Drug Networks

I'd recommend a book 'llicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy' by Moises Naimby.

In an interesting story about SIM cards being passed amongst prisoners in the UK to buy addict networks:

"The war against drugs is being undermined by a black market in mobile phone sim cards containing details of drug dealing franchises, it is feared.

Recently jailed prisoners are selling the cards to inmates nearing release for up to £20,000.

Each contains a microchip storing the telephone numbers of drug suppliers and addicts, which were once in the memory of the dealer's phone. That information provides access to an established drug-dealing network, with the potential to earn thousands of pounds a week.

Experts are worried that the illicit trade is hampering police efforts to close down drug networks because a criminal, armed with the information on the sim (subscriber identity module) card, can replace a dealer who has been locked up.

One prison officer, who asked not to be named, told the Sunday Telegraph that the market in sim cards was growing rapidly and that they were changing hands for up to £20,000."

Read full article in Telegraph Online