Law Enforcement Technological Innovation Consolidation for Fight Against Online Drug Crimes

Abstract

The Lion DC project aims to provide Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) with new skills, methodologies and tools in the fight against drug trafficking, given major discernible shifts in the utilisation of digital environments (eg. traditional social media) regarding distribution and sale of drugs such as the increasingly widespread use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies by organized crime. In order to enhance LEA capacity to identify the flow of drugs and key players involved, either to thwart criminal activity or to determine guilt after the fact, the project will: test the efficiency, unique capabilities, and shortfalls in the use of various forms of technology, as well as Open Source Intelligence Tools (OSINT); penetrate the Dark Web; develop novel ways of going beyond the widely used “follow the money” principle; and augment the identification and description of criminals by collating a wide range of sources, both open and closed. The key activity of the Lion DC initiative is real, case based, cross border exercising in drug criminality, which will be enacted by LEA practitioners, providing opportunities for LEA together with academia to share expertise, methodologies and analytical capabilities; and to identify available tools and rank them on their feasibility and usefulness. In addition, specific train-the-trainer modules in the fight against drug trafficking on the Dark Web will be developed and piloted, and an OSINT sandbox will be created that will integrate promising technologies, innovations and research projects such as a Dark Web simulator, and frameworks for tracing illegal use of cryptocurrencies. The cooperation of Networks (eg. ENLETS SENTER i-LEAD) will facilitate the co-creation process between LEA and academia; and open up wide opportunities to disseminate results across all Member State, Law Enforcement organizations (initially in NL, LT, PL, BG, GR, Gibraltar), as well as EU and International security agencies (CEPOL, EUROPOL, etc.).