OSINT-RADAR Project

To disrupt migrant smuggling, it is necessary to reinforce the capacity of law enforcement and judicial authorities to target the online and Digital as a Service (DaaS) activities of criminal groups and their use of modern technologies for communication and logistic purposes. Migrant smuggling generates large amounts of criminal profits, which is the main objective of such activities. To counter these networks by preventing those profits from being used to reinforce other poly-criminal activities, financial investigation to trace criminal proceeds, seize, and recover criminal assets is essential. Finally, local and national initiatives need to be connected with the European legal and operative framework, and specialized multi-agency teams should be established. The OSINT RADAR project established a Common Operational Partnership between judiciary agencies and investigative law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in Italy, Greece, Romania, Albania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Moldova, and Germany. The aim is to set up OSINT centers covering the Western Balkans and Eastern EU borders to disrupt illegal activities related to migrant smuggling. The coordinated OSINT centers will address the following key areas for investigations on migrant smuggling: 1. Social media monitoring. 2. Reinforcement of the joint capacity of law enforcement and judicial authorities to target DaaS services, linked to the Europol Internet Referral Unit. 3. Specialized training for all LEAs and judiciary agencies involved in the project on the use of investigative OSINT and “Trojan Horses.” 4. Adaptation of existing national procedures for preventing and investigating digital smuggling to align with the EU legal framework. The project has received funding from the European Union's Internal Security Fund under Grant Agreement no.101102419. 🇪🇺