Law enforcement officials, human rights activists and national governments the world over increasingly believe that human trafficking networks are created and run by organized crime syndicates — especially what’s come to be known as the Russian Mob.

A recent article describes this association in detail. The author, Jim Kouri, is a veteran police official who’s written extensively about the economic, political and social underpinnings of organized crime. (The article appeared in a new, online publication, “The Examiner,” which appears from more than 60 cities nationally. Kouri is the online publication’s “Law Enforcement Examiner,” which is a bit confusing, since the Examiner’s reporters and writers are also called “examiners.”)

Kouri’s article, nevertheless, is well worth reading for anyone wanting to understand the global business of trafficking in human beings.

Here’s a key assertion in the piece:

As with other forms of organized crime, trafficking has globalized. Groups formerly active in specific routes or regions have expanded the geographical scope of their activities to explore new markets. Some have merged or formed cooperative relationships, expanding their geographical reach and range of criminal activities. Illegal migrants and trafficking victims have become another commodity in a larger realm of criminal commerce involving other commodities, such as narcotic drugs and firearms or weapons and money laundering, that generate illicit revenues or seek to reduce risks for traffickers.