It is clear that most - although certainly not all - transnational crime involve trafficking in some kind of illicit products and services, or in licit products that have been obtained through illegal means. Against this background there are several observations that can be made about these illicit markets.
* The dynamics of illicit markets are easy to identify but difficult to contain. In most cases, supply chains come into being in order to meet demand.
* Most of these markets are populated by a complex mix of actors with transnational criminal organizations playing a large but not exclusive role. In the case of prostitution of both women and children, for example, criminal organizations control a significant portion of the business and are instrumental in maintaining supply. Yet supply would be more problematic were it not for the collusion of villagers willing to sell their children. Furthermore, the business would not be nearly as profitable without the connivance of segments of the tourist industry to provide sex tours to countries such as Thailand. Similar connivance can be found in the art and antiquities business.
* Most of the markets have become global in scope and generally involve trafficking of illicit products from the developing world or states in transition to the developed world. The exceptions are arms and cars. Luxury motor vehicles in particular go from the countries of Western Europe to states in transition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and to developing states in Africa. Similarly cars stolen from the United States often end up in Central and South America. This is an interesting reversal of the direction of most illicit flows.
* There is some overlap among the various markets, partly because some criminal organizations traffic in a variety of products. Once the trafficking infrastructure is in place, the product line is virtually irrelevant.
* There has to be an acknowledgement that in many of the sectors of activity examined above, there is no sharp disconnect between licit business activities and illicit or criminal activities. There are significant grey areas populated by unscrupulous entrepreneurs who move from the licit to the illicit and back again as circumstances and opportunities dictate.
* Several criminal activities, such as trafficking in people, have spawned lucrative cottage industries especially in forging of documents, end user certificates and the like.
* The overall impression from this analysis is that although governments are responding to transnational criminal organizations and transnational criminal activities, they are doing too little too late. Efforts need to be expanded especially in the area of reliable and uniform data collection. More sophisticated methodologies need to be devised and greater use made of the information available in the private sector. As a matter of urgency a central clearing house needs to be established with a focus on illicit market activities of all kinds and a recognition of the cross-linkages and synergies that are being developed.