Previous: Section 1: Introduction
This section draws on intelligence gathered by the ACIC and its partners to describe the nature, scope, trends and patterns of criminal activity impacting Australia.
Key characteristics
Serious and organised crime cost the Australian economy approximately $82.3 billion in 2023–24. It undermines Australia’s geopolitical and domestic interests, and targets and harms Australian citizens. Our work exposes the complex and ever-shifting nature of serious and organised crime impacting Australia, including where it has a transnational dimension.
- Serious and organised crime threatens Australia’s security and prosperity. Serious and organised crime actors are exploiting growing uncertainty in our economy and interfering in geopolitical and global conflict, focusing firmly on opportunities to derive profit at the expense of the security and wellbeing of the Australian community.
- Serious and organised crime impacts everyone. Serious and organised crime actors are highly adept at using everyday systems and services to enable destructive, pervasive and complex illicit ventures. They make our communities less safe, create unfair competition for legitimate businesses and industries, exploit our most vulnerable people, and increase pressure on the economy and vital services.
- Criminals prioritise personal gain above all else. The heads of criminal networks lead global organisations focused on maximising profits. These high‑level criminals will go to great lengths to achieve their goals, regardless of traditional allegiances, geographic boundaries, or the harm they cause.
- Serious and organised criminal enterprises are globalised and collaborative. Criminal networks are global, technology enabled and resilient. But even the highest‑threat criminal enterprises have limitations to their reach and rely on the services, access and expertise of other criminals to succeed in their illicit ventures. Serious and organised crime groups continue to prioritise collaboration over competition where it does not affect their bottom line.
- Technology is expanding opportunities for criminals across every category of crime. Criminals quickly adopt emerging and advanced technologies to enable and expand their end-to-end business models. As Australians rely more heavily on online services and platforms, opportunities for cybercrime, serious financial crime and victim-based crime expand. Our increasingly digital world also grants criminals easier access to illicit commodities, digital currencies, and specialist tools and technologists. These tools and methodologies are also commoditised by criminals across online forums and marketplaces.
- Insiders and professional facilitators enable criminal groups. Serious and organised crime networks rely on a range of skills to help conceal their activity and manage the profits of crime. Criminals exploit insiders in Australian supply chains, leveraging their access and knowledge to evade detection by law enforcement and border security. Professionals such as lawyers, accountants and real estate agents are also engaged or co-opted, both wittingly and unwittingly, for their skills in masking and facilitating complex criminal activities.
Understanding criminal networks and how they operate, and identifying emerging threats, allows us to inform and support prevention and disruption actions, creating a more hostile operating environment for serious and organised crime actors.
Key enablers
Enablers are activities or capabilities that underpin and contribute to the effectiveness of serious and organised crime. They may be crimes themselves. The key enablers described here are widely used in Australia, although not all enablers are present in every illicit market. Multiple enablers may be used concurrently within the same criminal enterprise.
Technology
Most serious and organised crime activities make use of technology and digital infrastructure. Examples include technology-enabled identity crime and fraud in the areas of banking, trade and superannuation.
The ability to target individuals remotely from any location in the world is attractive to serious and organised crime groups that use technology to target the financial sector or trade illicit goods. Serious and organised crime uses tools such as generative AI to simplify complex tasks, enabling offenders to commit more sophisticated crime online – with increased frequency and speed, against greater numbers of victims – while lowering barriers to entry and creating opportunities for non-specialists to enter criminal markets. The rapid increase in generative artificial intelligence (AI) capability and uptake in serious and organised crime is a challenge for law enforcement.
Through the use of online platforms and services, child sexual exploitation and abuse are becoming more prevalent, commodified and organised. Offenders increasingly use technological means to commit acts of exploitation and abuse such as grooming children and distributing child abuse material.
Professional facilitation
The role of professional facilitators of criminal activity is a fundamental issue for law enforcement and regulatory agencies. In an increasingly complex global environment, criminals engage a range of professional facilitators – such as legal, real estate and accounting professionals and other business services providers, including registered migration agents and education agents – to assist them to commit crimes, avoid detection and conceal assets.
