Previous: The contemporary serious and organised crime environment
Crime is increasingly violent and visible
Violence in our communities is becoming more visible. Kingpins can hide offshore and use technology to both hide and direct targeting against rivals. They recruit and take advantage of vulnerable young people to carry out violent acts – and provide access to weapons and other capabilities. They operate with reckless abandon; secure in their safe havens and hidden behind technology, they are increasingly open to tasking out violence in public places without regard for collateral damage.
A growing intersection between crime and national security
Serious and organised crime groups are now a national security threat. There is evidence of a growing global trend of state and non-state actors recruiting criminals to do their dirty work. Criminal groups have the networks, access, and resources that are attractive to state and non-state actors willing to pay well for their help in carrying out harmful activities. These criminals often work through layers of middlemen, so they may not even know who is ultimately behind the tasking or the end goal. Even less sophisticated or lower-level criminal networks can still cause serious damage to community safety and wellbeing, as we have seen across Australia over the past year.
Drugs are getting deadlier
Highly potent synthetic opioids are a significant concern. Substances like nitazenes can be more potent than fentanyl and have resulted in recent deaths in Australia.
While our wastewater monitoring doesn’t indicate large nitazenes usage, it has confirmed usage across Australia of substances where even a small dose can be fatal. Some serious and organised crime groups have been covertly lacing vape liquid and some illicit drugs with nitazenes – substances that users do not expect to contain highly potent opioids. This has resulted in deaths and presents a clear risk to the health and wellbeing of Australians.
Serious and organised crime groups are building capability online
Serious and organised crime groups routinely use digital technology to enhance their capabilities and operations, whether it’s cryptocurrency to help launder funds or encrypted messaging platforms to communicate. But transnational serious and organised crime groups are increasingly shifting their operations into bespoke online ecosystems. These encrypted and privacy-focused digital platforms are environments where criminals can anonymously communicate, trade illicit goods and coordinate activities – hardening their actions against enforcement and disruption.
Multiple South East Asia-based criminal networks are exploiting new and emerging technologies to facilitate billions of dollars in illicit transactions. These networks are blending legitimate business with criminal activity to establish online ecosystems – where remittance services are offered through payment platforms, alongside cryptocurrency exchange services and technical support to illicit marketplaces. This includes money laundering for cybercrime groups, serious criminals, state actors, human trafficking networks and child exploitation syndicates, as well as money laundering for notorious industrialised scam centres.
Minors are increasingly being recruited
Because of the unique value minors bring (they are cheaper to hire than adults, are more easily influenced, impressionable and accessible online), serious and organised crime groups have recruited them for illicit activities like car theft, drug trafficking and violence. This is regularly seen in Australia across the illicit tobacco trade and is part of a growing international trend.
The youth gangs of today have the potential to become tomorrow’s highest threat serious and organised crime groups. One notable group started as a gang in the late 2000s, with its roots in Pacific Islander youth culture. Initially developed as feeder crews to other established serious and organised crime groups, over time members established their own relationships with offshore networks and now pose a serious and organised crime threat in their own right. What began as a group of youths, linked together through cultural ties committing petty crimes, developed into a more defined group characterised by extreme violence including homicides. In 2025, the group is running independent drug ventures and illicit finance activities. The trajectory of this group and its members demonstrates the progression and potential of youth offenders as future serious and organised crime threats.
The evolving capability of 3D-printed firearms
While 3D-printed firearms have been around for over a decade, they have largely been regarded as niche and with limited capability. But 3D-printed firearm capabilities are continuously improving. The issue of 3D-printed firearms is no longer merely emerging, some can be a viable tool for certain criminal activity. We remain concerned about serious and organised crime groups’ uptake, trafficking and use of these weapons with lethal capability.
Next: Outlook