DRUG SMUGGLING

The illegal drug trade is a global black market, competing with legal drug trade, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.

A UN report said the global drug trade generated an estimated US$321.6 billion in 2003. With a world GDP of US$36 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as slightly less than 1% of total global commerce. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally.

History

The illegal drug trade has arisen as a result of drug prohibition laws. In the First Opium War the Chinese authorities had banned opium but the United Kingdom forced the country to allow British merchants to trade in opium with the general population. Smoking opium had become common in the 19th century due to increasing importation via British merchants. Trading in opium was (as it is today in the heroin trade) extremely lucrative. As a result of this illegal trade an estimated two million Chinese people became addicted to the drug. The British Crown (via the treaties of Nanking and Tianjin) took vast sums of money from the Chinese government through this illegal trade which they referred to as "reparations".

Mafia groups limited their activities to gambling and theft until 1920, when organized bootlegging manifested in response to the effect of prohibition. An example of the spectacular rise of the mafia due to Prohibition is Al Capone's syndicate that "ruled" Chicago in the 1920s. The official rise of drug trade started in 1954. The peak of drug selling was in 1979.

In jurisdictions where legislation restricts or prohibits the sale of certain popular drugs, it is common for an illegal drug trade to develop. For example, the United States Congress has identified a number of controlled substances with corresponding drug trades.

Legal drugs like tobacco can also be the subject of smuggling and illegal trading if the price difference between the origin and the destination are high enough to make it profitable. With taxes on tobacco much higher in the United Kingdom than on mainland Europe this is a considerable problem in the UK. Also, it is illegal to sell/give tobacco or alcohol to minors, which is considered smuggling throughout most first-world countries.

Most nations consider drug trafficking a very serious problem. In 1989, the United States intervened in Panama with the goal of disrupting the drug trade. The Indian government has several covert operations in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent to keep a track of various drug dealers. Some estimates placed the value of the global trade in illegal drugs at around US$400 billion in the year 2000; that, added to the global trade value of legal drugs at the same time, totals to an amount higher than the amount of money spent for food in the same period of time. In the 2005 United Nations World Drug Report, the value of the global illicit drug market for the year 2003 was estimated at US$13 billion at the production level, at US$94 billion at the wholesale level, and at US$322 billion based on retail prices and taking seizures and other losses into account.

Major consumer countries include the United States and European nations, although consumption is world-wide. Major producer countries include Afghanistan (opium), Bolivia (primarily ), and Colombia (primarily cocaine).

Sometimes the goods are hidden in the bag or vehicle of an innocent person, who does not know about this, and the goods are retrieved after crossing the border. Other methods of smuggling include hiding the goods in a vehicle, luggage or clothes, strapping them to one's body, or using the body as container. The latter is mainly applied for heroin and cocaine, and sometimes for ecstasy. It is often done by swallowing latex balloons (such as condoms, or fingers of latex gloves) or special pellets filled with the goods, and recovering them from the feces later (such a smuggler is called a ³balloon swallower´ or ³internal carrier´; the practice is also called ³body packing´ or ³body stuffing´). It is a common but medically dangerous way of smuggling small amounts of drugs: such a "mule" may die when a packet bursts or leaks. With regard to traffic from South America to the U.S., the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports: "Unlike cocaine, heroin is often smuggled by people who swallow large numbers of small capsules (50- 90), allowing them to transport up to 1.5 kilograms of heroin per courier. However, elsewhere cocaine is also smuggled this way.

Efforts to prevent drug trafficking include the use of X-rays at airports and border control points to check for drug pellets. In 2003, statistics confirmed that over 50 percent of foreign females in UK jails were drug mules from Jamaica. Nigerian women also make a large contribution to the remaining figure. In all, around 18 percent of the UK's female jail population is foreigners, and sixty percent of them are serving sentences for drug related offenses²most of them drug mules.

Smuggling

Smuggling are secret tunnels, usually hidden underground, used for smuggling of goods and people. The practise began in 17th century Cornwall, England and has continued all over the world. The term is also used where the tunnels are legitimate responses to aggression or siege e.g. during the .

Smuggling tunnel in Sarajevo, Bosnia

During the Siege of Sarajevo a tunnel underneath the no-man's land of the city's (closed) airport provided a vital smuggling link for the beleaguered city residents. Guns were smuggled into the city and (at what critics said were exploitively high rates) people were smuggled out. It features in the British film "Welcome to Sarajevo" and a similar tunnel in an unknown city, but likely Belgrade features in the dark Serbian satire of conflict "Underground".

