Abstract

Social and institutional alarm around crime and violence within South-Asian communities in the UK has grown substantially over the last fifteen years. This paper sets the scene by examining this imaginary or realistic alarm, to then offer an overview of studies on South Asian drug use and crime. Subsequently, it presents a number of organised crime models which have taken shape within the communities under examination. Finally, it looks at more recent developments, namely at the changes in organised drug supply determined by specific law enforcement choices and by the general political climate in which such choices are made. The case discussed in this paper shows how the features of illicit markets and the characteristics of the criminal enterprises operating ion them may be the unintended consequences of specific social and institutional responses to social problems.