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Regulatory Watch News

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  The money trail behind migrant smuggling

  UNODC

  October 27, 2026

    People may pay anything from USD 20 to USD 25,000 to be smuggled across borders. They often pay the price in hopes of achieving a safer future and a better life, but smuggling can also expose migrants to dangerous journeys, extortion and abuse. What is less visible is the journey that the money takes. Every payment made to a smuggler sets in motion a complex financial chain involving brokers, suppliers, facilitators, service providers, corrupt officials and, in some cases, money launderers. Understanding how these funds move is key to identifying, disrupting and prosecuting migrant smuggling networks. The new research brief Typology of the Financial Aspects of Smuggling of Migrants developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) sheds light on the financial mechanisms that sustain migrant smuggling operations and highlights opportunities for law enforcement authorities to follow the money and dismantle criminal networks.

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  Romania: EPPO indicts six defendants in €7 million fraud involving EU-funded tugboats

  October 26, 2026

  (Luxembourg, 26 October 2026) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) has filed an indictment with the Iași Court against four public officials from the Lower Danube River Administration (AFDJ Galați), an individual and a company, in connection with the fraudulent purchase of two tugboats for the Lower Danube. The project received approximately €7 million in EU funding under the 2014–2020 Large Infrastructure Operational Programme.

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  FINTRAC results by the numbers 2025–26

  FINTRAC

  October 23, 2026

  Record financial intelligence production in 2025-26, providing strong support for investigations targeting money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion and threats to Canada's security, as well as other offences such as extortion, fraud, illegal fentanyl and human trafficking. Recent FATF evaluation found that FINTRAC's financial intelligence was substantially effective in supporting investigations – law enforcement used the Centre's financial intelligence in 94% of their money laundering and criminal possession investigations