International Journal on Criminology Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2014 | Page 86

International Journal on Criminology
telephony, delicatessen foodstuffs, and so
forth). Very well organized gangs (drawn
from itinerant criminals or urban criminal
groups) are the principal culprits. The technique
consists of diverting convoys or stealing
tons of merchandise from warehouses
(acting on inside information).
Misappropriation in general also
grabs the attention. It manifests itself in
three forms:
– Money laundering (mafias and South
American cartels)
– The diversion of logistical capacities to
criminal ends (triads and Turkish and
Albanian mafia can utilise regular road
traffic to transport drugs or clandestine
migrants across Europe).
obtain the recruitment of laborers or their
being kept on in the job after the end of
projects. The action of these ethnic gangs
has proven particularly brutal in the Niger
Delta, which has seen regular attacks on
sites, the boarding of barges and platforms,
and the abduction and assassination of expatriate
staff.
As can be readily seen, these various
crimes can easily be enumerated one by one,
like an eclectic laundry list. What is said
above does not aim to furnish a complete
catalogue, but to draw attention to what are
now strategic threats for businesses, seriously
jeopardizing their development and
sustainability.
– Counterfeiting (misappropriation of
technical knowhow or of a brand). The
Chinese triads and Russian criminal and
terrorists organizations are particularly
active in this domain (counterfeiting of
luxury goods, pharmaceuticals, textiles,
CDs, agribusiness, and aeronautics).
Certain zones of the world accumulate
specialities. For instance, the Gulf of
Guinea seems to be a particularly difficult
space for the petrol industry. This industry
exploits the oilfields situated in Nigeria
(where 10% of Shell’s annual production
takes place). So-called “ethnic” criminal action
(above all the doing of young people
given alcohol, drugged, or conditioned by
witchcraft rituals) is a regular reality here.
This violence comes from the communities
surrounding the extraction zones (which
are, it is true, victims of runaway elite corruption
and of a glaring inequality in the
distribution of the petrol profits). The offending
acts (understood and undertaken
as a form of pressure or lobbying) aim to
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