Trafficking links between Brazil and Southern Africa appear to be growing. While only about 15 per cent of South America's cocaine exports pass through Brazil, the country has become a base for foreign and indigenous crime groups involved in the distribution of the drug.
A shift in Brazil's anti-narcotics strategy has seen the federal police seize record quantities of cocaine in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in the past six months. In two major operations, around 1.5 tonnes of cocaineen route to Europe by ship were seized in each state.
The seizures highlight the current operating methods of international drug trafficking gangs using Brazil as a transit point and expose weaknesses within the authorities. Coca is not grown in Brazil (with the exception of small cultivations of the coca bush epadu, which have been reported in the northern border region and are used in traditional remedies by the Indian community), but borders are shared with the three main producers: Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) states that about 85 per cent of South America's cocaine is trafficked to the US and Europe via Mexico and the Caribbean, with only around 15 per cent going south through Brazil and a small quantity heading to Argentina. An estimated 90 tonnes of high-quality, pure cocaine enter Brazil each year. In 2005, a record 15 tonnes were confiscated, compared to just over five tonnes 10 years ago. Seized amounts have not topped 10 tonnes in the previous three years. Of the total amount of cocaine that entered Brazil this year, it is estimated that 37 to 40 tonnes were exported and the rest consumed in Brazil.
The UNODC's representative for Brazil and the South Cone, Giovanni Quaglia, said: "There is no justification for going through a southern hemisphere country when the consumer countries are in the north. It is a waste of time going south and there is the risk of confiscation." However, there is evidence that as youth populations in the US and Europe stabilise, causing cocaine consumption to reach a plateau, South Africa, a transit point that enables traffickers to avoid "suspicious" direct routes from South America, is growing as a consumer of cocaine. Recently Sheryl Cwele, the wife of South African Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, was sentenced to 12 years in jail for trafficking 9 kg of cocaine.
New developments include the growth of two-way trafficking with northern Europe as synthetic drugs, notably ecstasy, gain popularity in Brazil and the growth of Suriname as a transit point used by Brazilian traffickers. Other developments, such as the use of fishing boats to transport drugs across the Atlantic, highlight the relentless game of cat and mouse as international traffickers try to stay one step ahead of the authorities.
International gangs
Recent cocaine seizures have underlined how traffickers using Brazil as a gateway operate behind legal business fronts, carrying out a mixture of legal and illegal activities. In mid-September 2005, 'Operation Caravela' found 1,698 kg of pure cocaine hidden inside frozen shrink-wrapped beef at a market warehouse in Rio de Janeiro. The drugs were found one month before they were due to be shipped to Portugal by a group of wealthy Brazilians. Dr Ronaldo Urbano, Brazil's general co-ordinator for the repression of narcotics, said: "These were businesspeople. They rented industrial freezing and packing facilities and paid for them. They were not violent people."
In August 2005, police found 1,436 kg of Colombian cocaine, hidden in charcoal sacks on a ship bound for Portugal, in the port of Santos, Sao Paulo state. Police said the organisers were Colombian but no arrests were made. Gino Liccione, a Brazilian federal prosecutor, said: "Most of the firms involved are firms that really do operate, that really do have profits. [In that sense] they are working more as money laundering operations." These 'legitimate' companies are typically import-export businesses. Police say heavier checks are carried out the first few times a company sends cargo, so traffickers begin by sending legal goods. It is believed that many send cocaine only a couple of times before they pack up and disappear. In the past, traffickers have been known to send drugs in charcoal, fruit or furniture shipments, though timber has been the most common cargo in which to secrete cocaine. While these methods are still being used, the packing of the cocaine found during 'Caravela', inside shrink-wrapped frozen meat, was a new development.
Federal police became more aware of the methods used by Colombian traffickers operating in Brazil following investigations conducted after the seizure of more than a tonne of cocaine in 2002. A senior member of the federal police said: "They buy an apartment legally in a nice area of Sao Paulo and stay here legally. They create companies that are apparently legal, but many times the address is fictitious. When you go to check, there is no company there. We call them 'ghost' companies." Again, most of these companies are involved in import and export .In contrast to the old Colombian cartels, Colombian traffickers who use Brazil as a corridor
tend to be 'men with money', possibly earned legally, who have now turned to 'investing' in
drug trafficking. The gangs tend to be small and remain independent, not co-operating or
fighting with others, according to the police. Foreign criminal organisations come to Sao Paulo seeking Colombians who will represent their interests with dealers in Colombia,say Brazilian police. European groups are an exception, as they tend not to make direct contact with the Colombians, instead using a go between. Cocaine trafficking groups that are reported to be operating in Brazil include members of the Lebanese community who have residency - as seen in the case of Operation 'Tamara' in mid-2005. Lebanon was listed by the UN in 2005 as a "significant exporter" of cannabis, suggesting a possible link between Brazil and established Lebanese trafficking networks.
The Suriname connection
Until October 2004, when a law was enacted allowing aircraft suspected of carrying drugs to be shot down in Brazilian airspace if they do not land when instructed, most traffickers chose to bring cocaine into Brazil by light aircraft, particularly if it was of Colombian origin, according to Ronaldo Urbano, Brazil's general co-ordinator for the repression of narcotics. No aircraft have yet been shot down, but increased air surveillance over the state of Amazonia in the north of Brazil has meant that river fishing boats are now being used to traffic cocaine into the country from Colombia. Such boats follow the tributaries of the Amazon and Negro rivers.
In 2005, there have been three major seizures, each netting around 600 kg of cocaine, in the area of Manaus, a busy port 2,000 km from the Atlantic at the end of the Amazon River's deep-water channel. The Amazon takes boats to the coastal city of Belem, the principal port and a major commercial fishing centre. Aircraft are still being used to move large quantities of Colombian cocaine (typically 0.5 to 1.5 tonnes), but in order to avoid Brazilian airspace, many have begun flying over Venezuela to Suriname, according to a senior policeman who described this as an "easy route". He added that Brazilian criminals have increasingly been settling in Suriname to escape from justice. According to Brazil's Ministry of External Relations, this trend has been apparent for approximately 10 years, but the police say there has been an upsurge in the past year, following the rapid growth of the air route. Attempts by Brazilian police to exchange information with their Surinamese counterparts are hampered by a language barrier, as either Dutch is spoken or the creole dialect Sranang Tongo ('Taki-Taki'), which is noted as being particularly problematic.
Colombians in Suriname receive guns for : FARC, and the ELN, paying with cocaine. Crack cocaine is now available
o the streets of Suriname for less than USD1 a'hit'.Ecstasy has also been seized in Suriname, suggesting a possible two-way drug trade with cocaine-receiving countries in northern Europe. Synthetic drugs area growing problem in Braziland UNODC representative Giovanni Quaglia warns that, within a year, ecstasy production could begin in the region. He said: "The chemicals are available and the formula is not difficult."
