The European Judicial Organised Crime Network (EJOCN) was inaugurated on Wednesday 25 September in The Hague (Netherlands), within the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, Eurojust.
The aim of this strategic tool is to strengthen judicial coordination between the prosecutors and judges of the 27 Member States of the European Union in the face of ever-growing organised crime, as stated in a press release by the President of Eurojust, Ladislav Hamran.
Indeed, Eurojust reports alarming figures: annual profits from illegal activities are estimated at €139 billion. Of the most threatening criminal networks, 50% are involved in drug trafficking and over 70% use corruption to facilitate their operations. Moreover, 60% of criminal groups use violence as they carry out their activities.
EJOCN intends to take action against poly-criminal activities, in the face of versatile criminal networks operating in a variety of fields: migrant smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering and drug trafficking. European ports, where 70% of drug seizures are made, are nerve centres in this fight. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)