The PSNI and the Garda Síochána will set up joint investigating teams and improve the transfer of evidence in criminal prosecutions, according to a joint document from the two forces, writes Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent.
The proposals were made in a jointly-published Cross-Border Organised Crime Assessment, the first such document produced by the two forces together. It was launched at a joint seminar in Belfast yesterday, and follows a cross-Border law enforcement conference last year.
That conference resulted in a series of operational successes in fighting serious and organised crime on a cross-Border basis.
Eight types of crime fall into this category, according to the report. They are money laundering and fraud, oils fraud, tobacco fraud, alcohol fraud, intellectual property crime, drugs trafficking and immigration crime.
Referring to alcohol fraud, the report said that the size of the illicit spirits market in the UK has risen from 11 per cent in 1999/2000 to 16 per cent in 2001/2002, and represents £600 million in lost revenue. The fraud occurs when criminals get alcohol held in duty suspension released onto the market, usually by being diverted from intended export into the home market.
Tobacco fraud is similar, but has recently been combined with counterfeiting. Last year the number of cigarettes seized in the UK found to be counterfeit was 41 per cent, compared with 15 per cent the previous year. Most of the product seized in the Republic was destined for the market in Northern Ireland.
Oils fraud normally involve the "laundering" of reduced-duty diesel by removing its dye, and its sale to consumers.
The report also details the incidence of vehicle crime, with cars and plant stolen, often "to order", and shipped across the Border.
Some of those involved in vehicle crime are also involved in other criminal activity, such as the unauthorised disposal of waste in unapproved sites. Over 140 illegal dumping sites have been identified so far in Northern Ireland, all containing some waste from the Republic.
The illegal drugs scene differs substantially on the two sides of the Border, with cannabis and ecstasy the most commonly used drugs in the North, while cocaine and heroin remain the most serious problem in the South. There are also clear cross-Border connections between drug gangs, according to the joint report.
While immigration authorities have identified two types of immigration crime - people smuggling, with the co-operation of the migrant, and people trafficking, where the migrants are exploited when they reach their destination - the PSNI and the Garda conclude that there is little of the latter in Ireland.
In 2003 the two forces seized €12 million worth of counterfeit goods, mainly DVDs and CDs.
Criminals involved in money-laundering and fraud use accounts in several jurisdictions to hide their activities.
One of the most common is missing trader fraud, where bogus traders buy goods VAT-free in one EU state, sell them on with VAT added, and then disappear without paying over the VAT to the appropriate state.