Suriname gained independence from the Netherlands in
1975. This was followed by a number of coups and a civil war in the small coastal country, which is a major exporter of bauxite and timber. In 2000, the country's former military leader, Desi Bouterse, was found guilty of drug trafficking by a court in The Hague although he did not attend and there is not an extradition treaty between the countries. In contrast, when a Danish-led drug smuggling syndicate was uncovered in 2005, Brazil's supreme court agreed to extradite a Dane who had been arrested in Rio de Janeiro even though there is not an extradition agreement between Brazil and Denmark.
A report by the Suriname Drug Information Network in 2002 spoke of the country's lack of an effective control system at the airport and modern detection equipment for finding drugs among freight. The report added:".the possibilities of protection, the inadequate control of the Surinamese waters and interior and the strategic position of Suriname on the South American continent, with direct connections to Europe by air and by sea,in particular with the Netherlands,make Suriname a drug transit state par excellence.
On 19 July 2010, Bouterse was elected as President of Suriname with 36 of 50 parliament votes[2] and on 12 August 2010 he was inaugurated.
In 2000, he was sentenced in the Netherlands to 11 years imprisonment because he was found guilty of trafficking 474 kilos of cocaine. Wikileaks cables released in 2011 reveal that Bouterse was involved in drug-trafficking until 2006. The cables report the connection between Bouterse and top Guyanese criminals Roger Khan and Eduardo Beltran. Khan was believed to help Bouterse's financial situation by giving him the means to supplement his income through narcotics trafficking. According to the cables Bouterse met Roger Khan several times in Nickerie at the house of MP Rashied Doekhi, who is prominent member of Bouterse's political party. The cables also report that Bouterse and Khan were plotting to assassinate then minister of Justice Chan Santokhi and attorney general Subhaas Punwasi.
Khan who is known as the Guyanese Pablo Escobar and whose name is mentioned in almost 200 murders in Guyana was arrested in Paramaribo in June 2006 in a sting operation by the Surinamese police. By order of then minister of Justice Chan Santokhi he was deported to the United States of America where he was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment on charges of smuggling large amounts of cocaine into the United States of America, witness tampering and illegal possession of firearms. Eduardo Beltran is a major regional narcotic logistics handler currently operating out of Venezuela. Beltran reportedly travelled to Suriname on a monthly basis.
In April 2012, former fellow soldier of Bouterse and also suspect in the December murders Ruben Rozendaal said that in the 80s and early 90s Bouterse supplied the FARC of Colombia with weapons in exchange for cocaine. In a document from 2006 from the American embassy (published by Wikileaks) there are reports of a possible connection in the past of Bouterse and the FARC. Although Bouterse was convicted in the Netherlands for cocaine trafficking, he has remained free in Suriname.
Bouterse's son, Dino Bouterse, was sentenced in 2005 to eight years imprisonment for international drug and arms trafficking. In 1994, Dino was suspected of the disappearance of three Brazilians when a cocaine deal went wrong. Together with Marcel Zeeuw, Dino was arrested and spent about five months in prison. But when the case went to the court, the star witness withdrew his testimony. In 2002, Dino was suspected of the theft of 20 automatic AK47 rifles and 51 pistols from the storage of the Central Intelligence and Security Department of Suriname. Ten months he was sought, before he was arrested on 12 June 2003, at the airport of Curacao with a false Dutch passport. After co-defendant Jochem Brunings had a conversation with Dino’s lawyer, Irvin Kanhai, he withdrew his incriminating statement and Dino was acquitted because of lack of evidence.
In 2005, Dino was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for international drug and arms trafficking. He appealed against the court’s decision. Of the eight years, he served only three.
Shortly after Bouterse was inaugurated as president of Suriname, he appointed his son Dino as the leader of the heavily armed Counter Terror Unit (CTU), a controversial police organization with military status, which, according to President Bouterse, aims to combat terrorism in Suriname. At a press meeting in December, 2010, President Bouterse responded to a journalist, who asked why Dino was, despite his conviction, appointed as head of CTU, by saying: "At CTU the very best men are placed and my son is among the very best".
In December 2011, President Bouterse granted a pardon to his foster son Romano Meriba who in 2005 was convicted to 15 years imprisonment of murder and robbery of a Chinese trader in 2002. Meriba was also convicted for throwing a hand grenade at the house of the Dutch ambassador. Meriba was also arrested on March 23, 2012 in Paramaribo because he was accused of assaulting and beating up a citizen and police officer the night before in a nightclub. He was not in custody of the police for long because the accusation was retracted the following day.
Cocaine fishers
Drug trafficking gangs, formed of Colombians and Brazilians, operate in Suriname with the help of locals. Brazilian federal police told JIR that fishing boats from Brazil, usually from Belem, are used to ship cocaine from Surinamese waters across the Atlantic to Europe or the coast of Africa, where the drugs are transferred to other commercial vessels.
In July2005, a fishing boat, the Brasimex1, left Belem heading for the coast of Guyana and Suriname. A boat from Suriname met the Brasimex 75 km off the Surinamese coast, taking on board 2.2 tonnes of high-quality cocaine. Spanish customs agents intercepted the boat off the Canary Islands and arrested the seven Brazilian crew members. Weapons reportedly found on board Brasimex 1 included a self-loading rifle. Increased port control in the south of Brazil and better monitoring of shipping has also driven drug trafficking gangs to use fishing boats for transatlantic shipments directly from the north-east of Brazil, according to Dr Urbano. He said: "Fishing boats do not stay in port. They are away from the coast, so drugs are carried out to them. They are not supposed to make international trips, so there is not the control."The fishing boats, usually 15-20 metres long, have crews of three to seven people and are designed to operate within twenty miles of the coast. The quantity of cocaine carried by the boats typically ranges from 1.5 to four tonnes. Dr Urbano said: "The advantage of fishing boats is that they have a compartment for carrying 10 tonnes of ice. This is where cocaine and extra fuel are put." He added that he knows of six drug-running fishing boats that have sunk in the past five years. Sail boats that receive drugs at sea have also been used. Federal police have reported small planes dropping drugs at sea to be picked up.
Another new development in drug trafficking involves fishing boats leaving Brazilian waters before transferring their cargo to boats from Spain. This proves particularly problematic for police, who may get information that a fishing boat has left their country's waters with drugs on board, but because the cargo is transferred to another boat, the arrival becomes harder to predict. Federal police have said: "Because Brazil is known to send drugs, taking them to the Canary Islands or the coast of Africa is less suspicious. Ships transporting legal goods and cocaine leave Africa for Europe."
The UN's 2005 World Drug Report says that Colombian traffickers importing cocaine to Spain use islands off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania. The report states: "Once reaching these islands, the cocaine is taken over by cannabis resin trafficking groups of Moroccan origin for export to southern Spain." Brazilian authorities say they have not come across Moroccan gangs picking up cocaine in Brazil.
