTOs Drug-Trafficking Organizations
GMS Greater Mekong Sub-region
INCSR The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
Lao PDR The Lao People’s Democratic Republic
LEA Law-Enforcement Agency
MO  Modus Operandi
MPS Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam
PATROL Partnership Against Transnational Crime Through Regional
Organized Law Enforcement
SNA Social Network Analysis

xvii
xviii   Abbreviations

SODC The Standing Office on Drugs and Crime of Vietnam

TOC Transnational Organized Crime
UNODC The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
 List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Drug-related cases and arrests in Vietnam, 2018–2014 45

Fig. 4.1 Crime script analysis framework for CBDT 98

xix
 List of Tables

Table 1.1 Characteristics of the six selected CIPDRC divisions 18

Table 1.2 Distribution of CIPDRC participants by surveyed area 20
Table 2.1 Population of top ten ethnic groups by gender 35
Table 4.1 Locations for concealing drugs before distribution 105
Table 4.2 Destinations of laundered illegal drugs profits 117

xxi
 1
Introduction

Illicit drugs continue to be a danger for countries around the world,

although there have been significant changes in the scale and control
of drug trafficking and drug abuse since the “war on drugs” was first
declared by the president of the United States in the 1970s. South-east
Asia is one of the world’s major drug-producing regions, centred on the
Golden Triangle, which has an area of about 350,000 km2. In this com-
plex border terrain over 1000 metres above sea level, far from adminis-
trative centres, official policies have been limited to seeking alternatives
to poppy cultivation. According to United Nations reports, poppy
cultivation in the Golden Triangle reached its highest level in 1998 at
130,000 hectares. By 2006 it had fallen to 20,000 hectares, but the
acreage doubled in 2010, and just two years later it reached 50,000 hec-
tares, accounting for 29% of world poppy cultivation (UNODC 2017,
2018). More than 90% of the area planted with poppies in the Golden
Triangle is located in Shan State, eastern Myanmar, adjacent to Thailand
and Laos—a mountainous and densely forested territory inhabited by
Wa, Shan, and H’mong tribes which has proved extremely advanta-
geous for the cultivation and production of opium. From here, poppy
sacks are transported to Kachin State to be made into various types of

© The Author(s) 2019 1

H. T. Luong, Transnational Drug Trafficking Across the Vietnam–Laos
Border, Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15773-9_1
2    
H. T. Luong

drugs (heroin and methamphetamine) before being smuggled and traf-

ficked to Yunnan province in China, Mea Sai province in Thailand,
Luang Namtha and Phongsayly provinces in Laos, and beyond to other
countries, including Vietnam. From fieldwork on the Greater Mekong
Sub-region (GMS) border, Chouvy (2013: 2) observed that:

As might be expected, the peninsular mass of mainland Southeast Asia

is not only one of Asia’s historical major crossroads…it is also famous
worldwide as the site of the so-called Golden Triangle, one of the two
main areas of illegal opium production in Asia and one of the largest in
the world. But, insofar as illegal activities are concerned, contemporary
mainland Southeast Asia is known not only as a locus of illegal drug
production but also as a drug trafficking hub and a significant drug con-
sumer market.

In the World Drug Report 2018, the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC) estimates that South-east Asia, especially the
Golden Triangle border region between Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand,
is the world’s second-largest opium producer, with 760 tons of heroin
and about 20 tons of synthetic drugs worth about US$2 billion. This
situation has presented the countries in the region with enormous chal-
lenges in the control and prevention of drug-related crimes.
At the same time, the unique geographical position of Laos and
Vietnam has created one of the fastest gateways to the illicit drug trade
in South-east Asia, if not the world. Both countries are under great pres-
sure from drug production and trafficking in the area and risk becoming
a drug transhipment area from the region to the world. It is a conven-
ient place for organized criminal gangs to take advantage of drug traf-
ficking to make unlimited profits. In recognition of this situation, in
1998 the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV)
signed the Agreement on Cooperation on Drug Control, Psychotropic
Substances and Precursors with the government of the Lao People’s
Democratic Republic (PDR). The body responsible for implementing
this document in the SRV is the National Committee for AIDS, Drug
and Prostitution Prevention and Control, while their counterpart is the
Lao National Committee for Drugs Control and Supervision (LCDC),
 1 Introduction    
3

