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

History repeats itself
 

motoreiter and m37charlie

This Australian, non conspiratorial, documentary describes the inseparable bond between drugs and war, beginning with China, from the point of view of villagers, world leaders, CIA/DEA operatives and chiefs, investigative reporters and the historic record.

After watching all 6 parts, I am convinced my Opium Wars reference was spot on but... Episode I: The Seeds of War details this argument!

I also learned that both of your remarks directed at me, are more accurate than I had previously believed.

Thanks for giving me another valid point of view.

An Unholy Alliance - CIA's connection to the Global Drug Trade

DEALING WITH THE DEMON
Episode II: An Unholy Alliance
Part I through Part VI

Video here:

YouTube - An Unholy Alliance - Part 1 of 6

These 6 videos are interesting and educational, without hype or political agenda. Great prep for anyone biking the poppy growing regions of the world or the drug routes to market. Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for the encouraging Private messages,

Episode I: The Seeds of War

"It provides the contemporary launching point for an inquiry into history which takes us to the former British opium factory on the banks of the Ganges and through the archives of Persia and China. The patent medicine craze in the west spawned mass addiction which led to the beginnings of international control at Shanghai establishing patterns of drug policy that have been unbroken since."

web site for INTRO, Episodes I, II, and III

OneWorld Magazine - Opium: Dealing with the Demon

Eat, Drink and Be Careful xfiltrate

Well you haven't mentioned where the CIA enters the picture in this case.
The opium story and how the 'merrkans often placed their bets on dictators and drug lords is well known. What the French and the Russians have done is less debated, I think.
Smuggle routes across Africa lead to Europe not North America - correct?
Still no meat on those bones. ;)

Will we next find drug labs in the Mali desert?

From all thats been said by people here with first hand knowledge of the terrain, and the ease that shipments could be made through these areas in comparison to through Western Europe or the USA (assuming water and fuel resupply), I would think there is a very good chance of something being "found".

But I find it hard to believe that whatever is there now isn't already well known to the Western worlds various agencies? Is the CIA waiting for HUBBers to do the dirty work? ;)

This also raises the point that if there is a large drug organisation somewhere out there, then additional attention resulting from kidnappings wouldn't be appreciated, however big the area concerned is?

Snow Storms
 

priffe, I agree that the trans Africa drug route leads to the lucrative markets of the EU. This I have mentioned in a previous post.

As explained by the CIA in my referenced documentary, the priority of US foreign policy during the cold war was to stop the spread of Communism. Toward this policy goal the CIA recruited, trained, and supported various "local" armies, and individuals who also controlled the drug trade and routes to market.

Also documented is the fact that the sale of illegal drugs to the western world spread from southeast asia, US soldiers being the target market during the Vietnam war, to the United States. Some of the major asian drug lords and their armies were admittedly utilized by the CIA to forward the United States policy of stopping the spread of Communism.

Before relating pertinence to the Sahara, I would like to ask why so antagonistic? I am posting here, with documentation, comments relating to the thread's topic. Understanding how illegal drugs spread from continent to continent is key to predicting effects upon the Sahara region. This is an ancient story, begun by the British and their early control of the poppy trade.

Well known economists attribute the poppy trade as a significant leg of the financial base that helped carry the United Kingdom through the first part of the last century.

Today, without the laundering (spending/buying of corporations/stocks etc) of money "earned" from the sale of illegal drugs the economy of the United States and the value of the US dollar would suffer a dramatic decline approaching that dealt from the recent sub prime mortgage crisis.

Now, to be more specific regarding the CIA, drugs and the Sahara, if we substitute the word "terrorists" for Communism and understand that US foreign policy is to stop "terrorists" strategy dictates that the United States might well be considering ways to butcher the "cash cow" (drug trade) of the terrorists.

The Colombians/Latin Americans drug cartels are completing with the middle eastern based terrorists for the EU illegal drug market which has surpassed the US market. The CIA/DIA/DEA might conclude that turning a blind eye toward the drug routes through the Sahara might well forward the goal of stopping terrorists funding by flooding the EU market with Latin American based illegal drugs.

The questions becomes what happens to the peoples of the Sahara? We have already noted the mansions, expensive cars, etc. etc of the "authorities" of several African nations, who obviously are profiting from the Latin American drug trade. What implications this might have on future of the Sahara might well be foretold by examining the fate of Mexico today.

priffe, let's just try to understand each other's point of view. There is no malice on my part, we are just two old bikers looking at some interesting scenery and commenting to each other along the way. Perhaps we are both so full of the world that we have become sarcastic even jaded, I will do my best to find common ground with you upon which we might ride peacefully together.

