Drug-related organized crime in the Meuse Rhine EU-region and the role of national borders

Many studies on organized crime are based on data collected in one specific country. Despite the fact that much drug related organized crime is transnational by nature, most scholars are unable to get access to data in various countries and focus on the situation in their own country. As a result, cross border aspects of drug trafficking are often neglected. This chapter takes a multinational approach and is based on data collected in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. It addresses the current situation in the Meuse Rhine EU-region, a geographically small area in Europe where German, Belgian and Dutch influences can be found. The main question that will be addressed is how criminal networks, the modi operandi and ‘business models’ of criminal entrepreneurs in the drug world have developed over the years in this EU-region, and how criminal networking and criminal activities have been influenced by the presence of various national borders.