which has directed implementation of the bilateral and multilateral

cooperation mechanisms on drug prevention and control. Planning for
anti-drug cooperation between the two countries takes place at annual
bilateral conferences.
However, drug-related crime in both countries remains complex. Even
though hundreds of kilograms of heroin are trafficked every quarter from
Laos to Vietnam, which is probably the largest heroin consumption mar-
ket among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries,
there is a dearth of systematic academic research on the heroin trade in
Vietnam. Although the reality of the politics of heroin in mainland South-
east Asia, including Laos and Vietnam, in the 1970s has been described
by McCoy (2003), little is known about the people behind the CBDT of
heroin, the family-based organizations and fellow-countryman associations
of the Laos–Vietnam traffickers, and the characteristics of the heroin trade
compared to those in the GMS and other parts of the world. This study,
based on the author’s empirical research project (Ph.D thesis), endeavours
to address some of these gaps by conducting CBDT case studies of multi-
ple processes, principally in Vietnam but also partly in Laos. Supervisors at
the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Royal Melbourne Institute
of Technology (RMIT) University, Australia provided support and guid-
ance during I hold an Honorary Principal Research Fellow.

Theoretical Application
Narcotics present quick income-generating opportunities that appeal
to those addicted to a life of crime, and to people marginalized by
geography and ethnicity. Drug trafficking usually occurs through dis-
tributed networks of small-scale producers who supply raw materials
to drug dealers for sale to affluent young users in Asian metropolitan
centres and countries in North America, Western Europe, Africa, and
Oceania. Cross-border networks tend to have a fluid structure with a
sophisticated modus operandi that enables criminal networks/syndicates
to achieve their goals. Evidence of similar CBDT practices can be found
in Latin America, but TOC in the Asian region is a distinct category.
CBDT entities operating across the Vietnam–Laos border are different
4    
H. T. Luong

again from the Yakuza and Triad gangs that have traditionally charac-
terized so-called “Asian crime”. Localized groups in Vietnam are usually
formed around bonds of kinship, local area, and being brought up in
the same village, as well as language and ethnic identity, which in turn
has a major bearing upon the organizational structure, internal relation-
ships, and modus operandi of CBDT entities.
One of the more effective approaches used by LEAs to control
CBDT is to develop a deeper and broader understanding of group
and network structures and modes of operation in the dynamics of
organized criminal groups operating across national borders. However,
conventional analyses of CBDT have not adequately examined the
micro-processes of cross-border mobility and networking. This study,
therefore, also assesses a range of possible effective LEA responses, and
proposes recommendations to improve regional drug-control cooper-
ation between Vietnam and Laos. The study draws upon an extensive
body of literature and a wide range of analytical frameworks generated
by research into CBDT around the world to formulate the first com-
prehensive study of the characteristics of CBDT, with a focus on the
organizational structure and modus operandi of TOCs operating across
the Vietnam–Laos border.
Researching TOC and its specific crimes has become an academic
challenge for scholars over many years.1 To gain a comprehensive under-
standing of how or why those involved in criminal activity choose to
cooperate or associate with other criminals in networks of co-offenders
requires deeper research in all world regions. In particular, analysing the
nature of drug-trafficking groups based on their structure and opera-
tions is an attractive topic with many governments, policy makers, and
criminologists, particularly in Australia, Canada, China, Colombia,
Italy, Mexico, the US, the UK, and the Netherlands. However, research
with LEAs involved directly or indirectly in combating CBDT who
may have a unique perspective on the distinctive characteristics of

1Klaus von Lampe raises this question and deals with it through establishing and designing his

website with over 180 definitions of organized crime around the world (http://www.organ-
ized-crime.de/organizedcrimedefinitions.htm).
 1 Introduction    
5

