In October 2021, customs officials in Hong Kong announced a series of record anti-smuggling seizures when a group of shady looking men were spotted shifting containers from a truck to a speedboat.

在 2021 年 10 月時，香港的海關官員發現了一群形跡可疑的男子們在將貨櫃從貨車上轉移到快艇上後，進行了一連串創下紀錄的走私查緝行動。

When law enforcement gave chase, the men fled, leaving behind contraband with an estimated street value of $210 million.

在執法單位開始追逐之後，男子們紛紛逃離，並留下了價值估計有 2 億 1 千萬美元的走私品。

It proved an eclectic haul—fake luxury handbags, high-end watches, cigars, food, even exotic animal parts, including endangered shark fin.

裡面充滿著大量的走私品－偽造名牌包、高檔手錶、雪茄、食物，甚至是稀有的動物部位，包含瀕臨絕種鯊魚的魚翅。

The origin of the suspected smuggling goods is still under our investigation.

這些被懷疑為走私品的貨物來源仍有待調查。

In the same month, police apprehended an air cargo consignment arriving from Mexico.

在同一個月，警方攔截了一輛來自墨西哥的航空貨物。

As well as the stated solar panels, the crates included 180 kilos of carefully packed methamphetamine.

除了太陽能板之外，貨櫃內還包含了重達 180 公斤，經過小心包裝的甲基安非他命。

Three local men were arrested and bailed pending further inquiries.

三名在被逮捕之後交保候傳。

Neither represented the first case of its kind in Hong Kong, even if the scale of the busts set them apart.

而這兩起事件都不是發生在香港的首例，儘管它們的規模確實格外特出。

Smuggling is a major revenue driver for organized crime across the globe, with Hong Kong a major hub in one of the most truly globalized of illicit trades.

走私是全球組織犯罪的主要利潤來源，而香港是最為國際化的非法交易路徑之一中的主要中心。

This is The Business of Crime.

歡迎收看《犯罪致富》。

In this episode, we’ll be taking a look at the global smuggling trade—the factors that drive it, and why business is booming just as much as ever.

在本集節目中，我們將會審視全球的走私貿易－促使其發展的因素，以及為何這門生意正以前所未有的趨勢蒸蒸日上。

Nearly all transnational criminal syndicates are going to be involved in this in some way, shape, or form.

幾乎所有的跨國犯罪組織都已某種方式或形式與這門生意有關。

Smuggling has a long and complex history.

走私有著淵遠而複雜的歷史。

It's been around for at least as long as the first taxes and regulations on trade.

它至少從貿易的稅則與法規首次出現以來，就一直存在到現在。

In 18th-century England, it meant tea, opium, silk, and spices.

在 18 世紀的英國，走私品包含茶、鴉片、絲綢與香料。

In the 21st, it means illegal drugs and human trafficking gangs.

到了 21 世紀，走私品則是非法藥物走私與人口偷渡集團。

There’s billions of dollars to be made from narco trafficking.

毒品走私是個能賺入數十億美元的產業。

Where there’s a will, there’s almost always a way.

只要有心想走私，就幾乎肯定有辦法。

Things have a knack of getting where the market needs them to be, illicit or otherwise.

只要抓到訣竅便能把貨品送到有市場需求的地方，不論非法與否。

Contemporary smugglers across the world might traffic anything from tobacco to art, food, exotic animals, narcotics, guns, and even people.

當代世界各地的走私者們走私的貨物從菸草到藝術品、食物、異國動物、毒品、槍枝，甚至是人類都有。

Do you really care what you’re smuggling, what you’re trafficking?

你真的會在乎你在走私、在偷渡的東西是什麼嗎？

It’s about making money quickly.

重點是要快速地賺到錢。

In essence, it’s whatever sells, however unconscionable.

也就是說，只要能賣出去的，不論有多麼不道德都行。

In 2019, it was reported that Interpol estimated migrant smuggling one of the most widespread and profitable activities for organized crime in the EU, worth hundreds of billions.

在 2019 年時根據報導，國際刑警組織估計移民的偷渡是歐盟境內對於組織犯罪者來說最為廣泛且賺錢的活動，價值數千億美元。

Human trafficking is hugely profitable. It's essentially pure profit.

人口偷渡是非常賺錢的。這基本上是種無本交易。

Human trafficking victims are generating hundreds or thousands of dollars, and when they’re no longer useful, they're let go.

人口偷渡的受害者們為犯罪者賺進了數百至數千美元，而當他們不再有利用價值時，便會被拋棄。

The means differ. Transport might range from sea and air cargo to lorry freight, or maybe just an individual drugs mule loaded with contraband

方法各由不同。運輸方式從海運或空運貨櫃到貨車運輸都有，或也有可能被當成運毒騾子，身上裝滿走私品之後

and dropped off at an airport with nothing more than a boarding pass and a pat on the back.

被載放到機場，只給了一張登機證，拍了拍肩膀就離開。

Drug traffickers would get people that are called mules, people who would put stuff like cocaine in condoms and swallow the condoms, and then cross the border that way.

毒品走私犯會招募被稱為騾子的人，要他們把古柯鹼之類的東西塞進保險套之後吞下，接著藉此穿過邊境。

Some destinations are more popular than others.

某些目的地相比之下更加熱門。

Ports are naturally favorable—the bigger, the better.

港口自然是更受青睞的地點－越大越好。

It’s easier to sneak through a few illegal containers when hundreds of tons of perfectly legitimate cargo is being processed on a daily basis.

