The main directions of using information technology in solving drug trafficking crimes

Introduction: modern society is conditioned by the growth of drug trafficking, which leads to an expansion of the scale and an increase in the rate of narcotization of the most able-bodied and reproductive age groups. Thus, the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation has determined that one of the sources of threats to state and public security is the activities of criminal organizations and groups engaged in drugs trafficking and psychotropic substances. The use of information technology is crucial in the distribution of narcotic drugs. In order to identify and prevent crimes committed in this way the employees of law enforcement agencies, and primarily, the employees of operational units, need special knowledge in the field of information technology. The improvement of special knowledge used in operational investigative activities, as well as in the preliminary investigation of drug trafficking crimes, is due to the need to develop the methodological recommendations and implement them in practice. The purpose of the study is to identify relevant theoretical and applied problems of methodological support for detecting and solving drug trafficking crimes committed using information technology and systems based on the use of forensic knowledge about the latest computer technologies and information resources. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks: 1) to consider the main characteristics of crimes related to drug trafficking on the Internet; 2) to investigate the mechanism of activity of online stores selling narcotic drugs; 3) To analyze the problems of counteraction to the contactless method of distribution of narcotic drugs using information technology; 4) to study the main directions of using information technology in solving drug trafficking crimes. Research methods: the nature of the issues under consideration determined the application of a set of complementary research methods: theoretical and empirical. The theoretical methods: the study and analysis of literature, Internet resources. The empirical methods: on the basis of periodicals and in electronic publications on the Internet, to study the latest methods and characteristics of committing crimes in the field of information technology, as well as the methods of their detection and investigation using information and telecommunication technologies and systems by employees of operational units. Generalization method: the conclusions are drawn based on the results of the work as a whole.