OC-Europe

[moribundo]

Hachís drug traffic from Morocco:

La flotilla de la droga zarpa de Nador
Cerca de 200 'zodiac' con base en una laguna marroquí junto a Melilla trasladan a diario toneladas de hachiís a España y Europa

IGNACIO CEMBRERO - Nador - 19/11/2006


"Ahora han aflojado el ritmo, pero en cuanto pase el trance zarparán con la misma frecuencia y tendremos el mismo ajetreo al caer la noche". Abderramán, dueño de una pequeña empresa pesquera, contempla desde la terraza de un café de Atalayón, a mitad de camino entre Melilla y Nador, la laguna de Mar Chica (noreste de Marruecos). A lo lejos se vislumbran media docena de zodiac ancladas, pegadas las unas a las otras.



Nador es, después de Casablanca, la ciudad de Marruecos con más dinero en sus bancos

"Ahora han aflojado el ritmo, pero en cuanto pase el trance zarparán con la misma frecuencia y tendremos el mismo ajetreo al caer la noche". Abderramán, dueño de una pequeña empresa pesquera, contempla desde la terraza de un café de Atalayón, a mitad de camino entre Melilla y Nador, la laguna de Mar Chica (noreste de Marruecos). A lo lejos se vislumbran media docena de zodiac ancladas, pegadas las unas a las otras.

Abderramán es, gracias a su trabajo, un observador privilegiado de cuanto acontece en Mar Chica, una laguna de agua salada de 115 kilómetros cuadrados, situada a los pies de Nador y conectada con el Mediterráneo por una boca de 120 metros de ancho.

"Cuando funciona con normalidad zarpan de aquí, varios días a la semana, decenas de zodiac -hasta 30 ó 40- que transportan entre una y cinco toneladas de hachís hasta las costas españolas", asegura el empresario pesquero. "En la temporada alta del verano casi desaparecen para no alarmar a los turistas".

"La casi totalidad de las embarcaciones utilizadas para las operaciones de alijo de droga en las costas españolas que parten de la zona norte de Marruecos salen desde ese punto", señalaba, en 2003, un informe de la Guardia Civil de Melilla, la ciudad española a sólo 14 kilómetros de Nador.

Desde hace tres años la situación, que se generó en 1999, no ha cambiado excepto que las planeadoras han, en algunos casos, rebasado España y depositado su cargamento cerca de Marsella, según fuentes del instituto armado.

En Marruecos, según un informe elaborado por sus autoridades y Naciones Unidas en 2003, hay 134.000 hectáreas dedicadas al cultivo del cáñamo, del que se producen al año 47.000 toneladas brutas, de las que, a su vez, se extraen 3.080 toneladas de hachís. Su valor comercial es de unos 10.000 millones de euros.

Abderramán y sus amigos cuentan que el hachís, procedente del Rif -el 27% de su superficie agrícola está dedicada a su cultivo-, se almacena en algunos de los edificios construidos al borde de la laguna, se carga en las zodiac cuando es aún de día y, ya de noche, éstas ponen rumbo a España a velocidades punta de 130 kilómetros por hora. Sólo un helicóptero puede darles el alto.

Son, en general, de la marca Compton Marine, de entre 12 y 16 metros de eslora, con casco de plástico reforzado con fibra de vidrio. Las propulsan hasta cinco motores Yamaha de 200 caballos cuya compra está restringida en Marruecos. Por eso son importados ilegalmente de la Costa del Sol. Su precio total alcanza los 300.000 euros. Carecen, por supuesto, de matrícula y están pintadas de negro para pasar inadvertidas.

A bordo viajan un piloto, que cobra entre 27.000 y 30.000 euros por travesía, un copiloto, pagado entre 5.000 y 6.000, y un tercer tripulante, encargado de echar gasolina a los motores, se embolsa entre 3.500 y 4.000 euros. A bordo llevan una treintena de garrafas y, a veces, dos o tres inmigrantes de toda confianza, es decir, del Rif, que se quedan en España, pero antes ayudan a descargar.

