Discuss the types of organised crimes. Describe the linkages between terrorists and organised crime that exist at the national and transnational levels.
Approach · directive: “discuss / describe”
What it asks · List the main types of organised crime, then describe how terrorists link with crime groups within India and across borders.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- Discuss the types of organised crime
- Describe the linkages between terrorists and organised crime at the national level
- Describe the linkages at the transnational level
Open with · Organised crime is a continuing criminal enterprise for profit, backed by violence and corruption; when it meets terrorism, each strengthens the other.
Cover
- Types: drug and arms trafficking, human trafficking, extortion and protection rackets, smuggling of gold and wildlife, fake currency, illegal mining, cybercrime, contract killing and money laundering.
- National links: extortion and levies funding insurgent and extremist groups; narcotics and arms in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir; fake currency and hawala moving terror money; gangs giving logistics.
- Criminal-political nexus: the Vohra Committee (1993) pointed to ties among crime syndicates, politicians and officials that shelter both crime and terror.
- Transnational links: drug routes from the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle financing terror, smuggling of arms and explosives, and crime syndicates with terror links, as in the 1993 Mumbai blasts.
- Enablers: porous borders, the dark web and cryptocurrency, hawala and shell companies, corruption in enforcement and safe havens abroad.
- Response: NIA and UAPA, State police and BSF coordination, financial intelligence (FIU-IND, FATF standards), cyber policing and cooperation under UN conventions.
Close with · Cutting the money, the arms routes and the protection networks, with international cooperation, is central to breaking the crime-terror nexus.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 221 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
Organised crime is a continuing criminal enterprise run for profit and sustained by violence and corruption; terrorism pursues political ends, but the two increasingly share money, routes and manpower.
Types of organised crime
- Trafficking: drugs, arms, humans and wildlife, and smuggling of gold and other contraband.
- Predatory: extortion and protection rackets, contract killing and illegal mining.
- Financial and cyber: fake currency, hawala and money laundering, and cybercrime.
National linkages
- Funding: extortion and levies on contractors and traders finance insurgent and extremist groups.
- Logistics: narcotics and arms smuggling in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, fake currency and hawala channels that move terror money, and local gangs that supply shelter, weapons and couriers.
- Nexus: the Vohra Committee (1993) pointed to ties among crime syndicates, politicians and officials that shelter both crime and terror.
Transnational linkages
- Narco-terror: drug routes from the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle finance terror groups and carry arms and explosives across borders.
- Syndicates: crime networks with terror links, as in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, where a smuggling network landed the explosives.
- Enablers: porous borders, the dark web and cryptocurrency, hawala and shell companies, corrupt enforcement and safe havens abroad.
Cutting the money, the arms routes and the protection networks, through NIA and UAPA, financial intelligence (FIU-IND, FATF standards) and cooperation under UN conventions, is central to breaking the crime-terror nexus.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.