Drug control in the Middle East is no longer a purely security issue, it is increasingly taking on political dimensions due to internal factors, regional contexts and international pressures. The overriding consideration is to contain the fallout from the chaos in the region, as evident in various crises. Insecurity has indeed helped terrorist organisations and armed militias, together with regional brokers and international mafia, to find new havens for drug trafficking and distribution in the region.
The most striking cases of the increasing politicization of drug control in the region can be outlined, to varying degrees, as follows:
Multiple sieges
1- Crackdown on Hezbollah’s financing: The past few weeks have seen international moves, specifically from the U.S. and France, to investigate Hezbollah’s activities in support of terrorism, especially through drug trafficking networks spanning across Africa, Europe and Central and South America. In this context, on 11 January 2018, the U.S Department of Justice announced the creation of Hezbollah Financing and Narco-terrorism Team. “The Justice Department will leave no stone unturned in order to eliminate threats to our citizens from terrorist organisations and to stem the tide of the devastating drug crisis”, said U.S.Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a press statement.
Moreover, Marshall Billingslea, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at Department of the Treasury, visited Beirut on 23 January 2018, met with the Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and political and banking figures, as Washington accuses Hezbollah of financing its activities through drug trafficking. The Lebanese presidency issued a statement during the visit, which stated, “Lebanon is actively participating in global efforts to combat the financing of terrorism and money laundering... the Lebanese security institutions are watchful of sleeper terrorist cells, in addition to the war on drugs”.
On the other hand, Hezbollah denies having connection with international drug-trafficking networks. In a press release on January 19, 2018, the party secretary general Hassan Nasrallah said that “the new trend is to brand Hezbollah as a criminal organisation, involved in drug trafficking and car theft”, adding “We do not prevent the party’s members from engaging in personal investments”. “The party has a clear religious, legal and moral stance which forbids drug trading” he added. “We refuse the accusations of drug trafficking. The investigation commission must pursue the Americans themselves, who invest in drugs to destroy societies. I call on the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation in Lebanon and we hope that Lebanese officials will not incite against us”.
Image improving
2- Warding off international criticisms of death penalty: Thousands of people, who are charged with drug trafficking and are awaiting execution in Iran, will benefit from the enforcement of a new law providing for the commutation of the death sentence, according to local Iranian media published on January 10, 2018, which coincided with the eruption of a new wave of protests in several Iranian cities.
In this respect, head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, demanded judges to cease death sentences in such crimes and review the cases, taking into account the endorsement of the drug law by the Iranian parliament in August 2017, without abolishing the death penalty for those who “lead smuggling rings or exploit minors under the age of 18 in smuggling or carry firearms during smuggling operations”.
Despite the lack of official statistics on executions in Iran, numerous reports by Amnesty International state that Iran is ranked second, after China, in terms of carrying out executions on charges of drug trafficking in 2016.
Choking off funds
3- Financing armed conflicts in Arab countries: Numerous estimates link drug trade in the region with the financing of armed non-state actors, including terrorist organisations, as stated in the World Drug Report 2017 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Terrorist organisations have increased its sources of financing from the proceeds of the production, transportation, distribution and sale of drugs, especially given the porous borders and security agencies’ preoccupation with paramount security issues, deteriorating economic conditions and the spread of illegal employees.
Some estimates suggest that organised crime networks around the world get around fifth to a third of their income from drug trafficking. In an interview with the Youm7 newspaper’s website on December 29, 2017, Major General Ahmed Omar, Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Interior in Egypt for drug control and organised crime, said “there is a close link between drug trade and terrorism, the former is used in financing terrorism and conflicts”.
Cutting off Taliban’s lifelines
4- Clamp down on Taliban's financial lifelines: The U.S. and Afghan forces launched a joint offensive against Taliban’s opium plants in the second half of November 2017, to dry the financing sources of the movement, particularly since the reports issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime show that opium production from poppy seeds in Afghanistan — as the world’s largest producer of heroin — reached about 9,000 tons in 2017, an increase of 87% compared to the previous year.