Southern Brazil
An alternative route from the coca-producing countries into the south of Brazil has also been increasingly used since the law allowing planes to be shot down in Brazilian airspace was introduced. On this path, cocaine is typically transported from Colombia to Bolivia by air, then from Bolivia to Paraguay, before crossing into Brazil in trucks that typically carry 200-300 kg of drugs. Cocaine from this source that is destined for the international market tends to end up in southern ports such as Santos, in the state of Sao Paulo, or Paranagua, in the state of Parana, where large quantities are hidden among cargo on commercial ships. Another trend that has come to the attention of federal police in the south of Brazil is criminal organisations, typically from the Philippines and Chile, using contacts on small commercial ships that travel abroad to traffic drugs. Quantities tend to be greater than the amounts carried by mules but less than quantities typically stowed on container ships.
Couriers
Cocaine sent on commercial ships can typically be measured in tonnes, while couriers or mules tend to carry kilograms of the drug. Dr Urbano said: "Traffic with mules is known as 'ant traffic'. It is small traffic that happens daily and bothers people, but it is not large amounts." Brazilian police frequently speak of a "Nigerian connection" when referring to the criminal groups that organise mules orcouriers.According to a senior member of Rio de Janeiro's drug squad, these groups have been operating in the city since cocaine began arriving in the 1980s but have not moved into other areas of criminal activity.
He said: "The Nigerians don't live in Rio de Janeiro. They are good looking, well dressed and they stay in Copacabana hotels. They mostly hire call girls to take small quantities of drugs, so they never suffer big losses. If the mules do not complete their trips on time, they die of overdose. It is very cruel. There have been many cases of girls who are scared of being arrested not saying anything if there is a flight delay. Typically they are aged 18-25 -
recruitment is not a problem as they all leap at the chance to travel and earn money.
They are not sent to Nigeria but to South Africa, Palma, St Tropez, Nice or Barcelona, following the international jet set. They are poor, they need money, but the penalties are the same for them as the guys behind it."A member of airport control said that in the past many Nigerian traffickers would carry cocaine themselves and wear traditional African costumes. To avoid police suspicion, they moved to plain clothes, then started recruiting Brazilians and now typically use white Europeans to take drugs to Europe (often in containers rather than swallowed) and black Africans to take drugs to Africa (usually in the form of cocaine bullets that are swallowed). In the last three years, it has become a trend for young European couriers to carry synthetic drugs to Brazil and return with cocaine. German traffickers recruiting and sending couriers from the Netherlands were cited as an example by Brazilian police. Aspiring Brazilian models are also being hired to transport ecstasy from Europe, although according to police they do not usually carry cocaine on their outward journey. If caught, a mule is typically sentenced to three to four years of detention.
In 2005, Nigerian traffickers based in Moscow and Warsaw were detained during operations to close cocaine smuggling routes. The cocaine travelling to Russia was reported to have been trafficked through Brazil or Venezuela, whereas the drugs seized in Poland were only said to have been of South American origin. According to the UN, various Balkan countries are also being used on the cocaine trail. Although there is no mention of the other countries featuring earlier on this route, Albania was identified as a point of entry for cocaine into
Europe.
Methods of bringing drugs aboard aircraft continue to evolve and Brazilian police are starting to apprehend smuggling gangs that use airport employees to pass drugs to couriers who have already been through security. At the end of October 2005, a smuggling ring was detected at Rio de Janeiro's international airport involving six employees from security and the cleaning services and a male African courier due to board a flight to the Netherlands. Just over 5.5 kg of cocaine was divided between sandals and a pair of women's underwear. Gino Liccione, a Brazilian federal prosecutor, said investigations had not uncovered that higher-level airport employees were involved.
The ring was discovered after suspicious movements were picked up on the airport monitors. Liccione said: "The mule went into the bathroom and put the knickers on. The group kept coming together and separating and coming together. They were in one of the bar restaurants at the airport, so they thought no one would notice, but their movements attracted attention... They face five to 12 years in prison." Liccione said that more traffickers are coming before the courts, a fact he attributes to better police work apprehending more traffickers and authorities clamping down on known routes. He said: "Very often traffickers will send a mule with 2 kg to distract the attention of the authorities while they get a bigger quantity through. So each time they pick someone up, the trafficker starts dispersing more couriers. We see more and more people with smaller quantities as traffickers try to get some drugs through and try to distract attention."
Just as increased control in Brazil's southern seaports drove traffickers to develop an alternative outlet in the north-east, increased control in airports has led traffickers to relocate
their operations. The former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde has been identified by
Brazilian police as a strategic stop-off point for drugs travelling from the northeast of Brazil to
Africa and Europe. The Cape Verde islands, which lie 600 km off the Senegalese coast,are only three hours from the north-east of Brazil by plane and up to 20 charter flights leave every week during the summer, say the federal police. They say that drug quantities passing through the major airports of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have fallen, while in the last few years the number of flights from the north-east has increased. Urbano said: "Seventy per cent of mules going to Africa with drugs pass through Brazil. In the north-eastern airports of Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza, control is not as tight."
After gaining independence, Cape Verde,with a police force that lacked training, was vulnerable to traffickers. A developing tourism industry in the islands helped make this a suitable transit point as hotels were built. Portugal is the islands' major trading partner.The route is thought to have been open for around 10 years. Control is being tightened in Brazil's north-eastern airports and the Brazilian government has agreed to sponsor a three month training programme for three members of the Cape Verde police force. The training will allow them to introduce new measures including the use of sniffer dogs.
Links to Southern Africa
More than half of all the cocaine seized at Brazilian airports (52.3 per cent) is destined for Africa. Europe is second with 37.1 per cent. The majority of apprehended couriers were South Americans (52.3 per cent), followed by Africans (34.7 per cent) and then Europeans (10.4 per cent).
A senior member of theBrazilian federal police said:" The importance of South Africa is demonstrated by the increase in the number of people carrying drugs." Of nearly a tonne of
cocaine seized on the African continent in 2003, more than three quarters (777 kg) was found in South Africa, followed by Nigeria with 135 kg.However, many countries did not report their drug seizures to the UN, and some amounts reported seem unrealistically small.
Togo, a possible stop off for cocaine trafficked among sea freight, reported less than 2 kg
of cocaine seizures. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported in 2002 that mostof the Andean produced cocaine that reaches South Africa leaves Venezuela or Brazil before travelling to South Africa, either directly or via another African country. Initially, most cocaine was couriered by mules (which are still believed to be the dominant mode of smuggling cocaine into South Africa) travelling directly from Sao Paulo to Johannesburg, but as the authorities clamped down on this route, other routes, through Cape Town, for example, were developed. The 2005 UN World Drug Report speaks of the "rising importance" of cocaine shipments from the Andean region through western Africa to Europe. The report states: "In this case, the route goes from the Andean region to Brazil and then to countries of southern Africa and increasingly to countries of western Africa (Nigeria and other countries located around the Gulf of Guinea), from where cocaine is trafficked by couriers to various European countries.
