Date: Thu, 12 May 1994 22:34:57 -0700 From: International Antiprohibitionist League <[i--l] at [igc.apc.org]> Subject: IAL-Fax #11-12 INTERNATIONAL ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST LEAGUE ------------------------------------------------------ P.E. - REM 508 - 89 Rue BELLIARD - 1040 BRUXELLES - BELGIUM Tel: (32)-2-230.4121 - Fax: (32)-2-230.3670 - Email: <[i--l] at [igc.apc.org]> ------------------------------------------------------- IAL-Fax, Year III N. 11, May 3, 1994 - Contents: THE "NIGERIAN CONNECTION" DIRECTS COCAINE TRAFFIC FROM BRAZIL TO EUROPE IPS, 13.4.94. Alberto Miranda PANAMANIAN GOVERNMENT DENIES ACCUSATIONS OF NON-COOPERATION IPS, 14.4.94 DRUG CULTIVATION CONTINUES IN LEBANON La Dpche Internationale des Drogues, April 1994 "EUROPE IS INUNDATED WITH DRUGS" Interview with Raymond Kendall, Le Figaro COSTS OF ABUSE TOPS BILLIONS YEARLY, SAYS UN REPORT IPS, 21.4.94. Senthil Ratnasabapathy BELGIUM: THE PROMISED LAND OF THE MAFIAS La Dpche Internationale des Drogues, April 1994 DUTCH SUPERCOPS THROWN OFF TRACK Le Monde, 19.4.94 FRANCE: METHADONE DISTRIBUTION Le Monde, 20.4.94 BOOKS Le Monde, 19.4.94 ------------------- THE "NIGERIAN CONNECTION" DIRECTS COCAINE TRAFFIC FROM BRAZIL TO EUROPE IPS, 13.4.94. Alberto Miranda Africa is becoming an important stopover in the illegal traffic of drugs between South America and Europe, as the traffickers attempt to diversify their access routes to the European market. Last week, two Nigerians, Mamadi Camara and Joseph Yeboah were arrested at the Dos de Junio international airport in Salvador, the capital of the Bahia state. Their capture follows a series of arrests of Nigerian nationals, beginning in mid-1993, at the airports of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. According to the Sao Paulo police, at least two tonnes of cocaine have passed through Brazil in operations carried out by what has been termed the "Nigerian Connection" (because of the nationality and the destination of the majority of its members). The two Nigerians were caught with 10 kilos of cocaine hidden in the false bottom of a suitcase, thanks to the attempt by a Brazilian to stow away on board an Aeroflot flight for Capo Verde. Due to the 12-day-old strike by Federal Police officers in B! ahia, the traffickers had no problem passing the checkpoints at the international airport in Salvador. Their problems began when unemployed electrician Adilton Silva dos Santos decided to take advantage of the situation to stow away on the flight to Capo Verde. Adilton was discovered by the Russian crew before the aircraft took off, and the captain then called the Brazilian authorities to check on the rest of the passengers. He also asked for luggage to be checked. During their search, officers discovered a false bottom in the suitcase of the two Nigerians, who were arrested and taken to the Special Drugs Tribunal in Salvador. An interpreter was required to allow questioning and the commencement of proceedings against the men. The "Nigerian Connection" is the most recent variant in the cocaine-traffic routes that pass through Brazil. It has been discovered that the African traffickers recruit men, preferably unemployed, to act as "mules" (people who carry small quantities o! f drugs). The offer of good clothes, a trip abroad and a stay in good hotels, as well as prompt payment for their services, is enough to guarantee a steady flow of candidates prepared to commit occasional crime. The Nigerians buy the drug in the Andean countries for 3,000 dollars a kilo, or for slightly more in Brazil, and its value trebles when it arrives in Lagos, the Nigerian capital. The "merchandise" can later be sold at 45,000 dollars a kilo to European consumers, mainly in Holland and Germany. The "Nigerian Connection" operates mainly in Rio and Sao Paulo, where there is a community of about 500 Nigerians. They now seem, however, to have discovered the advantages of Salvador airport. As well as the strike by the Federal Police, who check the identity and the luggage of passengers, the computer used to check on persons prohibited from entering or leaving the country, including known traffickers and criminals, has been broken for the last six months. The X-ray service for luggage control is not operated by the police, but has been assigne! d by the airport administration to a private company, whose workers are not trained for the task. The striking police officers admit that, in these conditions, large quantities of drugs may have passed through the airport in the last few months, with very little risk to the people working for the "Nigerian Connection". -------------------- PANAMANIAN GOVERNMENT DENIES ACCUSATIONS OF NON-COOPERATION IPS, 14.4.94 The Panamanian government has protested against declarations by a top US official accusing the country of offering little co-operation in the fight against the "laundering" of money obtained from the drug trade. Panama's Foreign Minister Jose Mulino said in a letter to US Secretary of State Warren Christopher "it was a pity" that Washington ignored "the great efforts carried out in Panama to fight and suppress this kind of crime". The controversy emerged last week when Robert Gelbert, US Deputy Secretary for International Drug Affairs, said Bolivia, Panama and Peru should not receive US aid because they were not co-operating fully with efforts to stop money-laundering. Gelbert said Panama