People

Human trafficking remains a moderate problem in Argentina, with labour exploitation in agricultural production zones being the most common form of this crime. Official data shows that most rescued victims are women from Argentina who are of legal age. However, many of the raids that aim to rescue trafficking victims result in the apprehension of smuggled individuals who have incurred significant debt to get to Argentina. Foreign criminal actors from various countries operate in Argentina, and corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes is a concern. Traffickers are increasingly using social media and youth sports clubs to reach victims.

Argentina is both a destination and a transit country for human smuggling, with people entering from Bolivia and Brazil. Smuggling activities are mainly facilitated by co-nationals and friends living in Argentina rather than criminal networks. Buenos Aires, Rosario, and Rio de la Plata are destinations for smuggled individuals, and women living in northern Argentina reportedly guide individuals smuggled into Argentinian territory from Bolivia. The smuggling of humans remains an issue in most land and sea border areas, particularly in the north-west on the Bolivian border and in the north-east on the triple border with Paraguay and Brazil. Chinese mafia-style groups and other hybrid actors are known to be involved in smuggling into Argentina. Transnational organizations linked to the smuggling of Venezuelan and Colombian nationals are also present in major cities.

Extortion and protection racketeering are prevalent in some regions of Argentina. In Rosario, criminal groups and family clan networks, coordinated from prison, have contributed to an increase in extortion cases, with these groups being emboldened by the violence exhibited by certain larger gangs. Extortion perpetrators, who may be part of a criminal group or may pretend to be, demand monetary favours from small businesses in exchange for protection or intimidate victims into surrendering their homes to be used as drug laboratories. Victims are often too afraid to seek help from authorities, and local law enforcement is inadequate. Protection racketeering has also increased in recent years, being one of the most important services mafia-style groups offer to foreign criminal organizations.

Trade

The arms trafficking market in Argentina is less substantial than in other regions. However, the ban on arms imports in Paraguay has led to an increase in the local production of arms. These arms are smuggled through the porous border between the two countries, and criminal groups from Brazil are suspected of managing regional arms flows. Investigations have also revealed that some weapon parts from abroad are armed in Argentina in order to be smuggled into Brazil. Grenades and war surplus from the Falklands conflict have also occasionally been seized by Brazilian law enforcement.

Trade in counterfeit goods is a notable problem in Argentina. The number of informal physical marketplaces has increased in recent years, and a substantial portion of these sell fake goods. Social media and other websites are also used to sell counterfeit goods. Medicine, food, toys, accessories, and clothes are heavily counterfeited, with famous sports brands being among the most commonly counterfeited items. These goods originate mainly from China and India and are sold across the country, although two areas in Buenos Aires have been identified as the leading markets. Argentina is impaired by key deficiencies in its legal framework and poor law enforcement with regard to counterfeit goods. Counterfeit criminals rarely receive deterrent sentences, and the general public do not view the market as illegal.

Argentina is a source and destination country in the illicit trade of excise goods, with alcohol being one of the most illegally traded products. Argentinian alcoholic beverages are smuggled irregularly into neighbouring countries such as Bolivia and Brazil, where tonnes of illegally traded beer and wine are seized each year. The illicit trade of tobacco products is also prevalent. Legal tobacco processing factories in Argentina smuggle their product into Paraguay, where it is manufactured into cigarettes before being moved illegally back into Argentina under counterfeit or low-quality brand names. Owing to the quarantines and factory closures imposed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, cigarettes became scarce in Argentina, encouraging some drug trafficking groups to transition into this particular contraband market.

Environment

Deforestation is a major concern in Argentina, particularly in the Gran Chaco and Parana Delta regions, where thousands of hectares of forest are being cleared each year in violation of existing forestry laws. However, there is no evidence to suggest that organized crime groups are involved in these activities. The primary reason for deforestation is land clearance for farming.