CBDT networks, has not yet received much attention in practice,

particularly across shared border areas. Only knowledge generated in
reports and statements by LEAs about illicit goods and their movements
has been reflected in their practical programmes; meanwhile, deeper
analysis of the structure and operation of entities used by CBDT net-
works is entirely lacking.
In Vietnam, empirical research into the organizational structure and
MO of CBDT is severely limited. Vietnamese or foreign scholars have
researched the illicit trade in narcotics from other disciplinary perspec-
tives such as a drug-users’ health or rehabilitation framework (Rapin
2003; Nguyen and Scannapieco 2008); drug policy in addict treatment
(Vuong et al. 2012); legislative implementation by Vietnam of its obli-
gations under the UN Conventions (Hoa 2008); and suppressing illicit
opium production and its intervention policies in Vietnam (Windle
2012, 2016, 2017, 2018). Additionally, there have been some recent
reports from the government, non-government organizations, and LEAs
presenting and analysing overall trends in illegal drugs in Vietnam. No
one, however, has focused on the organizational structure and modus
operandi of CBDT between Vietnam and Laos.
Over the past 20 years, since Sparrow’s proposals and realities2
became more commonly applied as the standard concepts and tools
of network analysis in the field of criminal intelligence, social network
analysis (SNA) has been used extensively to understand the nature
of crime and its structure and operation (Sparrow 1991: 252–253;
Bruinsma and Bernasco 2004: 92). Organized crimes are planned
and committed by several offenders working together, particularly in
CBDT networks, which need the coordination and collusion of several
traffickers to be successful (Tenti and Morselli 2014: 22; van Mastrigt
and Farrington 2009: 1; Lantz and Hutchinson 2015: 1). SNA views
criminal networks as inside, outside, or flexible, and as “dynamic pro-
cesses” in which actors/nodes and their relational ties have the ability to

2In an article on social network analysis in criminal networks, Sparrow (1991) emphasized the
role of the central player, the actor/node with the most connections with others (or highest degree
of centrality) within a network. In a criminal network, the central node often holds a position of
power and strength.
6    
H. T. Luong

set up, grow, adjust, evolve, adapt, and expand (Knoke and Yang 2008:
6; Morselli 2009: 9; Bruinsma and Bernasco 2004: 80). Thus, in regard
to crime prevention and suppression strategies, SNA theory helps to
formulate insights into how criminal networks deal with law enforce-
ment disruptions, and also to understand how organizations re-shape
and consolidate after individuals join or leave them. The application
of SNA to criminal networks in general and drug trafficking studies in
particular uses concepts such as leader, brokers, and dyad to explain the
adaptability of traffickers’ structure and operations. There are various
approaches to gathering information on the modus operandi of criminal
groups, particularly those involved with drug trafficking. In seeking to
understand such groups, and depending on the objectives of the groups,
researchers can undertake documentary analysis of criminal biographies,
case law, police profiles, court records, government reports, and var-
ious types of intelligence statistics. For example, in his autobiography
of his 20-year participation in and around importation connections in
the cannabis trade, Howard Marks (or Mr. Nice as he is also known)
describes how he was arrested by the Spanish national police in July
1988. Morselli (2001: 203) illustrates the organizational structure and
modus operandi of his entrepreneurial ventures. Through Marks’ data,
Morselli (2001: 226) emphasized Marks’ ability to mobilize drug smug-
gling for others and serve as ‘a network vector between key suppliers
and buyers in [the] early links of several cannabis trade chains [which]
led him to play the brokerage position within a specified network of
participants to an increasingly greater extent’.
Another approach to analysing the MO of drug-trafficking groups is
the structured layer matrix used by Chung to assess the operations of the
Big Circle Boys (BCB), a Chinese mafia-style organization involved in
large-scale heroin trafficking. Mostly, this group operates in the US, Hong
Kong, and Canada to control and manage the transport and trade of ille-
gal drugs. Chung (2008) analysed the structure and operation of trans-
national drug-trafficking activities using a criminal memoir by Johnny
Yu-Leung Kon, leader of the Flaming Eagles, entitled The Dragonhead,
and testimony given by him at a US congressional hearing (Chung 2008:
308). From these data sources, Chung was able to extrapolate BCB’s
structure and operation under Kon’s visualized mapping on three distinct
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