COVID-19’s Impacts on

Organized Crime in Vietnam

Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City – Melbourne
11 November 2020
• Drug trafficking
• Human trafficking and smuggling migrants
• Transnational computer frauds
• Wildlife trafficking
• Cybersecurity threats
 Vietnam’s Transnational
Drug Trafficking

• Destination
• Transit
• Manufacturing… why not?
Applying Social Network Analysis into
Drug Trafficking in Vietnam

Actor/Node

Relational
Leader
Tie

Criminal
Network
Central
Dyad
player

Structural
hole/Broker
Crime Script Analysis for Transnational
Narcotics Trafficking in Vietnam

Preparation
• Find drug sources Pre-activity Activity Post-activity
• Sale-and-buy
• Packing and • Send-and-receive • Distribution
agreement
Concealing process • Renewal first
• Estbalish network
• Transporting • Extraction stage, if so
• Build up "shell-
proof"

Cornish, D (1994), The Procedural Analysis of Offending and Its Relevance for Situational Prevention
In R. Clarke (Ed.), Crime Prevention Studies (Vol. 3). New York: Criminal Justice Press,p.155
Close Cycle of Transnational Narcotics trafficking network
prepare budget
spread out
wholesale in collect finanice
overseas

push third markets order and deposit

sent to other nodes find and purchase

deliver to China's
take "goods"
border

re-pack "goods" rent courier

transport to
Vietnam

Hai T Luong (2019), ‘Transnational Drug Trafficking across the Border between Vietnam and Laos’, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan
 Modus operandi

•Darknet’s approaches
•Maritime routes
•International and regional connects
•Flexible movements
•Diverse operations
•‘balloon effects’-influences
 Recap of Initial Conclusions

• Most higher level drug traffickers in Vietnam operate in

relatively small and closed criminal syndicates, often
deal and compete with others at the same level.
• Each wholesale dealer is free to search out other
sources and may in fact be connected to more than one
supply network
• TransNT groups have a relatively loose, fluid structure,
and adaptable social network with diverse mobilization
and movements but it can not neglect on its
sophisticated operations
• Modus operandi of TransNT groups and networks that
change over time, place, and form to able to achieve
their targets and activities