Terrorists are known to use narcotics trading to finance group activities and operations. Met amphetamine use is rising throughout the Asia-Pacific. Most regional states describe drug trafficking by as a major security problem. Trafficking is helping to create more violent societies, and increasingly involves crimes such as money laundering, terrorism, and kidnapping. In the Philippines five terrorist groups, all of which to a greater or lesser degree finance activities through narcotic trafficking, arms smuggling, human smuggling, and maritime piracy, pose a threat to internal security: the New Peoples Army (NPA), the Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB), the MNLF-Islamic Command Council (ICC), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayaaf Group (ASG).
South Pacific island nations, including New Zealand and Australia acknowledge narcotics trafficking as a huge security problem. The strong domestic demand and remote and long coastlines make both New Zealand and Australia attractive targets for drug smugglers. Regionally, immigrant groups carry out narcotics smuggling, with Iranian nationals being prominent. The small island states are particularly vulnerable to drug smuggling because of poor law enforcement infrastructure, and the fact that they are spread over two million square miles of ocean. As a consequence, international drug trafficking syndicates have developed the region a pivotal trans-shipment point for drugs headed for global destinations.
Chinese organised crime groups are operating in the region, and evidence suggests growing co-operation between Chinese and Colombian criminal gangs. Criminal groups are entering into international alliances to facilitate drug trafficking, exploiting countries, or areas with loose government structures and minimal law enforcement activities (such as Cambodia or Burma and the Pacific Island states).