Con estos sueldos y los pingües beneficios que se granjea el traficante, "los narcos se han convertido, junto con los emigrantes, en un modelo social para los jóvenes de la provincia", se lamenta Tarik Yahya, presidente de la Cámara de Comercio de Nador. "Esto es pésimo para nuestro futuro".

¿Cuántas zodiac tienen su base en Mar Chica? "Antes, en torno a unas 200", responde Chakib al Khayari, que preside la Asociación Rifeña de Derechos Humanos, pero el 8 de noviembre, su número era sólo de 163. "Con la que está cayendo en Tánger y Tetuán (noroeste de Marruecos) hay algunos que han preferido quitarse de en medio durante algún tiempo y esconder la lancha", asegura.

Al Khayari alude a la represión desatada por las autoridades marroquíes a principios del otoño, tras la caída del barón de la droga Mohamed el Kharraz, que cantó los nombres de una veintena de cómplices en el noroeste del país -policías, gendarmes y militares- y, en Rabat, el del comisario Abdelaziz Izzou, responsable de la seguridad de los palacios reales. También fue destituido entonces el máximo jefe de la policía, el general Laanigri, pero, a diferencia de los demás, no ha sido procesado.

"En el noroeste, el tráfico de drogas se lleva a cabo con sigilo, pero aquí, en Nador, se hace a la luz del día ante la mirada de la gente", prosigue Al Khayari. "Mar Chica empieza a las puertas del Gobierno Civil", recuerda.

"Estas embarcaciones transitan por un puesto de control, lugar obligado de paso" para salir de la laguna y entrar en el Mediterráneo, explica este activista. La boca que da acceso al mar tiene 120 metros de ancho y "en uno de sus extremos se encuentra situado un punto de vigilancia de las Fuerzas Auxiliares" (cuerpo parapolicial), confirma el informe de la Guardia Civil.

¿Por qué, entonces, la policía no actúa para vetar la salida de las planeadoras con droga? Nabila Hadfi, directora de Al Obour As Sahafi, una publicación mensual de Nador, contesta midiendo sus palabras: "Los responsables de controlar la costa no hacen correctamente su trabajo".

Al Khayari va un paso más lejos: "La gente sospecha que las instituciones están implicadas en las operaciones de tráfico y comercialización" del hachís. "Se habla del apoyo brindado a los barones de la droga por influyentes responsables de las fuerzas de seguridad".

Abdellah Bendhaiba, que hasta septiembre fue gobernador de Nador, siempre negó, a preguntas de este corresponsal, que el narcotráfico fuera más intenso en su provincia que en Tánger o en Tetuán y que gozase de complicidades en su Administración.

"Ante la pérdida de esperanza de que las autoridades tomen cartas en el asunto", Al Khayari escribió hace un mes una carta abierta al rey Mohamed VI en la que le insta a "intervenir urgentemente". La misiva, silenciada por la mayoría de la prensa, le ha valido problemas con la fiscalía y la policía.

"No comprendo por qué se ha empezado una purga en Tánger y Tetuán y aquí todo sigue igual", se pregunta Al Khayari. "Es bastante fácil de entender", contesta el que fue durante años director de una sucursal bancaria en la zona y que insiste en que su nombre no sea publicado.

"Nador es el corazón del sistema del narcotráfico y golpearlo haría que las finanzas de Marruecos se tambaleasen", asevera el ex director de banco. Algunos datos tienden a avalar esta afirmación.

En un país donde muchas ciudades pequeñas de más de 10.000 habitantes carecen de sucursal bancaria, Nador y sus aledaños disponen de una tupida red de 95 agencias. "Que en un pueblo de 9.000 habitantes, como Selouane, haya tres bancos es algo insólito en Marruecos", recalca el ex banquero.

Más llamativo aún es que Nador -con 126.000 habitantes la ciudad y 700.000 la provincia- es la segunda plaza financiera marroquí por depósitos bancarios después de Casablanca, que ronda los cinco millones de vecinos y concentra el 45% del PIB de Marruecos.

En teoría, Rabat se intercala entre las dos ciudades, pero si se resta el dinero de las Administraciones públicas, colocado mayoritariamente en la capital, Nador ocupa el segundo lugar, según datos del banco central.

