illicit trafficking
Illegal goods movement
Illicit trafficking is the illegal trade or transport of prohibited goods across borders—drugs, weapons, endangered species, stolen artifacts, or human beings.
The phrase emphasizes organized criminal networks moving contraband internationally: The investigation exposed illicit trafficking routes through Central America.
Trafficking alone often implies illegality, but illicit makes the criminal nature explicit.
- drug smugglingIllegal transport of narcotics
- smuggling routesPaths for illegal transport
- trade routesPaths for exchanging goods
- cartelsCollusive business alliances
- smugglersIllegal goods transporters
underground networks · blood diamonds · offshore accounts · shell corporations · whistleblowers · bribery · money laundering · dirty money · back channels · customs regulations · law enforcement · corrupt officials · intermediaries · forged documents · front companies · sanctions · human rights legislation · social inequality
- smugglingcontraband, smugglers, human smuggling, smuggling rings, people smuggling
- arts lawart fraud, fair use, intellectual property, looted art, restitution claims
illicit traffickingfair trade
Equitable exchange between parties
humanitarian aid · ethical sourcing · philanthropy · sustainable trade · mutual exchange
illicit, illicitly, traffic, trafficking, trafficked, trafficker, traffickers