Smuggling tunnels in ,

Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels connect Egypt and the Gaza Strip, bypassing the Egypt- Gaza Strip barrier built by Israel along the international border established by the Israel- Egypt Peace Treaty. The tunnels pass under the Philadelphi corridor an area specified in the Oslo accords as being under Israeli military control, in order to secure the border with Egypt.

U.S.-Canadian drug smuggling tunnel

In early 2005, a group of Canadian drug-smugglers took up the idea, and constructed a tunnel between a greenhouse in Langley, British Columbia and the of a house in Lynden, Washington, which lay across the ditch marking the United States-Canada border (the house on the Langley side was on 0 Avenue ("Zero Avenue"), which runs parallel to the border and is the baseline of Langley's avenue-numbering system). They bought the two properties and began construction work. Authorities were alerted when a neighbor noticed the large-scale construction work being undertaken in the greenhouse. On inspection, it was apparent that tons of construction material was entering, and piles of dirt were coming out.

It became known within a short time by both American and Canadian border authorities that a tunnel was being built. Video and audio devices were installed secretly by customs officials both at the termini and in the tunnel itself.

On July 14, the tunnel having been completed, the first packs of marijuana began going through. Officials raided the home soon after and arrested the three men. They then appeared before court in Seattle.

U.S.-Mexican smuggling tunnels

On January 25, 2006, the largest smuggling tunnel to date was found on the US-Mexico border by a joint U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Border Patrol task force. The 2400-foot-long (720m) tunnel runs from a warehouse near the Tijuana airport to a warehouse in San Diego. When discovered, it was devoid of people, but it did contain 2 tons of marijuana. It was 5 feet high and up to 90 feet deep. The floor was made of cement and the walls were exposed clay, with lights lining one side, a ventilation system to keep fresh air circulating, and a water drainage system to remove infiltrating ground water. Authorities said it was unclear how long the tunnel had been in operation.

On January 30, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a Mexican Citizen, who was linked to the tunnel via the U.S. warehouse, operated by V&F Distributors LLC. On the Friday before, January 27, immigration authorities reportedly received information that the Mexican cartel behind the operation was threatening the lives of any agents involved with the construction or occupation of the tunnel. US Customs and Immigration, however, pledged to protect them as best they can. Authorities believe Tijuana's Arellano-Felix drug syndicate, or some other well-known drug cartel, was behind the building and operation of the tunnel.

On November 26, 2010, a 2,600 foot (800m) tunnel was discovered linking Tijuana to Otay Mesa, California.

Drug Smuggling In Pakistan

he Pakistani Taliban gets its funding from a variety of sources: µtaxes¶ on the timber and gems trade, extorting small businessmen, kidnapping, and bank robberies. But drugs are undoubtedly a major component of finances.

Gretchen Peters, a journalist formerly with ABC News, has written an excellent book on what¶s generally described as the Afghan drug trade. But, as she demonstrates quite effectively, defining the industry as Afghan is inaccurate²it is a regional phenomenon. Drug profiteers have achieved a level of integration between actors across multiple Central and Southwest Asian states that regional economic pacts have failed to. Linked together are Afghan peasants, security officials, leading politicians (e.g. Hamid Karzai¶s brother), and insurgents, as well as border guards, smugglers, politicians, and intelligence services in Iran and Pakistan, and a variety of actors in Gulf Arab emirates.

In one of the best displays of how drugs brings together disparate actors, Peters reveals that Abdur Rashid Dostum, an Afghan Uzbek warlord (secular and anti-Taliban, albeit barbaric), has been ³in cahoots´ with terrorist groups such as Tahir Yuldashev¶s Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and (prior to his death) renegade Afghan Taliban Mullah Dadullah. Interestingly, both Yuldashev and Dadullah give Dostum only one degree of separation from Baitullah Mehsud. [And Abdullah Mehsud surrended to Dostum's militia in December 2001.]

What brings all these actors together is cash. Peters writes: ³Across Afghanistan, traditional enemies are working together wherever there¶s a chance to make money.´ Drugs are also, in a sense, a form of currency used by militants to barter for vehicles and weapons.

