Page 188 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

Wil van gemert

intelligence and operational support I truly believe we can combat such crime. We
will do this in close cooperation with Eurojust (please check!) and lnterpol, as well
as with the UNODC, think-tanks and NGOs.

The same support applies to the trafficking of pesticides and biocides to
the focal point copy (please check!) because this too is a crime related towards
profits; projects like money-laundering and asset recovery activities are suppor-
ted by us in a way that, by following the money, we can track those who are
responsible for its smuggling and trafficking.

Since this conference is on perspectives, I would like to mention one par-
ticular report we issued last year on the future of organised crime. We challen-
ged our analysts in the field to have a look to the future and to see what kind
of indicators will influence organised crime over the next 10 or 15 years. They
came up with eight key enablers that will change the way we look at organised
crime, such as the emerging amount of data, the way transportation will change
and virtual currencies.

One particular enabler covers the issue of e-waste: within 2017 we will
have more than 100 million tonnes of e-waste from all computers and technical
devices present in our households; this figure is bound to increase considering
the speed by which we replace our phones on PCs and the huge growth poten-
tial there still is for Africa and Asia.

Therefore, in our opinion, e-waste will become a key illicit commodity
for the future and a valuable commodity because of all the high-value metals
that are in there (gold, silver, nickel etc.). It gives a huge opportunity for its
scale and profits for organised crime and we have to make sure we do not
make the same mistake we made in the past by realising this early enough and
shifting our attention to the setting up of procedures and creating the legal
possibilities to do so; because if we don’t, organised crime will. In the same
way, as we are now facing in certain countries the result of the production of
illegal and synthetic drugs; we think that in the future we will see the same pos-
sessing facilities of e-waste in our environment and we have to make sure we
tackle this issue. It is not a regional or national problem, rather a global and
international one.

The second perspective I would like to mention is about the opportu-

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