Eat, Drink and Be Careful xfiltrate

Grizzly, looking at Colombia, Mexico, Brasil arms, drugs and kidnappings seem to go together.

Xfiltrate certainly no malice on my part either (and I am built for comfort so no biking; I do luv 4x4).
I just want some meat to chew on. :)
I prefer to observe, report and comment rather then speculate. Absolutely don't mind speculating when there is a sound foundation to build a good discussion.
I believe the (Western) concern about the desert becoming a haven for terrorism and other crime is legitimate. Worst case, we could see an expansion of Aqim and organized crime from Mauretania to Somalia. Then it could become near impossible to go through Sahara for tourism. And a nightmare for the people who live there.

So we have cocaine coming in through West Africa and Afghan heroin through East Africa.

No mention of CIA in this article either. Perhaps they wrote it... ;)

Signs of new Saharan drug trade raise fears - The National Newspaper

"Antonio Maria Costa, the chief of the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the discovery pointed to West Africa’s emerging role in the global drugs trade and warned that “terrorists and anti-government forces” were financing their operations with narcotics cash.

For Princeton Lyman, an Africa expert at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, adding drugs to the “relatively benign smuggling” practised by generations of Sahel tribespeople poses a major threat to regional security.

“A lot of these countries have very weak governments and the potential of turning them into narco-states is very scary. There is already a lot of drug money along the coast of West Africa … lots of the fancy homes in Dakar are now owned by drug lords,” he said.

Other recent discoveries of seven narcotics laboratories in Guinea and seizures of drugmaking chemicals indicated that West African gangs were now producing high-grade cocaine along with amphetamines and ecstasy.

While cocaine comes in to the west, some 35 tonnes of Afghan heroin is trafficked into east Africa every year, much of it entering through lawless Somalia, fuelling a “dramatic increase in drug addiction” and spreading HIV through needle-sharing, added Mr Costa.

These “two streams of illicit drugs” converge in the Sahara, where rebels and militants exploit the trade to raise cash, said Mr Costa, adding that heroin and cocaine parcels have become “a sort of new currency” that is readily traded on the Saharan black market....
Mr Lyman, a former US ambassador to both South Africa and Nigeria, warned that a heavy-handed approach by African officials would probably exacerbate the problem and threaten the desert region’s delicate security balance.

“Taking on the smuggling problem presents the danger of driving these tribal groups into the arms of AQIM because they resent a government presence that impinges on their smuggling activities, so it’s a delicate area how you increase in security” he said.

“You’ve got to build greater trust between Tuaregs and their home governments, and that requires more development and maybe even closing their eyes to some of the more benign smuggling activity that’s taking place. It’s not an easy task at all.”"

Richard,

It could be that the plane was being tracked/warned or even followed as well (Thinking of 'Lord of War' where the arms dealer has to land a plane to avoid being escorted by fighter jet to an airport - by the time the authorities got to the landing place the locals had removed all of the evidence ;-)

For those having a spat, get hold of "Killing Hope" by William Blum. All the evidence you need of various goings on from the horses mouth so to speak....

Another article by the guy who failed to mention the CIA

Counterterrorism Blog: AQIM and the West African Drug Trade

"AQIM and the West African Drug Trade
By Douglas Farah

I have recently been briefing U.S. government agencies on what I see as a fundamental sea change as a result of the globalization of the world market, most visible in the increasing transit of cocaine through West Africa.

One of the issues I have raised has now gone public - the protection of cocaine shipments through the Trans Sahel region by a combination of criminal and terrorist networks, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM).

The other is the fact that now, after decades of saying the key to dismantling the cocaine cartels was to lower U.S. consumption (something that was long true), the panorama has changed dramatically. As the drugs fly from Colombia, via Venezuela to West Africa then the expanding European-Central European-Asian markets, it is clear the U.S. market is no longer so relevant.

Given the expanding markets elsewhere in the world, I would venture to say that if the U.S. reduced its demand by 20 percent overnight it would have relatively little impact on the GLOBAL flow of cocaine. It would be problematic for some suppliers, but not a defining issue, and that is radically different than the situation a few years ago.