Argentina is a source, transit, and destination country for wildlife trafficking, with animals often being sold in local markets or online. The lack of effective provisions and limited anti-trafficking efforts made by the Argentinian government complicates the fight against fauna crimes. Illegal fishing, conducted on a large scale by foreign vessels in the Argentine Sea, is one of the most substantial illicit activities. Despite the considerable reduction in available resources, the sanctions for these crimes are merely administrative in nature. Illegal wildlife also enters Argentina via Bolivia, Paraguay, and Chile, destined for the European Union or the Middle East. The most commonly trafficked non-native species are brown bears, birds, and felines such as jaguars. Among the native species recovered have been maned wolves, marsh deer, reptiles such as turtles and the Argentine boa, and yellow cardinals and other small birds.

Non-renewable resource crimes in Argentina are not common, and mostly occur in the informal economy, primarily in border areas. Corrupt officials are known to facilitate the theft of public assets, such as gasoline and copper cables. The smuggling of Argentinian gas tanks to Brazil and Paraguay, due to subsidized prices and a minor contraband gasoline market in Brazil, has also been reported. The state controls the mining industries of copper, gold, silver, and lithium, with the local or provincial administrative authorities intervening in cases of unauthorized mining, using their sanctioning powers. The well-regulated mining sector shows no indication of any widespread illegal mining networks in the country.

Drugs

Heroin consumption and trafficking in Argentina remains a minor issue, and there is low demand for opioid addiction treatment in the country. However, Argentina is still a key destination and transit country for the regional cocaine trade, and its cocaine market has become a significant and growing concern over the last decade. Most of the cocaine smuggled into Argentina passes through its sparsely populated north-west region, with the Argentina–Bolivia border serving as a popular route. In fact, recent drug seizures have confirmed that Argentina has been gaining importance as a distribution hub for Bolivian cocaine. Reports further indicate that traffickers are increasingly using fluvial and maritime shipping as transport, and a route is emerging that connects Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, the Atlantic, Europe, and Africa. Drug-related organized crime groups in Argentina are small, although some maintain international links to organized crime groups in countries such as Brazil as well as Italian mafia groups. Drug trafficking activities contribute to a violent drugs market, specifically in Rosario, where geographic conditions amplify its strategic importance for criminal actors. In Rosario, homicides primarily occur owing to disputes between gangs over control of drug distribution points.

Argentina is a major transit and destination country for cannabis trade, with most of the supply coming from Paraguay. The legalization of cannabis for medical use has reduced prices in the illicit industry. The cannabis trade is the largest criminal market in Argentina, driven by local demand. In fact, Argentina has one of the highest per capita consumption rates of the drug in the world. Criminal organizations transport cannabis via trucks using alternative roads that converge in cities, a tactic that provides numerous escape routes. Authorities have seized thousands of cannabis plants in rural areas, revealing industrial-scale illegal cultivation. Corrupt police, security forces, judges, and politicians are reportedly involved in the cannabis trade, sometimes at the highest levels of trafficking networks.

Although the market is limited and overall consumption rates are low, national studies suggest that synthetic drug use is common among people between 25 and 34 years old, living in big cities. Most of the product is imported from Mexico and Europe, but ecstasy, amphetamine, and methamphetamine laboratories are reportedly present in the country. Locally produced and imported synthetic drugs are trafficked through the Parana Delta corridor towards Uruguay. Psychoactive substance intoxications are reported, as well as LSD seizures.

Cyber Crimes

Argentina has emerged as a hub for cybercrime. The country has experienced a high number of distributed denial-of-service and ransomware attacks in recent years. Government and private institutions are the primary targets for these attacks, which are carried out by several hacker groups operating in the country. In addition, Argentina was recently targeted by a state-sponsored advanced persistent threat campaign aimed at government entities, diplomatic organizations, and the private sector. Argentina is also facing a surge in cyber-dependent financial crimes, with a growing number of entities being investigated for Ponzi schemes related to cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

Financial Crimes

Cyber-enabled financial crimes are common in the country with perpetrators taking advantage of online marketplaces and messaging platforms to steal credit card information. Scammers also pose as the employees of popular e-commerce platforms to obtain victims’ personal information and banking details. Small businesses are being targeted as well, with purchased items being returned with missing parts for profit. Phishing is also one of the most common cyber-enabled financial crimes in Argentina. Tax evasion is another form of financial crime that poses a major concern in the country, exacerbated by Argentina’s large informal economy.