had implemented a few measures to stop the drug traffic along its border with Colombia, but on the other hand, the country was "becoming a centre for the laundering of money from the illegal drug traffic". He also mentioned the alleged release in Panama of drug traffickers who had confessed! to their illegal activities. In his letter, Mulino said such accusations "have no specific basis". After criticising the US Congress for not having ratified the Treaty for Mutual Legal Assistance (TMLA) signed by both countries in 1992, Mulino reminded Christopher that "despite the resources of your government, your country is still the world's biggest consumer of drugs". According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), about one million dollars from the drug trade had been laundered in Panama in 1992 and 1993. The DEA accused the country's international free trade zone, located in the Caribbean city of Colon, the financial sector and anomymous international firms of being involved in the drug trade. The amount of money being laundered in these sectors, as well as in an unspecified number of local commercial firms, is triple the amount that was being recycled in the country during the time of deposed General Manuel Noriego, according to DEA reports. The United St! ates invaded Panama on 20 December 1989 and ousted Noriega, accusing h im of endangering US national security with his drug-related activities. Noriego, who surrendered to the US troops on 4 January 1990, is now serving a 40-year sentence in a US prison. He was found guilty of drug trafficking. -------------------- DRUG CULTIVATION CONTINUES IN LEBANON La Dpche Internationale des Drogues, April 1994 At the beginning of March 1994, about one month before the date of cannabis sowing, growers from the Bekaa plain threatened to resume illegal plantation. Some Lebanese experts, in fact, believe that the 4.2 million dollars provided by the international community, through the United Nations, is clearly insufficient to ensure that the cannabis and poppy plantations will not be resown. Despite the ban on poppy and cannabis cultivation pronounced by the Lebanese government in 1992, in the wake of pressure from the United States, Interpol and the United Nations, hundreds of hectares of cannabis plantations on the Bekaa plain were destroyed in June 1993, one-fifth of the area affected by crop eradication in the previous year. However, it is in the mountainous areas on the southern slopes of Mount Leban, currently impossible for the Lebanese government to control, that the most extensive poppy and cannabis plantations were sown in 1993: between 1,500 and 2,000 hectares, mainly in S! hiite villages (Younine, Taraya, Chmestar, Chaat, Nahl, and Jurd-el-Hermel) on the eastern slopes of Mount Leban, and in a few Christian villages (Der-el-Ahmar and Inata) in the same region. The peasants in this region have told the correspondent of the Observatoire Gopolitique des Drogues that they are preparing to sew the same area this April. At the same time, morphine base from Afghanistan and Turkey reaches the laboratories in Bekaa or Beyrouth, where it is transformed into heroin. This explains why heroin production has not fallen, despite the considerable reduction in local opium production. Cocaine base, on the other hand, comes to Lebanon via Africa or the Mediterranean countries. It is transformed into hydrochloride in villages in the south of Bekaa (in the Kamed-el-Lawaz area) controlled by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in the border areas shared by Israelis and Syrians. Confrontations between Syrian soldiers, acting for the Lebanese government as an anti-drugs force! , and traffickers have taken place in the whole of the Bekaa plain, fo r example near the village of Kamed-el-Lawaz in October 1993. Cocaine hydrochloride also arrives from South America. On 23 August 1993, in fact, Lebanese police seized 90 kilos of pure cocaine, worth over seven million dollars, which was hidden in a car that had come, like dozens of others, in a container on board a Panamanian ship; after leaving Panama, the ship had stopped off in several countries, including the United States. --------------------------- "EUROPE IS INUNDATED WITH DRUGS" Interview with Raymond Kendall, Le Figaro The United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) met in Vienna on 12 April. The 37th summit was attended by 53 countries. It aims to analyze the current situation, redefine the strategies for the battle against the drugs traffic, and propose a programme of assistance for interested countries. The Secretary General of Interpol, Raymond Kendall, was invited to the meeting, during which he painted an alarming picture of the world situation. LE FIGARO: In your report you talk of the universalization of drug abuse... R.K.: Twenty-five years ago, there wasn't much of a drugs problem in Europe. In Great Britain there were about 250 drug addicts. The "French Connection" only affected the United States. But the criminal organizations quickly saw the potential profits. Now the picture is catastrophic: Europe is inundated with drugs. The quantities seized are constantly rising. This, to some extent, is a failure for the police, overwhelmed by the scope of the problem. LE FIGARO: Have you drawn up statistics for seizures in 1993? R.K.: Yes, but they represent no more than 25% of traffic: 400 tonnes were seized in Europe