Brussels
Organized crime will flourish in Europe next year, when the E.U. adds 10 new members, the pan-European police agency Europol said this week. In a confidential report leaked to the London Times, Europol said that the new Eastern European members were all expected to become “source, transit, and destination countries for criminal goods and services.” Europol said some of the most notorious mobs had already relocated to Eastern Europe to prepare for their big expansion. Gangs from Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, the former Yugoslavia, and Russia pose the greatest threats. Human trafficking—the smuggling of illegal immigrants and sex slaves—is expected to overtake drug smuggling as the most lucrative crime.
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