A la vista o en productos de ahorro, los bancos aglutinan en Nador 2.500 millones de euros. El saldo medio por habitante se sitúa en torno a los 3.500 euros, 11 veces más que en Casablanca.

De ese dinero sólo el 10% se concede en créditos en la provincia, mientras que cerca de 2.000 millones salen fuera. Así se enjuga, en parte, el déficit de la plaza de Casablanca, que asciende a 4.000 millones de euros. Por eso Nador y su excedente, muy superior al de ciudades más pobladas como Tánger o Tetuán, es una pieza clave del sistema financiero marroquí.

En su monografía de 2005 sobre Nador, la Cámara de Comercio de la ciudad reconoce sin tapujos la procedencia de esos fondos: "Algunos atribuyen la importancia de esos depósitos al predominio del dinero sucio [droga], del contrabando [con Melilla] y de las remesas de los emigrantes".

"Las sucursales de Nador", recuerda el ex banquero, "abren por la tarde para atender a los narcos que llegan con bolsas de basura repletas de fajos de billetes". "Si una tarde el narco trae, por ejemplo, 830.000 dirhams (76.570 euros), ingresa 800.000 y el resto será una propina a repartir entre el director y empleados de la agencia".

"Marruecos es uno de los pocos países del mundo donde uno puede entrar en un banco con una maleta de dinero y abrir una cuenta sin ser preguntado sobre el origen de esos fondos", reconocía, pese a ser afín a las autoridades, el semanario Maroc-Hebdo.

El Gobierno marroquí prepara una legislación contra el blanqueo de dinero y una circular del Banco de Marruecos, de diciembre de 2003, la anticipa, pero las medidas que establece apenas se cumplen.

Al margen del vacío legislativo, la lucha contra el blanqueo falla en Marruecos por tres razones, según una nota redactada en febrero por la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (AECI): 1a inexistencia de una Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera; la indefinición de competencias en la Administración en materia de lucha contra el blanqueo, y la deficiente formación de los funcionarios.

Las autoridades españolas y europeas atribuyen gran importancia a que Rabat ponga, por fin, todo su empeño en reprimir este fenómeno, del que, según la AECI, pueden aprovecharse los terroristas.

Una nota de la Representación Permanente de España en Bruselas señalaba, en noviembre de 2005, que a cambio del estatuto avanzado que la UE acabará otorgando a Marruecos, Rabat debe tomar cinco medidas. La tercera es la creación de una "Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera y la aplicación de las recomendaciones del GAFI", el grupo de la OCDE que lucha contra el blanqueo.

"Antes de prodigar consejos, los españoles deberían barrer su propia casa", subraya el ex director de sucursal. "Comparada con la española, la banca marroquí es antediluviana y, además, en Marruecos hay control de cambios". "Por eso Melilla es la ventana al mundo de los bandidos de Nador, por mucho que la legislación española sea más coercitiva".

Cientos de campesinos analfabetos rifeños se han sacado un pasaporte, animados por la propina generosa de unos jóvenes de Nador, que con ese documento han abierto en Melilla cuentas corrientes de no residente, según indican fuentes policiales. El titular suele ignorar que posee una cuenta en la ciudad y son los jóvenes, que aparecen con firma autorizada en la misma, los que de verdad la manejan.

Hay pagos a los narcos por la entrega de la droga en Europa que se hacen directamente en Melilla, pero también muchos delincuentes cruzan la frontera para poner a buen recaudo sus ganancias. En unas diligencias efectuadas en febrero, la policía judicial de Nador relata, por ejemplo, cómo Mohamed Azhaf, que introducía a sin papeles asiáticos en Melilla, envió rápidamente a su cuñada del otro lado de la valla para que ingresase en una caja de ahorros andaluza 12.000 euros que acababa de cobrar de un paquistaní.