in 1993, compared to 217 in 1992. This is not all: in Iran, for example, the police seized 38 tonnes of opium in 1992, and 60 tonnes in 1993! LE FIGARO: Where do these drugs come from? R.K.: Cannabis, the most "popular" drug, comes from the Middle East and North Africa. Heroin comes from the Far East via the Golden Triangle, South-East Asia, and the new Russian republics. Cocaine originates from the South American cartels... Spain and Portugal are the base for Europe. LE FIGARO: Who are the traffickers? R.K.: Organized crime: the Mafia for the Italian channels, the triads for Chinese channels, the yakusa in Japan. At Interpol, we have a data base with 250,000 major criminals, 200,000 of whom are in some way related to drugs. Our success rate for the capture of wanted criminals is 60%, that is almost 1,000 people a month. LE FIGARO: What is the estimated value of "drugs money"? R.K.: Two years ago, a figure of 350 billion dollars a year was suggested, around 100 billion of which was already in the banking system. With resources like that, all types of corruption are possible, at all levels. It is important to intensify the fight against money-laundering, which is a threat to our democracies. LE FIGARO: What do you recommend? R.K.: We must do everything to reduce drug abuse and therefore "break down" demand. Repression is not enough. We must organize prevention and launch information and assistance programmes for addicts. Sweden is setting the example, and drug use is falling considerably there. As for addicts, they must be forced to follow treatment in specialized medical centres. Only on these conditions will we have a chance of winning. ----------- COST OF ABUSE TOPS BILLIONS YEARLY, SAYS UN REPORT IPS, 21.4.94. Senthil Ratnasabapathy The cost to the world of ever increasing drug abuse could be as high as a thousand billion dollars a year, according to a report from the United Nations Commission on Narcotics issued here Thursday. The costs include precious money spent on law enforcement services, on handling crime and accidents, on treatment and from the loss of productivity, according to the report issued at the ongoing session of the Commission here. It says that, in addition, there are rising social and unemployment costs and those of related illness - including the spread of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). According to the report, the overall costs of drug abuse account for as much as five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) per year. This means, for example, that it would have amounted to just over 1,000 billion dollars in 1991. In Pakistan, the money spent on drug abuse increased tenfold - from four billion rupees (150 million dollars) to 40 billion rupees (about 1.5 billion doll! ars) between 1982-1983 and 1988 - the report says. US officials estimate that the cost of drug abuse - excluding alcohol abuse - amounts to 69 billion dollars. In Norway, drug and alcohol abuse is also reported to be the main cause of increases in road accidents, violent crime and family problems. As governments and institutions become more aware of the effects of drug abuse, the report says that calls for the economic and social consequences of drug abuse to be given more priority are increasing. Paulsen K. Bailey, secretary to the Commission, asked this year's session to determine whether the question of economic and social consequences of illicit trafficking should become a recurring agenda item. Delegates are expected to add the issue to the agenda of the next sessions in 1995, a Commission official said. UN narcotics abuse reports say that, aside from a few countries, the problem of drug abuse is a cause for world concern. "Some decades ago, the abuse problem was the c! oncern of only a limited number of countries, but today countries that are not suffering from the harmful consequences of drug abuse are the exception rather than the rule," says the latest report of the UN International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). The economic and political power of drug cartels are rising and, the report maintained, there is clear evidence that trafficking organisations barter different types of drugs among themselves and are resorting to complex and sophisticated methods to carry out their business. According to one UN report, between 1983-92, most governments reported a high prevalence of drug abuse among young men in the age group of 25-35, but abuse among women was reported to be on the increase. The increase was often attributed to their integration in the labour market, the report says. Aside from a few countries in the Americas and in the Asia and Pacific region, all other countries are witnessing an increase in drug abuse. The rise is blamed on the availability of drugs for lower prices, social and economic tensi! ons, wars and the opening of borders. "Poverty has forced people to earn their living through illegal activities," says Saba Gebre-Hiwot of Ethiopia. "The escalation of drug abuse (in Ethiopia) might result from the fact that Ethiopia was an economy in transition - shifting from a centrally planned economy to a market economy with borders open to trade." According to J.M.Prokhorov, who heads the legal department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, the permeation of borders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has also greatly facilitated drug trafficking. He