00:00Criminal organizations are the new soldiers in a hybrid war.
00:07Mafias have teamed up with hostile countries to threaten the European Union
00:12with cross-border criminal activities that have destabilizing political effects.
00:18The alert was issued by the EU's police agency Europol on Tuesday.
00:26Criminal organizations, of course, they are agile, they are borderless,
00:32they are controlling and they work to destabilize.
00:37So criminal organizations, they look always for opportunities.
00:41If they see an opportunity to work with a state actor, they will work with a state actor.
00:46According to the European Union, one of the most worrying examples of the interaction
00:51between organized crime and hostile state actors is illegal immigration.
00:57Human traffickers are being used by foreign powers such as Belarus
01:01to destabilize its neighbors in exchange for money.
01:05This is the modus operandi of the criminal gangs who cooperate very closely
01:11with the Belarusian and Russian government,
01:13because without engagement of state actors from Belarus and Russia,
01:18it would be impossible to create this migration route.
01:23Europol has warned of risks coming from conflict zones
01:27and has established close cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities.
01:31Europol is also suggesting the European institutions to prepare a strategy
01:36in order to tackle the possible emerging risk coming from a post-war scenario in Ukraine
01:44where chaos could become a weapon for criminal organizations.
01:49Sergio Cantone, DENACH, for Euronews.
Comments