Canada has seen an increase in the number of organized crime gangs in operation, the RCMP reported in its annual report on Friday.

According to the RCMP's 2007 Annual Report on Organized Crime, police found 950 groups operating this year compared to 800 in 2006. Illegal activities were discovered in both urban and rural centres.

"Wherever there is profit to be made, organized crime can be found," says the 43-page report.

Part of the reason why the number of groups has increased is because of enhanced efforts to identify this type of activity, the report says.

"More work needs to be done to identify if the number of groups is stable or if it's increasing or decreasing," the RCMP's new commissioner William Elliott said at a media briefing Friday. "However, this year we are in a position to know more about the number of groups out there."

The report also says that many of these types of groups are difficult to identify because of the sophisticated structures that see the ringleaders operate schemes from a distance.

The groups have a significant impact on the country's business market, often being heavily involved in the importation and distribution of illegal drugs and in money laundering or other fraudulent financial schemes.

Street gangs, however, are easier to identify because of their often violent way of doing business.

But the report says these smaller groups could be facilitating criminal activity for the larger, more professionally organized groups.

Illicit drugs

The report identified illicit drugs as the main money-maker for criminals -- considering the amount of money it generates, the number of groups involved and the number of consumers it attracts. However, there is not one group that dominates the market.

About 80 per cent of gangs are involved in the drug market, a number that has been unchanged since 2006.

"Marijuana remains the most produced and abused illicit drug in Canada with a majority of organized crime groups, at all levels of criminal sophistication, involved in its cultivation, distribution and transportation," says the report, noting Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia as the provinces with the biggest grow-ops.

Cocaine, it goes on to say, is also in significant demand but ecstasy is where Canada is gaining a reputation for being a source country.

Technology helps facilitate crime

Identity theft and fraudulent transactions, facilitated by ever-evolving technology, is also becoming a serious problem in the country. The report names mortgage fraud, securities fraud, telemarketing schemes and payment card fraud as common problems.

According to the report, the International Monetary Fund estimates between $22 and $55 million is laundered each year in the country.

"Criminal groups will continue to manipulate Internet financial services, such as online payment systems and e-currencies as they can be highly secure, anonymous and operate outside the regulated banking system," the report states.

Firearms

While most organized crime gangs dabble in the firearms market, few rely on it to make a profit. Most don't engage full time in buying and selling large quantities of guns.

"The involvement of the majority of criminals is normally limited to the purchase, use, or occasional random sale of illicit firearms to other criminals," the report says.

"While the illicit sale of a single firearm can be lucrative in comparison to its initial acquisition price, the overall annual supply-end of the market itself may not be profitable enough in comparison to other criminal markets, such as illicit drugs, to support sustained involvement."

Street gangs are the groups that are likeliest to use firearms in their daily routines but that isn't typical of larger organized crime rings. In fact, statistics show the percentage of gang-related homicides involving guns has dropped between 1991 and 2005.

Nonetheless, because of the nature of organized crime, guns will always be in demand to help enforce and protect their illegal business operations, particularly in the profitable drug trade. It's also why gun smuggling from the U.S. and thefts from registered law-abiding gun owners have remained consistent.

The RCMP puts together its annual findings to encourage the public to become partners in law enforcement, concludes the report.

"The CISC Annual Report offers Canadians an opportunity to become better informed and aware of how pervasive and insidious a threat organized crime poses to our country, to our province and to our communities," comments RCMP deputy commissioner Bill Sweeney, in the report.