The crackdown comes in the wake of international warnings that the inaction of security services in Kabul could lead to weakening or undermining the campaign on drug production, since the surge in opium production in Afghanistan means the recovery of terrorist financing, where drug trafficking is the primary source of income in the southern rural areas controlled by the rebels.
Militants’ narcotic
5. Seizing drugs bound for ISIS: The Italian police, in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Drug Administration, seized narcotic drugs at the port of Gioia Tauro, south Italy, coming from India and bound for Libya, about 24 million tablets of Tramadol, on the first of November 2017, estimated at about 50 million euros. The organisation was likely to sell the drugs to its fighters at a price of 2 euros per tablet.
According to several intelligence services, the proceeds from the transaction were directed to cover ISIS expenses in conflict zones in Libya, Syria and Iraq, after the organisation lost many areas it once controlled, following the coalition forces’ strikes on its headquarters, warehouses and coffers, which affected its financing.
Laundering cannabis money
6- Straining the Algerian-Moroccan relations: Algerian and Arab media have quoted Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel’s remarks on October 20, 2017, at a forum with business leaders in the capital Algiers, as he rejected describing Morocco as “the example to be followed in Africa in view of its investments”, saying “the Royal Moroccan airlines do not only transport passengers to African countries, but also the banks launder cannabis money”.
In response, Morocco recalled its ambassador in Algeria, and according to the statement issued by the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it informed him of the irresponsible statements issued by the head of Algerian diplomacy, who is supposed to express his country’s official positions at the international level. “These false allegations cannot justify the failure or conceal the country’s real economic, political and social problems affecting large sectors of the Algerian population, including young people”, the statement said.
“The remarks of the Algerian Minister testify to a profound ignorance that cannot be explained by the basic functional standards of the banking system and civil aviation at the national and international levels”, the statement added. This heated exchange reflects the tense relations between the two countries, against the backdrop of Algerian support for the Frente POLISARIO.
Dismantling the trafficking networks
7- Launching satellites: In November 2017, the Kingdom of Morocco launched surveillance satellites to counter terrorist threats and growing illegal immigration, curb maritime piracy, control and secure border lines, dismantle smuggling networks and fight drug trafficking. According to a statement published by the Moroccan National Security Directorate in last December, Moroccan security has detained 538,344 people in 2017, including 97,688 people involved in selling drugs, which requires taking preventive measures.
In this context, Moroccan Justice Minister Mohamed Oghar announced, at an International Seminar on Criminal Observatories organised by the Ministry in Rabat on 24 January 2018, that his country plans to establish national observatory to monitor crime rates and propose prevention and control measures.
Provincial reconciliation
8- Signing a reconciliation agreement between Southern Libyan tribes with Italian mediation: During the first third of 2017, Rome sponsored secret talks leading to the signing of an agreement between the Tabu and Awlad Suleiman tribes, on April 2, to control the borders, which were used to smuggle immigrants, cigarettes, weapons and drugs. The agreement aims also to develop the Libyan desert areas.
The meeting was attended by 60 tribal elders, especially from the above-mentioned tribes, in addition to representatives of the Tuareg tribe, as well as a representative of the Tripoli-based Libyan government of national accord. In this regard, a Libyan border guard force was formed to monitor 5,000 km of the border in southern Libya, since securing the southern border means securing the southern European border, according to statements by Italian Interior minister Marco Minniti.
In short, the consequences of chaos on regional states, which have witnessed revolutionary movements, internal conflicts, or regional interventions, have led to a surge in drug trafficking, transportation and distribution, through carrier pigeon, donkeys, cars, motorcycles or boats. These developments come amid lack of modern equipment and techniques that discover and keep pace with the methods used by drug traffickers in smuggling operations across land and maritime borders, which are infiltrated by criminal groups and extremist organisations. Moreover, the cross-fertilisation between these groups and organisations places a double burden on the security services in the stable countries, because they are assuming roles that are supposed to be played by the cracked services in the unstable states.
