Many regional nations countries possess thousands of miles of unguarded border. Criminal syndicates take advantage of border security difficulties to smuggle narcotics, other valuable commodities, and people. The Philippines for example is emerging as a major source country for young women who are smuggled into Japan, where they are often forced to work in the sex industry. Human smuggling within and out from the region continues to grow and is affecting states adversely in various ways. The effects include the promotion of crime, and altering ethnic balances within states. Pacific island states are sometimes used as transit areas for on-going human smuggling to Western countries.
During the past decade more "developed" nations in the Asia-Pacific region have experienced very significant increases in human smuggling. The many countries of origin include: Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China. Smuggling organisations range from unsophisticated single operations, to complex international criminal syndicates. Organisations, such as the Chinese 'snakeheads', have created regional networks of transit stations and safe houses, some in "intermediate" countries, to assist the process. These latter often have access to sophisticated forged passport "factories", or they exist within their own organisation, or related group. Terrorist groups and smaller "entrepreneurs" may rely on such criminal organisations to provide fake identity documents
Quite often sophisticated contracts are drawn up between human smuggling organisations, migrants, and their families. Larger organisations may be reluctant to smuggle terrorists for reasons of cultural mistrust, fear of heightened law enforcement scrutiny, or lack of any guarantee that transportation fees will be paid. Nevertheless, as terrorist or criminal organisations offer to pay very substantial sums of money - the so-called 'clandestine travel premium' - they will probably find individuals or syndicates willing to oblige.
Many smuggled aliens and members of international criminal syndicates pass through border checks with little difficulty. The convergence between human smuggling, international terrorism, or crime involves the purchase of human smuggling services, usually from well-organised criminal syndicates. As international terrorists or international criminals seek to minimise the chance of being detected through border crossings, they may turn to syndicates that specialise in illegal migration or people smuggling.