The trade is often organised by crime groups in western Africa. This diversion of the traditional trafficking route seems to be linked to better controls in the Netherlands (notably the port of Rotterdam and the airport of Schiphol) and along the northern cost of Spain." South Africa became increasingly viable as a trafficking route following the end of apartheid and the growth of international trade links, particularly with regard to sea freight to traditional cocaine entry points into Europe, such as Spain. Relaxed border controls and a burgeoning tourism industry, with associated flights and hotels, combined with the development of communications and banking networks, have provided the necessary infrastructure for drug trafficking. In 2002, UNODC's representative for southern Africa, Rob Boone, described the countryasan"important link" in the international in gand organised crime network,with the"additional burden of serving as the regional hub". In 2001, Frank Msutu, the head of Harare Interpol Subregional Bureau and the Southern African Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) Secretariat, said: "Heroin, hashish and mandrax from the east and cocaine from the west are seen to be converging in South Africa before moving north toEurope."
The use of cocaine has increased dramatically in South Africa. Arrests for dealing cocaine in Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban more than doubled between 1997 and 2001 to between 23 and 33 per cent of total drug-dealing arrests. Cocaine's far-cheaper derivative, crack cocaine, has moved into urban areas. South African authorities, including the police, have said that West African gangs handle 80 per cent of South Africa's cocaine trade. The UNODC has stated that additional reports from authorities show a "strong correlation between the migration of Nigerian nationals into South Africa starting in 1992 and the introduction of high-quality cocaine". Only a very small percentage of Nigerian immigrants to South Africa have become involved in the drug trade, and some reports suggest this group is blamed unfairly. Brazilian law enforcement agencies have reported that African traffickers include Nigerians, Kenyans and, in the last ten years, Mozambicans and Angolans, a list that matches the profile of those involved in the South African drug trade. Portuguese-speaking Mozambique and Angola share a language link with Brazil, and the US Department of State has said that the countries have been used to ship limited amounts of cocaine. The traffic of cocaine through Angola is again in the hands of Nigerian groups. Angolans and weapons from the Angolan civil war have been found among Rio de Janeiro's drug distribution gangs, though a senior member of the city's drug squad said this only concerns a small number of youths and that they have not become involved with international trafficking.
In September 2005, Mozambique was the first African nation with which the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations held bilateral talks regarding transnational crime. The ministry said that traffickers' use of an air route from Brazil to Mozambique was growing in 2004 but has now been brought under control. Mozambican gangs typically pay Mozambican women USD2,000-3,000 to carry cocaine, often on flights that pass through Portugal or South Africa. Containers in which drugs are hidden among legal products are also being used by Mozambican gangs. Other neighbouring countries, such as Botswana and Zimbabwe, have also been used by traffickers. Couriers flying from Brazil to Harare via Johannesburg before smuggling the cocaine back into South Africa overland were reported by South African police in 2001. Brazilian police say another indirect route into South Africa was detected around two years later. Couriers operating on behalf of a Nigerian gang travelled to South Africa via Lisbon or Switzerland, not leaving the airport.
In this last case, the Brazilian police said they believed the couriers were supplying demand from the domestic South African market, where cocaine has only around half the market value it commands in Europe, after direct routes from South America had come under increasing suspicion from the authorities. While Brazilian police say that container ships leaving ports such as Santos are under suspicion, they raise concerns that cargo ships plying the African coast or travelling indirectly to Europe are not as likely to be subjected to extensive police searches. Brazilian police also cite lack of control over ships arriving in some African countries. Timber, which has been a popular cargo in which to hide cocaine shipped from Brazil, is among the South African products sent to Europe by sea.
Counter trafficking measures
Brazil's federal police have adopted a new anti-narcotics strategy since 2002. In line with UN
recommendations, the creation in 2004 of the Department to Combat Organised Crime
(DCOR) has resulted in a shift from targeting the small-scale, poorer criminals who were
filling Brazil's already packed jails to focusing on more sophisticated trafficking groups. Getulio Bezerra Santos, the director of DCOR, said that information-sharing and investigations are two areas in need of improvement if organised crime is to be combated effectively in the country.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) representative for Brazil and the South Cone, Giovanni Quaglia, said that the creation of a database that will enable authorities to compare investments and purchases to see if property and monetary assets are in line with tax declarations is a positive development. He said: "Big money is made through sophisticated crime such as money laundering and smuggling... In the formal sector it is quite difficult to launder money, but 50 per cent of the economy is in the informal sector, where money laundering is much easier."
In addition, the UNODC has been working with Brazil's Ministry of Justice to expand and modernise the Integrated National System for Information on Justice and Public Security (INFOSEG). There has been a problem with information-sharing among different police forces (federal, civil and military) in Brazil's 27 states. The UNODC says this new system should improve the situation. To allow online background checks to be run, INFOSEG merges data from public security authorities, the judiciary and the army. Quaglia said: "Of course, you can only compare data if the state police enter the data. But this has improved as they have begun to see the benefits."
Corruption remains a problem in the police forces. Gino Liccione, a Brazilian federal prosecutor, said: "In Brazil, there is a lot of proximity between the police and the traffickers. Very often there is someone inside the police who informs them." Another problem cited by Brazilian authorities tackling international drug smugglers is a lack of co-operation from foreign counterparts, particularly with regard to information-sharing. Liccione argues that this prevents the multi-country structures that support international trafficking from being dismantled and limits arrests to couriers or mules.
Brazilian federal prosecutors cite the US and Switzerland as examples of countries that provide useful information through international co-operation, particularly in the field of money laundering. Quaglia says that "very little" foreign funding is provided to help Brazil tackle international trafficking. He says that USD6 million is provided by the US and USD1 million by Europe. Federal police add that more is needed from the Brazilian Government. 'Project Cobra', a border operation with Colombia designed to prevent cocaine traffickers from setting up production sites on Brazilian territory, has proved successful according to federal police and is now being extended along the border with other countries. Under the scheme, the countries share police stations at strategic entry and exit points.
This is said to allow valuable information-sharing. Describing a lack of change seen in the flow of cocaine through Brazil since Plan Colombia began, Ronaldo Urbano noted: "Even with the decrease in Colombia and the increases in Peru and Bolivia there are still around 50,000 less hectares. There are two possibilities for reaching demand. One hectare should produce six kilograms a year, but maybe more than six kilograms is being produced in some areas. Another possibility is that in Brazil in the last three years dealers have been mixing cocaine more." Increasing amounts of "mixed" cocaine are being found on the streets of Rio de Janeiro indicating there may have been a reduction in the supply. It is typically cut with a dental anaesthetic to mimic the drug's effect on the user (cocaine was used as an anaesthetic in the 1800s and early 1900s) or fruit salts, although exported cocaine tends to be pure.
Political unrest in Bolivia in 2005, when parts of the country were effectively sealed off as demonstrators blocked roads, is given as a possible reason for the increase in production as there may have been less control over plantations. Cocaine from Bolivia is of a lower quality than Colombian cocaine, possibly because of the control over precursor chemicals or more basic labs, and it tends to end up as crack cocaine in small cities in the interior of Brazil rather than being exported.
