Growing links between organised crime and foreign 'despots', AFP boss warns

Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Reece Kershaw has warned that foreign intelligence services are increasingly collaborating with locally-based organised crime groups to conduct 'serious crimes' on Australian soil. In a significant policy speech, Kershaw detailed how autocratic regimes are 'outsourcing' activities such as the surveillance and harassment of dissidents, foreign interference, and even the planning of violent acts to criminal networks. This strategy provides foreign powers with 'plausible deniability' while leveraging the existing infrastructure of criminal syndicates. The AFP identifies this as a 'hybrid threat' that complicates traditional counter-intelligence efforts, as the actors involved are often already known to law enforcement for non-political crimes.