In October 2018, US President Trump and other senior Government officials were targeted in an attempted biological attack. Letters addressed to them were found to contain ground castor beans from which the deadly toxin, ricin, is derived. Whilst the letters were intercepted and quarantined, this event marked the latest event in a string of ricin-related…
In August 2018, a 23-kilogram industrial device containing iridium-192, a radioactive material, went missing during transport in Malaysia. Whilst Malaysian authorities have attempted to calm public concerns, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned of the dangers that a missing radiological source presents. With a black market for such…
The September 2018 kidnapping of three Indonesian fishermen has raised concerns that the Abu Sayyaf Group has resumed its kidnap for ransom activities in the Sulu and Celebes seas after 18 months of relative inactivity, writes Rob Attwell.
On 17 September, a Russian military plane was shot down by a missile attack off the coast of Syria’s government-held Latakia province, killing all 15 crew members on board, and prompting Russia to upgrade the Syrian military’s anti-aircraft capabilities. In this article, Tim Geschwindt assesses Russia’s response to the incident.
Danske Bank has found itself at the centre of a storm over findings that its Estonian branch acted as the hub of a money laundering scheme involving Russian and Eastern European customers. As criminal inquiries gather pace, the bank’s head office, Estonian subsidiary and the regulator should all take some blame for the scandal.
Just weeks after the UK government disclosed the names of the two Russian men alleged to have poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, an investigative journalism collective claimed to have revealed their ‘true’ identities. Using the kinds of sophisticated open source research techniques deployed across the corporate intelligence sector,…
Following the arrest of a North Caucasian kidnap for ransom gang in the Moscow region, Tim Geschwindt assesses the latest kidnapping trends in Russia, and examines the threat to businesspeople operating in the country.
Following yet another kidnap for ransom targeting humanitarian workers in Somalia, Gabrielle Reid examines this persistent threat to the efforts of aid workers assisting the most vulnerable in the country.
Recent abductions in Cambodia and the Philippines have highlighted the links between loan sharks, organised criminal groups, casinos and the threat of kidnap-for-ransom targeting foreign nationals in Southeast Asia, writes Rob Attwell.
New legislation in Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique will lead to worsening restrictions for freedom of the press and freedom of expression in these jurisdictions, increasing the threat of detention against journalists and political commentators, writes Gabrielle Reid.
On 26 August, a fatal street brawl in Chemnitz sparked three weeks of anti-migrant protests in eastern Germany. In this article, Tim Geschwindt assesses the drivers and implications of increasing far-right sentiment in the country.
While Boko Haram’s previous efforts to control large areas of terrain were undermined by domestic and regional military efforts, a spate of recent attacks against towns and military barracks could point to a renewed campaign to seize territory in northern Nigeria. Gabrielle Reid looks into the prospects for a renewed territorial campaign by the Islamic…