Criminal Actors

Organized crime is a growing problem in Argentina, with family clans controlling specific areas in cities and engaging in a range of criminal activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, black-market currency dealing, and the hiring of contract killers for the purpose of assassinating judges. Some of these clans operate from prisons and enjoy protection from politicians, judges, and deputies. Trade unions and soccer gangs are also involved in extortion, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Criminal networks in Argentina are known for supplying cocaine and marijuana to urban areas, and some have connections with the police and state actors. Car theft and car parts theft are also substantial sources of income for these groups. Some criminal groups operate in border regions, processing coca base into cocaine.

Foreign organized crime groups from Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil are connected to rising levels of violence in Argentina’s illicit drug market and arms trafficking, but their presence is limited due to the diversity of territories being controlled by different groups. Asian mafia-style groups are known to extort local businesses. Traditional mafia-style groups, including some members of the Italian mafia, are present in the country, more commonly in the northern regions. Private sector actors in Argentina are also involved in the illicit economy, in areas such as excise goods smuggling. In addition, private sector actors are known to engage in tax evasion and money laundering. Transportation companies are believed to engage in smuggling activities, and agricultural exporters may be involved in the trade of contraband goods. Corruption scandals are common in the regional and local sports industry, and high-profile cases have involved high-level officials in the Argentinian government and business entities such as money printers and construction companies. Corruption is a growing concern, as organized crime has infiltrated almost all levels of the state. While criminal state actors are not prevalent at the central state level, they do operate at the local level, with security forces, prison staff, and politicians facilitating crime, particularly trafficking activities.

Leadership and governance

Corruption and insecurity are the two most pressing issues facing Argentines, who have little confidence in state institutions due to a perceived lack of transparency and corruption. The presidency is seen as the most corrupt governmental body in the country, according to various polls. Although the federal government has made efforts to improve transparency, at the municipal level it remains a concern. The government has been accused of a lack of transparency in procurement related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as contracts bypassed bidding processes due to the emergency declaration. There are also indications that drug-trafficking money has been used to finance political campaigns, particularly at the local level.

Argentina is actively involved in international efforts to combat organized crime, collaborating with INTERPOL and other law enforcement agencies as well as regularly submitting reports on organized crime to international organizations. The country has been working to improve cooperation within the region and in Europe with regards to anti-organized crime strategies, and has signed extradition treaties with several countries. Argentina has a strong legal framework for combating organized crime, which incorporates various types of crimes. However, the country needs to update and strengthen its cybercrime laws and data protection regulations. Although legislation against new psychoactive substances is more advanced than in other countries in the region, its effectiveness has been questioned.

Criminal justice and security

Argentina’s judicial system does have specialized organized crime units, but it is considered to be corrupt and inefficient, especially at the level of lower and provincial courts. Allegations of politicization and political manipulation contribute to low trust in the judiciary among the population. In addition, there is a high rate of impunity, with few crimes being successfully prosecuted each year. The country’s prison conditions are poor, being affected by issues such as overcrowding, poor hygiene, and deficient food. Criminal groups are believed to hold influence over prison officials and continue to conduct criminal activities from prison.

The Argentinian police force is generally considered to be more trustworthy than the government and judiciary, although public trust in the police remains relatively limited. There have been accusations of officers offering protection to drug traffickers and money launderers. The Argentine Federal Police is the second largest force in the country, after the Argentine National Gendarmerie, and maintains well-equipped special units.

The length of Argentina’s land borders makes it difficult for the state to exert control, leading to porous borders that are vulnerable to drug trafficking and contraband trade. The Argentina–Bolivia and Argentina–Paraguay borders are the main routes for cocaine and marijuana trafficking, respectively. However, Argentina is also used as an alternative transit country for drugs bound for Spain, with the ports of Buenos Aires and Rosario being the main transit points. Where cybercrime is concerned, the government has reported several hundred cybersecurity incidents against the public sector, including ransomware attacks.