Hace ahora un año, la policía desmanteló en Melilla una red de blanqueo que había lavado al menos 350 millones de euros. El dinero, precisó el comunicado anunciando el desenlace de la Operación Saco, se manipulaba desde Nador. "Allí sólo se descubrió la punta del iceberg", asegura un agente del cuerpo superior que conoce bien la ciudad autónoma.[I]

[Hollander]

International drug ring operating from Malta broken up in Italy

David Lindsay
Friday, December 01, 2006




Italian police yesterday morning broke up an international drug smuggling ring operating between Morocco, Malta and Italy, which had a key operational base in Malta. Since the names of the 12 people arrested in yesterday’s raids were not released, it is still not known if any Maltese are being held in custody. In addition to the arrests, over 50 searches were carried out across Italy, which yielded the seizure of some two tonnes of hashish worth an estimated e7 million. According to statements given by the Italian authorities yesterday, the ring used fishing boats that would sail from Malta to Morocco to pick up the merchandise and which would then proceed to Italy to make delivery apparently to a restaurant on the west coast in the vicinity of Anzio, Ostia and Nettuno. The Italian authorities said yesterday that the ring was broken up through the work of undercover agents penetrating its inner structures. While the operation had bases in Malta and Morocco, the Maltese operational base was only discovered thanks to the efforts of the Maltese police, the Italian authorities said yesterday without furnishing further details. A total of 4,000 kilos of narcotics were documented by the investigation, ongoing since January, as having been destined for the Rome market. Yesterday morning’s operation was coordinated by the Direzione Investigativa Anti-mafia (DIA) of Rome and was carried out in conjunction with the mobile squad of Rome and the Frascati and Ostia Carabinieri. Speaking to the media yesterday, Carabinieri Colonel Paolo La Forgia, who heads the DIA in Rome, explained that, “In April we seized a fishing boat off the western Italian coast carrying over two tonnes of hashish and arrested the two fishermen aboard. After a difficult investigation we uncovered an international organisation directed by a Roman, who oversaw the operation of the drugs arriving from Morocco on a fishing boat from Malta, which would have collected the cargo (from Morocco) and taken it to Italy.” Guardia di Finanza lieutenant colonel Giovanni Bevacqua added, “In January there had been an initial shipment of drugs that we were not able to stop, but the following April we intercepted a fishing boat off the coast of Cerveteri. From there we were able to penetrate the internal structures of the drug-trafficking organisation, which had two bases: a restaurant on the western coast, and another in Malta where the fishing boats are moored.” Yesterday’s operation was carried out at dawn and the 50 searches resulted, in addition to the two tonnes of hashish, in the seizure of bank accounts, boats, cars and cash amounting to over e5 million. And while the Maltese segment of the ring is thought to have been central to the operations, and that the Maltese police had played a key role in its discovery, the details released by the Italian authorities remain sketchy for the time being.

[Giuseppe]

Swiss bust child pornography ring

Swiss police say they have uncovered an internet child pornography network spanning 78 countries and involving at least 2,000 IP internet addresses.

An inquiry was launched after a tip-off from Interpol about a website based in Switzerland being used as a forum for illegal child pornography films.

The site was officially devoted to hip hop music but was used to access videos of child pornography via secret codes.

The site designer was unaware of how it was being used, Swiss media report.

It is the biggest concern of its kind dismantled in Switzerland

Swiss federal police spokeswoman Eva Zwahlen said the authorities had been monitoring the website in the south-western canton of Vaud, the Associated Press reports.

She confirmed a Swiss newspaper report that the investigation involved people from the US, Poland, Greece and other countries.

Jean-Christophe Sauterel, a police spokesman in Vaud, told Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche that it was "the biggest concern of its kind dismantled in Switzerland".

According to the newspaper, dozens of arrests and several convictions have been made as a result of the investigation, which began in May 2008.

Speaking about suspected users of the illegal material in Switzerland, Mr Sauterel said none of them were based in Vaud itself.

The website's owner told the newspaper of their shock at being told by police about how it had been used illegally.

The site's designer was not aware what it was being used for and was cleared of any involvement in the ring, police were quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

[Giuseppe]

From The Times
July 28, 2009

Germany keeps red light district in the black with brothel discountsRoger Boyes in Berlin

A police blitz on red light establishments could spell the end of a pioneering attempt by German brothel owners to fight the economic downturn with special offers.