This influx of cash is both dangerous for the immediate neighborhood, but would also give AQIM a whole new level of international financing, as I noted here.

We have the first pubic case where AQIM offers to protect large cocaine shipments transiting the region, and claims to have already provided such protection.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ran a sting operation alleging to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which now has an operational presence in West Africa. This is the same scheme the DEA used to lure Monzar al Kazar to his arrest, extradition and conviction - as well as the same ploy used to lure Viktor Bout to Thailand, where he was arrested and awaits a ruling on a U.S. extradition request. My full blog is here.

December 18, 2009 02:19 PM"

He is linking to this most interesting NY Times article
Feds - Arrests in Africa Link al-Qaida, Drugs - NYTimes.com

"The three suspects — believed to be in their 30's and originally from Mali — were arrested by local authorities in Ghana earlier this week and turned over to U.S. agents."

Viva La Sahara???
 

Great posts priffe and romingyak.org thanks, if Mexico and Central America are considered a blue print for drug routes through Africa, it looks like the architects are among the best and the brightest of those wishing to destroy humanity, and they are probably very well paid.

Why have the Colombian backed Mexicans drug gangs/cartels recently been beheading groups of Mexican police? Beheading is relatively new and innovative for Mexico, but not for the Sahara, or am I wrong?

Anyone have any ideas of what US policy might be for the Sahara region? Or suggestions, of what it should be?

Will the flow of Latin American drugs through Africa to EU help or hinder the funding of counter efforts against the current US military/contractors efforts in Afghanistan?

Anyone know today's assessed drug demand/supply status for the EU? I suspect knowing the cost of illegal drugs in the EU for the last couple years to present might be helpful.

Eat, Drink and Be Careful xfiltrate

Interesting NYT article and a gloomy prognosis for independent tourism in the Sahara (what we're about here, lest we forget) if it seems AQIM are enabling an increasing flow of trans-desert cocaine into Europe. You get a feeling there's a whole new market in east Europe and Russia (if not south Asia too) as some there adopt our more affluent lifestyle.

Only "Al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb ... conducts dozens of bombings or ambushes each month" seemed like the mild or outdated "it's hell over there" exaggeration one expects from North American reporters.

Although it's the first time I've heard it, the idea of using the illegal migrants as mules sounds plausible. The collapse of the once-lucrative fake cig market from Nigeria to the Maghreb also rings true (something which I suspect Algerian army bases in the desert may have been complicit with). In that instance I believe the Algerian state got round it by giving up on Hoggars and opening a Philip Morris plant, giving it's people a chance to cough on real Marlboros.

All in all makes me glad I was around at the end of the honeymoon in the 80s when access, stability and good transportation (if not quite GPS) all came together.

Ch

That Viktor character sounds like a piece of work. One less of him won't do any harm. [+apparently a character in the 'Lords of War' film above was based on him]

Yes the future for desert travel looks bleak, doesn't it? :(

Climate change, political unrest, crime and terrorism all converge.
With the expected boom in gas, oil and other natural resources in the Sahara and the Sahel who knows what will happen. The Algerian government will have to expand military presence in the desert to protect the coming enormous explorations of Timimoun - Adrar - Tamanrasset and then further to the southwest. But what on earth are Bamako and Niamey going to do? Taoudeni basin oil production is set to begin in 2015 in Mauretania..
We can only hope for the best!

Here's from a blog The Huguenot Corsair: African Smuggling Routes
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TOdES12PWs...ica-routes.jpg

Did anybody link to this document yet? The full title is " Organized Crime and Irregular
Migration from Africa to Europe" http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/Migration_Africa.pdf

Huguenot: Since smugglers probably now use the same routes to smuggle cocaine as they have been using to smuggle humans, these are...

I haven't read the UNODC doc but even 3 years ago when it was published, between us we could have easily improved on that rather naive map. Or maybe it's supposed to be inaccurate.

I doubt very much if coke or even illegals trot obediently from one town to the next, nor do I assume as Hugu suggests that inert, compact, high value coke takes the same route as illegals, no more than coal gets transported on a #73 bendy bus.

It's worth remembering that this post started with the news that coke is being transported at high speed laterally across the Sahara - quite a feat. Just read the German report again - most interesting. The CIA and Mossad get a mention some will be pleased to hear, but all in all it's an impressive tale of economical co-operation between Reguibat, Tuareg and Tubu across the width of the desert.
I suspect we miss out on plenty of other worthwhile reporting and speculation on Sahara in French and German.

