Transnational threats : smuggling and trafficking in arms, drugs, and human life

257 Pages·2007·12.67 MB·English

by  Thachuk

TRANSNATIONAL THREATS
PraegerSecurityInternationalAdvisoryBoard
BoardCochairs
LochK.Johnson,RegentsProfessorofPublicandInternationalAffairs,Schoolof
PublicandInternationalAffairs,UniversityofGeorgia(U.S.A.)
PaulWilkinson,ProfessorofInternationalRelationsandChairmanoftheAdvisory
Board,CentrefortheStudyofTerrorismandPoliticalViolence,Universityof
St.Andrews(U.K.)
Members
EliotA.Cohen,RobertE.OsgoodProfessorofStrategicStudiesandDirector,
PhilipMerrillCenterforStrategicStudies,PaulH.NitzeSchoolofAdvanced
InternationalStudies,TheJohnsHopkinsUniversity(U.S.A.)
AnthonyH.Cordesman,ArleighA.BurkeChairinStrategy,CenterforStrategic
andInternationalStudies(U.S.A.)
The´re`seDelpech,DirectorofStrategicAffairs,AtomicEnergyCommission,and
SeniorResearchFellow,CERI(FoundationNationaledesSciencesPolitiques),
Paris(France)
SirMichaelHoward,formerChicheleProfessoroftheHistoryofWarandRegis
ProfessorofModernHistory,OxfordUniversity,andRobertA.LovettProfessorof
MilitaryandNavalHistory,YaleUniversity(U.K.)
LieutenantGeneralClaudiaJ.Kennedy,USA(Ret.),formerDeputyChiefofStaff
forIntelligence,DepartmentoftheArmy(U.S.A.)
PaulM.Kennedy,J.RichardsonDilworthProfessorofHistoryandDirector,
InternationalSecurityStudies,YaleUniversity(U.S.A.)
RobertJ.O’Neill,formerChicheleProfessoroftheHistoryofWar,AllSouls
College,OxfordUniversity(Australia)
ShibleyTelhami,AnwarSadatChairforPeaceandDevelopment,Departmentof
GovernmentandPolitics,UniversityofMaryland(U.S.A.)
JusufWanandi,cofounderandmember,BoardofTrustees,CentreforStrategicand
InternationalStudies(Indonesia)
FareedZakaria,Editor,NewsweekInternational(U.S.A.)
TRANSNATIONAL
THREATS
Smuggling and Trafficking in Arms,
Drugs, and Human Life
Edited by Kimberley L. Thachuk
Foreword by Spike Bowman
PRAEGERSECURITYINTERNATIONAL
(cid:1)
Westport,Connecticut London
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Transnationalthreats:smugglingandtraffickinginarms,drugs,andhumanlife/
editedbyKimberleyL.Thachuk;forewordbySpikeBowman.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–275–99404–4(alk.paper)
1.Transnationalcrime. 2.Smuggling. 3.Illegalarmstransfers. 4.Drugtraffic.
5.Humantrafficking. 6.Organizedcrime. I.Thachuk,Kimberley.
