The laundering of money derived from illicit drug trafficking , as well as from other serious crimes, has become a global threat to the integrity and stability of financial and trading systems. The international community must work together to stop these practices to protect itself and to deny drug traffickers their ill-gotten gains. Seizing even large amounts of drugs often only has a limited impact on overall trafficking and abuse of illicit narcotics.
Supply is sufficiently elastic to accommodate sharp falls in product availability.
Even street prices for drugs have shown themselves immune to large seizures. However, blocking and taking away the profits from drug sales at their entry point into the financial system can significantly disrupt trafficking operations. Money, after all, is both the lifeblood and the sole end of illicit trafficking. It is critical to prevent the cash which comes directly from the sale of drugs from being converted into other financial instruments or assets. After the conversion has been made, subsequent transactions can create a complex paper trail which makes identification of the illicit source difficult.