Surrounding Countries Organised Crime

Thailand isn’t the only country in Asia with organised crime groups, other countries have bigger and better crime gangs, for example. Chinas biggest organised crime group goes by the name Triads. They are also based in other countries as well like Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macau, Taiwan, China, and also in countries with significant Chinese populations, such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Japan also has a very large organised crime family called the Yakuza (ヤクザ or やくざ ), also known as gokudō,The Japanese police, and media, call them bōryokudan ("violence group"), while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" ("chivalrous organizations"). The yakuza are notorious for their firm rules and codes of conduct and very controlled nature. They are huge in the Japanese media and work internationally with an estimated 80,900 members in 2009, they are considered to be one of the biggest and most well-known crime family syndicate in the world. 

Red Wa

Red Wa is the most dominant organized crime gang in Thailand. The Red Wa come from Burma, which is just over the border of Thailand, Burma is also called Myanmar. They are made up of people from the Va ethnic group and they work in cooperation with Chinese organized criminals in the drug business. The Red Wa have control over the methamphetamine (ice) trade in Thailand and surrounding countries and are also known for being involved in the handling and sale of other drugs, mainly heroin. Although they mainly focus on drug trafficking, Red Wa have also been involved in other crimes in order to protect their territory.

Organised Crime as of today!

As of today Thailand is experiencing serious problems with organized crime and in its battle against such crime. Currently, Thailand has no detailed laws to deal effectively with transnational organized crime, but there are a lot of laws concerning narcotics, money laundering, prostitution, and trafficking in women and children. These and other current laws were invented to deal with ordinary crime and not precisely organized crime, however there are few exceptions. Local organized crime in Thailand is mainly controlled by people of Han Chinese ethnicity, but there are many Thai crime groups as well.

What is organised crime?

Organized crime typically involves the teamwork of members to plan and do illegal or criminal activities. Organized criminal groups usually have a structure for commiting their crimes and it is usually well set out so that if they get caught they receive little to no sentencing. Organized-crime groups supply goods and services that are illegal in most places but for which there is high demand, such as gambling, illicit drugs, pornography, and prostitution. Organised crime groups usually have a leader and are commonly known as a mafia.