Page 214 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

donato monaco

An analysis of the international scene clearly shows that the traffickers
involved in illegal environmental crimes are, in many cases, the same ones who
use trafficking routes for drugs, weapons and human beings). Consequently tra-
ditional poachers or wood smugglers have now become something completely
different and will often be the same as the traffickers of human beings, drugs
and weapons. Therefore the virulence of this type of criminality has greatly
increased.

Recently the sources of funding of the big criminal fraternities are
moving more towards environmental than to traditional drugs, weapons and
human trafficking crimes. The risks are certainly lower and the profits are still
very interesting.

For this reason as well, law enforcement must evolve and still work closely
with the fight against traditional crimes, with which environmental crimes are
increasingly overlapping in terms of methods, routes and leading players, both
to effectively contain crimes and to protect legitimate operators. These techni-
cal-operational considerations have probably been the basis for the union bet-
ween State Forestry Department and Carabinieri.

The need for a united front to counter environmental criminality, by syste-
mising our skills and training activities, both in the investigative and in the
technical-scientific area, is our main hope in the fight against the dramatic
increase we have witnessed in recent years.

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