The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), which has been monitoring the impact of the war in Ukraine on illicit economies, is well positioned to investigate this question. In September 2023, the United Kingdom commissioned this study to examine the vulnerability of the Danube to trafficking.

One of the main findings of this report is a concerning lack of law enforcement cooperation among the Danube riparian states even though most of them are co-members or partners of the European Union. This study found little evidence of trafficking on the river, due in part to a lack of data on seizures, which points to a potential security gap. However, it did discover several vulnerabilities that create a permissive environment for different kinds of illicit activity on some sections of the river.