From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Mon Jul 19 2004 - 09:30:55 EDT
Azerbaijani paper looks at drug transit routes in South Caucasus
International drug dealers are widely using Azerbaijani territory for
drug trafficking, the Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo has said. The paper
cited the trial of suspected Armenian drug dealers in Tehran who said
that 144 drug traffickers are currently working in the Azerbaijani city
of Sumqayit and that drugs trafficking in the city is controlled by four
big groups. The newspaper also quoted British experts as saying that
more than 80 per cent of villas in the South Caucasus have been built
using drug money. The following is the text of M. Macidli's report by
Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on 12 July headlined "106 villas worth
642m drug dollars have been built in Baku" and subheaded "Sumqayit is a
big link in drug trafficking". Subheadings have been inserted
editorially:
Trial in Tehran
Every year the leading powers of the world step up financial support for
efforts to curb the spread of narcotics. The "white death" turns part of
society, mainly the young, into walking corpses. All these efforts prove
unable to contain the steady rise in illegal drug trafficking. As we
walk in the streets of one or another Azerbaijani town, we just don't
think that the town might be a link in a drug trafficking chain. Our
talk today is about Sumqayit. Information about drug trafficking in this
city has been provided to the editorial staff of Zerkalo by Rovsan
Novruzoglu, head of Bank Information, a centre for strategic research
against global terror and corruption.
According to information available to the centre, brothers Ryurik and
Nomin Bagdasaryan, charged with drug trafficking, recently testified in
a Tehran court (see Khazar magazine, No 1, 2004 and the newspaper Iran,
No 17, 2004). The brothers were arrested in Kaleybar on 19 February
2003. According to their testimony, it was no problem for them to cross
the border, stay overnight in southern Azerbaijan, mainly in Calilabad
and Bilasuvar, set out for Baku on the next morning and then to their
final destination, Sumqayit. It should be recalled that the US
Department of State included Azerbaijan's southern areas in its April
2003 report as a transit zone in global drug trafficking. Tehran court
documents confer a similar "honour" on Sumqayit.
Drugs in Sumqayit
Money from drug sales is so huge that the special services of different
states have compiled separate lists of ways in which "white death" money
is spent. For instance, British expert (?Edward Werner) and intelligence
analyst Col (?Mike Thaler) think that 87.9 per cent of all villas in the
South Caucasus have been built with money earned from drug trafficking.
The British experts are certain that the construction of such villas is
taking place on a large scale in Baku, Lankaran, Ganca, Sumqayit,
Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi and Yerevan, as well as in occupied Nagornyy
Karabakh. Werner believes that 106 villas worth 642m dollars were built
in Baku and its suburbs using drug money in 2002-03. Sumqayit's
coastline location makes it a strategic route for drug transit, the
analyst said quoting evidence voiced at the Tehran court. Answering
questions, [Nomin] Bagdasaryan said that 144 drug traffickers are
currently working actively in Sumqayit, each of them moving about within
the limits of his individual area. Four big groups control drug dealings
in four parts of Sumqayit: Olimp in the west of the city, Amican in the
centre, Yaqut in the north and Sea Gate in northeastern Sumqayit.
According to Bank Information, the groups of Amican and Yaqut are led by
representatives of the clergy who are not checked when crossing the
borders of Georgia and Dagestan into Azerbaijan.
Every day, 70 kg of heroin, 19 kg of opium, 12 kg of hashish and 10 kg
of marijuana arrive in Sumqayit to go further to Russia (Dagestan) and
Georgia, the Armenians told the court. Drug dealers have widely used the
occupied territories to transit their stuff. For instance, they actively
used a route starting from occupied Qubadli to Tabriz, Calilabad,
Sumqayit, Batumi, Istanbul and on to eastern Europe.
Global cartel's map
Worldwide drug cartels and mafia clans specializing solely in the
transit of the "white death" also view the South Caucasus as a very
important region. For example, the special services have obtained a map
from the Medellin cartel which shows that the cartel's dealings cover
Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and southern Russia where
drug transit and sales yield huge revenues. A report issued by an
international institute dealing with problems of drug addiction says
that structures in charge of problems of drug addiction and prevention
need a mandatory reform of personnel. This is connected with signals it
repeatedly receives about the creation of a system of dubious planted
agents. They mean above all structures functioning in the South
Caucasus.
According to Bank Information, Azerbaijani drug addicts have been
switching from soft to hard drugs of late, giving preference to
varieties of heroin, such as "brown sugar" and "China white".
Source: Zerkalo, Baku, in Russian 12 Jul 04 p 5
BBC Mon TCU 170704 ek/mp
|
