They don't, they could also use cash, or many other forms of currency which they do. However, of course Bitcoin could be used. But why would you? There are much better cryptos for doing this, than Bitcoin.
I think it's more related to other coins lacking adoption and liquidity. If you ask 100 people if they want to conduct business with you in Bitcoin, 99 will say yes. With Monero it will be closer to 10 or something.
That being said, maybe a lot of the illicit transactions are already being settled in privacy focused coins. We don't know because it's always Bitcoin that's being blamed and featured in articles. It's too much of an easy target.
I'm sure that eventually with more crypto adoption and less ignorance coins as Monero and Zcash will gain more ground. I'm perfectly fine with that since it will result in less negativity going towards Bitcoin.