HV6252.T76 2007
364.1(cid:1)33–dc22 2007003032
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright©2007byKimberleyL.Thachuk
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2007003032
ISBN-13:978–0–275–99404–4
ISBN-10:0–275–99404–X
Firstpublishedin2007
PraegerSecurityInternational,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.praeger.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
ForewordbySpikeBowman vii
Acknowledgments xi
I: Introduction
1. AnIntroductiontoTransnationalThreats 3
KimberleyL.Thachuk
II: FunctionalAreas
2. Narcoterrorism:ADefinitionalandOperational
TransnationalChallenge 23
Andre´ D.Hollis
3. InternationalHumanTrafficking 36
FrancisT.Miko
4. AddressingtheNuclearSmugglingThreat 53
DavidSmigielski
5. TransnationalCrimeandSmallArmsTraffickingand
Proliferation 64
BorisO.Saavedra
III: RegionalStudies
6. BalkanTraffickinginHistoricalPerspective 79
EstherA.Bacon
vi Contents
7. DrugSmugglinginCentralEurasia 94
SvanteE.Cornell
8. SmugglingandTraffickinginAfrica 113
AudraK.Grant
9. ChineseCrimeOrganizationsasTransnationalEnterprises 131
AnnyWong
10. JapaneseTraffickingandSmuggling 143
RollieLal
11. SouthAsianOrganizedCrimeandLinkagestoTerrorist
Networks 150
RollieLal
12. WeakStatesandPorousBorders:SmugglingAlongthe
AndeanRidge 164
RichardL.Millett
13. SmugglingandtheCaribbean:TaintingParadisethroughout
History 177
JamesL.Zackrison
14. TheRiseandDiversificationofHumanSmugglingand
TraffickingintotheUnitedStates 194
LouiseI.Shelley
15. TheImplicationsforU.S.NationalSecurity 211
RheaSiers
Index 223
AbouttheEditorandContributors 239
FOREWORD
Transnational Threats is unique in that the threats described are measured
against distinct yardsticks: both functional smuggling activities and tech-
niques and country-specific harms. By using both functional and regional
studies to illustrate the dangers posed to social order, the reader learns
throughreal-lifeexampleshowinternationaldrugtraffickingfloutstherule
oflawinwaysthatunderminesocial,economic,andpoliticalstability.
This book also illustrates how the drug trade supports and fosters other
organizedcrime.Oneofthemostpoignantexamplesgivenisthepurchaseof
adieselsubmarinefromtheRussianmafiabySouthAmericandrugdealers.
Themagnitudeofsuchatransactionputsinperspectivetheenormityofthe
threattoworldorder.Simplyput,thedrugtradehasbecomesoimmensely
profitable that it can lavish money on criminal gangs, public officials, and
evennationstobuywhatevertheorganizerswant.
Inturn,thisilluminatestheinescapablefactthatthedrugtradeisaninter-
national threat for more than the drug business. What we once considered
tobeonlyalawenforcementissue,andperhapsaneducationalproblemas
well,hasbecomeanissueofworldorder.Thesuccessofthedrugtradeand
the many smuggling operations that spring from it now threaten interna-
tionalorderbecausethisillegaltradehassuccessfullydevelopedtechniques
that frustrate law enforcement and has purchased the complicit services of
officialstosuchanextentthatperfectedtechniquesandcorruptofficialscan
beusedformanyotherpurposes.
The reader will be easily persuaded that once the mechanisms are devel-
oped for smuggling drugs, many of the same techniques and routes can be
used to smuggle other items, including people. Americans generally believe
that human trafficking is a problem in the Third World, with a minor role
viii Foreword
for Europe and Asia where we often read about women forced into pros-
titution. But human trafficking into the United States itself is a reality—a
realitywithdevastatingconsequences.
PerhapsthemostimportantcontributionofTransnationalThreatsisnot
so much what the individual authors convey directly, but what they col-
lectively convey indirectly. Two necessary lessons are compelled from the
collective wisdom of the authors, neither of which will be popular with
authorities.
The first lesson is that there are few international controls to address
threatssuchassmuggling.Thecontributorshereindemonstratetheregional
impact of the myriad smuggling operations that exist. That so much harm
couldbedonebysomanysmugglingoperationsinsomanyregionssimply
begs the question as to why there are not more controls. One reason, of
course,ismoney.Smugglingmusthavesome“legitimate”elementstowork
with,andthereissomuchmoneyinvolvedthatcorruptionofpublicofficials
isamajorfactor.However,moneymaynotbetheprimaryissue.Concepts
ofsovereigntycenturiesoldmaybealargerculprit.
For nearly four centuries, the world has been organized to respect bor-
dersastheparamountguaranteeofsovereignty.Thenatureofinternational
smuggling means that any effective international effort to thwart smug-
gling operations would necessarily include the ability by law enforcement
authorities to cross borders expeditiously. The success of smuggling oper-
ations clearly illustrates that the sovereignty of nations does not yield an
easy remedy to these operations. With only minor exceptions, the nations
of the world have not found themselves willing to give up sovereignty to
permit officials from either another nation or from an intergovernmental
organizationtocrosstheirborderswithoutexplicitpermission.