Economic and financial environment

Although Argentina has had anti-money laundering legislation in place for many years, its mechanisms for the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of the crime have been criticized for being deficient. The limited effectiveness of its legal regime makes Argentina a high-risk country for money laundering and terrorist financing. While individuals have been prosecuted, Argentina has been criticized for its lack of convictions, which number just a few in the past two decades. The country’s judiciary lacks experience in this type of crime, and a lack of interinstitutional coordination may contribute to its ineffectiveness. The economic sectors at the highest risk for money laundering are trade and the informal currency exchange market.

Argentina’s economic regulatory environment faces several challenges. The country’s regulatory quality is low compared to the regional average, and business leaders have identified long-term stagnation, employment and livelihood crises, and state collapse as significant socio-economic problems. The informal employment rate is substantial, and inflation is extremely high. Although legitimate businesses mostly operate free from criminal activity, the country’s constant economic crises hinder private sector development.

Civil society and social protection

Argentina has a well-established system in place to provide psychological, social, medical, and legal assistance to trafficking victims. However, in recent years there has been a decline in prosecution and protection efforts due to corruption hampering anti-trafficking measures. Moreover, the government has failed to improve witness protection measures and even disbanded the National Agency for the Protection of Witnesses and Defendants. The country does, however, maintain a successful interdisciplinary approach to drug addiction treatment, and during the pandemic the government created a plan to provide essential services and call-centre and videoconference assistance, with positive results.

The Argentinian government has implemented various strategies to prevent organized crime, human trafficking, and cybercrime. The Federal Plan includes measures such as strengthening border controls and making use of technology to improve border surveillance. The government has also drafted a plan to combat human trafficking, involving awareness campaigns, government-run working groups, and a trafficking telephonic hotline. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of these prevention measures raises doubts.

Several NGOs are involved in the fight against organized crime in Argentina, and the national media operates relatively freely, although certain outlets critical of authorities have been targeted with defamation suits, putting them under financial strain. The national intelligence agency has been accused of collecting dossiers on journalists, but there have been no attacks on journalists in the past two decades.

People

Bulgaria remains mostly a country of origin for human trafficking in the EU, with Bulgarian women and children being exploited in the sex trade throughout Western Europe. There are reports of labour exploitation of men and boys, predominantly in agriculture, construction, or the service sector across the region. As there is local demand for victims of human trafficking, primarily in Bulgaria’s larger cities and resorts, the country to a lesser extent also serves as a destination country, with Bulgarian, Turkish, and Romani women and girls accounting for most of the sex trafficking victims identified in the country. Despite an influx of refugees to Bulgaria following the war in Ukraine, no reports of Ukrainian women and children falling victim to trafficking have been released yet. The use of violence in this market has diminished now that criminal groups increasingly work with contracts and exert control over their victims in other ways. However, people trafficked into Western and Northern Europe to work as beggars are still punished and suffer a significant degree of cruelty if their daily quotas are not met. Although more effective implementation is needed, the Bulgarian government’s crackdown on human trafficking networks in recent years is proving successful in gradually reducing the reach of the market.

Because Bulgaria is located on the Balkan route, it continues to be a hub for human smuggling. In recent years, most of the irregular migrants who have arrived in the country originated in Afghanistan and Syria. In general, Bulgarian-based human smuggling networks provide in-transit logistics for the smuggling of migrants from Türkiye to Serbia or Romania. However, some well-organized groups may also be smuggling people all the way to their intended destinations. Most human smuggling groups have a foreign national as an organizer – someone who is based elsewhere and recruits migrants. Corruption is an important factor in human smuggling, with border officials facilitating the market and organizing bespoke smuggling channels. Although not near the height of the migrant crisis of 2015/2016, the migrant pressure on the country’s borders has been increasing in recent years with peak arrivals recorded in 2022.