said that last year, the drug trade in the Russian Federation had amounted to 150 million dollars. "In their reports, governments have invariably acknowledged the costs and consequences of drug abuse, yet few have assessed them systematically," the Commission report says. The potential dangers of the increase of AIDS and HIV infection through drug abuse and their spread beyond the high risk groups, to non addict! s, women and children, was also stressed in the report. The report sai d that 65 percent of intravenous drug abusers in Spain are infected by HIV while in Ireland, more than half of the intravenous drug abusers are HIV victims. Most countries have just begun compiling statistics on drug related deaths, but, the Commission report says, studies indicate that about 20 percent of all annual deaths may be attributed to the abuse of drugs. ---------------- BELGIUM: THE PROMISED LAND OF THE MAFIAS La Dpche Internationale des Drogues, April 1994 In the last few months, Belgium, where there were already criminal organizations of various nationalities (in particular Italian, Turkish, and Moroccan), has witnessed the appearance of Kurdish, Chinese and Russian organizations. As in other European countries, the greatest challenge comes from Russian mafias. Whereas organized crime from the CIS was previously involved only in car theft networks (with the aid of Russian soldiers stationed in Germany) and community frauds, officials of the DEA in New York and the BKA (the German criminal police) have warned Belgian police of the emergence in Antwerp of a Russian Jewish mafia whose suppliers are in Riga (Latvia). Active in all areas relating to drugs, the networks of this organization have allegedly already taken part in operations involving the traffic of MDA (methylene-dioxy-amphetamine) from Latvia to the Benelux countries. ------------------- DUTCH SUPERCOPS THROWN OFF TRACK Le Monde, 19.4.94 Twenty-five tonnes of hashish with a value of around 750 million French francs were put on the Dutch market by a gang of traffickers, despite the fact that it had been infiltrated by the police. This revelation is the latest in the IRT scandal, named after a pilot team of Dutch "supercops" whose activities between 1991 and 1993 went completely wrong. -------------------- FRANCE: METHADONE DISTRIBUTION Le Monde, 20.4.94 On a short visit to Amsterdam, Jean-Pierre Davant, President of the French National Insurance Federation (FNMF), revealed to "Le Monde" correspondent Christian Chartier that "by mid-June" he will have given the Health Ministry his dossiers approving the opening of centres for the distribution of methadone. The FNMF will not take account of the criteria established by the new protocol for the distribution and use of methadone, drawn up by the Health Ministry: "The requirement for a minimum of fifty places will not necessarily be respected. Nor will the requirement that centres offer the whole range of treatments for addicts." ------------ BOOKS Le Monde, 19.4.94 "Dietro la droga. Economie di sopravvivenza, imprese criminali, azioni di guerra, progetti di sviluppo", by Umberto Santino and Giovanni La Fiura, published by edizioni Gruppo Abele, Torino 1993. This book is part of a pedagogic project being carried out in Palermo by the Giuseppe Impastato Research Centre on the Mafia and the International Centre for South-South Cooperation, supported by the European Community. As the title suggests, the book presents all aspects of the drugs question: from production to consumption, historical aspects, international legislation, the debate on legalization, etc... =========================== The International Antiprohibitionist League (IAL) is an association of scientists, drug experts, journalists, politicians from all over the world whose aim is to work for the reform of prohibitionist laws on drugs. As a multicultural and independent association, the IAL encourages studies and research projects on the consequences of prohibition and proposes alternative at both political and social levels. Among its activities, the IAL sponsored a forum on "The costs of Prohibition on Drugs" in Bruxelles, worked in close contact with the Italian anti-prohibitionist movement, and helped the organization of similar associations in Spain, Portugal, France. Recently, a report "For a Revision of the United Nations Conventions on Drugs" was distributed among members of the European Parliament and other National Parliaments. The most immediate goal of the IAL is the organization of an International Conference on the alternatives to drug prohibition to be held under the approval of the United Nations in 1995. Financially supported by its members and private contributions, the IAL has three different levels for its annual membership: - Associate member: US $ 50 - Full member: US $ 100 - Special member: US $ 300 Payment from the US can be made by: - Credit Card (American Express, Visa, Mastercard); - Bank Transfer to: IAL, account # 424-6075921-55, Kredietbank, Bruxelles, Belgium *Thank you for your interest!* ------------------------------------------------------ INTERNATIONAL ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST LEAGUE ------------------------------------------------------- P.E. - REM 508 - 89 Rue BELLIARD - 1040 BRUXELLES - BELGIUM Tel: (32)-2-230.4121 - Fax: (32)-2-230.3670 - Email: <[i--l] at [igc.apc.org]> ==================== end ========================