Ch

Well he probably took the map he could find. But then he elaborated some:
"Smuggling routes from Mali proceed to Mediterranean ports in Morocco or in Tunisia and Lybia.
While this pattern could confirm Farah's thesis that FARC, Venezuela, and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)are linked, it also could confirm the thesis that cocaine smugglers are opportunistically developing new routes as circumstances indicate.
Since the routes end on the Mediterranean, the transshipments we now observe heading toward the Balkans make sense."

The tracks to to the Balkans are missing on the map.

Amazing trip being described in the article, 3200 kms across from Mori to Egypt in one week at breakneck speed, in brand new LCs that may be discarded after the voyage.
One interpretation of the Boeing wreck is that smugglers are now bypassing the instability of West Africa (Guinea) flying as far east as they can get.

More on the drug/weapons smuggling to Africa on this article from Reuters.

Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network | Reuters

Several people have been jailed in Mauri in connection with cocaine trafficking. One of them, Police commissioner Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya, is none other than Interpol's liaison officer in Mauritania. The mind boggles.
BBC News - Interpol man jailed over cocaine ring in Mauritania

A few weeks old now, but I also came across this interesting article about those three guys arrested in Ghana. If you get as far as the Bronx analogy at the end, it has a ring of truth to it.
US Arrests Malians in Terror Drugs “Link” « Maghreb Politics Review

Ch

El Watan :: 21 février 2010 :: Cinq algériens arrêtés �* kidal�*: QG d’Al Qaîda et barons de la cocaïne au nord du Mali

Googonisch - E

Ulrich

The article posted by Ulrich in El Watan paints a very murky world. But in many ways the content of the article helps us to understand things.
Mali is a very poor country, among the 10 poorest in the world. The real riches of the country in the form of mineral wealth is not something the population can get their hands on. But drug smuggling is. Ten tons of cocaine might have a street value of about 400 million dollars. Imagine the way the presence of this stuff distorts the economy of a place where very, very little is produced and where per captia income may be less than 1000 dollars a year. Its not surprising that officials and local population alike become involved. And therein is the problem - there is no plausible appetite to shut down the smuggling - not given the huge wealth to hand. Also, the skills needed to move the stuff are the skills that locals have - criss-crossing the desert is what they are particularly good at. Mix in a bit of AQ-IM and its hard to see how this lot is going to be dismantled. There's no will and probably no capability.

Interesting article - well spotted Ulrich.

planes carrying drugs .... landed last February 6 in the circle of Kita ... 360 km west of the city of Timbuktu

Unless it was just a refuel or something, if coke planes are landing at Kita - actually 1000km southwest of Tim but only a couple of hours by road out of Bamako - that does not bode well for security in southwestern, non-desert Mali either.

The other spot mentioned, SE of Tin Zawatine (where Alg, Niger and Mali borders meet), is a more likely location for such goings on.

If Malian state officials are in on this business (and in that country who else would have the power/be allowed to get away with it?) then as RW says, "its hard to see how this lot is going to be dismantled", even if Alg claims to be gagging to do something about it. I read somewhere that they are putting the pressure on in the Kabylie/Tizi Ouzou regions of NE Alg and so AQ are getting stuck in in north Mali.

It was interesting too that the article pointed to AQIM bases NE of Gao in Mali (directly below Tin Zaw). Although it may be fairly obvious - water, shade, isolation and a dodgy zone even before AQIM etc came on the scene - after a long time wondering it's the first time I've seen such a clear pointer and explains the nearby grabs of Fowler, the Edwin Dyer party, and the recent French guy at Menaka, and even the reported attack in Tahoua (Niger) a couple of months back. Is it any wonder those Saudi hunters in that area got nailed?

So we know where not to go, but it's still a long reach over to the highway south of Nouadhibou, or up to the GEO in Tunisia...

Ch

Tin Zaw is here, I think....
19°57'35.60"N 2°58'31.59"E

Back to Jan 2008
 

This is going back a bit, to January 2008. Story of a 2 hour firefight with AQ-IM near Tin-Zaouatene involving 750 kg of cocaine, 3 pickups and military firepower - the last mentioned not of course in the hands of the Malian officials.

One wonders what has been bought with the proceeds of all this dope + the kidnapping ransom. One short answer could be the 'Sahara'.


