Organised crime

Nature and structure of organised crime in India

Organised crime differs from ordinary crime in its structure: a continuing syndicate with hierarchy, division of labour, corruption of public officials and the use of violence or its threat for profit. Indian syndicates evolved from Bombay's smuggling gangs of the 1960s-70s (gold, electronics) into diversified enterprises spanning real estate, film financing, extortion, drugs and contract killing. The 1990s saw the migration of kingpins abroad — Dawood Ibrahim to Karachi, others to Dubai and South-East Asia — from where they direct operations through lieutenants.

Contemporary organised crime has fragmented and digitised. The classic don-centred syndicate coexists with loose transnational networks running cyber fraud (phishing, digital arrest scams), drug distribution via darknet and courier, and illegal betting. Gangster-terrorist collaboration — criminals providing logistics, forged documents, hawala and weapons to terror groups — is the feature that elevates organised crime to a security threat.

• Syndicate hallmarks: hierarchy, continuity, corruption, violence for profit.
• 1960s-70s: smuggling era; 1980s-90s: extortion and real estate; 2000s+: drugs, cyber fraud, betting.
• Kingpins operate from abroad through local lieutenants and hired shooters.

The crime-terror nexus

The Vohra Committee (1993), set up after the Mumbai blasts, warned of a 'nexus between crime syndicates and mafia organisations' on one side and 'political personalities, bureaucrats and other sensitive functionaries' on the other. The 1993 blasts themselves were the proof: explosives landed through smuggling routes built by D-Company, transported by its network and financed through its businesses.

The nexus operates in both directions. Terror groups use criminal networks for funds (drug profits, extortion, counterfeit currency printed by state sponsors), logistics (safe houses, forged papers, weapons) and deniability. Criminal syndicates gain protection and state sponsorship. Pakistan's ISI has repeatedly leveraged D-Company and similar networks; the 2008 Mumbai attackers used criminal landing routes, and narco-terrorism funds militancy in Punjab and Kashmir.

• Vohra Committee (1993) first documented the crime-politics-terror nexus.
• 1993 Mumbai blasts: smuggling infrastructure used for RDX landing.
• Narco-terrorism: drug profits fund militancy in Punjab and J&K.
• Counterfeit Indian currency notes (FICN) are pushed through crime networks to fund terror and destabilise the economy.

Legal and institutional response

India has no central organised-crime law; the field is led by state statutes. MCOCA (Maharashtra, 1999; extended to Delhi) defines 'organised crime syndicate', makes confessions to senior police admissible under safeguards, allows extended remand and stringent bail, and permits property attachment. Gujarat (GUJCTOC), Karnataka (KCOCA), Andhra Pradesh and others have similar laws. At the central level, the PMLA attacks the money trail, UAPA covers terror-linked crime, and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018 enables confiscation of absconders' assets.

Enforcement involves state police crime branches and anti-extortion cells, the CBI for inter-state and international cases, the NCB and DRI for drugs and smuggling, and the ED for money laundering. Internationally, India uses Interpol Red Notices, extradition treaties and MLATs; the return of fugitives like Abu Salem (2005, from Portugal) shows both the possibility and the slowness of this route.

• MCOCA 1999: syndicate definition, admissible confessions, tough bail.
• PMLA 2002: attachment and prosecution of crime proceeds.
• FEO Act 2018: confiscation of fugitive economic offenders' property.
• Extradition is slow and political; deportation and Red Notices are alternatives.

Emerging forms: cyber fraud, drugs and betting

The fastest-growing organised crime is cyber-enabled fraud: 'digital arrest' scams, investment and task frauds, and phishing, often run from compounds in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos by trafficked workers, with Indian money mules laundering proceeds. Losses run into thousands of crores annually; the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the 1930 helpline were created to respond.

Drug trafficking has surged with India's position between the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan) and Golden Triangle (Myanmar): heroin through Punjab and Gujarat ports, methamphetamine into the North-East, and synthetic drugs via darknet. Illegal betting and match-fixing, centred on cricket, generate black money estimated in billions and link to hawala and money laundering. Each of these feeds the broader criminal economy that terrorists and insurgents tap.

• Digital arrest scams: fraudsters impersonate police/CBI on video calls to extort money.
• I4C and helpline 1930 coordinate cyber-fraud response and fund freezing.
• India sits between the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle drug routes.
• Illegal cricket betting feeds hawala and money-laundering networks.

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