Crime Pays

Crime generates an estimated $2.1 trillion in global annual proceeds - or 3.6pc of the world's gross domestic product.

"It makes the criminal business one of the largest economies in the world, one of the top 20 economies," said Yury Fedotov, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

 The illicit income from human trafficking amounts to $32bn every year. "According to some estimates, at any one time, 2.4m people suffer the misery of human trafficking, a shameful crime of modern day slavery," Mr Fedotov said

He also cited a range of other crimes yielding big money.

He said up to $40bn is lost through corruption in developing countries annually.

Criminal groups have shown "impressive adaptability" to law enforcement actions and to new profit opportunities, a senior US official, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Brian Nichols, told the meeting in Vienna.
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