Who decides what counts as ‘illicit trade’?

Fighting ‘illicit trade’ sounds straightforward, but new SOC ACE research suggests the way we talk about it may be part of the problem. Drawing on 52 interviews, Adam Blanden, Dr Mayya Konovalova and Prof Sami Bensass show how tobacco giants, counterfeit crackdowns and risk profiling have shaped a discourse that targets smugglers and stigmatises traders while the real drivers of economic crime go unchecked.