Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 1 OcTOber 2019
Drug traffickers take advantage of Uruguay's lax controls

By LEONARDO HABERKORN which is Europe's main port
Associated Press for seizures of drugs from
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay Latin America.
(AP) — First more than a Between January and July
half ton of cocaine was this year, authorities made
seized from a plane at a two seizures of cocaine
French airport. Then a ship- from Uruguay destined
ping container with 4.6 tons for Antwerp, including the
of the drug was found in mega-seizure in Hamburg,
Hamburg, Germany, where which was headed to the
authorities estimated its Belgian city, and 1.2 more
street value at a staggering tons on July 23 in a contain-
$1.1 billion. er that was already in the
The departure point of both port. In comparison, only
shipments: Uruguay, South 120 kilograms (265 pounds)
America's smallest Spanish- of cocaine from Uruguay
speaking country, one that en route to Antwerp were
seldom makes the head- seized in 2018.
lines for international drug No authority has pointed to
trafficking. a specific cartel or group
The shipments in May and as being behind the Uru-
July set off alarms in the guay shipments.
country and led its cus- For Laniel, drug traffick-
toms director to resign. ing cannot be understood
Then German broadcaster without corruption.
Deutsche Welle reported In this Sept. 18, 2019 photo, the Montevideo Port entrance and main building are seen in Monte- "The bribes detected are
that Uruguay had become video, Uruguay. just the tip of the iceberg,"
a world drug trafficking hub Associated Press said Díaz, the Uruguayan
in recent years. Authorities prosecutor. "To reach that
on both sides of the Atlan- seizures in Europe came as inspected. Less than 3% of of meat and wool, a half level of shamelessness
tic said they had noticed a a shock, but said that "we containers are examined. ton of cocaine concealed there have to be many oth-
change in cocaine traffick- are working very hard to "Everyone in the chain has in fishing nets and 2 tons in ers."
ing patterns from Uruguay. quickly improve what must failed to pay attention to a yacht that was preparing Defense Minister José Ba-
Amid secrecy, senior gov- be improved." this phenomenon. In the to travel to Serbia. Those yardi, told AP the presence
ernment officials met with Customs officials say Uru- desire to lower and lower seizures happened in 2003- of narco-mafias worries him
customs agents and ex- guay's controls focus on im- costs, we began to rel- 2010. That era was followed because when they pros-
porters to find out what ports, not exports, which are egate controls. Not only by years of calm and Uru- per, they "end up disarticu-
was happening. One par- important to the economy the state, everyone," said guayan authorities thought lating the country's institu-
ticipant said it appears that and which no one wants Couto, who as a dispatch- the drug route through their tions."
in Uruguay's bid to speed to threaten, said Leonardo er sends between 300 and country had been closed. While high levels of cor-
up trade and lower export Couto, a customs broker 400 containers from Uru- But the latest events sug- ruption have not been de-
costs, customs controls who participated in meet- guay to other parts of the gest the route has re- tected in the port of Mon-
have been neglected and ings seeking to improve world every month. opened, maybe because tevideo, a Uruguayan air
the roving eye of the glob- the export control system. The shipment with co- Uruguay let its guard down, force corporal was jailed
al drug trade — always In the port of Montevideo, caine seized in Hamburg Díaz said for allegedly taking $30,000
searching for weak points Uruguay's capital, the cus- was greenlighted in Uru- "Since 2009 there has been to look the other way while
— found an easy shipment toms terminal has a single guay without inspection no plan to combat drug bags passed through a
point in this country of just scanner that is operated despite its unusual nature: trafficking," he said in an scanner in the case of the
3.4 million inhabitants, by officials who work only It had four containers of interview on the FM Ocean flight that landed in France
where exports represented during office hours, never soybeans, a much smaller station. with 600 kilograms of drugs.
12.6% of its gross domestic at night. Additionally, the quantity than a normal Laurent Laniel, principal sci- Claire Georges, a spokes-
product. machine is used solely to shipment would contain. entific analyst at the Euro- person for the European
"We are a route, as are check imports. Inspecting "Soybeans are usually ex- pean Monitoring Center for police agency Europol,
many other" countries, said all the containers leaving ported in full boats, with- Drugs and Drug Addiction, said the agency is seeing
Attorney General Jorge the country is impossible out containers. That should said the center began no- more reports in open sourc-
Díaz. "But it is true that cer- because of the costs and have attracted attention," ticing drug shipments from es about the increasing use
tain controls have been delays that would entail. Couto said. "Risk assess- Uruguay this year, though of Uruguay by organized
weakened or are not at the A computer program ana- ment failed. It was not han- still in smaller quantities than crime groups for cocaine
level they should be." lyzes what the merchan- dled well." from other South American shipments headings to Eu-
Deputy Economy Minister dise is, its destination and Díaz, the attorney general, nations. rope, though she said it has
Pablo Ferreri told The Asso- who is moving it to deter- says he has seen everything: The center's most recent received little reporting di-
ciated Press that the drug mine which containers are drugs hidden in shipments report is from 2017, when rectly from European Union
140 tons of cocaine were member states about it.
seized, with Colombia, Bra- Laniel said Uruguay is still far
zil and Ecuador the main from being the epicenter of
countries from which the drug trafficking from Latin
drugs departed, Laniel America to Europe.
said. Its presence in the world
But the growing role Uru- drug trade is "a little thing
guay could be playing in that has just emerged," he
the trade, he said, can be said. "Let's see if it gains
seen at Antwerp, Belgium, more breadth."q