Drugs Trade Motivated By Thirst For Money, Harbored Evil Intentions

(following item is part of KUNA's campaign against drugs)

News Feature by Alaa Al-Huwaijel

BAGHDAD, Dec 30 (KUNA) -- Drugs' trade is commonly known as an illegal business to make money; however, in some cases it is driven by illicit evil intentions to inflict harm on the targeted community.
The former Iraqi regime of the ousted vicious dictator, Saddam Hussein, is famed for facilitating narcotics' exports to neighboring countries to undermine their social security and harm the youth wellbeing.
Ali Al-Otabi, a drugs' criminologist, said in an interview with KUNA that routes for spreading drugs from Afghanistan, a main grower of plants that produce the harmful substances, snake via Iran and Iraq.
Iraq before 2003, was afflicted with the hazard and enforced penalties amounting to execution, however the regime at the time was engaged in smuggling the narcotics to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait -- driven by hostile intentions, Al-Otabi said in the interview with the Kuwaiti news agency.
Moreover at the time, only a few institutions existed to treat the addicted in Iraq. However, after 2003, drug addiction began to mushroom locally, largely due to slack security along the long borders with Iran, fragile security and involvement of well-funded gangs.
Nowadays, these trafficking routes to the Gulf countries still exist however the bulk of smugglers targeting the GCC countries are mainly driven by thirst for money, rather than evil intentions to jeopardize the social fabrics of the other Gulf countries.
Saudi border personnel have recently aborted a bid to smuggle drugs aboard drones into the kingdom, Al-Otabi said, indicating that the Saudis have beefed up border precautions deploying troop reinforcements, installing more barbed wires, anti-aircraft batteries, thermal cameras, staging regular security patrols in a bid to combat the cross-border smuggling.
As to the illegal operations targeting Kuwait, he expressed his opinion that the clandestine trade has been mainly involved amphetamines and various other stimulating pills.
The smugglers between Iraq and Kuwait often use yachts, dhows and fishing boats, in addition to land routes such Al-Samawa oasis close to the borderline, he said.
Furthermore, economic and security conditions in Iran and Syria have contributed to the spread of the drug trade in the region, Al-Otabi said, adding that Iranian authorities have opted not to be firm against the traffickers, considering the hard living conditions.
Al-Otabi added that regional and external countries should cooperate against the menace, noting that Iraq has become a route for trafficking drugs to Europe via Turkey. He also mentioned in this respect the fragile security authorities' control in Iraq, rise of influential rich gangs, some of which had been implicated in assassination of judges and security officers. He also noted that need for tighter laws and regulations against the illegal trade.
Bilal Sobhi, a state media official, said in a statement to KUNA that a bill for stiffer punishment for the addicted had been presented to the relevant authorities, however the health department in particular turned it down on grounds the that the afflicted should be classified as a patient and not a criminal.
Current regulations are confined to penalties against the promoters and traders.
On April 30, authorities busted two smuggling networks nabbing scores of involved persons and confiscating huge caches of narcotics. As part of the operation, the personnel discovered a secret hardware in southern Baghdad, where a ton of the banned materials were stacked. The detainees, including Arabs, confessed to being members of an international network. (end) ahh.rk

MENAFN30122022000071011013ID1105367229