Illicit : How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy

Any newspaper anywhere in the world, any day, carries news about illegal migrants, drug busts, smuggled weapons, laundered money, or counterfeit goods.

The global nature of this conflicts over these issues was unimaginable just over a decade ago, and yet the resources - financial, human, institutional, technological - deployed by the combatants have reached extraordinary levels of magnitude.

So have the numbers of victims. These newly globalised wars pit governments against agile, well-financed networks of highly dedicated individuals.

Religious zeal or political goals drive terrorists, but profit is no less a motivator for murder and mayhem. "Illicit" is the first book to reveal the full scale of this dark underground.

It uncovers the inner workings of the networks of illegal industries and shows the new realities that make them so successful and difficult to defeat.

How do pirated movies or CD's find their way to illegal markets worldwide even before they are released?

Who manufactures the knock-off Rolex sold for $20? Why is marijuana ever easier to find in schools and universities?

Who is behind the illegal immigrants found suffocated to death in the backs of lorries?Clear, provocative and lively, "Illicit" is a crucially timely book that reveals the dark underside of our globalised world.