In Pakistan, the drug trade has linkages to Afghan militants based there, Baloch leaders, tangential politicians, the military-intelligence establishment (though this peaked in the 1980s), and possibly even the Karachi Stock Exchange (used for money laundering). The problem in Pakistan at times has been that one arm of the state has been working to root out the drug trade, while the other hand has used the trade to fund its clandestine activities.

Pakistan has effectively eliminated poppy growth inside its territory, but it is the major transit point for Afghan drugs. The deleterious impact of the drug trade comes in the form of the syringes that wash up on the Karachi shores, the subsuming illicit trade via Afghanistan that denies Pakistan over a billion dollars in annual duties revenue, and the terrorists that have been murdering innocent Pakistanis in recent years.

So how can the drug trade be neutralized? Peters recommends a nine-pronged program to combat the regional drug trade. Contrary to what one might expect, eradiction of poppy crops is proposed only as a last ditch option. Peters¶ solution is smart ² the toughest action is reserved for the drug smugglers, not the impoverished farmers. Starting with eradication would likely only serve to boost the price of heroin, benefitting drug smugglers while enraging rural Afghans. The Afghan Taliban, as Peters shows, is quite adept at market manipulation. Its remarkable success in eradication in its last two years in power was not combined with eliminating the enormous heroin stockpiles; this only resulted in a massive increase in heroin prices, hurting farmers while increasing Afghan drug dealers¶ and Taliban profits.

Peters¶ reporting depends heavily on U.S. intelligence reports provided to her. It seems as if the worst wrongdoing the U.S. can commit is apathy. That could be true, but Peters¶ readers would be better served by a more direct engagement with questions surrounding the historic and present U.S. connection to the drug trade in Afghanistan and nearby.

Seeds of Terror is a quick and engaging primer on the drug trade emanating from Afghanistan a primary cause for regional instability and state weakness.

Effects of illegal drug trade

The countries of drug production have been seen as the worst affected by global drug trade.

Even so, countries receiving the illegally-imported are also affected by problems stemming from drug trade. For example, Ecuador has allegedly absorbed up to 300,000 refugees from Colombia who are running from guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug lords, says Linda Helfrich. While some applied for asylum, others are still illegal, and the drugs that pass from Colombia through Ecuador to other parts of South America create economic and social problems.

Violent crime

In many countries worldwide, the illegal drug trade is thought to be directly linked to violent crimes such as murder; this is especially true in third world countries, but is also an issue for many developed countries worldwide. In the late 1990s in the United States, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated that 5% of murders were drug-related. However, after a crackdown by U.S. and Mexican authorities in the first decade of the 21st century (part of tightened borders security in the wake of the September 11 attacks), border violence inside Mexico surged, with the Mexican government estimating that 90% of the killings are drug-related.

Pakistan is today notorious for many things, but in the last 20 years, drug production and addiction has increasingly become just one of them. The issue of drug addiction is often overshadowed by the many of the country's other human development problems, such as poverty, illiteracy and lack of basic health care. But the fact is, drug abuse is rapidly growing in Pakistan and in South Asia in general. While Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Maldives all suffer from this, Pakistan is the worst victim of the drug trade in South Asia. Today, the country has the largest heroin consumer market in the south-west Asia region. It wasn't always this way. Pakistan became a major exporter of heroin in the 1980s, following the influx of Afghan refugees escaping the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

The major consequence of this has been a significant increase in domestic consumption of heroin in Pakistan. Heroin was once upon a time a drug which was virtually unknown in the country until the late 1970s. Today, Pakistan is not only one of the main exporters of heroin, it has also become a net importer of drugs. It is estimated that about 50 tons of opium are smuggled into Pakistan for processing heroin for domestic use. Almost 80 percent of the opium processed in Pakistan comes from neighboring countries.

Widespread drug abuse may be indicated by the fact that almost five percent of the adult population is using drugs in Pakistan. As a proportion of drug abusers, heroin users have increased from 7.5 percent in 1983 to a shocking 51 percent a decade later in 1993. Drug production for Pakistan's domestic market is estimated at close to $1.5 billion. It appears that only three percent of the gross profits from the illegal opium industry remain within Pakistan. Like many of the country's other human development problems, the issue of drug abuse touches the most vulnerable: the majority of drug users in South Asia belong to the poorest strata of society. In addition, the presence of a large drug industry in Pakistan leads to a redistribution of income from the poor to a few rich individuals who control the drug trade. This not only makes the gap between the rich and the poor as well as income inequality even worse, it also erodes Pakistan's social cohesion and stability.