A shift in Brazil's anti-narcotics strategy has seen the federal police seize record quantities of cocaine in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in the past six months. In two major operations, around 1.5 tonnes of cocaineen route to Europe by ship were seized in each state.
The seizures highlight the current operating methods of international drug trafficking gangs using Brazil as a transit point and expose weaknesses within the authorities. Coca is not grown in Brazil (with the exception of small cultivations of the coca bush epadu, which have been reported in the northern border region and are used in traditional remedies by the Indian community), but borders are shared with the three main producers: Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) states that about 85 per cent of South America's cocaine is trafficked to the US and Europe via Mexico and the Caribbean, with only around 15 per cent going south through Brazil and a small quantity heading to Argentina. An estimated 90 tonnes of high-quality, pure cocaine enter Brazil each year. In 2005, a record 15 tonnes were confiscated, compared to just over five tonnes 10 years ago. Seized amounts have not topped 10 tonnes in the previous three years. Of the total amount of cocaine that entered Brazil this year, it is estimated that 37 to 40 tonnes were exported and the rest consumed in Brazil.
The UNODC's representative for Brazil and the South Cone, Giovanni Quaglia, said: "There is no justification for going through a southern hemisphere country when the consumer countries are in the north. It is a waste of time going south and there is the risk of confiscation." However, there is evidence that as youth populations in the US and Europe stabilise, causing cocaine consumption to reach a plateau, South Africa, a transit point that enables traffickers to avoid "suspicious" direct routes from South America, is growing as a consumer of cocaine. Recently Sheryl Cwele, the wife of South African Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, was sentenced to 12 years in jail for trafficking 9 kg of cocaine.
New developments include the growth of two-way trafficking with northern Europe as synthetic drugs, notably ecstasy, gain popularity in Brazil and the growth of Suriname as a transit point used by Brazilian traffickers. Other developments, such as the use of fishing boats to transport drugs across the Atlantic, highlight the relentless game of cat and mouse as international traffickers try to stay one step ahead of the authorities.
International gangs
Recent cocaine seizures have underlined how traffickers using Brazil as a gateway operate behind legal business fronts, carrying out a mixture of legal and illegal activities. In mid-September 2005, 'Operation Caravela' found 1,698 kg of pure cocaine hidden inside frozen shrink-wrapped beef at a market warehouse in Rio de Janeiro. The drugs were found one month before they were due to be shipped to Portugal by a group of wealthy Brazilians. Dr Ronaldo Urbano, Brazil's general co-ordinator for the repression of narcotics, said: "These were businesspeople. They rented industrial freezing and packing facilities and paid for them. They were not violent people."
In August 2005, police found 1,436 kg of Colombian cocaine, hidden in charcoal sacks on a ship bound for Portugal, in the port of Santos, Sao Paulo state. Police said the organisers were Colombian but no arrests were made. Gino Liccione, a Brazilian federal prosecutor, said: "Most of the firms involved are firms that really do operate, that really do have profits. [In that sense] they are working more as money laundering operations." These 'legitimate' companies are typically import-export businesses. Police say heavier checks are carried out the first few times a company sends cargo, so traffickers begin by sending legal goods. It is believed that many send cocaine only a couple of times before they pack up and disappear. In the past, traffickers have been known to send drugs in charcoal, fruit or furniture shipments, though timber has been the most common cargo in which to secrete cocaine. While these methods are still being used, the packing of the cocaine found during 'Caravela', inside shrink-wrapped frozen meat, was a new development.
Federal police became more aware of the methods used by Colombian traffickers operating in Brazil following investigations conducted after the seizure of more than a tonne of cocaine in 2002. A senior member of the federal police said: "They buy an apartment legally in a nice area of Sao Paulo and stay here legally. They create companies that are apparently legal, but many times the address is fictitious. When you go to check, there is no company there. We call them 'ghost' companies." Again, most of these companies are involved in import and export .In contrast to the old Colombian cartels, Colombian traffickers who use Brazil as a corridor
tend to be 'men with money', possibly earned legally, who have now turned to 'investing' in
drug trafficking. The gangs tend to be small and remain independent, not co-operating or
fighting with others, according to the police. Foreign criminal organisations come to Sao Paulo seeking Colombians who will represent their interests with dealers in Colombia,say Brazilian police. European groups are an exception, as they tend not to make direct contact with the Colombians, instead using a go between. Cocaine trafficking groups that are reported to be operating in Brazil include members of the Lebanese community who have residency - as seen in the case of Operation 'Tamara' in mid-2005. Lebanon was listed by the UN in 2005 as a "significant exporter" of cannabis, suggesting a possible link between Brazil and established Lebanese trafficking networks.
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| Police seize 440kg in Suriname |
Until October 2004, when a law was enacted allowing aircraft suspected of carrying drugs to be shot down in Brazilian airspace if they do not land when instructed, most traffickers chose to bring cocaine into Brazil by light aircraft, particularly if it was of Colombian origin, according to Ronaldo Urbano, Brazil's general co-ordinator for the repression of narcotics. No aircraft have yet been shot down, but increased air surveillance over the state of Amazonia in the north of Brazil has meant that river fishing boats are now being used to traffic cocaine into the country from Colombia. Such boats follow the tributaries of the Amazon and Negro rivers.
In 2005, there have been three major seizures, each netting around 600 kg of cocaine, in the area of Manaus, a busy port 2,000 km from the Atlantic at the end of the Amazon River's deep-water channel. The Amazon takes boats to the coastal city of Belem, the principal port and a major commercial fishing centre. Aircraft are still being used to move large quantities of Colombian cocaine (typically 0.5 to 1.5 tonnes), but in order to avoid Brazilian airspace, many have begun flying over Venezuela to Suriname, according to a senior policeman who described this as an "easy route". He added that Brazilian criminals have increasingly been settling in Suriname to escape from justice. According to Brazil's Ministry of External Relations, this trend has been apparent for approximately 10 years, but the police say there has been an upsurge in the past year, following the rapid growth of the air route. Attempts by Brazilian police to exchange information with their Surinamese counterparts are hampered by a language barrier, as either Dutch is spoken or the creole dialect Sranang Tongo ('Taki-Taki'), which is noted as being particularly problematic.
Colombians in Suriname receive guns for : FARC, and the ELN, paying with cocaine. Crack cocaine is now available
o the streets of Suriname for less than USD1 a'hit'.Ecstasy has also been seized in Suriname, suggesting a possible two-way drug trade with cocaine-receiving countries in northern Europe. Synthetic drugs area growing problem in Braziland UNODC representative Giovanni Quaglia warns that, within a year, ecstasy production could begin in the region. He said: "The chemicals are available and the formula is not difficult."
