UNODC warns that South-East Asia’s criminal economy is becoming a single interconnected ecosystem linking synthetic drugs, online scams, human trafficking, underground banking and large-scale money laundering

The Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment for South-East Asia 2026 describes a structural shift from locally rooted criminal groups towards flexible transnational networks that share infrastructure, financial channels and technology. The convergence allows criminal organisations to diversify their income, move proceeds across borders more efficiently and exploit weak governance, conflict areas and uneven enforcement across the region.