Abstract

This webinar will examine the symbiotic relationship between terrorism and organised crime where each creates opportunity for the other. The crime-terror nexus exists in three general forms: terrorist militants protecting criminal activity for profit; exchanging illicit goods; and taxation for criminal operations in terrorist territory. Another piece to the evolution of the crime-terror nexus is the birth of crime-terror hybrid organisations. These organisations fund terror operations through criminal enterprise while protecting themselves from potential targeting by law enforcement. Terrorist organisations have also weaponised advancements in technologies like cryptocurrencies and the darknet to conceal their finances and illicit transactions. The speaker will also discuss some ways by law enforcement agencies, security institutions and fintech stakeholders to combat the growing threat from terrorist use of cryptocurrencies and the darknet. The speaker will share a case study of how, in 2017, Dutch law enforcement infiltrated Hansa Market, a darknet marketplace that sold drugs and weapons, and monitored transactions for a month before shutting the site down.

About the Speaker

David Winston is an international security analyst specialising in countering violent extremism, narcotics trafficking, and global security. David has consulted for the Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfPC) since 2017, through which he helped create the NATO Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) 2020 Counter Terrorism Reference Curriculum. David is the former Senior Research Fellow for the Asia-Pacific Foundation, where he advised governments on global security. He previously served as a member of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Mobile Training Team of experts, giving lectures on developing border threats to border security officials around the world. In 2022, he published his book “Narco-Insecurity, Inc.: The Convergence of the Narcotics Underworld and Extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Its Global Proliferation” through NATO’s DEEP. David is currently a research data specialist for the state of California.