Extortion practices, protection racketeering, and loansharking, which are widespread in the country, are used by organized crime groups to infiltrate legitimate economic activity and to exercise control over legal markets. Smaller criminal networks, larger mafia-style groups, and businesspeople in leadership positions are reported to carry out such illegal activities, mostly targeting disadvantaged people from minority groups and other vulnerable citizens, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Traditional extortion methods in the form of threats, arson, property damage, and even physical violence, are also widespread in the country.

Trade

Although arms trafficking is not extensive, and there is a limited use of firearms by criminals, Bulgaria remains an important transit country for Turkish-manufactured gas pistols trafficked to Western Europe, where they are converted to be able to fire live ammunition. To a much more limited extent, Bulgaria is a source country for firearms trafficking, mostly into Greece. The grey market generates much of the profit from arms trafficking. It involves intermediaries who, using falsified end-user certificates, sell arms to terrorist organizations and militias. The arms-production sector is prone to corruption because of some cities’ economic dependence on arms manufacturing. It is highly likely that low- and mid-level officials at border checkpoints are involved in arms trafficking. It is also assumed that there has been an increase in illicit arms trafficking because of the increase in the legal production and export of arms in the region caused by the war in Ukraine.

Bulgaria is vulnerable to the trade in counterfeit goods facilitated by widespread corruption among border guards, with the Turkish-Bulgarian border being key to this trade. The most-seized counterfeit products include clothing and clothing accessories, perfumes and cosmetics, shoes, toys, bags, wallets, and others mostly originating in Türkiye, China, and Hong Kong. The goods are either transported for local distribution or are transiting through Bulgaria on their way to Western European countries such as the Netherlands and the UK. Bulgaria is a source, transit, and destination country for counterfeit pharmaceutical products that pass through the Turkish-Bulgarian border and are subsequently transported to countries in Western Europe. Besides foreign and Bulgarian organized crime groups, the trade in counterfeit pharmaceutical products also involves medical practitioners and professionals working in pharmaceutical companies.

Similarly, the smuggling and illicit trade in tobacco products are pervasive in the country and are transnational in nature. The key entry points for smuggled cigarettes are mostly along the Greek and Turkish borders. Although the trade in illicit cigarettes has been identified as one of the major criminal threats to the safety and security of Bulgaria, the levels of illicit cigarette production reported by law enforcement authorities have been decreasing since 2019. Nonetheless, despite the dismantling of several criminal groups active in this market, Bulgarian criminal networks continue their cross-border illicit activities because of the connection with their European counterparts.

Environment

Widespread corruption in Bulgaria’s forestry sector continues to enable a significant illicit logging market. Even though many cases of illegal logging are linked to people needing wood for fire, organized crime groups in Bulgaria are also involved in the timber industry and export illegal timber abroad with the help of corrupt officials. There are instances of government officials being part of the organized networks that illegally extract timber, and there are allegations of links between major political parties and the so-called wood mafia. Furthermore, private sector actors take part in illicit logging, using corruption or fraud to avoid regulations. The fauna criminal market remains small-scale, even though poaching continues to be an issue in the country. Offences are usually linked to individual poachers, rather than organized crime groups and domestic/international illegal markets. Nonetheless, an illegal caviar trade and sturgeon overexploitation remain a concern for Bulgaria. Bulgarian sturgeon farms are known to launder wild-caught sturgeon and to market the caviar through fraud and counterfeiting with a certain degree of involvement of organized crime groups in this market.

The market for non-renewable resource crimes is significant, including primarily copper, zinc, and coal as well as gold and silver. Moreover, oil trafficking is especially prominent in Bulgaria, with estimates of illegal oil sales accounting for a 20¬–40% share of the total market. Illegal diesel sales are also a problem.