BBC NEWS | Africa | Mali cocaine haul after firefight



Officials in Mali say they have seized 750kg of cocaine valued at $45m, after a two-hour gun battle on Thursday.

The cocaine, one of the country's biggest drug hauls, was found near the town of Tin-Zaouatene in two four-wheel-drive vehicles.
The smugglers abandoned the vehicles and reportedly fled over the Algerian border nearby, carrying their wounded.
Correspondents say West Africa has become a major trafficking route for Colombian cocaine bound for Europe.
"The seizure took place... following a car chase and gun fight, or a battle, you could say, as they had military weapons," a senior Territorial Administration Ministry official told Reuters news agency. "After two hours of fighting, the smugglers, who were driving three Algerian-registered off-roaders, abandoned two of them, loaded their wounded into the third vehicle and fled over the border," he said.

maliweb.net :: Apr�s l�avion de la Coke, voici le train du hashs : Tout un wagon de cannabis destin� au S�n�gal, saisi par la Police malienne

Gogoonisch

Ulrich

Intercepting one truckload of cannabis is not very impressive after letting tons of cocaine pass through. Could this be a publicity stunt?

The articles from El Watan are very interesting, written by a fearless investigative journalist, Salima Tlemcani. IWMF : International Women's Media Foundation - Salima Tlemcani, Algeria

She is naming several people in Gao, "close to the presidency" in connection with the cocaine flight. These are not touareg, they are arabs from the Tarkinte region (where is that - Gao?). According to her sources (which I for some reason believe are touareg) these are the same people who formed militias to fight the touareg rebellions.
She is describing the army vehicles that prepared the airfield. There is some confusion about where it took place, Kayes region makes no sense, but other reports it to be at Mema, 76 kms west of Timbouctoo.
These stories about cocaine, terrorists and Mali government involvement are widely circulated now
Al-Qaïda Maghreb entre otages et cocaïne - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq
Le Sahel devenu une poudrière, Al-Qaïda Maghreb entre otages et cocaïne | International | Algerie360.com
MALI

Algerian security forces clash with AQ drug smugglers
Algeria says al Qaeda guards Sahara drug smugglers - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq

What's a boeing worth !!!
 

A Boeing 727 cargo must be worth in the region of US $500.000 and of course you want it airworthy so you won't be flying a complete junker.... your pilot will know if you have the range to fly north stop off in the desert, unload, take off and land at your supposed destination.

So just imagine, going back to your boss who happens to be a drug dealer and say " sorry mate, got stuck in the desert, couldn't take off again, emptied the cargo and torched your plane"....

Damm he had a bad day in the office...

I guess the pilot asked the question, as we're flying a cargo plane, can't we open the cargo door and parachute the gear out, much more effective ... unless he was forced to land !

But hell.... what do I know ...

Following on from the Interpol guy in Mauri who was arrested for cocaine smuggling, is the chief of Gambia's national drug agency (Ebrima Bun Sanneh) - arrested as part of a cocaine trafficking probe.

Also detained but not yet charged are: police and navy chiefs, the former fisheries minister and the army's number two.

I think one can safely say that cocaine smuggling is an important part of the West African economy now and its not one that these guys are able to resist.


News - Africa: Gambia drug chief re-arrested

http://www.liberte-algerie.com/edit.php?id=132114&titre=Trafic de drogue : la main du Mali

Gogoonisch - E

Ulrich

The Men Who Smuggle With Goats
 

Kidal : A Big Catch


The group gendarmerie Kidal put his hand on Ablil Ag Albach, one of the major drug traffickers in the region.

Kidal : Une grosse prise - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq

Cocaine with a street value of 1 billion USD has been seized in the Gambia.

BBC News - Two tons of cocaine seized in The Gambia

This 2 ton stash is worth more than the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Gambia.

I'm coming round to thinking that the whole drugs, arms, AQIM thing in the Sahara is not going to be stopped by any concerted intervention. The West has a knack of standing off until such time as the tide has turned inexorably. I reckon that moment has more or less been reached in the Sahara.

more coke
 

West Africa's drug trade: The cocaine trail | The Economist

Ch

Well don't get too pessimistic now, even if the problem won't go away anytime soon with the money involved. It will be this way as long as the war on drugs is on. But just a few arrests in Mali could make a difference for the desert.
1B$ makes the headlines but it is better to refer to the wholesale value, not? Maybe 10% of that then.

http://www.economist.com/sites/defau...1024NAP349.gif
I hear that lately a lot of drugs are going east over Egypt to the Balkans, something that is not shown in this picture.

