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Crime & Corruption Stories of 2026 ... So Far

  • Writer: Morgan McBride
    Morgan McBride
  • Jul 28
  • 7 min read

Seven months into 2026, a wide array of transnational criminal activity has occurred across the globe, impacting a plethora of communities and jurisdictions.


Photo Credit: Global Organized Crime Index
Photo Credit: Global Organized Crime Index

According to the Global Organized Crime Index’s 2025 report, the global criminality score was 5.08 out of 10, a slight increase of 0.05 from the year prior.

The 2025 criminality scores indicated that Myanmar, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Paraguay, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, and Nigeria had the highest indicators of widespread criminality. The report’s evaluation of crime trends over the past five years has indicated a more nuanced global illicit market. The spike in financial and cyber-dependent crimes over the past years suggests an increasingly interwoven web of crime and corruption spanning the globe. A critical indicator highlighted in the report is the enhanced role of foreign and private-sector actors in criminal markets. All of this to say, now more than ever, indications and components of the extensive global crime industry continue to grow and expand in new ways.



The United States & India


Through “Operation Hard Ball”, a multi-year investigation into the activities of Indian crime syndicates resulted in the arrest of 24 alleged members of a transnational organized group. With links spanning the globe, this organized crime group has preyed on lower-income members of the Indian community.


Photo Credit: the U.S. Department of Justice
Photo Credit: the U.S. Department of Justice

Approximately 1,000 kilograms of cocaine, 1 kilogram of heroin, a dozen firearms, and $40,000 in cash were seized during these arrests. One of the individuals charged, Lawrence Bishnoi, allegedly orchestrated political assassinations, murders, shootings, extortion, kidnappings, drug trafficking, human smuggling, and much more from his jail cell in India.


“In public, Bishnoi projected an image of himself as a ‘patriot,’ ‘nationalist,’ and deeply religious individual through social media posts and interviews with news organizations and used this public image to recruit members and associates to his crime syndicate in India, the United States, and elsewhere.” — the U.S. Department of Justice

Bishnoi’s crime syndicate, spearheaded in part by Satinderjeet Singh as the North American leader, has been violently extorting South Asian expats throughout America. For example, prosecutors stated that a police chief in India demanded a $400,000 ransom from a Los Angeles family by threatening to falsely charge one of their India-based relatives with murder.


With the international crackdown making an impact on this transnational crime organization, it remains hard to believe that such an intricately crafted organization has been stopped by this effort.



Myanmar


Over the past decade, online scam centers have become a critical component of the illicit cyber supply chain. Reuters has reported that over 5,300 people remain trapped in online scam centers along Myanmar’s border with Thailand. These online scam centers are tightly enwrapped in the ecosystem of human trafficking, forced labor, and cybercrime. The Civil Society Network for Human Trafficking Victim Assistance (CSNHTV) estimates that around 1,600 Chinese nationals, approximately 200 Burmese, 20 Thais, and many other citizens of the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brazil, Russia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe are trapped.


Scam centers operate illegal schemes that defraud individuals around the world, earning billions of dollars in return. The victims who are trafficked to work in these centers ultimately victimize those that they are scamming on the internet; thus creating a larger web of victims worldwide.


“Your passport is confiscated, you cannot go outside, and everything is like hell, a living hell.” — a trapped Pakistani man, who spoke with The Associated Press

A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report estimated scam losses across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand at between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion in 2025. Ranging from scam cryptocurrency investment schemes to romance-based online scams, individuals enduring forced labor within these organizations scam others for their money.


A sign near a military checkpoint warns in Thai, English, and Chinese of the danger of being trafficked and forced to work in locked scam compounds across the Myanmar border, in Mae Sot, Thailand. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A sign near a military checkpoint warns in Thai, English, and Chinese of the danger of being trafficked and forced to work in locked scam compounds across the Myanmar border, in Mae Sot, Thailand. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

With Southeast Asia functioning as an epicenter for cyberfraud operations, people are lured into these scam compounds with fake ads typically promising lucrative employment opportunities. Unfortunately, Myanmar’s civil war has created an easier landscape for scammers to set up operations inside fortified compounds. These syndicates pursue “jurisdiction shopping” to find locations with weak governance and regulation, which can be further enabled through corrupt governance.


Despite the investigative successes so far, thousands of people remain trapped in the online scam centers in Myanmar, while many more are harmed by these cybercrime schemes.



Haiti


In March of 2026, tremendous violence descended on the central Haitian town of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite because a powerful gang conflicted with a vigilante group. The Gran Grif gang scattered bodies across the streets of the Jean-Denis neighborhood and set fires to homes in the area. Yet, unfortunately, that day’s events are only a small segment of the ongoing gang violence-related bloodshed encapsulating Haiti over the past few years.


Some of this violence can be traced back to the direct aftermath of the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. On July 7th, 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was shot twelve times inside his private residence near Port-au-Prince.


The area where the president's residence is located was cordoned off. Photo Credit: The BBC
The area where the president's residence is located was cordoned off. Photo Credit: The BBC

The investigations unveiled that 28 foreign mercenaries (26 Colombians and 2 Haitian-Americans) committed the attack against the president and his wife (who luckily survived her injuries). Allegedly, Dr. Christian Sanon, another Haitian American man, hired the majority of the mercenary team through a Miami-based company called CTU, run by a Venezuelan national named Tony Intriago. Further allegations throughout the investigation alluded to Dr. Sanon’s potential aim to become Haiti’s president after the death of its then-leader, President Moïse.