Drugs

Bulgaria remains an important transit country in the global heroin trade with most of the heroin passing across the country through Türkiye and destined for countries in Western Europe. The heroin route through the Turkish-Bulgarian border has become increasingly important because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Local demand accounts for a small portion of the profits. Heroin continues to be the preferred drug of the marginalized, especially the Roma community, who are allegedly involved in trafficking small quantities of heroin from Türkiye and distributing it in Bulgaria. However, there has been a decrease in consumption among these high-risk populations. Although primarily Bulgarian groups are involved in the transit of heroin through Bulgaria, recent law enforcement operations suggest the involvement of international organized crime groups consisting of Bulgarian and Serbian members. Bulgaria continues to be primarily a transit country for cocaine, following the changes in the entry point for cocaine in the region. To a lesser extent it is a destination country for cocaine, with a small market existing in larger cities and tourist resorts. Bulgarian-based criminal networks have traditionally played a logistical role in cocaine trafficking, successfully facilitating large-scale operations from South America to Western Europe. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the modus operandi of cocaine traffickers has changed, with containers being preferred over drug mules.

Bulgaria remains mainly a destination and transit country for the illegal cannabis market. Bulgarian criminal networks continue to be heavily involved in the logistics of cannabis trafficking from Albania to Türkiye, Serbia, and Romania. Cannabis is the most prevalent drug in the country and demand is widespread, which has prompted organized crime groups to expand their presence in the market. Recently, increasing quantities of cannabis grown in Bulgaria have been exported to Türkiye and Greece, although to a lesser extent. It is likely that corruption plays an important role in cannabis trafficking, with checkpoints on the North Macedonian, Romanian, and Turkish borders being the most vulnerable. The consumption of synthetic drugs is on the rise in Bulgaria. The market has a transnational nature, with synthetic drugs arriving from the Netherlands and Belgium to be trafficked into Türkiye and the Middle East. Precursors necessary to produce synthetics are also transited through or destined for Bulgaria. As amphetamine and methamphetamine are the second- and third-most used drugs in the country, this local demand is satisfied by small producers in the country. Groups from the Sofia region have established themselves as amphetamine producers, while groups in the south-east of the country specialize in methamphetamine production. Police reports show a rise in courier deliveries of synthetic drugs purchased online.

*Correction note: a previous version of the summary profile incorrectly stated that 20% of the heroin travelling through the Balkans passed through Bulgaria

Cyber Crimes

Bulgaria has become a source country for cyber-dependent crimes in recent years, with more than half of cyber-attacks on cloud storage globally originating from IP addresses located in Bulgaria. Organized crime groups active in this criminal market have increasingly been formed by Bulgarian nationals, rather than members of other nationalities. Cyber-dependent crimes in Bulgaria continue to grow in volume and variety. The relatively low levels of awareness of the threats and risks of cyber-attacks among the population have put victimization levels on an upward trend in recent years. State agencies in Bulgaria have been targeted by malicious actors through major cyber-attacks using ransomware and other forms of cyber-attacks, causing disruption of services and damages. Furthermore, private sector actors and media organizations are increasingly targeted by cyber-criminals suffering from ransomware and distributed denial-of-service attacks.

Financial Crimes

Financial crimes are pervasive in Bulgaria with the most common forms being misuse of public as well as EU funds, and embezzlement. Embezzlement, misuse of public funds, and corruption allegations have been on the rise in recent years with public officials allegedly abusing their power. Different from other financial crimes, the misuse of EU funds is mostly carried out by public officials and consultants as well as beneficiaries, with most of the fraud happening in relation to agricultural subsidies. Albeit less prevalent than in the past, tax fraud and tax evasion carried out by groups similar to traditional organized crime groups continue to be one of the major concerns for the Bulgarian economy. Another type of financial crime targeting vulnerable people are so-called phone scams, where predominantly elderly citizens are being targeted by structured organized crime groups. Scammers usually pretend to be police officers or medical personnel to gather personal and financial information. Furthermore, phishing as well as investment scams and mobile transaction scams are on the rise in the country. Compared to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when financial crimes were primarily concentrated in the hands of mafia-style groups, the criminal actors involved in financial crimes today range from high-ranking officials to loose criminal networks and individual criminal entrepreneurs. Organized crime groups engaged in financial crimes in Bulgaria are able to conceal the proceeds of their illicit activities by using legitimate businesses as camouflage. The corruption and infiltration of government institutions by mafia networks makes it difficult for the state to act against these crimes.

