Organized crime in the Czech Republic is dominated by groups from the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, China and Vietnam. Most organized criminal activity centers around narcotics trafficking, illegal border crossings, forgery and blackmail, but since 1999 there has been a marked upswing in the illegal trade of weapons and explosives. Officials from the Unit for Detecting Organized Crime of ╪SKP (┌OOZ) believe that the Czech Republic is not the final destination of these weapons but merely a transit point for re-export to the third world. In 2001 Czech President Jan Hasek formed a special commission to investigate ties between Czech organized crime and weapons smuggling in the former Soviet Union.
