Corrupt transport workers are key link in Irish/UK crime networks, report finds

Corrupt transport workers are central to several forms of serious and organised crime in and between Ireland and the UK.

That is according to a report commissioned by the British Embassy in Dublin which examined links between organised crime in the two countries.

The report, Exploring Serious and Organised Crime across Ireland and the UK: Towards a Shared Understanding of a Shared Threat, provides a strategic-level, qualitative assessment of serious and organised crime as it operates within and between Ireland and the UK.

Among the key findings of the research which was published today is that “organised crime groups and networks treat the island of Ireland as, in effect, a single market for illicit goods and services whilst simultaneously using the different legal and policing jurisdictions to their advantage”.

The report was commissioned after 39 Vietnamese people suffocated in an airtight shipping container smuggled into Essex, England, in 2019 as part of an international criminal enterprise organised in Ireland.

“There remain gaps in the understanding of human trafficking within and between the UK and Ireland,” the report warns.

“Shared understanding of human trafficking across the island of Ireland is hampered by differing protocols for the collection and analysis of key data,” it adds.

“Organised crime groups in Ireland and the UK are typically quick to respond and use global crises, conflicts or significant political or economic changes to their own advantage. Such shocks include shifts in trade following the UK’s exit from the EU, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Taliban’s assumption of power in Afghanistan,” the report states.

“The war in Ukraine is likely to create even more profound effects for criminality in Ireland, the UK and broader region, including through the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable refugees, attempts to use the humanitarian crisis as an opportunity for cyber-enabled fraud, and – over the longer term –a significantly increased pool of weapons entering the European criminal marketplace for firearms,” it says.

A major cyber attack on the HSE led to months of system disruption last year and was widely blamed on a criminal organisation based in eastern Europe.

This type of crime was also addressed in the report. “Despite recent multinational successes against criminally dedicated secure communications platforms, encryption presents a serious, ongoing challenge for law enforcement in the UK, Ireland and beyond,” it states.

A cyber attack on the Rehab Group this week follows several high-profile cyber breaches, including one that crippled the HSE last year and more recently attacks on the National University of Ireland Galway and the RDS.

Speaking at the launch event this morning, the author of the report, senior research fellow at the Azure Forum, Alexander Chance said: “Ireland and the UK have a shared interest in tackling serious and organised crime that operates within and between the two countries, and which negatively impacts their citizens, communities and economies in myriad different ways, often causing particular harm to the most vulnerable within society.

“Despite extensive operational cooperation between Irish and British law enforcement agencies in recent years, there has not to date been a systematic attempt to map and assess the existing, publicly available knowledge base on these shared threats across the two islands. This report helps to address that gap in understanding by providing a strategic-level, qualitative assessment of serious and organised crime as it operates within and between Ireland and the UK.”

British Ambassador to Ireland Paul Johnston said: “The scourge of organised crime damages our communities and undermines our economies. UK and Irish law enforcement and customs authorities have a long history of cooperation to tackle shared challenges such as drugs and human trafficking. This report provides valuable insights into the nature of organised crime, trends and knowledge gaps. It will be an important catalyst for further collaboration and action.”

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