Organized crime in Pakistan
refers to the activities of groups of organized crime in Pakistan, The Pakistani
Mafia is spread in many countries and are also politically supported and
politicized. Pakistani Mafia groups are mostly ethnically-based and have
influence over government. The Pakistani Mafia is involved in drug trafficking,
assassination, land grabbing, arms smuggling and various other illegal
activities.Other known gangsters from Pakistan are Rehman Dakait of the Peoples'
Aman Committee. Pakistan is also known to large drug cartels which export heroin
created in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is known to be the largest producer of
heroin on earth (see Opium production in Afghanistan), but due no existing
connections to the International waters, most heroin is exported through
Pakistan to various regions on earth, such as Middle east, Europe, and
Australia.Political parties such as MQM or the Peoples' Aman Committee, accused
of being behind crime in cities like Karachi, are however not as such organized
crime groups. Pakistani gangs active in the United Kingdom, as well as several
Scandinavian countries to a lesser extent, are a much closer and traditional
example of organized crime.[2] Great Britain-based Pakistani organized crime
groups mostly come from Mirpuri and Pathan backgrounds and are mostly known for
drug trafficking (mainly heroin), arms dealing, as well as other criminal
activities.The main Criminal activities:
Drug trafficking
weapon trafficking
robbery
contract killing
fraud
money laundering
counterfeiting
extortion
illegal gambling
murder
Crime in Pakistan is present in various forms. Organised crime includes drug
trafficking, money laundering, extortion,black marketeering, political violence,
terrorism, abduction etc.Pakistan falls under the Golden Crescent,which is one
of the two major illicit opium producing centres in Asia. Opium poppy
cultivation in Pakistan is estimated to be 800 hectares in 2005 yielding a
potential production of 4 metric tons of heroin. Opium is cultivated primarily
in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Pakistan-Afghanistan border.Until the
late 1970s, opium production levels were relatively static; it increased after
1979.An estimated $4 billion is generated from drug trafficking in
Pakistan.Petty crime like theft is common.