Crime-as-a-service
Crime-as-a-service arrangements provide opportunities for criminal entities with limited knowledge or capability to expand and diversify their activities by purchasing or outsourcing expertise in illicit activity. Crime-as-a-service is easily accessible and has a low cost to implement.
The availability of crime-as-a-service lowers the barriers to entry, allowing greater scope for serious and organised crime activity to be committed by individual actors. It provides the opportunity for a new generation of digital nativesto engage in serious criminal activities.
The crime-as-a-service model allows serious and organised crime networks to gain resources and optimise sales and profits while developing mutually beneficial partnerships with other criminal networks. It can also impede the discovery of criminal threats and the identification of offenders.
Identity crime
As well as being one of the most common types of crime committed in Australia, identity crime is an enabler of other significant criminal activities, including money laundering, financial crime, drug trafficking and fraud.
There is a growing trend towards commissioning identity crime online through the production and sale of identity documentation and fraudulent use of personal information.
The true extent of identity crime is difficult to quantify, due to under-reporting, differences in jurisdictional reporting, and instances where identify theft is undetected.
Violence and intimidation
Violence and intimidation underpin serious and organised criminal activity in various ways. For example, they may be used to extort financial gain, to coerce people or businesses into facilitating or undertaking criminal activity, or to control drug networks and settle disputes.
Violence linked to organised crime is becoming increasingly visible and brazen, with innocent bystanders and legitimate businesses often caught in the crossfire. Incidents such as daylight shootings, arson attacks and public acts of intimidation are occurring more frequently. Some criminal groups even record and share footage of their offences, amplifying fear and normalising violent behaviour.
The escalating frequency and severity of such violence erodes community confidence, leaving people feeling less safe, less secure and more divided.
Public sector corruption
Exploitation of the public sector by serious and organised crime groups weakens the instruments of government and strengthens criminal networks, undermining the community’s confidence in government and public officials.
Areas most at risk include bodies responsible for procurement, across all levels of government; frontline agencies such as police, customs and border protection; and any agencies responsible for dispensing government funding without established anti-corruption practices.
Australia is at lower risk from serious and organised criminal involvement in public sector corruption. However, corruption of individuals in private companies, industries, and union organisations – highlighted by recent incidents and investigations involving organised crime links to the building industry in Australia – suggests that there is a need to remain vigilant in this area.
Key markets
Australia is exposed to serious and organised criminal activities conducted locally and across geographic boundaries. Key crime markets include illicit commodities such as drugs and firearms, and increasingly sophisticated enterprises such as financial crime and intellectual property crime.
Illicit commodities
Serious and organised crime groups with significant supply chain capability are highly active in Australian markets for illicit commodities such as drugs, tobacco and firearms. They are increasingly commodity agnostic, and engage across multiple networks, methodologies and commodities to generate criminal profits and enhance their capability.
Drugs and precursor chemicals
The illegal importation, manufacture, cultivation and distribution of harmful drugs in Australia generates billions of dollars in profits for organised criminal groups.
The Australian illicit drug market is sustained by demand for a wide variety of substances, as described in Table 2.1. Some serious and organised crime groups capitalise on the demand by importing, cultivating, manufacturing or trafficking several drug types simultaneously.