Suriname gained independence from the Netherlands in
1975. This was followed by a number of coups and a civil war in the small coastal country, which is a major exporter of bauxite and timber. In 2000, the country's former military leader, Desi Bouterse, was found guilty of drug trafficking by a court in The Hague although he did not attend and there is not an extradition treaty between the countries. In contrast, when a Danish-led drug smuggling syndicate was uncovered in 2005, Brazil's supreme court agreed to extradite a Dane who had been arrested in Rio de Janeiro even though there is not an extradition agreement between Brazil and Denmark.
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| Desi Bouterse |
A report by the Suriname Drug Information Network in 2002 spoke of the country's lack of an effective control system at the airport and modern detection equipment for finding drugs among freight. The report added:".the possibilities of protection, the inadequate control of the Surinamese waters and interior and the strategic position of Suriname on the South American continent, with direct connections to Europe by air and by sea,in particular with the Netherlands,make Suriname a drug transit state par excellence.
On 19 July 2010, Bouterse was elected as President of Suriname with 36 of 50 parliament votes[2] and on 12 August 2010 he was inaugurated.
In 2000, he was sentenced in the Netherlands to 11 years imprisonment because he was found guilty of trafficking 474 kilos of cocaine. Wikileaks cables released in 2011 reveal that Bouterse was involved in drug-trafficking until 2006. The cables report the connection between Bouterse and top Guyanese criminals Roger Khan and Eduardo Beltran. Khan was believed to help Bouterse's financial situation by giving him the means to supplement his income through narcotics trafficking. According to the cables Bouterse met Roger Khan several times in Nickerie at the house of MP Rashied Doekhi, who is prominent member of Bouterse's political party. The cables also report that Bouterse and Khan were plotting to assassinate then minister of Justice Chan Santokhi and attorney general Subhaas Punwasi.
Khan who is known as the Guyanese Pablo Escobar and whose name is mentioned in almost 200 murders in Guyana was arrested in Paramaribo in June 2006 in a sting operation by the Surinamese police. By order of then minister of Justice Chan Santokhi he was deported to the United States of America where he was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment on charges of smuggling large amounts of cocaine into the United States of America, witness tampering and illegal possession of firearms. Eduardo Beltran is a major regional narcotic logistics handler currently operating out of Venezuela. Beltran reportedly travelled to Suriname on a monthly basis.
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| Dino Bouterse |
In April 2012, former fellow soldier of Bouterse and also suspect in the December murders Ruben Rozendaal said that in the 80s and early 90s Bouterse supplied the FARC of Colombia with weapons in exchange for cocaine. In a document from 2006 from the American embassy (published by Wikileaks) there are reports of a possible connection in the past of Bouterse and the FARC. Although Bouterse was convicted in the Netherlands for cocaine trafficking, he has remained free in Suriname.
Bouterse's son, Dino Bouterse, was sentenced in 2005 to eight years imprisonment for international drug and arms trafficking. In 1994, Dino was suspected of the disappearance of three Brazilians when a cocaine deal went wrong. Together with Marcel Zeeuw, Dino was arrested and spent about five months in prison. But when the case went to the court, the star witness withdrew his testimony. In 2002, Dino was suspected of the theft of 20 automatic AK47 rifles and 51 pistols from the storage of the Central Intelligence and Security Department of Suriname. Ten months he was sought, before he was arrested on 12 June 2003, at the airport of Curacao with a false Dutch passport. After co-defendant Jochem Brunings had a conversation with Dino’s lawyer, Irvin Kanhai, he withdrew his incriminating statement and Dino was acquitted because of lack of evidence.
In 2005, Dino was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for international drug and arms trafficking. He appealed against the court’s decision. Of the eight years, he served only three.
Shortly after Bouterse was inaugurated as president of Suriname, he appointed his son Dino as the leader of the heavily armed Counter Terror Unit (CTU), a controversial police organization with military status, which, according to President Bouterse, aims to combat terrorism in Suriname. At a press meeting in December, 2010, President Bouterse responded to a journalist, who asked why Dino was, despite his conviction, appointed as head of CTU, by saying: "At CTU the very best men are placed and my son is among the very best".
In December 2011, President Bouterse granted a pardon to his foster son Romano Meriba who in 2005 was convicted to 15 years imprisonment of murder and robbery of a Chinese trader in 2002. Meriba was also convicted for throwing a hand grenade at the house of the Dutch ambassador. Meriba was also arrested on March 23, 2012 in Paramaribo because he was accused of assaulting and beating up a citizen and police officer the night before in a nightclub. He was not in custody of the police for long because the accusation was retracted the following day.
Cocaine fishers
Drug trafficking gangs, formed of Colombians and Brazilians, operate in Suriname with the help of locals. Brazilian federal police told JIR that fishing boats from Brazil, usually from Belem, are used to ship cocaine from Surinamese waters across the Atlantic to Europe or the coast of Africa, where the drugs are transferred to other commercial vessels.
In July2005, a fishing boat, the Brasimex1, left Belem heading for the coast of Guyana and Suriname. A boat from Suriname met the Brasimex 75 km off the Surinamese coast, taking on board 2.2 tonnes of high-quality cocaine. Spanish customs agents intercepted the boat off the Canary Islands and arrested the seven Brazilian crew members. Weapons reportedly found on board Brasimex 1 included a self-loading rifle. Increased port control in the south of Brazil and better monitoring of shipping has also driven drug trafficking gangs to use fishing boats for transatlantic shipments directly from the north-east of Brazil, according to Dr Urbano. He said: "Fishing boats do not stay in port. They are away from the coast, so drugs are carried out to them. They are not supposed to make international trips, so there is not the control."The fishing boats, usually 15-20 metres long, have crews of three to seven people and are designed to operate within twenty miles of the coast. The quantity of cocaine carried by the boats typically ranges from 1.5 to four tonnes. Dr Urbano said: "The advantage of fishing boats is that they have a compartment for carrying 10 tonnes of ice. This is where cocaine and extra fuel are put." He added that he knows of six drug-running fishing boats that have sunk in the past five years. Sail boats that receive drugs at sea have also been used. Federal police have reported small planes dropping drugs at sea to be picked up.
Another new development in drug trafficking involves fishing boats leaving Brazilian waters before transferring their cargo to boats from Spain. This proves particularly problematic for police, who may get information that a fishing boat has left their country's waters with drugs on board, but because the cargo is transferred to another boat, the arrival becomes harder to predict. Federal police have said: "Because Brazil is known to send drugs, taking them to the Canary Islands or the coast of Africa is less suspicious. Ships transporting legal goods and cocaine leave Africa for Europe."
The UN's 2005 World Drug Report says that Colombian traffickers importing cocaine to Spain use islands off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania. The report states: "Once reaching these islands, the cocaine is taken over by cannabis resin trafficking groups of Moroccan origin for export to southern Spain." Brazilian authorities say they have not come across Moroccan gangs picking up cocaine in Brazil.