在每天都得處理數百噸完全合法的貨櫃的港口中，混進幾個非法貨櫃更加容易。

Even a global pandemic couldn’t slow down the mass importation of Latin American cocaine shipments into Antwerp, Belgium—numbers there were even thought to have risen over 2020.

就連全球疫情大爆發都無法減緩來自拉丁美洲的古柯鹼船運抵達比利時安特衛普。根據預估，這些船運在 2020 年時更持續攀升。

So there's a whole kind of industry of people who are devising new ways to get this stuff from production to the actual ports.

有一整個產業的人們正在研發新的方式，來將這些產品從生產地運送到港口中。

Every month, kilos of hashish pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, a 13-kilometer stretch of water that separates the very southern tip of Spain from Morocco.

每個月都有數公斤的哈希什大麻通過直布羅陀海峽。這是個分離西班牙南端與摩洛哥，長達 13 公里的水域。

Here, smuggling has a long lineage.

在這裡，走私有著悠久的歷史。

On the Spanish side sits La Linea, a small, post-industrial city, where youth unemployment sits above 60 percent.

西班牙側有一座叫做拉利內亞的小型後工業化城市，而當地的青年失業率超過百分之 60 。

The last decade or so has seen a spike of news reports and documentaries declaring it "Costa Del Narcos."

在近十年下來，能看到許多的新聞報導與紀錄片將其稱為「毒梟海岸」。

Hash, cocaine, tobacco from next door Gibraltar—these are the bedrocks of a black economy with far more opportunities than its legal counterpart.

來自隔壁直布羅陀的大麻、古柯鹼、菸草－這些成為了黑市經濟的基石，並提供了比合法市場更多的機會。

For others, there isn’t even the fig leaf of necessity to point to as justification.

而對於其他案例來說，出於生活上的必要甚至沒辦法成為狡辯的理由。

In November, reports broke detailing a massive investigation into Portuguese UN peacekeeping troops stationed in the Central African Republic.

在 11 月時，新聞報導詳述了對於駐紮於中非共和國的葡萄牙聯合國維和部隊的大規模調查。

It’s been alleged that soldiers had been using official military planes to smuggle gold, diamonds, and drugs out of one of the world’s most impoverished but resource rich nations.

據稱士兵們利用官方的軍機，從世界上最貧窮但資源豐富的國家之一走私黃金、鑽石與毒品。

Portuguese authorities have detained ten suspects. Operation Myriad, as it is known, is the result of a denunciation made at the end of 2019.

葡萄牙官方逮捕了十名嫌犯。「無盡行動」是基於 2019 年底的告發所做出的反應結果。

It was, as Portugal’s foreign minister declared, a very regrettable affair, even if it shouldn’t muddy the nation’s sterling contributions to international security.

正如葡萄牙的外交部長宣稱的，這是場非常令人遺憾的事件，但不應就此掩蓋了該國對於國際安全所做出的卓越貢獻。

Uncovered smuggling plots often oscillate between the relentlessly grim to surreal.

被接露的走私案件往往顯得醜陋不堪，甚至是讓人感到有些超現實。

In 2021, a prominent Spanish art collector narrowly avoided prison time after being found guilty of attempting to smuggle a priceless Picasso out of the country.

在 2021 年時，一名知名的西班牙藝術收藏家在試圖將一幅價值無以估量的畢卡索畫作偷渡出境並因此被定罪後，僥倖逃過牢獄之災。

Jaime Botín claimed he’d merely been transporting it to a Geneva storage facility,

Jaime Botín 聲稱他只是想把畫作轉移至位於瑞士日內瓦的一個倉庫而已，

an excuse that landed him with a multimillion-euro fine and a jail sentence only overturned on appeal due to ill health.

這個藉口讓他被處以數百萬歐元的罰金並被判處入監服刑，但因為健康因素而免除後者刑罰。

Despite vague cultural notions of romance and adventure, smuggling is anything but a victimless crime.

雖然走私犯罪在大眾文化中總有種模糊的浪漫與冒險意象，但它絕對不是沒有受害者的犯罪。

Like any other illicit market with huge potential rewards, it has a huge capacity for violence and exploitation.

正如其他有著巨大潛在利益的非法市場一樣，走私犯罪包含著大量的暴力與剝削。

In recent years, you’ve seen an increase in the traffic of human beings, of sex workers.

近年來能看見對於人類、性工作者的偷渡走私。

That’s, you know, something that’s very profitable for those criminal organizations.

這對於這些犯罪組織而言是非常賺錢的行業。

Vulnerable migrants forking out huge sums to be trafficked in hope of safety,

可憐的移民者們交出大量的金錢，希望能被安全地偷渡到另一國，

expendable drug mules paid a pittance to carry narcotics across borders,

命不足惜的運毒騾子們僅獲得少許報酬，攜帶毒品跨越邊境，

corrupt soldiers stripping a country of its natural wealth—

貪汙腐敗的士兵們巧取豪奪國家的自然財富－

these are some of the real-world scenarios likely unfolding in the time it’s taken you to watch this video.

這些都是你在觀賞本影片時，在真實世界中可能正在發生的情景。

Smuggling is and always has been big business.

走私一直都是筆大生意。

For the three men arrested in conjunction with the Hong Kong raids, the potential rewards were enormous.

對於在香港的緝私行動中被抓獲的三名男子來說，可以獲得的潛在利益相當龐大。

The risks, however, were just as great.

然而風險也同樣龐大。

If found guilty, they could be set to face a lifetime behind bars.

若是被定罪，他們可能得面臨終身監禁。