Snow in the Sahara
 

Interesting article translated from German.

Google Translate

Ch

Also covered in 'The Dark Sahara' somewhat - reading now.

According to locals Algerian government officials earn a lot of money with smuggling of cocaine, cigarettes, petrol, etc. I suppose Keenan is making this point as well. (did not buy the book yet)

10 tons of snow falls out of the sky over Gao in Mali but it all seems to have melted away....

BBC NEWS | Africa | Sahara cocaine plane crash probed

Horrible story this. Now we have meth and cocaine labs in the desert?
Lots of bad, bad money coming in can only lead to bad things.

Counterterrorism Blog: Growing Evidence of the Transcontinental Cocaine Pipeline
By Douglas Farah

"One of the disturbing and little noticed events of recent weeks was the crash (or destruction) of a Boeing 727 in the desert of Mali.

The crash is disturbing for many reasons, among them these three: 1) the aircraft was carrying between 2 to 3 tons of cocaine, far more than other, smaller aircraft and boats that have been detected in recent months, indicating an escalation of the trade through the Trans-Sahel region; 2) The region where the aircraft was found, most likely torched by its crew to destroy evidence, in a area of heavy operation of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM); and 3) the aircraft departed from Venezuela, now Latin America's primary transshipment hub from Latin America to West Africa, and source of all the major air shipments of cocaine that have been interdicted in West Africa.

Finally, as the Observer article notes, British, U.S. and French authorities in West Africa have discovered HCL labs, used to make finished cocaine for the European market, as well as capsules and other items for making Meth capsules there, also likely for export to Europe.

All this points to a disturbing set conclusions. One is that the Colombian and Mexican traffickers are feeling sufficiently confident in their ability to move product through West Africa and upping the size of their loads based on that confidence. In testing new routes they always start small, to minimize losses if the route isn't working. Once they are confident they flood the zone. It seems that this is the first indication that the West Africa zone is now being flooded.

Another is that there could be a growing role of at least some branches of al Qaeda or other Islamist terrorist groups now willing to help move or protect the drugs as they move north. The crash indicates the cocaine was not going to be moved to Europe via boats, as it was far inland. The Tuareg and other groups that control the smuggling routes north through the Sahel will be making much more money as they move into the cocaine protection and movement business, much as the FARC in Colombia found itself awash in cash when they did. My full blog is here Douglas Farah ."

Edit: touaregs are always getting a bad rap :(. It is my understanding that they are often involved as guides, drivers, facilitators, guards - their traditional role in the desert - but are rarely the organizers or financiers of criminal activities. Yes, I am biased.

That blog article sounds like bollocks to me mostly - countries like Guinea have been used for years so saying "It seems that this is the first indication that the West Africa zone is now being flooded." seems poorly worded at best.

Anybody who mentions drug smuggling routes/countries/parties involved without mentioning the CIA and other intelligent organisations 'business' dealings to fund illegal wars isn't probably worth listening to anyway.....

Well he wrote "...indicating an escalation of the trade through the Trans-Sahel region" + I didn't know they have labs for processing in WA (Guinea?)
where the CIA fits in I don't know....

Wild Card?
 

While searching for anything new, I discovered this detailed September 2009 CNN.com/world article, Mauritania is mentioned.

My only first hand African experience is 3 weeks travel through Morocco 2003, but I have hosted and talked with scores of returned Peace Corps volunteers at my ranch (NGO) in the States who had served 2 years in Africa.

Perhaps others will advise if this article is relevant to this thread and the hostages?

Latin American drug cartels find home in West Africa

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Guinea-Bissau, fifth-poorest nation in the world, is called Africa's first narco-state
Officials: At least nine Latin American drug cartels have set up bases in West Africa
West Africa has little law enforcement, making it easier for traffickers there
More money can be made selling drugs to Europe than to the U.S., officials say.

Here is the article:

Latin American drug cartels find home in West Africa - CNN.com

Eat, Drink and Be Careful xfiltrate

ho hum, whatever you say. have any proof (please no links to ridiculous conspiracy theory web sites) for any of what you're saying or do you just make it up as you go?

Boeing in the sand
 

AFP: Burnout Boeing, a clue in African drugs trade
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...tcWNXg?size=s2

Bad Dreams of a White Christmas?
 

roamingyak.org, you are not alone, former U S Navy Seal and Governor Jesse Ventura, has gone public describing his personal knowledge/experience of CIA run drug operations that funded covert CIA operations.

Iran Contra comes to mind so does Vietnam and even Venezuela, country of origin of the burnt out Boeing in priffe's post.

Afghanistan?

Ever read about the turn of the century Opium Wars, and the British?

Venezuelan National Guard Affair

In November 1993, Judge Robert C. Bonner, the former head of the DEA, appeared on 60 Minutes and alleged that the CIA had permitted a ton of cocaine to enter the United States.[7]
The New York Times reported:
“
The CIA - over the objections of the Drug Enforcement Administration, a branch of the Justice Department - approved the shipment of at least one ton of nearly pure cocaine to Miami International Airport as a way of gathering information about the Colombian drug cartels. But the cocaine ended up on the street because of "poor judgment and management on the part of several CIA officers," the intelligence agency said.[8]
”
In November 1996 a Miami jury indicted former Venezuelan anti-narcotics chief and CIA asset, General Ramon Guillen Davila, who "led a CIA counter-narcotics program that put a ton of cocaine on U.S. streets in 1990."

It might be very naive to dismiss roamingyak.org credibility so handily.

That's my 2 kilos worth.

Eat, Drink and Be Careful xfiltrate

The interpretation so far is that the 727 was burnt to destroy evidence. This doesn't sound like the full story. If the 727 flies away, so does the evidence. So it seems to me that they couldn't get the plane in the sky again. Maybe the runway was too rough or too short. Almost certainly there was no way to refuel the plane there. On both counts the plane would have been grounded. At that point the decision to destroy it would be made.

Or as the paranoiacs on the blogs will have it, it was intentionally burnt by the CIA to motivate sending more US troops to the desert.
Another AQIM Kidnapping in Mali? « Sahel Blog
from the comments:
"Everything is questionable in that area. One possibility is that the cargo that “crashed” in Tirkent – the town whose mayor is AQIM go-between Ould Sheikh - had no drug at all. Probably used to let the rest of us believe that the area is full of terrorists, colombians drug dealers, la Comorra and very soon Chechen rebels."

You don't know me enough to call me naive, I am most certainly not naive. His sources, and yours, are either not credible or refer to totally different situations (Opium Wars were, um, a while ago...). And I do not doubt that a botched CIA intelligence operation could result in drugs ending up in the US, or elsewhere. The CIA is playing a dirty, complicated game and as far as I can tell is not very good at it...

Re xfiltrate:
I second the above opinion. If the Opium Wars are your "example" you're searching a bit far back in history. Your own current example of the ton of cocaine was a (botched) attempt to STOP the cocaine trade.
Ever heard of Occam's Razor?

Charlie