Southern Brazil
An alternative route from the coca-producing countries into the south of Brazil has also been increasingly used since the law allowing planes to be shot down in Brazilian airspace was introduced. On this path, cocaine is typically transported from Colombia to Bolivia by air, then from Bolivia to Paraguay, before crossing into Brazil in trucks that typically carry 200-300 kg of drugs. Cocaine from this source that is destined for the international market tends to end up in southern ports such as Santos, in the state of Sao Paulo, or Paranagua, in the state of Parana, where large quantities are hidden among cargo on commercial ships. Another trend that has come to the attention of federal police in the south of Brazil is criminal organisations, typically from the Philippines and Chile, using contacts on small commercial ships that travel abroad to traffic drugs. Quantities tend to be greater than the amounts carried by mules but less than quantities typically stowed on container ships.
Couriers
Cocaine sent on commercial ships can typically be measured in tonnes, while couriers or mules tend to carry kilograms of the drug. Dr Urbano said: "Traffic with mules is known as 'ant traffic'. It is small traffic that happens daily and bothers people, but it is not large amounts." Brazilian police frequently speak of a "Nigerian connection" when referring to the criminal groups that organise mules orcouriers.According to a senior member of Rio de Janeiro's drug squad, these groups have been operating in the city since cocaine began arriving in the 1980s but have not moved into other areas of criminal activity.
He said: "The Nigerians don't live in Rio de Janeiro. They are good looking, well dressed and they stay in Copacabana hotels. They mostly hire call girls to take small quantities of drugs, so they never suffer big losses. If the mules do not complete their trips on time, they die of overdose. It is very cruel. There have been many cases of girls who are scared of being arrested not saying anything if there is a flight delay. Typically they are aged 18-25 -
recruitment is not a problem as they all leap at the chance to travel and earn money.
They are not sent to Nigeria but to South Africa, Palma, St Tropez, Nice or Barcelona, following the international jet set. They are poor, they need money, but the penalties are the same for them as the guys behind it."A member of airport control said that in the past many Nigerian traffickers would carry cocaine themselves and wear traditional African costumes. To avoid police suspicion, they moved to plain clothes, then started recruiting Brazilians and now typically use white Europeans to take drugs to Europe (often in containers rather than swallowed) and black Africans to take drugs to Africa (usually in the form of cocaine bullets that are swallowed). In the last three years, it has become a trend for young European couriers to carry synthetic drugs to Brazil and return with cocaine. German traffickers recruiting and sending couriers from the Netherlands were cited as an example by Brazilian police. Aspiring Brazilian models are also being hired to transport ecstasy from Europe, although according to police they do not usually carry cocaine on their outward journey. If caught, a mule is typically sentenced to three to four years of detention.
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| Balkan |
In 2005, Nigerian traffickers based in Moscow and Warsaw were detained during operations to close cocaine smuggling routes. The cocaine travelling to Russia was reported to have been trafficked through Brazil or Venezuela, whereas the drugs seized in Poland were only said to have been of South American origin. According to the UN, various Balkan countries are also being used on the cocaine trail. Although there is no mention of the other countries featuring earlier on this route, Albania was identified as a point of entry for cocaine into
Europe.
Methods of bringing drugs aboard aircraft continue to evolve and Brazilian police are starting to apprehend smuggling gangs that use airport employees to pass drugs to couriers who have already been through security. At the end of October 2005, a smuggling ring was detected at Rio de Janeiro's international airport involving six employees from security and the cleaning services and a male African courier due to board a flight to the Netherlands. Just over 5.5 kg of cocaine was divided between sandals and a pair of women's underwear. Gino Liccione, a Brazilian federal prosecutor, said investigations had not uncovered that higher-level airport employees were involved.
The ring was discovered after suspicious movements were picked up on the airport monitors. Liccione said: "The mule went into the bathroom and put the knickers on. The group kept coming together and separating and coming together. They were in one of the bar restaurants at the airport, so they thought no one would notice, but their movements attracted attention... They face five to 12 years in prison." Liccione said that more traffickers are coming before the courts, a fact he attributes to better police work apprehending more traffickers and authorities clamping down on known routes. He said: "Very often traffickers will send a mule with 2 kg to distract the attention of the authorities while they get a bigger quantity through. So each time they pick someone up, the trafficker starts dispersing more couriers. We see more and more people with smaller quantities as traffickers try to get some drugs through and try to distract attention."
Just as increased control in Brazil's southern seaports drove traffickers to develop an alternative outlet in the north-east, increased control in airports has led traffickers to relocate
their operations. The former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde has been identified by
Brazilian police as a strategic stop-off point for drugs travelling from the northeast of Brazil to
Africa and Europe. The Cape Verde islands, which lie 600 km off the Senegalese coast,are only three hours from the north-east of Brazil by plane and up to 20 charter flights leave every week during the summer, say the federal police. They say that drug quantities passing through the major airports of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have fallen, while in the last few years the number of flights from the north-east has increased. Urbano said: "Seventy per cent of mules going to Africa with drugs pass through Brazil. In the north-eastern airports of Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza, control is not as tight."
After gaining independence, Cape Verde,with a police force that lacked training, was vulnerable to traffickers. A developing tourism industry in the islands helped make this a suitable transit point as hotels were built. Portugal is the islands' major trading partner.The route is thought to have been open for around 10 years. Control is being tightened in Brazil's north-eastern airports and the Brazilian government has agreed to sponsor a three month training programme for three members of the Cape Verde police force. The training will allow them to introduce new measures including the use of sniffer dogs.
Links to Southern Africa
More than half of all the cocaine seized at Brazilian airports (52.3 per cent) is destined for Africa. Europe is second with 37.1 per cent. The majority of apprehended couriers were South Americans (52.3 per cent), followed by Africans (34.7 per cent) and then Europeans (10.4 per cent).
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| Drug Mule |
cocaine seized on the African continent in 2003, more than three quarters (777 kg) was found in South Africa, followed by Nigeria with 135 kg.However, many countries did not report their drug seizures to the UN, and some amounts reported seem unrealistically small.
Togo, a possible stop off for cocaine trafficked among sea freight, reported less than 2 kg
of cocaine seizures. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported in 2002 that mostof the Andean produced cocaine that reaches South Africa leaves Venezuela or Brazil before travelling to South Africa, either directly or via another African country. Initially, most cocaine was couriered by mules (which are still believed to be the dominant mode of smuggling cocaine into South Africa) travelling directly from Sao Paulo to Johannesburg, but as the authorities clamped down on this route, other routes, through Cape Town, for example, were developed. The 2005 UN World Drug Report speaks of the "rising importance" of cocaine shipments from the Andean region through western Africa to Europe. The report states: "In this case, the route goes from the Andean region to Brazil and then to countries of southern Africa and increasingly to countries of western Africa (Nigeria and other countries located around the Gulf of Guinea), from where cocaine is trafficked by couriers to various European countries.