Point taken. However, the distortion to the local economy and administration when stuff bearing the value of the entire GDP is in the basement of a wharehouse is the issue I wanted to flag. With 70% of the population bringing in 30% of the GDP through growing products like nuts, imagine the draw that this stuff imposes. Imagine 500 Billion dollars worth of some substance in your basement in Sweden!

And this find in the Gambia is just a small fraction of what is passing through. Bascially the sheer value of the stuff infects everything. Things are not the same again. It surely changes the outlook and values of honest administrators earning a few dollars a day when this impossible fortune is passing through. We can expect the same result across the Sahara when the drugs get moved through.

Totally agree-

I wouldn't like that at all! :nono:

Issikta - Drogue et terrorisme : Aqmi prélève sa dîme dans le désert

Gogoonisch - E

Ulrich

BBC News - Why West Africa cannot break its drug habit

Ulrich

http://www.centpapiers.com/coke-en-stock-iv-boeing-touaregs…-et-espions/40234/comment-page-1

Google translation

Ulrich

P.S.: Only short "holiday" from hospital

Salima Tlemcani in El Watan today
Au Sahel, narcotrafiquants et terroristes se partagent le terrain - Actualité - El Watan
Harsh words.
I'm still confused - is there another Kayes in north-central Mali?
Also Ennahar Online - Sahel: Al-Qaeda and drug traffickers involvement

I think they mean the Kayes you're thinking of on the Senegal border.
There have been attacks and stuff reported there in recent months which seemed odd compared to the rest of Mali, so IMO was bound to have some connection which the whole cocaine/AQIM thing.

The ethnic divisions expressed have a ring of truth to them too. The wheeler-dealing Berabich run the show for the govt (like they run the shops and trade in Tim) while the Tuareg are just hired their own desert skills - a bit like the Hausa own the salt caravans in Niger. (All a bit of a simplification of course ;-)

Ch

The Boeing that was burned near Tarkint still has repercussions in Mali
http://www.maliweb.net/category.php?NID=82014&intr=
Rather confusing, but:
- the incident has never been investigated by the proper authorities
- the president and the minister of transportation have put the lid on
- the French DGSE (Secret Service) have put the lid on, keeping the Americans out
Three people arrested:
- a friend of ATT (president of Mali) Ben Hako, owner of "Go Travel" agency
- the contractor who built the runway
- and a French pilot, Eric Vernay - who is now said to be a DGSE agent!
In short - the usual mess.
http://translate.google.se/translate...2014%26intr%3D
http://www.maliweb.net/news_images/Cocaine002.jpg

More than a year since there was a post on this thread....

Not surprisingly, 'analysts' argue that highway 10 is being disrupted given events in Mali and new routes are being found:


Mali war disrupts Europe cocaine supply | News24

No evidence for the claims other than common sense. I wonder where the new routes are across the Sahara? Niger, Libya I would guess.

Saw this interesting map on saharamedias too today (same story more or less).

"...the supply of cocaine from Latin America to Europe has never broken once in 40 years. "You can never draw accurate maps of cocaine trafficking because the routes have already changed by the time the ink dries up," he said.
...
He claimed that alternative smuggling routes were already being opened in Angola, the Republic of Congo, the Great Lakes region and post-war Libya.
"Profit margins in the cocaine trafficking business are so huge that longer smuggling routes and subsequently higher transport costs are not a problem"

Mali : le colonel-major Ag Gamou rappelé à Bamako

Drug runner/mayor of Tarkint Baba Ould Sheikh was arrested in Gao a couple weeks ago but then let go by the mayor of Gao and militia leader Ag Gamou. This upset the French greatly and Ag Gamou is now back in Bamako, decommisioned. The French have more cleaning up to do in Bamako than in the north, but will they/can they?

my thoughts when I read that list was that it doesn't exactly amount to a route - more like a string of disconnected places.

More snow in the Sahara
 

The better kind of snow. Ain Sefra is at an elevation of over 1000 meters, close to Morocco rather on the edge of the desert

Snow in the High Desert Flagstaff, Arizona
 

Photo taken a few minutes ago..... 17:10 mountain time. 19jan17.

Snow in the High Desert.... Rancho Los Rosales
Flagstaff, AZ. 7000 ft elevation

Finally we have something in common. SNOW.

xfiltrate