|
Substance |
Market characteristics |
|---|---|
|
Cannabis |
Serious and organised crime (SOC) groups are well established in the Australian cannabis market, although they do not dominate it. The market is robust and profitable, and supplied by a large number of often unsophisticated groups and individuals. Almost all cannabis consumed in Australia is cultivated domestically, and some cultivation is increasingly sophisticated and coordinated. Cannabis is the most consumed illicit drug in Australia. Report 24 of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program (the Program) shows the level of cannabis consumption is nearly 4 times that of methylamphetamine consumption. Regional average consumption exceeds capital city average consumption. Consumption remained relatively stable between August 2023 and August 2024. |
|
Cocaine |
All cocaine imported into Australia is almost certainly sourced from South American countries. SOC groups import cocaine through many different transhipment points. Report 24 of the Program shows that cocaine consumption has increased in all states and territories to the highest weight recorded by the Program. Average capital city consumption exceeds average regional consumption. During the year ended August 2024, an estimated 6,835 kilograms of cocaine was consumed nationally, with an estimated street value of $2.22 billion. |
|
Hallucinogens and anaesthetics |
While the markets for hallucinogens and anaesthetics do not rival the major illicit drug markets, they do have a tangible SOC presence and show signs of expansion. The ketamine market is a concern, due to its links to poly-drug use with other illicit stimulants and the very large market for ketamine across parts of Asia. Ketamine is both illicitly imported and diverted domestically from the medical and veterinary sectors. Ketamine has been monitored by the Program since December 2020. Report 24 of the Program shows ketamine excretion increased in capital cities in October 2024 to the highest levels recorded by the Program. Capital city average excretion exceeds regional average excretion. |
|
Heroin |
All heroin in Australia is imported by SOC groups, and almost all of it originates in South-East Asia. Report 24 of the Program shows that heroin consumption has increased in all states and territories to a record high level. Average capital city consumption exceeds average regional consumption. During the year ended August 2024, an estimated 1,137 kilograms of heroin was consumed nationally, with an estimated street value of $284.25 million. |
|
Synthetic opioids |
Synthetic opioids in the illicit market in Australia include nitazenes, opioid-based pain relief medications such as fentanyl and oxycodone, opioid substitution drugs, and codeine. The Program monitors the consumption of fentanyl and oxycodone, with data reflecting both licit and illicit use. Report 24 of the Program shows that consumption of these drugs remains relatively stable at lower levels than were reported earlier in the Program. Average regional consumption generally exceeds capital city consumption. Nitazenes pose a significant threat and are being closely monitored to identify new substances and the nature and extent of SOC involvement in supply. Nitazenes continue to be implicated in fatal overdoses. |
|
MDMAa |
SOC groups are involved in the importation, domestic manufacture (to a limited extent) and distribution of MDMA in Australia. Most MDMA that is imported into Australia is sourced in Europe. Report 24 of the Program shows that average consumption of MDMA has increased in all states and territories. During the year ended August 2024, an estimated 1,430 kilograms of MDMA was consumed nationally, with an estimated street value of $147.93 million. |
|
Methylamphetamine |
SOC groups are involved in the importation, domestic manufacture and distribution of methylamphetamine in Australia. Imported methylamphetamine is primarily sourced from Asia and the Americas. Domestic manufacture constitutes an estimated 20% of the market, and is becoming more diverse and sophisticated. Methylamphetamine causes disproportionate harm because there is strong and resilient demand for the drug in both capital city and regional areas. Report 24 of the Program shows that average methylamphetamine consumption has increased in all states and territories to the highest level recorded by the Program. Average regional consumption exceeds capital city consumption. During the year ended August 2024, an estimated 12,815 kilograms of methylamphetamine was consumed nationally, with an estimated street value of $8.97 billion. |
|
GHB, GBL and 1,4-BDb |
The involvement of SOC groups in the related markets of GHB, GBL and 1,4-BD is highlighted through multi-tonne illicit importations and diversion from legitimate industrial uses. All 3 substances feature in poly-drug use with substances such as methylamphetamine. The drug 1,4-BD was scheduled in Commonwealth legislation in early 2024. Since then there have been sizeable detections at the border, the total amount of which is rivalled only by detections of methylamphetamine. |
|
New psychoactive substances |
SOC groups have limited influence in the market for new psychoactive substances, which have similar chemical structures to, or mimic the effects of, other illicit drugs. These substances have been available in Australia since the mid-2000s. Hundreds of the substances are introduced to the market each year, and many feature for only short periods of time. Through the surface web and the dark web, the internet is used extensively for buying, selling and sharing information on these substances. The market is highly reactive, appearing to change in response to user preferences and to changes in other drug markets, and does not rival the traditional drug markets in terms of use or size. |
|
Performance and image enhancing drugs |
Users from an increasingly diverse demographic are consuming a wide range of performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs). SOC groups are involved in the importation and manufacture of PIEDs, but do not dominate the market. The market for PIEDs is linked to the markets for illicit stimulants and illicit pharmaceuticals. In this market the role of professional facilitators, such as doctors and pharmacists, is a major concern. There is potential for growth in the market as the substances are used increasingly to enhance personal image as well as performance. |
|
Precursor chemicals |
Precursor chemicals are essential for illicit drug production, and the diversion and trafficking of precursor chemicals is a profitable enterprise in itself. Precursor chemicals can be diverted from a range of sources, including the legitimate chemical industry, the scientific supply industry, the transportation and logistics industry, or medical facilities and pharmacies. SOC groups dominate the sophisticated end of this market. Large importations of precursor chemicals have been detected in recent years. This market has potential to increase as the domestic manufacture of drugs forms part of the business model of sophisticated SOC groups. The market is increasingly seeing SOC groups move to the use of pre-precursors to avoid regulatory and legislative controls over the more traditional precursors. |
a MDMA is the chemical 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ‘ecstasy’.
