COUNTERING TRANSNATIONAL CRIME ON THE BALKAN ROUTE: THE ROLE OF INFORMATION SHARING AND CROSS-BORDER INVESTIGATIONS
Keywords:
Balkan Route, Transnational Organised Crime, Information Sharing, Cross-Border Investigations, Regional CooperationAbstract
Purpose:
Criminal networks continue to use the Balkan Route to smuggle drugs, firearms, migrants, and other goods into and across Europe, taking advantage of its geostrategic position and other conditions that make smuggling easier. At the same time, they constantly adapt and refine their tactics to stay ahead of law enforcement and avoid being detected. That's why law enforcement has to advance the intelligence gathering and cross-border investigations to detect and suppress these illicit flows. Therefore, this paper aims to assess how transnational law enforcement cooperation contributes to more effective responses to the criminal networks operating along this route.
Design/Methods/Approach:
This study uses a qualitative research design. It includes two methods: desk research of academic literature, including relevant institutional reports by international organisations and regional law enforcement initiatives, and case studies presenting successfully conducted regional operations. Also, the operational use of Joint Investigation Teams (JITs), regional intelligence-sharing platforms, and real-time data exchange mechanisms is analysed to evaluate their functionality and results.
Findings:
Important improvements in the regional coordination and intelligence-sharing among the countries along the Balkan Route through different law enforcement initiatives are evident. This means that Western Balkan countries can be considered as credible participants in the international operations. Many examples of successful joint cross-border investigations have shown that intelligence-led operations significantly increase their efficiency and impact. However, certain gaps in national legal harmonisation, operational capacities, interoperability, and mutual trust among agencies still exist and limit the broader effectiveness.
Originality/Value:
This paper contributes to the academic literature linking intelligence-led policing and cross-border investigations with transnational crime control along the Balkan Route by providing a regionally specific analysis. The findings and conclusions from the study show that international law enforcement cooperation through information-sharing and conducting joint operations is vital for detecting and suppressing transnational crime along the route.
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