The trade is often organised by crime groups in western Africa. This diversion of the traditional trafficking route seems to be linked to better controls in the Netherlands (notably the port of Rotterdam and the airport of Schiphol) and along the northern cost of Spain." South Africa became increasingly viable as a trafficking route following the end of apartheid and the growth of international trade links, particularly with regard to sea freight to traditional cocaine entry points into Europe, such as Spain. Relaxed border controls and a burgeoning tourism industry, with associated flights and hotels, combined with the development of communications and banking networks, have provided the necessary infrastructure for drug trafficking. In 2002, UNODC's representative for southern Africa, Rob Boone, described the countryasan"important link" in the international in gand organised crime network,with the"additional burden of serving as the regional hub". In 2001, Frank Msutu, the head of Harare Interpol Subregional Bureau and the Southern African Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) Secretariat, said: "Heroin, hashish and mandrax from the east and cocaine from the west are seen to be converging in South Africa before moving north toEurope."
The use of cocaine has increased dramatically in South Africa. Arrests for dealing cocaine in Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban more than doubled between 1997 and 2001 to between 23 and 33 per cent of total drug-dealing arrests. Cocaine's far-cheaper derivative, crack cocaine, has moved into urban areas. South African authorities, including the police, have said that West African gangs handle 80 per cent of South Africa's cocaine trade. The UNODC has stated that additional reports from authorities show a "strong correlation between the migration of Nigerian nationals into South Africa starting in 1992 and the introduction of high-quality cocaine". Only a very small percentage of Nigerian immigrants to South Africa have become involved in the drug trade, and some reports suggest this group is blamed unfairly. Brazilian law enforcement agencies have reported that African traffickers include Nigerians, Kenyans and, in the last ten years, Mozambicans and Angolans, a list that matches the profile of those involved in the South African drug trade. Portuguese-speaking Mozambique and Angola share a language link with Brazil, and the US Department of State has said that the countries have been used to ship limited amounts of cocaine. The traffic of cocaine through Angola is again in the hands of Nigerian groups. Angolans and weapons from the Angolan civil war have been found among Rio de Janeiro's drug distribution gangs, though a senior member of the city's drug squad said this only concerns a small number of youths and that they have not become involved with international trafficking.
In September 2005, Mozambique was the first African nation with which the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations held bilateral talks regarding transnational crime. The ministry said that traffickers' use of an air route from Brazil to Mozambique was growing in 2004 but has now been brought under control. Mozambican gangs typically pay Mozambican women USD2,000-3,000 to carry cocaine, often on flights that pass through Portugal or South Africa. Containers in which drugs are hidden among legal products are also being used by Mozambican gangs. Other neighbouring countries, such as Botswana and Zimbabwe, have also been used by traffickers. Couriers flying from Brazil to Harare via Johannesburg before smuggling the cocaine back into South Africa overland were reported by South African police in 2001. Brazilian police say another indirect route into South Africa was detected around two years later. Couriers operating on behalf of a Nigerian gang travelled to South Africa via Lisbon or Switzerland, not leaving the airport.
In this last case, the Brazilian police said they believed the couriers were supplying demand from the domestic South African market, where cocaine has only around half the market value it commands in Europe, after direct routes from South America had come under increasing suspicion from the authorities. While Brazilian police say that container ships leaving ports such as Santos are under suspicion, they raise concerns that cargo ships plying the African coast or travelling indirectly to Europe are not as likely to be subjected to extensive police searches. Brazilian police also cite lack of control over ships arriving in some African countries. Timber, which has been a popular cargo in which to hide cocaine shipped from Brazil, is among the South African products sent to Europe by sea.
Counter trafficking measures
Brazil's federal police have adopted a new anti-narcotics strategy since 2002. In line with UN
recommendations, the creation in 2004 of the Department to Combat Organised Crime
(DCOR) has resulted in a shift from targeting the small-scale, poorer criminals who were
filling Brazil's already packed jails to focusing on more sophisticated trafficking groups. Getulio Bezerra Santos, the director of DCOR, said that information-sharing and investigations are two areas in need of improvement if organised crime is to be combated effectively in the country.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) representative for Brazil and the South Cone, Giovanni Quaglia, said that the creation of a database that will enable authorities to compare investments and purchases to see if property and monetary assets are in line with tax declarations is a positive development. He said: "Big money is made through sophisticated crime such as money laundering and smuggling... In the formal sector it is quite difficult to launder money, but 50 per cent of the economy is in the informal sector, where money laundering is much easier."
In addition, the UNODC has been working with Brazil's Ministry of Justice to expand and modernise the Integrated National System for Information on Justice and Public Security (INFOSEG). There has been a problem with information-sharing among different police forces (federal, civil and military) in Brazil's 27 states. The UNODC says this new system should improve the situation. To allow online background checks to be run, INFOSEG merges data from public security authorities, the judiciary and the army. Quaglia said: "Of course, you can only compare data if the state police enter the data. But this has improved as they have begun to see the benefits."
Corruption remains a problem in the police forces. Gino Liccione, a Brazilian federal prosecutor, said: "In Brazil, there is a lot of proximity between the police and the traffickers. Very often there is someone inside the police who informs them." Another problem cited by Brazilian authorities tackling international drug smugglers is a lack of co-operation from foreign counterparts, particularly with regard to information-sharing. Liccione argues that this prevents the multi-country structures that support international trafficking from being dismantled and limits arrests to couriers or mules.
Brazilian federal prosecutors cite the US and Switzerland as examples of countries that provide useful information through international co-operation, particularly in the field of money laundering. Quaglia says that "very little" foreign funding is provided to help Brazil tackle international trafficking. He says that USD6 million is provided by the US and USD1 million by Europe. Federal police add that more is needed from the Brazilian Government. 'Project Cobra', a border operation with Colombia designed to prevent cocaine traffickers from setting up production sites on Brazilian territory, has proved successful according to federal police and is now being extended along the border with other countries. Under the scheme, the countries share police stations at strategic entry and exit points.
This is said to allow valuable information-sharing. Describing a lack of change seen in the flow of cocaine through Brazil since Plan Colombia began, Ronaldo Urbano noted: "Even with the decrease in Colombia and the increases in Peru and Bolivia there are still around 50,000 less hectares. There are two possibilities for reaching demand. One hectare should produce six kilograms a year, but maybe more than six kilograms is being produced in some areas. Another possibility is that in Brazil in the last three years dealers have been mixing cocaine more." Increasing amounts of "mixed" cocaine are being found on the streets of Rio de Janeiro indicating there may have been a reduction in the supply. It is typically cut with a dental anaesthetic to mimic the drug's effect on the user (cocaine was used as an anaesthetic in the 1800s and early 1900s) or fruit salts, although exported cocaine tends to be pure.
Political unrest in Bolivia in 2005, when parts of the country were effectively sealed off as demonstrators blocked roads, is given as a possible reason for the increase in production as there may have been less control over plantations. Cocaine from Bolivia is of a lower quality than Colombian cocaine, possibly because of the control over precursor chemicals or more basic labs, and it tends to end up as crack cocaine in small cities in the interior of Brazil rather than being exported.