Customers were sent scurrying for cover on Sunday when 400 police raided four establishments that have started to offer flat-rate services, based on all-you-can-eat evenings run by restaurants. At the Berlin Pussy Bar, clients were offered sex with as many of the in-house prostitutes as they wanted for €70 (£60).

“So far our investigations are directed only against the owners of these establishments,” a police spokesman in Berlin said. “The working women and the clients are being considered only as witnesses.”

The raids are due to continue, however, because the flat-rate principle has been catching on in the market-sensitive business.

Prostitution is legal in Germany and, acccording to the Verdi service sector union, approximately 400,000 officially registered — and taxpaying — sex workers account for up to €14 billion of turnover annually.

That is about twice the figure recorded by registered self-employed electricians, yet electricians are among the many beneficiaries of state support.

Turnover in brothels has dropped by an estimated 30 per cent since the economic crisis began with the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers in September last year.

Brothel owners have offered rebates for pensioners, the unemployed and those on welfare. Some have offered discounts to taxi drivers and rubbish collectors on the 15th of the month, which is close to pay day.

One Berlin brothel tried to brand itself as environmentally friendly by offering a 10 per cent discount to customers using public transport or bikes and some have started to provide free drinks — overpriced alcohol is seen as one of the big earners in brothels.

In Hamburg, men who stay overnight have their shoes polished and clothes pressed as part of the service.

All to little avail. “The clients are holding on to their money,” said Sabine Skutella, a counsellor at Mimikry, a prostitutes’ advice centre in Munich.

Patricia Floreiu, the manager of the Pussy Bar, said that her club paid between €100 and €300 a day to its prostitutes. The sum is guaranteed even if there are no customers.

That is why the industry has homed in on the flat-rate idea, aimed at increasing the volume of business sharply. But it has caused a debate that has drawn in politicians, bishops and newspaper editors. Open letters have been sent to Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, demanding that she should ban the flat rate.

Rules on prostitution vary according to region. After the war, large numbers of German women turned to prostitution to support their families.

By the 1950s, town councils were finding this an embarrassment and tolerated the creation of brothels, often in industrial areas where there were no neighbours to complain. These became large Eros centres in the 1960s.

By 2002 a law scrapped the idea that a prostitute was engaging in an immoral trade, giving her legal protection but making her liable to tax. Brothels then began to offer contracts to their prostitutes, making them self-employed subcontractors.

For conservative politicians, sex sold for a flat rate is a step too far.

“This is an outrageous violation of human dignity,” said Heribert Rech, the region’s interior minister, who ordered raids in the clubs of Baden-Württemberg, particulaly in Stuttgart. “So-called flat-rate sex is an immoral development which cannot be tolerated in our society.”

The law seems to be on the side of the brothel owners, however. Until it is changed, the police are concentrating on checking the documents of foreign prostitutes and controlling hygiene standards.

Moral laws

Britain Although prostitution is not illegal, almost all other elements of the sex industry — soliciting, operating a brothel and pimping — are. The English Collective of Prostitutes continues to lobby for full legalisation

Sweden Paying for sex is illegal, meaning that clients are liable for prosecution rather than the prostitute. Prostitution is considered an act of violence against women, and customers are harried by police. Many go to Denmark, where laws are more lax

The Netherlands Prostitution and operating a brothel are legal and regulated by the Government

[Junior]

Romanian police investigating internet fraud arrest 90
BBC News, July 14, 2011

Police investigating a massive online shopping scam have arrested around 90 people across Romania.

The suspects are accused of cheating online shoppers of an estimated $20m (£12.4m) by selling fictitious goods on sites such as eBay and Craigslist.org.

Hundreds of victims, most of them in the United States, paid for their purchases, but never received them.

Prosecutors say the fraudsters used false identities to transfer money back to Romania from abroad.

Police searched more than 110 houses in nine cities.

They believe an organised crime gang with a broad network posted false adverts for goods such as cars, motorbikes, boats and electronics.

An estimated 1,000 shoppers were cheated in the scam.

Romanian investigators on the case are working closely with the US authorities.

