Illicit Flows And Trafficking Southern Europe-Maghreb
coast , where girls offer clients a “ pass ” with or without cocaine . Throughout this troubled area , the “ criminal order ” is maintained ( in the red-light districts , during illicit transactions , etc .) by thugs from the Gypsy or North African communities , or from the Balkans , Serbia , or Albania .
On April 22 , at the port of Algeciras , Andalusia , the Spanish Ministry of the Interior announced a seizure of 8.7 t of cocaine in containers of bananas from Colombia : “ the largest in the history of drug trafficking ” in Spain . Five suspects were arrested , in Spain and France . The drugs were distributed in ± 1000 boxes of bananas , with packets of cocaine labeled iPhone , resulting in a record seizure of drugs “ transported in a container ” in Europe . 21
In December 2017 in Algeciras , 6 t of cocaine ( 210 million euros ) were seized in a container of bananas from Medellin , Colombia , the largest seizure in eighteen years . The fifth port in Europe , Algeciras , receives five million containers per year . Spain is the major point of entry for drugs into Europe , as it is close to North Africa ( cannabis ) and linked to South America ( cocaine ). To the northwest of Algeciras , Cadiz is also a stronghold of drug traffickers and smugglers . Operating almost openly , they often attack the police .
In the area from Kasserine ( Tunisia ) to Tébessa ( Algeria ), which is a zone that is certainly troubled , but modest , day-to-day , the trafficking reported by local customs includes fuel , olive oil , carpets and blankets , cartridges for shotguns ( cal . 16 or 12 ), and finally , cartons of cigarettes ( recently , 525 cartons of cigarettes , in March 2018 ). Nothing strategic for the moment .
Africa — Ben Gardane-Ras Jedir : The “ Mother of All Troubled Areas ”
Since 2011 , Libya has been a chaotic area with 1,800 km of coastline open to all winds . There are six to seven million inhabitants scattered over 1.8 million km 2 ; militias and tribes survive thanks to trafficking , hydrocarbons , human beings , weapons , cigarettes , and fake medicines . Plus of course , there is the widespread presence of the most dangerous Islamists , Al Qaeda , the Islamic State , etc ., resulting in a very dangerous mixture of the “ Ho Chi Minh trail ” and the Court of Miracles facing the European Union .
Throughout the country , criminalized militias , which in fact hold the real power , that of arms , arrest , lock up , and execute whomever they want . African migrants who fall into their hands are often detained , locked up , tortured , sold in markets , and subjected to forced labor — or even the worst forms of sexual violence — with complete impunity .
21 “ Andalusian Troubled Zone : Algesiras and Cocaine , May 2018 ,” Security Defense Business Review 194 , May 22 , 2018 .
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