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20 December 2019
The Publisher regrets an error on the cover date of the December 2019 issue. The cover date was incorrectly listed as December 15, 2000. The correct cover date should be: December 15, 2019.
Notes
Various analyses indicate that the major factor for the enormous migration wave through Greece was the liberal visa policy of Turkey towards countries of the Middle East and Africa (http://frontex.europa.eu/trends-and-routes/eastern-mediterranean-route/).
MoI monthly migration statistics
Similar roles, with some variations, have been identified by other studies in different contexts. However, they have been given different labels. See Antonopoulos, G.A. and Winterdyk, J. (2006) “The smuggling of migrants in Greece: an examination of its social organization,“European Journal of Criminology 3 (4): 439–461; In Turkey, the organisation of smuggling operations also includes similar roles, but is more complex as it includes one more level compared to Bulgarian networks. Oguzhan Omer Demir, Murat Sever, Yavuz Kahya (2006), The Social Organisation of Migrant Smugglers in Turkey: Roles and Functions.
There have also been several coordinators from African countries, who almost completely disappeared during the migrant crisis.
Other studies have also concluded that the process usually begins in countries of origin with the smugglers approaching potential migrants or the other way around. E.g. Heckmann, F. (2005) The Social Organisation of Human Smuggling. Warsaw: Center for International Relations.
According to the experts interviewed for this report, unlike those in Bulgaria, the senior levels at the smuggling networks in Turkey are occupied mostly by Turkish citizens who maintain contacts with the Turkish security services. This puts key Turkish smugglers in a privileged position. After the coup in that country, many smugglers have been jailed convicted for being Gülenists, having contacts with PKK, terrorist organisations, etc. (BG-P32, BG-P33, BG-S3). As a result, the Turkish security services have considerably enhanced their control of smuggling networks (BG-S3). In Bulgaria, the counterintelligence service also influences smuggling networks but provides “cover” only for foreign coordinators with the justification that these are valuable agents in anti-terrorist efforts (BG-S2, BG-S3).
Such operations are not necessarily part of transnational smuggling networks. Due to the large number of irregular migrants, they would themselves find facilitation or would be approached by opportunistic actors.
BG-P9.
Abbreviations
- AFIS:
-
Automated Fingerprint Identification System
- BCP:
-
Border checkpoint
- BGN:
-
Bulgarian lev
- CSD:
-
Center for the Study of Democracy
- CC:
-
Criminal Code
- CPC:
-
Criminal Procedure Code
- DM:
-
Deutsche Mark
- EU:
-
European Union
- EUR:
-
euro
- GDBP:
-
General Directorate Border Police
- GDNP:
-
General Directorate National Police
- GDCOC:
-
General Directorate Combatting Organised Crime
- GRETA:
-
Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings
- IOM:
-
International Organisation for Migration
- JIT:
-
joint investigation team
- KOM:
-
Koordineringsenheten for ofre for menneskehandel (The Coordinating Unit for Victims of Human Trafficking of Norway)
- MoI:
-
Ministry of Interior
- NCIS:
-
National Criminal Investigation Service
- OCG:
-
organised criminal group
- SANS:
-
State Agency for National Security
- SIT:
-
special investigative techniques
- SCC:
-
Specialised Criminal Court
- SP:
-
Specialised Prosecution
- THB:
-
trafficking in human beings
- UK:
-
United Kingdom
- USD:
-
United States dollar
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New trends in cross-border organised crime: Bulgaria and Norway in the context of the migrant crisis. Trends Organ Crim 22, 450–461 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-018-9353-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-018-9353-8