Criminal Actors

State-embedded actors not only facilitate criminal markets by providing protection, but also hold influence over Bulgaria’s legislative and judicial systems. In addition to their involvement in the organized criminal markets in the country, state-embedded actors continue to carry out corrupt activities and misappropriate funds, causing great losses to the treasury. For instance, there are several public procurement contracts awarded to specific companies that do not follow proper protocols, and officials at the highest political levels trade in influence. Moreover, the state-mafia nexus continues to be described as the largest issue for the country.

A number of widespread and opportunistic criminal networks, differing in structure and size, operate in almost all the traditional criminal markets including drug trafficking, human trafficking, human smuggling, cigarette smuggling, and illicit logging. They target Bulgaria’s larger cities and resorts but may also be based in smaller municipalities and border regions. These criminal networks are now less violent towards trafficking victims, except for cases of forced begging. Drug markets are relatively unaffected by violence, with force rarely being used. Criminal networks cooperate closely with state-embedded and foreign criminal actors – Albanians, Turks, Latin Americans, and Italians who operate in their own countries. Foreign criminal actors rarely operate within the country itself, with the notable exceptions of Afghani human-smuggling networks, which conduct their business in Bulgaria but are controlled from Afghanistan, and Chinese nationals who are involved in the distribution of counterfeit goods. However, following the invasion of Ukraine, reports have suggested that some organized crime groups have relocated from Ukraine to Bulgaria.

Even though the traditional mafia’s influence has declined as most groups have been dissolved, those who remain have set up legitimate businesses and established their influence in the legal economy and in politics. Nonetheless, they are still involved in criminal operations, primarily extortion and drug trafficking. In addition to the more influential syndicates, there are other smaller mafia-style groups operating with a more local and limited influence in the country. After the dissolution of prominent mafia-style groups, established and legitimate private sector actors have continued their illicit activities including extortion, money laundering, and tax avoidance within the legal economy, which is facilitated by widespread corruption among high-level public officials. The connections between the private sector and public officials, as well as the influence of private sector actors over the government and the judicial system, are indicative of the presence of organized crime at all levels of the state infrastructure.

Leadership and governance

Bulgaria’s political elite has put combating organized crime high on the agenda and can boast with successes in the field. The international community's primary concern remains the widespread corruption in the country. In general, there is political will to tackle all major forms of organized crime, although the response is weak in countering white-collar crime and corruption where political interests persist. Even though the political system is not captured by organized crime, there are several allegations regarding the facilitation of organized crime by the state apparatus. These allegations, combined with widespread corruption, have resulted in a continuing political deadlock triggering political instability in Bulgaria. Corruption continues to be extensive and public trust in institutions is low. There is an anti-corruption body, but it is neither effective nor independent. Transparency has improved significantly, with institutions now publishing annual reports and statistics on their activities, but certain issues in promoting transparency more extensively across the state administration persist. Major issues also include public accountability, control of the prosecution service, and difficulties accessing public information. Moreover, there are concerns that anti-corruption laws are not enforced adequately, especially in high-profile cases, which have contributed to the culture of impunity.

Bulgaria is party to most international treaties and conventions pertaining to organized crime. The country generally adheres to all relevant mechanisms, but it continues to be criticized for its lack of compliance with the UN Convention against Corruption. Bulgaria is a member of and an active contributor to several regional and global counterterrorism and anti-organized crime initiatives, and there have been a number of successful international operations in the field. However, the country has been criticized for demonstrating a low level of effectiveness in the areas of financial intelligence, and investigations and prosecutions of money laundering. At the national level, the national legal framework covers all major criminal markets. However, there is no national anti-organized crime strategy and policies are typically designed in an ad hoc manner in the form of measures against different types of organized crime, and sentences for certain offences continue to be lax.

