Subj: Interpol: But the drugs squads don't work ...



Date: 21 Apr, 1999



Source: Scotsman, The  (UK)



     



ubject: But the drugs squads don't work ...  



Politicians vow ad infinitum that the West will win the war 

on drugs. They should get real, writes Chloe Fox, because 

we've already lost it  





EIGHT o'clock on a rainy spring morning in Paris and French 

customs officer Roland has just come into his discreet city 

office from a night of surveillance. He has been waiting 

near a suburban warehouse for a drug pick-up that never 

happened. Cold, tired and worn-out, he discusses the night 

with his boss. A heated discussion produces two basic 

theories: that the information they had was old or wrong, or 

that the police were also working on the case and got there 

before customs did. The only point of agreement is that 

despite everyone's efforts, the state has lost the war 

against drugs - a long time ago.



"Regionally, nationally, internationally ... everyone knows 

this. And it is lost irrevocably. We lost this war, oh, many 

years ago. Certainly the new Europe is a Europe without 

borders - which is good for smugglers, drug traffickers, 

petty criminals, but not for us," says Roland despondently.



"It is actually getting worse now. New routes open up every 

week. These people are more organised than you would ever 

believe; I mean, they are a step ahead of us every time."



The steps are not always massive but they can be 

significant. An example: mobile phones. In France, drug 

seizures at border checks plummeted five years ago when 

smugglers started sending their escort cars ten minutes 

ahead. If the escort spotted a guard, or border checks being 

carried out, they would simply call the smuggler and warn 

them off. Simple but devastating.



With annual profits of UKP2.5 billion, the drug industry 

naturally sees any ruse a small price to pay for being one 

step ahead. Methods change, routes change, carriers change. 

The growth of the drug market can partly be explained by 

increasing demand, but also by the development of new and 

increasingly effective operating procedures. The industry's 

success is due to an ability to innovate and maintain 

operations - despite defections and arrest - while 

increasing operating efficiency.



Money is being laundered more efficiently than ever before. 

The massive, almost unimaginable profits made by the 

industry are becoming part of legitimate economies all 

around the world. Interpol says it is undeniable that drug 

money, or "narco-dollars" threaten the stability of 

legitimate markets and political processes, diminishing 

public confidence in the state's ability to govern 

efficiently.



"The illegal trade in narcotics is increasingly interwoven 

with the regular economy, at a national as well as 

international level," says Raymond Kendall, former Scotland 

Yard officer and now head of Interpol, which is based in 

France's second-largest city, Lyon, and co-ordinates the 

world-wide police fight against drugs. "This interweaving 

makes the combating of the drug trade on the financial front 

all the more difficult. Countries now face the increasing 

globalisation of crime and criminal organisations. 

Approximately 50 per cent of all seizure/arrest reports 

received at the Interpol General Secretariat are related to 

drug trafficking, and this is a growing area of the 

organisation's work."



Drug trafficking can touch any economy, not just heavy drug-

producing countries such as Colombia or Afghanistan. Three 

years ago in the French port of Le Havre, customs installed 

an enormous x-ray machine, big enough to fit a lorry. Within 

an instant, anything suspicious was identified and the truck 

would be searched.



But the X-rays took time and time is money. So shipping 

companies moved to other less vigilant, more efficient 

ports, unconsciously following in the wake of the drug 

dealers. Result: a community temporarily drained of 

legitimate and illegal business.



Police officers and customs officers seize an estimated 8 to 

10 per cent of the drugs that are sent across the invisible 

European borders into France every year.



Unfortunately, seizures are not on the increase - but 

opportunities for drug trafficking are. As restrictions on 

international travel are lifted and transport and 

communications improve, the loopholes for drug trafficking 

are widening.



The United Nations International Drug Control Programme 

(UNDCP) says that at least 75 per cent of drug shipments 

would have to be seized to make an impact on the drug trade. 

It is enough to fill any law enforcement officer's heart 

with despair.



Working in and around the French borders, 60 hours a week 

for UKP1,300 a month, Roland spends what little spare time 

he has trying to think one step ahead. Mostly working out of 

uniform and just inside the border, he tries not to stop 

"the obvious ones".



"As we see it, there are certain classic routes for drug 

trafficking," he explains. "There is the North/South route, 

where heroin flows down from places like Poland to the south 

of Europe and then to Spain, from where it is shipped all 

over the world. Then you have the South/North route - 

cannabis from Morocco is shipped to France or Spain, and 

driven up through France, Italy and Germany toHolland."



He has certain basic information at his fingertips which 

helps him out but it is never enough. Cannabis harvests take 

place in June, so by September traffickers are preparing to 

ship their commodity north. Until November, there is 

generally a customs blitz against vehicles travelling north 

through Europe fromMorocco.



Last year during this time, Roland hit upon the idea of 

stopping cars with large families or handicapped occupants 

and came up with some surprisingly large hauls.



"People are uncomfortable with the idea of stopping these 

kind of people," he chuckles. "Smugglers gamble on the 

assumption that we will be uncomfortable too. They take the 

risk, and last year we caught quite a few." He's not quite 

so cheerful when he considers the other drug trafficking 

routes that are expanding rapidly.



"Turkey," he sighs. "Turkey is a big, big problem. They 

produce and export a lot of heroin, and have been doing so 

for some time. I think this is one of the reasons that other 

Europeans do not want them joining the European Union."



Raymond Kendall agrees that Turkish drug distribution 

networks are a thorn in Interpol's side. "The distribution 

networks have changed, with the most noticeable ones being 

Turkish (heroin and cocaine), Colombian (cannabis, cocaine 

and heroin) and Nigerian (cannabis, cocaine and heroin)," he 

says. "But the consumer countries continue to be the same."



The growth of the drug market can only be in part explained 

by increasing demand. The industry's explosion is also due 

to thedevelopment of new and increasingly effective 

operating procedures by the syndicates.



So should the producers or the consumers be attacked first 

in this failing war against drugs? Different countries have 

remarkably different policies, which can make it difficult 

for Interpol to co-ordinate global anti-drug measures.



"To fight this, it is imperative that a two-pronged attack 

is in place. It means that supply and demand should be 

tackled simultaneously," says Kendall. 



Unfortunately, countries such as France and the United 

States have legislation which requires them to concentrate 

on the consumer rather than the trafficker. While the 

politicians agonise over whether to change this legislation, 

the drug traffickers are merrily reaping in the profits.



And it is, as Kendall says, the traffickers who profit. More 

than 90 per cent of drug profits go directly to the 

trafficker because the trafficking is the crucial link 

between production and consumption. At the end of the 

pecking order, the farmers of illicit drugs will see a 

paltry 2 per cent.



Or perhaps the farmer is the penultimate end of the pecking 

order. Because all financial considerations aside, at the 

end of the food chain is the user. In human terms, users and 

their families pay the highest price.



At the end of the day, people like Roland keep on doing 

their job because they believe in it. Roland says that 

"ordinary" people who live honestly and pay taxes should not 

have to pay the staggering social, cultural and economic 

price imposed by the drug industry.



And Roland's team will try to carry out, in the midst of 

defeat, ashonourably as they can.