As Australia grows closer to Southeast Asia, the threat from organised crime grows larger, the United Nations has warned.
A UN Office on Drugs and Crime conference has heard that transnational crime in the region is worth an estimated $A108 billion a year and could overshadow any benefits of future economic and social integration.
Recent examples include the busting on Friday of a Sydney drug syndicate linked to a man who worked for an international air cargo company.
In early October, police also arrested six Taiwanese men, with a record-breaking haul of methamphetamine seized, after a multi-agency operation that covered both Melbourne and Perth.
Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, says the pace of economic integration is ahead of public security, including the ability of countries to manage their borders effectively.
"(Countries) are almost operating at cross purposes, operating separately. We need to bring them together," Mr Douglas told AAP.
The UNODC meeting brought together law enforcement and judicial authorities from Asia and the Pacific as well as civil representatives from Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Senator Brett Mason, representing Australia, called on the conference to find "effective solutions to what is really a daunting challenge".
He said while criminal networks had once specialised in one or two illegal products, they had diversified into "everything from illicit drugs, counterfeit goods ... (to) firearms trafficking and money laundering".
Senator Mason warned that the massive amounts of illicit money fuelled corruption and weakened efforts to "forge even closer regional links".
