This is no doubt true, but our ignorance also results from our lack of tools to study these flows, an absence of concepts and approaches to describe and analyze them.
i find this to be a really interesting point, I really agreed with the statement right above saying we didnt have this info because these processes are "secret" but in reality this lack of tools and more importantly dedication to this study is the real inhibitor.
the more alarming and threatening the arrow, the more effective it is-it makes policy makers sit up and pay atten-tion.
i like this comment because it also highlights that policy makers do not fully grasp this illegal flow of goods and people so a snappy visual aid can be the deciding factor for them...
"The specialization became the network itself, and its ability to procure, transport, and deliver illegal mer-chandise across countries. What the merchandise was became al-most irrelevant."
This right here makes perfect sense. If you can perfect the game of getting something somewhere, all it takes is simple changes and you can move what ever you need to in the same way. The business isnt the items, its the transport.
To these-which serve all forms of trade, legitimate and otherwise-traffickers have added creative applications of their own. T
i think that the technology part of illicit trade is just as much of a cat and mouse game as the trade itself. Whoever can keep their technologies the most advanced as they go has such a great advantage over the other.