Newsweek reported that North Korea earns around $100 million a year selling missiles to countries such as Iran, Syria, and Pakistan.

Source:  “How Kim Affords His Nukes,” Newsweek, May 30, 3009.

7 million people are estimated to access illegal downloads each year in the United Kingdom.  These users access free materials that is valued at 12 billion British Pounds ($19 billion).

Half of all net traffic in the United Kingdom is for illegal downloads.

Source:  “Seven million ‘use illegal files’”, BBC News, May 28, 2009.

According to the head of the United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs, organized crime groups worldwide had total assets of $322 Billion in 2005.

Source: Daniel Flynn and Antonella Cinelli, “Crisis hands crime groups chance to extend grip: U.N,” Reuters, May 28, 2009.

An estimated 600 tons of cocaine is transported out of Colombia each year.

Source: “Oldest insurgent force marches on,” BBC News, May 27, 2009.

Law enforcement officials in Canada reported in the 2009 Integrated Threat Assessment on Organized Crime that there are 135 organized crime groups active in the province of British Colombia.

Source:  Kim Bolan, “Biggest B.C. crime groups thrive as street gangs rage war: RCMP,” Vancouver Sun, May 26, 2009.

According to a US Law Enforcement official, the drug business for Mexican cartels is estimated at $28.5 billion. Of this amount, only about $1 billion is intercepted by law enforcement. 

Source:  Andria Simmons, “Quiet Atlanta suburbs draw drug cartels,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 26, 2009. 

Ransom payments made to pirates in Somalia are difficult to track due to the payments being made in cash, according to the BBC. An estimated $80 million in ransom payments are believed to have been laundered by organized crime syndicates in the Gulf region, but this has been denied by Gulf authorities.

The BBC also has a breakdown by the United Nations on how the ransom payments are distributed.

Although there is no universal set of rules, a UN report based on information gathered from pirates based in the north-eastern village of Eyl, reveals some interesting information about how the ransom spoils are divided:

• Maritime militia, pirates involved in actual hijacking – 30%

• Ground militia (armed groups who control the territory where the pirates are based) – 10%

• Local community (elders and local officials) – 10%

• Financier – 20%

• Sponsor – 30%

The UN report found the payments are shared virtually equally between the maritime militia, although the first pirate to board the ship gets a double share or a vehicle.

And compensation is paid to the family of any pirate killed during the operation.

Source:  Mary Harper, Chasing the Somali piracy money trail,” BBC News, May 24, 2009.

The state of Selangor in Malaysia destroyed over $7 million (25 million Malaysian Ringgit) worth of smuggled cigarettes that was seized in 2008.  The cigarettes were seized over 163 cases and represented a loss to the government of close to $28 million (100 million Malaysian Ringgit).

Source:  V. Shankar Ganesh, “Customs destroy RM25 million in smuggled cigarettes,” New Straits Times, May 25, 2009.

The government of the Philippines loses up to $616 million (29 billion Philippine Peso) to cigarette smuggling activities.

A pack of Marlboros in the Philippines costs $0.50.

70 percent of all cigarettes sold in the Philippines are sold as “sticks,” which are cigarettes sold as individual units as opposed to packs.

Source:  Chay Florentino Hoflena, “Philippines haven for cigarette smugglers,” ABS-CBN News, May 26, 2009.

According to the FBI, over 101 million background checks have been made by the FBI on would-be purchasers of firearms in the United States since 1998.  Out of these 101 million, 1.5 percent of applicants have been rejected from purchasing a gun.

Source: Dave Schiller, “Gun dealers rarely charged in trafficking plots,” Houston Chronicle, May 24, 2009.