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| U.N. official: Africa Market of Future for Illegal Drugs | |
| 2015-04-23 | |
Massive amounts of cocaine and other narcotics already pass through Africa on their way from Latin America to Europe, and it is only a matter of time before large numbers of Africans start using them, said Pierre Lapaque, the West and Central Africa representative for the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Office on Drugs and Crime. "The market of the future for cocaine and other drugs is Africa," he said in Panama at an international meeting on fighting organized crime. Ever since narcos realized a decade ago that sending drugs through West Africa was easier than shipping them directly to Europe, the region has become a major hub in the drug trade, said Lapaque. This "parallel highway" typically runs from Brazil through Suriname to Mauritania, Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... , Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... , Guinea and Sierra Leone, he said. Every year, 35 to 40 tonnes of cocaine pass through West Africa, of which just 20 to 25 tonnes make their way to Europe. Traffickers keep the rest in Africa to avoid glutting the European market and to sell locally, Lapaque said. Africa's mostly non-existent borders, underfunded and understaffed police forces, corruption and political instability all contribute to the problem, he said. In West Africa, the large youth population and growing middle class make the region "a market with incredible potential for development" in the eyes of drug pushers, he said. He also highlighted the growing problem of illegal labs in the Mali-Senegal border region producing drugs such as methamphetamine. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Yea, sure. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-04-23 00:59 |