Thishasnotgoneunnoticed.OnJuly17,2006,Canada’sAttorneyGen-
eral, the Honourable Vic Toews, publicly stated that “Terrorists and drug
smugglers know no borders and so neither should North American law
enforcement agencies.” Even with increasingly open borders everywhere,
however, nations remain organized around a border—and that which is
withintheborderremainsforthesovereignalonetogovern.
Thereareminorexceptions.ItalyandSpain,forexample,permittheother
to search their flagged vessels at sea. The Hungarian National Police has
agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation working side by side with
theminBudapest.Butthesearesingularexceptions.Untiltheworldfindsa
betterwayofenforcingorder,effectivetransnationaljurisdiction,collection,
and preservation of evidence and locating and protecting witnesses will be
aconfoundingproblem.
Thesecondlessonofthisvolumeisthefactthat,immediateharmsaside,
smuggling is such a direct challenge to world order that it has become a
majordestabilizinginfluencefornationsandregionsalike.Therewardsfor
Foreword ix
successful illicit smuggling are immense, and the result has been the avail-
abilityofenormoussumsofmoneyforbriberyandcomplicityofofficialsin
thecriminalenterprise.
By thwarting the rule of law and corrupting officials useful to their en-
terprises, criminals create a vacuum of law and order, causing citizens to
lose confidence in the institutions intended to protect them. In this book,
thereaderwillfindillustrationsofdrugsmugglingthatfuelscorruption.No
large-scalecriminalenterprisecanexistlongwithoutsomesortoflegitimate
cover, and the most effective cover stems from the public official who can
opentheborder,declinetoinspect,orprovidealicensewhenneeded.
More than that, however, the success of smugglers and drug traffickers
inspires an ever-expanding crop of nonstate actors to engage in similar
activity. Drug traffickers and dealers in arms have been the most common
ofthese,but,asoflate,weseeanincreasingnumberofterroristadherents,
slavers, and pirates who are able to take advantage of loose borders, lax
laws,andcomplicitofficials.Theonlyreasonableexplanationforthisisthe
lack of effective enforcement mechanisms for the rule of law on a global
scale.
This volume also serves another important interest: Whether there is a
bona fide nexus between terrorism and organized crime has been a hotly
debated subject for at least a decade. This book puts to rest much of the
conjecture,sometimessubtly,sometimesdirectly.Importantly,thechapters
graphicallyillustratetheseamynatureofglobalizationthathaspermitteda
deadly nexus between organized crime and terrorism to grow and flourish
in multiple regions of the world. The threats described illustrate both the
strangleholdthatcrimehasonsomenationsandtheincreasinglydiminishing
spiritofcooperationthatexistsinaworldfilledwithweak,failing,orfailed
states.
Traffickinginweaponsisyetanotherhighlydisturbingfocusofthisbook.
Armssalesareahugebusinessinmanynations,includingtheUnitedStates,
but a half-million people die each year from gunshot wounds. Despite this
fact,itisimpossibletofindaninternationalregimedesignedtocontrolthe
dispersal of weapons. Worse, there are thousands of tons of weapons and
explosivesleftoverfromtheColdWar,quietlyrustingawayandbecoming
increasingly unstable because the former Soviet client states cannot afford
eithertomaintainortodisablethem.Additionally,andperhapsevenmore
concerning,arethethousandsofman-portableairdefensemissilesthatare
missing from inventories of several nations. This is particularly disturbing
in an era that has recorded numerous incidents of terrorists attempting to
procuretheseweaponstobringdowncommercialairliners.
Less subtle, but no less important, is another conclusion to be drawn
fromthiscollectionofwritings.Whilethisvolumecoversabroadgamutof
smuggling activity, it becomes clear that the genesis of most smuggling lies