Criminal justice and security

Following the issues of independence and corruption pertaining to the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, this body was disbanded in 2022. Despite this, corruption within the judiciary continues to mar effective prosecution. Moreover, problems within the judicial system have persisted, such as a bureaucratic judicial process that has resulted in lengthy trials, and the absence of specialized prosecutors, specifically prosecutors specializing in human trafficking. As for the penitentiary system, it has been criticized for being outdated and ineffective. Overall deficiencies in the penitentiary system do not contribute to the spread of organized crime throughout the system, however they make petty corruption possible and hinder correctional processes. Some progress has been reported in improving conditions of detention centres with the establishment of new detention facilities as well as transitional wards.

There are specialized law enforcement units tasked with countering organized crime, but it is difficult to assess their effectiveness. Even though law enforcement is reported to be well equipped and funded, the lack of political will to tackle certain forms of organized crime may be diminishing their effectiveness. Moreover, corruption within law enforcement and political influence adversely affect law enforcement’s effectiveness when investigating and prosecuting certain criminal activities.

Even though Bulgaria’s capacity to control and protect its borders has improved over time, its borders continue to be under constant pressure from illicit flows, as witnessed at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing, made worse by the hard-to-police terrain and strategically important position of the country on the Balkan route. There is good cooperation between Bulgaria and neighbouring countries in the field of border policing. However, there is a growing foreign influence over the political, media, and social life in the country, especially with the political elite and the security apparatus allegedly being influenced by Russia. There are concerns regarding this foreign influence potentially having a detrimental influence over the resilience capability of the state and its ability to make adequate decisions to protect its integrity and sovereignty. The country’s integrity has been challenged by cyber-attacks targeting administrative entities and resulting in disruption of services.

Economic and financial environment

Although the Bulgarian government has put emphasis on the development of adequate anti-money laundering (AML) legislation that complies with EU regulations, practical enforcement continues to be weak and the number of investigations, lawsuits, and money laundering sentences, as well as the severity of penalties, continue to be low. Bulgaria shows low efficiency in areas related to the use of financial intelligence, and investigations of and prosecutions for money laundering. The country is nonetheless perceived as being highly resilient to money laundering, mainly because of the good performance of its AML framework.

The overall economic regulatory environment has been slowly improving over the years, largely because of a growing number of electronic services and the electronic exchange of data between institutions. The state’s capacity to ensure that legitimate businesses can operate without interference from criminal groups has improved, but there are still entities and state actors who are able to extort and appropriate businesses. The economic environment allows businesses to expand, but there are many bureaucratic processes that business owners must reckon with. Corruption, a lack of political independence, and ineffective administrative processes in other key regulatory bodies contribute to a permissive environment where organized crime is able to proliferate. Even though criminal groups are not directly involved in economic market regulation, they have influence over the authorities responsible for this regulation. Improvements in the economic regulatory capacity have been limited because of the political instability in the country.

Civil society and social protection

Victim support provided by state and non-state actors continues to be mainly focused on victims of human trafficking and on drug users. The efforts by the government to ensure victim and witness support have decreased in recent years with too few dedicated shelters and a lack of assistance provided to child victims. Similarly, the legal framework pertaining to witness support exists, however its effectiveness continues to be problematic.

There are prevention tools actively being used in the country with an aim to prevent organized crime, including information campaigns, which are central to the country’s prevention efforts and efforts to assist the victims. With an aim to encourage the public to report abuse, reporting mechanisms were made available to report instances of organized crime. Nevertheless, prevention strategies that cover general and organized crime are not as efficient as foreseen, with a culture of prevention still being developed. Civil society organizations continue to be considered an integral part of the state’s efforts to tackle crime. However, some of these organizations, especially those that are critical to the government, are also perceived as hostile by the government. Civil society organizations primarily rely on project-based EU and US funding, as well as individual donations, as state funding is limited or wholly absent. Even though civil society is improving in Bulgaria, the state is not fully committed to promoting its independence. The media sector remains pluralistic, but outlets face increasing pressure to provide government-friendly coverage. Journalists who are critical of the government and their ties to organized crime at times encounter threats or violence, making media freedom in the country unstable and fragile.