In 2023, vigilante groups sprouted up throughout Haiti as a force to combat the existing gangs within the nation. These vigilante groups often shut down neighborhoods, massacre suspected gangsters, set things ablaze, and leave a neighborhood irreparably harmed. On the other hand, the Gran Grif gang, amongst others, has sexually assaulted civilians, forced thousands of people to flee their homes, and dismembered people throughout the island.


People carry goods on a hill track to avoid gangs that control the main roads to Port-au-Prince. Photograph: C Siffroy/AFP/Getty
People carry goods on a hill track to avoid gangs that control the main roads to Port-au-Prince. Photograph: C Siffroy/AFP/Getty

The Associated Press reports that an estimated 90% of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, is controlled by gangs, and much of central Haiti remains under gang control as well. The United Nations human rights office also declared this year that the consolidation of control orchestrated by gangs is “unprecedented”, and that over 5,500 people have been killed in Haiti between March 1, 2025 and January 15, 2026.


As a transshipment and destination point for drugs and illegal weapons, Haiti’s value within the global criminal landscape helps fund and perpetuate the gang violence epidemic facing the nation. Corruption and economic crimes also enable the prevalence of organized crime in Haiti, as they loosen the constraints on criminal actors. Even though Haitian law enforcement and international bodies have been actively working to improve Haiti’s present situation, the mounting pressure created by the overwhelming presence of gang violence creates a troublesome landscape harming all of Haiti’s more than twelve million citizens.



Australia


Uniquely, Australia has been experiencing an increased violence spree against hospitality venues. As of May 2026, over 50 people had been arrested in connection with alleged attacks on hospitality venues within the previous two months. That time frame saw arson incidents, shootings, and kidnappings envelop the hospitality industry of Melbourne, Australia. For instance, the damage costs from May 4th and May 5th alone were estimated to be over one million dollars.


Electric Bar on Chapel Street. Photograph: Jay Kogler/AAP
Electric Bar on Chapel Street. Photograph: Jay Kogler/AAP

Investigations and arrests led to the revelation that many of those allegedly caught committing these crimes were children. Detective Superintendent Jason Kelly stated that young foot soldiers have been increasingly recruited through encrypted phone applications. Kelly further explained that, “It’s a worldwide issue in terms of how organized crime now are infiltrating children and others to do their dirty work.” With the perspective of young offenders being expendable permeating the criminal environment, some of the young people arrested for these offenses were offered less than $1,000 for their role in these attacks.


The attacks left a variety of messages for these hospitality venues, as they included threats to take the businesses and “souls” of venue owners, demands for significant payments, and cryptic threats of violence. However, the specific motives for this violent crime spree remain muddled, as a majority of the impacted venues are independently-owned and operated.


According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), officials allege that 20-year-old Jesse Hadchiti is a crime lieutenant of an organized crime syndicate linked to numerous Melbourne hospitality crimes. Hadchiti has allegedly instructed other young offenders to commit home invasions, arsons, and kidnappings across Melbourne throughout the year thus far. The behavior is further linked to a syndicate known as The Commission, whose leader, Kazem Hamad, has been involved in drug trafficking. Jesse Hadchiti said in court that he has more than 2,000 potential offenders at his disposal to commit crimes. Even though Australian officials express the progress of arresting numerous criminal actors involved in the hospitality-centered crime spree, the growing number of youth offenders and young organized crime leaders indicates a worrisome trend for organized crime moving forward.



Operation Global Chain


The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) orchestrated Operation Global Chain in early June 2026, which coordinated law enforcement agencies from 59 countries on an anti-human trafficking mission. The synchronized crackdown led to the identification of 2,070 victims, the arrest of 1,024 suspects, and the launch of 465 investigations. Led by authorities in Austria and Romania and co-coordinated by INTERPOL, Europol, Frontex, and Ameripol, the endeavor pursued trafficking networks involved in sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced criminality, and coerced begging.


Authorities in Uruguay conducted border checks on vehicles and passengers. Photo Credit: INTERPOL
Authorities in Uruguay conducted border checks on vehicles and passengers. Photo Credit: INTERPOL

The five-day operation across five continents consisted of coordinated law enforcement actions at border crossings, airports, trafficking hotspots, and other transport hubs. According to INTERPOL’s reporting, victims originated from 45 countries, with significant representation from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Moldova, and Nepal. A large percentage of these victims had been trafficked after being deceived, coerced, or targeted because of vulnerable situations that they were already in.


Unfortunately, approximately 10% of the victims discovered in this investigation were minors from the Americas, who had been subjected to sexual exploitation. Some of this can be understood through the innovative recruitment tactics of the traffickers, which have led to countries like Colombia launching new prevention campaigns regarding fraudulent job offers abroad.



Where do we go here?


As transnational criminal organizations innovate new mechanisms and strategies for their endeavors, it becomes increasingly critical to develop a more comprehensive understanding and action plan to combat the activity’s spread. Networks spanning continents and diasporas have only amplified the dangers of transnational crime on the everyday person.



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