Although almost all South Asian countries have enacted strict laws for fighting drug trafficking and drug use, these measures have produced very disappointing results. One problem is that corruption has also touched the fight against drug abuse in Pakistan and other South Asian countries, since drug traffickers often escape punishment by giving bribes to get out of being held accountable for their actions. But Pakistan is not alone in fighting this disease. With the globalization of the drug abuse problem in the last two decades, the situation has gone from bad to worse, so much so that the United Nations Commission on narcotic drugs no longer discusses individual situations. It has argued that the solution does not lie in the hands of individual countries. It has to be worked out through mutual efforts by South Asian countries.

War on Drugs Mexico has received USD$1.6 billion and strategic support from the United States through the Mérida Initiative

The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade. This initiative includes a set of drug policies of the United States that are intended to discourage the production, distribution, and consumption of illegal psychoactive drugs. The term "War on Drugs" was first used by President Richard Nixon on June 17, 1971.

On May 13, 2009, Gil Kerlikowske, the current Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, signaled that although it did not plan to significantly alter drug enforcement policy, the Obama administration would not use the term "War on Drugs," as he claims it is "counter-productive" Foreign policy and covert military activities

Some critics have condemned the phrase "War on Drugs" as being propaganda to justify military or paramilitary operations under the guise of a noble cause. Others have argued that large amounts of "drug war" foreign aid money, training, and equipment actually goes to fighting leftist insurgencies and is often provided to groups who themselves are involved in large-scale narco-trafficking, such as corrupt members of the Colombian military.

Operation Intercept

One of the first anti-drug efforts in the realm of foreign policy was President Nixon's Operation Intercept, announced in September 1969, targeted at reducing the amount of cannabis entering the United States from Mexico. The effort began with an intense inspection crackdown that resulted in an almost shutdown of cross-border traffic.[36] Because the burden on border crossings was controversial in border states, the effort only lasted twenty days.

Public support and opposition

Further information: Arguments for and against drug prohibition

The War on Drugs has been a highly contentious issue since its inception.

A poll on October 2, 2008, found that three in four Americans believed that the War On Drugs was failing.

Critics cite a large number of unnecessary deaths and imprisonments, increased levels of violent crime and gang activity, wasted government funds, violation of civil liberties, lack of public support, illegality of current drug policies, environmental destruction from drug eradication programs, lack of effectiveness, and a number of other issues.

Supporters claim that the War on Drugs is effective, protects families and communities, makes people more productive, and that social conditions are better as a result of it. Socio-economic effects

Cyclic creation of permanent underclass

1 million people are incarcerated every year in the United States for drug law violations.

Some authors maintain that the War on Drugs has resulted in the creation of a permanent underclass of people who have few educational or job opportunities, often as a result of being punished for drug offenses which in turn have resulted from attempts to earn a living in spite of having no education or job opportunities.

Penalties for drug crimes among youth almost always involve permanent or semi- permanent removal from opportunities for education, strip them of voting rights, and later involve creation of criminal records which make employment far more difficult. Costs to taxpayers

A 2008 study by Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron has estimated that legalizing drugs would inject $76.8 billion a year into the U.S. economy ² $44.1 billion from law enforcement savings, and at least $32.7 billion in tax revenue ($6.7 billion from marijuana, $22.5 billion from cocaine and heroin, remainder from other drugs). Recent surveys help to confirm the consensus among economists to reform drug policy in the direction of decriminalization and legalization.

Impact on growers

The status of coca and coca growers has become an intense political issue in several countries, including Colombia and particularly Bolivia, where the president, Evo Morales, a former coca growers' union leader, has promised to legalise the traditional cultivation and use of coca.

The coca eradication policy has been criticised for its negative impact on the livelihood of coca growers in South America. In many areas of South America the coca leaf has traditionally been chewed and used in tea and for religious, medicinal and nutritional purposes by locals. For this reason many insist that the illegality of traditional coca cultivation is unjust. In many areas the US government and military has forced the eradication of coca without providing for any meaningful alternate crop for farmers, and has additionally destroyed many of their food or market crops, leaving them starving and destitute.