Criminal networks have grown around Southeast Asia’s special economic zones, where regulations are loose and casinos offer a convenient front. But when Covid-19 halted business, casinos went online, massively expanding their client bases – and organised crime moved with them.
Almost 25 million people are trapped in forced labour worldwide and 64 per cent of them are in Asia and the Pacific.
When the Jakarta police entered a toy warehouse in April, they were not shopping for their children. In what was the country's biggest drug bust of the past two years, 90kg of high-purity crystal methamphetamine was uncovered.