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.
It asks 3 things — 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 run for profit and sustained by violence and corruption; terrorism pursues political ends, but the two increasingly share money, routes and manpower.
Cover
- Types: trafficking in drugs, arms, humans and wildlife and smuggling of gold; predatory crime such as extortion, contract killing and illegal mining; financial and cyber crime such as fake currency, hawala, money laundering and cybercrime.
- National funding links: extortion and levies on contractors and traders finance insurgent and extremist groups.
- National logistics: narcotics and arms smuggling in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, fake currency and hawala channels, and local gangs that give 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: drug routes from the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle finance terror and carry arms; crime networks with terror links, as in the 1993 Mumbai blasts; enablers such as the dark web, cryptocurrency, shell companies and safe havens abroad.
- Response: the UAPA amendment (2019) lets the Centre designate individuals as terrorists; NIA, FIU-IND and FATF standards; the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its three protocols, ratified by India in 2011.
Close with · Cutting the money, the arms routes and the protection networks together, at home through UAPA and financial intelligence and abroad through the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and FATF standards, breaks the crime-terror nexus.
Add value (verified)
- India ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its three protocols, and the UN Convention against Corruption, in May 2011; UNTOC is the main international instrument against transnational organised crime.PIB (13 May 2011), Ministry of External Affairs: India ratify UN Conventions against Transnational Organised Crime and Corruption ↗“India has ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its three protocols and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime.”
- The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 (passed by Lok Sabha on 24 July 2019) aimed at speedy investigation and prosecution of terror offences and at designating an individual as a terrorist, in line with international practice.PIB (24 July 2019), Ministry of Home Affairs: Lok Sabha passes the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 ↗“the object of the proposed amendments is to facilitate speedy investigation and prosecution of terror offences and designating an individual as terrorist in line with the international practices.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 224words · Minimalist IAS
Organised crime is a continuing criminal enterprise for profit, sustained by violence and corruption; terrorism pursues political ends, yet the two increasingly share money, routes and manpower.
Types of organised crime
- Trafficking: drugs, arms, humans and wildlife, and gold smuggling.
- Predatory: extortion rackets, contract killing and illegal mining.
- Financial and cyber: fake currency, hawala, money laundering and cybercrime.
Linkages at the national level
- Funding: extortion and levies on contractors and traders finance insurgent groups.
- Logistics: narcotics and arms smuggling in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, hawala channels for terror money, and gangs supplying shelter and couriers.
- Protection: the Vohra Committee (1993) found ties among crime syndicates, politicians and officials that shelter both.
Linkages at the transnational level
- Narco-terror: drug routes from the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle finance terror and carry arms across borders.
- Syndicates: crime networks with terror links, as in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, whose explosives a smuggling network landed.
- Enablers: porous borders, the dark web, cryptocurrency, shell companies and safe havens abroad.
Way forward
- Law and cooperation: the UAPA amendment (2019) lets the Centre designate individuals as terrorists; FIU-IND and FATF standards follow the money; the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (ratified 2011) binds partners.
Cutting the money, the arms routes and the protection networks together, at home and through the UN Convention and FATF standards, breaks the crime-terror nexus.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