[Junior]

Serb crime bosses lose Ferraris, BMWs, villas as state impounds $500 million in property
Associated Press, The Washington Post, Tuesday, November 29, 2011

BELGRADE, Serbia — An opulent villa once owned by a drug lord is now home to children on cancer therapy, a drug lab has been turned into a youth center, and cars used by gangsters are in the hands of the police that chased them.

Serbia’s authorities have decided the best way to stop powerful Balkan crimes bosses is to hit where it hurts. So, they’re taking away their valuables and putting them to use after years of relative impunity.

The European Union is insisting that the Balkan nation clamp down on organized crime to become a member of the bloc, pressuring officials to take on the powerful force — tycoons, mafia bosses and gangsters with ties to state security services.

In nearly three years, authorities have netted some $500 million from impounding sprawling villas, luxury cars, furniture, and even a gas station and a bus depot.

Much of the loot is being used for humanitarian purposes, though other treasures — a white Ferrari with red-leather interiors, a golden Chrysler Prowler, lines of jackpot machines and roulette tables — are sitting idle in a multi-story concrete warehouse in Belgrade’s industrial zone on the Danube.

Authorities hosting a regional meeting on battling crime Tuesday say they are proud of the work, long used in the West, but new in the emerging democracies of the Balkans.

“Serbia and the rest of the region are no longer a safe haven for organized crime,” President Boris Tadic told the conference. The government is “waging a systematic war against crime,” he added.

Confiscation of property is “a highly efficient tool” in that struggle, noted Jugoslav Stojiljkovic, who oversees the program.

Gangsters, once so powerful they were able to plot the assassination of Serbia’s prime minister, continue to have tentacles within the political establishment and are still able to get away with many illegal activities, said Tanja Tagirov, a crime analyst for the independent Vreme weekly.

For years, the pro-Western authorities that came to power after the Balkan wars of the 1990s were too weak to seriously tackle the criminal network closely connected to the country’s own security services.

In 2003, Serbia’s first postwar reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic was gunned down in front of the government headquarters, in a bold attack by criminals and paramilitary leaders. Back then, tycoons from the war era were left untouched, but those days are over, Stojiljkovic insisted. “No one is protected any longer,” he said.

Some of the impounded property belonged to the once mighty, such as a fugitive tycoon who owned a cell phone network under late president Slobodan Milosevic and the former general manager of the state power company.

A notorious Balkan drug lord whose smuggling operations in Latin America were disrupted by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents lost his villas. Leather sofas, high-tech equipment, a home gym, all were sold at auction.

One of the villas has been converted to host families whose children are receiving cancer therapy in Belgrade. Last week, a villa was handed over to accommodate victims of human trafficking. A small house used for drug manufacturing has been renovated to host youth seminars.

The convicted mastermind of the Djindjic assassination was left without half of his suburban villa, which is to become a day care center. His wife and children stay in the other half.

So far, so good, said Stojiljkovic. “We are very pleased with the results.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Carmelo]

Men identified in Cyprus gangland-style killings

Three of the victims of a brutal gangland shooting in Ayia Napa this morning have been named. They are Philip Loucaides,33, and Mario Karaolis, 28, from Nicosia and George Georgiou,35, otherwise known as "Rousias" from Paralimni.

The two other victims, both from Romania are expected to be named once confirmation is received from Interpol and the Embassy of Romania in Cyprus.

All of the men worked as security guards for a private company.

Speaking at lunchtime, spokesman for the Famagusta Police Department, Lieutenant George Economou said that "Police are investigating the case of premeditated murder of five people committed today in the morning around 03.30"

Specifically, he added, "known or unknown persons using firearms managed to kill five people who were in a car. We have recovered from the scene various items for scientific examination. The victims have been taken to the morgue for an autopsy that will take place later today."

Asked whether the perpetrator was a lone gunman, he replied that "this is a matter of research which can not at this stage answer that."

Asked whether one of the victims managed to get out of the car and was shot outside the vehicle, he said "yes, one of the victims came from the car and then fell."

State radio said the only witness to the killings was a British tourist, who apparently saw a motorbike following the car at the time of the shooting.

http://famagusta-gazette.com/men-identifie...s-p15815-69.htm