US, June 6 -- Tourism is one of the great success stories of globalization. It fuels economies, creates jobs, and allows millions of people to cross borders for leisure, education, business, and cultural exchange. Yet law-enforcement agencies in Canada, Europe, Australia, and the United States are increasingly confronting a darker reality: the use of international mobility by organized criminal networks that travel not to visit, but to profit from crime.

Police have a name for the phenomenon: criminal tourism Unlike traditional organized crime groups that establish permanent operations, criminal tourists are often highly mobile. They enter a country legally as visitors, temporary residents, students, or under visa-waiver arrangements, c...