People smuggling has been an entrenched part of the Australian national security landscape since the mid 1990s. A variety of government efforts to target the smugglers have had mixed results over the years with a long lull in operations during the period 2002-2008. The re-emergenceof people smuggling operations targeting Australia from 2008 onwards can be attributed to a number of factors; one of the most neglected in the literature has been the continued existence of the smugglers and their support infrastructure in Indonesia during the lull period. This highlights the resilience of the criminal networks engaged in people- smuggling operations and the long-term investment made by criminals in this type of enterprise. This article seeks to address this gap in the research by first addressing the resilience of organised crime groups engaged in people smuggling; and second suggesting a range of options to increase the effectiveness of law enforcement cooperation to dismantle people-smuggling networks. The key to this cooperation will be the use of the successful, but under-utilised, surveillance network located across strategic points in the Indonesian archipelago. The use of this network coupled with existing law enforcement initiatives could signal the ‘final shock’ required to dismantle people-smuggling networks in Indonesia. © 2011 Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism.

Criminal networks people smuggling Indonesia

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