SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Imagine Mexican drug cartel operatives strolling with robed business prospects in the souks of Damascus and Tehran. Or cash-laden Mexican traffickers setting up business offices in African cities like Kinshasa and Accra. Or maybe even Mexican drug syndicate emissaries plying the streets of Baghdad outside the Green Zone.
There’s nothing fictional about any of this. According to recently released reports (and here) from the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board, Mexican drug organizations have gone very far afield to maintain one of their most lucrative activities — producing and shipping over the U.S. border almost all of America’s methamphetamine. They've done it by moving operations to the failing states of Africa and off-the-grid Muslim countries, according to control board and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
It's a strategy aimed at keeping drug mafias rich — and therefore strong — while they're under unprecedented fire at home in a military crackdown by President Felipe Calderon, whose strength is bolstered by U.S. cooperation.
“The remarkable thing is that … we have gathered evidence that behind most of these cases involving African and Middle Eastern countries there were Mexican trafficking organizations,” Rossen Popov, chief of the board’s precursors control section, said in a telephone interview from his office in Austria. "The Mexicans are very active around the world. They're quite innovative."
Mexican cartel emissaries are trolling the Middle East, securing huge tonnage loads of the otherwise tightly regulated raw chemicals that make methamphetamine — pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. Posing as legitimate pharmaceutical traders and operating out of bogus storefront companies in Africa, they strike import deals with chemical companies elsewhere. Some of these partners are in Syria, Iran, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
One 40-ton order of ephedrine interdicted last year just outside of Baghdad was traced to — of all unlikely places — a Mexican drug cartel, DEA and control board officials say.
DEA officials closely involved in new interdiction efforts now quietly ramping up in Africa confirmed the trend outlined in the control board reports (the officials weren't authorized to be identified; read the 2007 report). The DEA is currently deploying agents to Africa to begin interdiction efforts. Said one Washington, D.C.-based DEA agent: “The amount of money they make is astronomical.” Investigators have found business offices with chemical company names on exterior doors in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa, set up by Mexicans.
Once the loads of raw chemicals are in cartel hands, they are shipped to points throughout Africa. The continent offers a perfect incubator for the cartels.
this is just the first page of the article , i'll post the link to the full article if anyones interested
like my thread title stated, this is ridiculous. not only has the american "drug war" been a big cause of the mexican cartel's success and huge profits, but now it has essentially caused the drug mafias to outsource to a multitude of countries. not that drug use is already prevalent around the world, but its just more organized crime that some third world regions like africa and the middle east are going to have to deal with. nixons drug war has not solved the problem, it has magnified it. thoughts anyone?
__________________
"Marijuana is taken by musicians. And I'm not speaking about good musicians, but the jazz type..."
Italians and heroin
Columbians and cocaine
Now
Mexicans and Meth
My theory, code words.
DEA is pretty short on translators
and even shorter on the hip everchanging underground language.
Some of which I still don't know or haven't heard.
You think Weed had a lot of names in english try spanish.
With a vacuume in the market up north, NAFTA,
and everyone getting off crack, the customer is always right.
Failed states have always been around,
and you could listen to everyone,
but what good is it if you can't understand shit.
It's like that three card monte game.
You see the chemicals going into south america,
then the razzle dazzle and it's gone,
past the bribed Customs Agent waving cars through
that are idling a mile long in the noon heat.
You pay a cop as much as an American School Bus Driver, and...
and
AMERICAN DEATH SQUADS ARE BACK!
Mexico Accused of Torture in Drug Wars
CBS News - Julie Tate, Steve Fainaru - 14 minutes ago
Last March in Tijuana, the military, with the assistance of the local police
chief -- a retired army lieutenant colonel -- arrested 25 police officers ...
Washington Post Foreign Service Washington Post
Mexican army accused of drug war torture United Press International
Army feeble as murders surge in Mexico drug war city
Reuters - Julian Cardona - Jul 8, 2009
In Ciudad Juarez, corrupt police still openly work openly for gangs despite
ubiquitous army patrols. And local newspapers constantly show images
of ...MyFox PhoenixCrime campaigner killed in Mexico
BBC News - 4 hours ago
Mr LeBaron, who was a US citizen, continued to lead protests demanding
more law enforcement in the rural area, and police and the army increased their ...
Mexico outraged by killing of anti-crime activist The Associated Press
Two with polygamous roots gunned down in Mexico Salt Lake Tribune
Anti-kidnap activist, relative murdered in northern Mexico Xinhua
The Associated Press
Mexico's Ongoing Dirty War
Slate - Daniel Politi - 5 hours ago
The Washington Post leads with a shocking look at the claims that the
Mexican army has been carrying out massive human rights abuses in its fights
against ...Mexican army catches drug suspect with police list
The Associated Press - Jun 29, 2009 MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Mexican soldiers have captured a suspected
drug cartel operator with a list of the names of local police officers who
apparently ...US-Trained Death Squads?
Mother Jones - Charles Bowden - 9 hours ago Last July, videos surfaced showing security consultants training members
of an elite Mexican police unit in what appeared to be torture techniques. ...
More Human Rights Allegations Against… Mother Jones
Police Chief and 91 Officers Detained in Mexico
FOXNews - Jun 26, 2009
A dozen army soldiers and police officers have been arrested for allegedly
harboring organized crime, particularly drug trafficking. ...
Mexico detains 93 police in corruption probe The Associated Press
Police chief and 91 officers detained in Mexico AFP
Why not focus on Mexican cartel/police alliance instead of US guns? Examiner.com
We know you're smokin wherever you are.
American Bribery and Torture in Mexico
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