b GHB is the chemical gamma hydroxybutyrate, also commonly known as ‘fantasy’. GBL (gamma butyrolactone) and 1,4-BD (1,4-butanediol) are closely related chemicals that convert to GHB when ingested.
Other commodities
Serious and organised crime groups are expanding their involvement in the highly lucrative illicit tobacco market in Australia, through the illegal importation of tobacco and vape products and the local production of illicit tobacco.
While Australia has some of the strongest firearm controls in the world, illicitly obtained firearms remain a significant enabler of criminal activity. Organised crime groups, including outlaw motorcycle gangs, use firearms to gain status and to enact or threaten violence. The nature and extent of firearms trafficking by these groups remains an ongoing focus.
In 2023, the ACIC conservatively estimated that there were approximately 200,000 illicit firearms, comprising 190,000 long arms and 10,000 handguns, in the domestic illicit market. The rapid rate of technological advancement in privately manufactured 3D-printed firearms requires careful monitoring, to provide early warning and action options in the event that serious and organised crime groups turn to 3D printing to source potentially lethal weapons at scale.
Financial crime
Financial crimes are diverse in their nature and scale, and in the level of harm they cause. Financial crime markets include money laundering, cybercrime, investment and financial market fraud, revenue and taxation fraud, superannuation fraud, card fraud, and health and welfare fraud.
The expansion of serious and organised crime in the financial sector poses a significant risk to the integrity of Australia’s economy, financial markets, regulatory frameworks and revenue collection.
Transnational crime markets
Among the crime markets that transcend national boundaries, the following present a particular threat to the Australian community and Australia’s national security interests:
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Cybercrime – Cybercrime covers a wide variety of offences, including identity crime, computer hacking, phishing, botnet activity, computer-facilitated crime, and cyber intrusion directed at private and national infrastructure.
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Money laundering – Organised criminals use money laundering networks to transfer, store and access proceeds of crime. The international flow of illicit proceeds threatens global security and economic stability.
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Online sexual exploitation and extortion – The threat of child sex offending is exacerbated by evolving methods of offending, such as live online abuse; developments in digital technology; and the deployment of end-to-end encryption and anonymising tools. AI tools industrialise the production of child abuse material and provide opportunities to monetise its distribution. In addition, serious and organised crime groups are becoming increasingly involved in financially motivated online sexual extortion.
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Human trafficking and slavery – This is a global concern, and the mass movement of refugees and migrants in recent years has escalated the threat. Under-reporting is endemic within this crime type, but increased awareness and outreach programs are likely to have contributed to increasing referrals to law enforcement for these offences.
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Visa and migration fraud – Serious and organised crime groups exploit the Australian visa and migration system, engaging the services of professional facilitators to enable entry into Australia.
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Intellectual property crime – Piracy and counterfeiting are serious international issues. The main forms of intellectual property crime in Australia are the importation of counterfeit goods, such as clothing, and the domestic manufacture of goods that infringe copyright.
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Environmental crime – Environmental crimes are diverse and occur in several crime markets, including wildlife crime, illegal logging and fishing, and illegal disposal of rubbish. Transnational organised crime syndicates and opportunistic individuals exploit these markets, which are characterised by high profit margins and low detection rates.