International Journal on Criminology
In this favorable environment , at the Ben Gardane-Ras Jedir pole , large souks ( markets ), “ Souk Libya ” and then “ Souk Maghreb ,” have been set up and installed , mainly selling the products of smuggling facilitated by corruption . The stores are on the Tunisian side and the warehouses are just behind the Libyan “ border ,” one supplying the other by a constant noria of vans and vans . Around the souks are parallel foreign exchange markets and transport logistics : a lost corner of the desert , supplied directly from Hong Kong , Dubai , Istanbul , or Algiers .
Toward the interior of Tunisia , Ben Gardane supplies Medenine , Kairouan , etc ., which now have their own Libyan souks . Finally , nomads come there to get their supplies and then feed eastern Algeria .
Ben Gardane-Ras Jedir Border Zone : What Is Sold There
LICIT-COUNTERFEIT : alcohol , sports articles , livestock ( sheep ), coffee , various fuels ( Libya ), shoes , cigarettes ( highly taxed in Tunisia , counterfeit or not ), air conditioners , cosmetics , canned goods , blankets , plasma screens , household appliances and electronics , glasses , counterfeit medicines , construction metals ( iron , copper ), optics , perfumes , spare parts , tires , oriental carpets , kitchen utensils , clothing , stolen vehicles , etc .
CRIMINAL ILLICITY ( drowned in the “ tolerated ”): firearms ( looting of Gaddafi ’ s arsenals ), cannabis ( local consumption , Libya , Egypt ), cocaine , Subutex , Tramadol , etc .
Ben Gardane-Ras Jedir Border Zone : The Financial Center
At the center of the financial system of the “ Border Cartel ”— indispensable
to a great trade that is now transcontinental ( reaching as far as China , via
Istanbul and Dubai )— powerful money changers , the Sarafas , command smuggling and trafficking ; corrupting politicians and civil servants , they “ protect ” and exploit at the same time the other actors of the illicit cross-border system : traders , couriers , etc .
This medieval-type system , whose primary mission is to ensure the convertibility of Tunisian and Libyan dinars ( for Tunisian workers in Libya ), is still based on inter-tribal friendships and one ’ s word .
It also drains money from tourists ( the Ben Gardane region has not benefited from tourism projects , which explains its economic precariousness ) because it offers generous exchange rates — the system requires a lot of hard currency for its international trade . Finally , this financial system attracts legitimate Tunisian merchants who thus escape the exchange restrictions of their central bank and change without having to fill out any declaration .
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