What do suspicious transactions say about drug dealers and money laundering?

• In Event: The variety of money laundering: empirical research and criminological perspectives (EUROC)

Abstract

In answer to this question, 13,159 individuals registered with the Dutch police as drug trafficking suspects between 2016-2020 were matched with data from the Financial Intelligence Unit-Netherlands. It turns out that one in five drug suspects is registered with one or more suspicious transactions. The results also show that measuring the effectiveness of the reporting chain needs a nuanced approach which gives weight to an individual’s number of transactions, amount involved and time period. Furthermore, the findings can also add weight to the discussion about money laundering risks

Author

• Melvin Soudijn, National Police of the Netherlands (KLPD)