No smoke without fire

The Financial Action Task Force has many functions, writes Sue Grossey, but one of its most valuable is the in-depth research that its experts do into money laundering – which crimes lead to it, how it is done, and who is taking it seriously (and, perhaps more importantly, who is not). After an entirely understandable recent preoccupation with corruption, the FATF’s researchers have returned to what I think they do best: bringing to our attention areas of criminal activity that we may have discounted or even overlooked entirely. They did this in July 2011 with their gripping report on “Organised Maritime Piracy and Related Kidnapping for Ransom” [1], and they have done it again in July 2012 with the 78-page report entitled “Illicit Tobacco Trade” [2].

Susan Grossey may be contacted on +44 (0)1223 563636, susan@thinkingaboutcrime.com, www.thinkingaboutcrime.com

Tobacco, as we all know, is an addictive substance. Those who use it are often reluctant to give it up; as Groucho Marx vowed: “If I cannot smoke in heaven, then I shall not go.” And yet, for criminals, it has the seductive advantage of being entirely legal. There are no “smoke drive” limits – as long as you avoid any no smoking zones, you can smoke yourself into a blue funk and you’re not breaking any laws. Moreover, you don’t become tired and emotional and make a public nuisance of yourself if you have one over the packet, so there is no call from law enforcement agencies to limit the sale of tobacco (except to children, of course). According to the World Health Organisation’s factsheet on tobacco [3] , there are a billion smokers in the world, which is quite a target market. Admittedly half of them will be killed by their habit, but very, very slowly – giving them plenty of time to buy more fags.