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| Africa North |
| Traffickers reportedly protected by terrorists near Mauritania-Mali border |
| 2010-03-02 |
| [Maghrebia] Mauritanian state television (TVM) on Sunday (February 28th) aired footage of the twenty drug suspects arrested after clashing with Mauritanian soldiers near the Mali border on Friday night. Three traffickers were killed in the ambush in the north-eastern Mauritanian desert town of Lemzarrab. Army troops also seized six all-terrain vehicles and a truck carrying five tonnes of drugs, weapons, ammunition, fuel and food. The 20 Mauritanian, Algerian and Malian nationals were flown to Nouakchott on Sunday for interrogation. "The group of drug dealers moved under the protection and security of terrorist groups located in the region. This shows the degree of co-ordination and collaboration between the two groups, Islamists and drug traffickers," Journal Tahalil quoted the TVM report as saying. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 tw: it may be that "taliban central" has money but the affiliates may be money poor, or expected to pay for the privelige of owning a "Genuine Taliban Franchise." |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-03-02 21:41 |
| #4 Glenmore, we've had a couple of articles recently about the drug trade coming from Central/South America through Africa to the European market, with Hizb'allah and perhaps other terror groups taking a cut of the profits... and we already know the opium derivatives go from Afghanistan through Iran, with the Taliban taking a cut of those profits -- some of which may trickle into the pockets of Al Qaeda. But not much, because they've been begging for money from their subsidiaries for several years. D'you remember the letter they sent to Zarqawi when he was running Al Qaeda in Iraq? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-03-02 20:07 |
| #3 Because the middle of nowhere is the only place left where you can move these massive quantities of drugs. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-03-02 09:48 |
| #2 West Africa has been the way point of distribution for cocaine from South America and heroin probably from Afghanistan into Europe. Same for blood diamonds and weapons. There has been a clamp down at major ports so they adjust. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2010-03-02 09:20 |
| #1 Why would anyone have tons of drugs in the middle of the Sahara Desert? Drug plants don't grow there, drug users don't live there (in any quantity). It's a logistically-challenged place to make 'manufactured' drugs. I don't understand. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-02 08:25 |