LISBON: New gangs are muscling into cocaine markets in Europe, setting up smuggling networks straight from producers in Latin America to consumers, a business which used to be dominated by the mafia, the Lisbon-based EU drugs agency said on Thursday.
In a study, which aimed to identify the causes of surging amounts of cocaine smuggled into Europe, the agency found that new gangs from the Balkans, Morocco and elsewhere were joining Italy’s mafia to supply Europe’s most popular stimulant drug.
Rising supplies of purer cocaine to Europe is mainly the result of growing production in Latin America, especially by the biggest producer, Colombia.
That has led to growing numbers of gangs setting up their own smuggling lines straight from producers, which has kept cocaine prices lower. New gangs now include Moroccans, who use their established smuggling routes for cannabis.
“The fragmentation of the cocaine trade in Europe appears to have resulted in increased competition among crime gangs for national and cross-border territories in cocaine supply and retail,” the report said. “One of the consequences has been an increase in violence and drug-related homicides.”
The emergence of more gangs has led to new marketing and transport methods, such as by couriers who dispatch the cocaine to consumers who contact special, dedicated call centers.
Such courier services exist in Britain, France and Belgium, where buyers get in touch with call centers located in Spain or the western Balkans, the report said.
“These new methods, reflecting an ‘Uberization’ of the cocaine trade, are clear signs of a competitive market in which sellers have to promote additional services beyond the product itself, such as fast delivery anywhere at any time,” it said.
The increasing supply of cocaine in Europe has coincided in the past few years with changes in traditional smuggling routes from Iberia to large ports in Belgium, France and Germany.
The port of Antwerp is now the single, biggest entry point for cocaine into Europe, with 41 tons seized in 2017. In 2016 70.9 tons of the drug was seized in all in Europe.
The report warned that the new smuggling routes through ports “may represent only the tip of the iceberg, as other routes and trafficking modes, such as private aviation, may simply go undetected.”
Cocaine surge to Europe fueled by new gangs, violence-report
Cocaine surge to Europe fueled by new gangs, violence-report
- The emergence of more gangs has led to new marketing and transport methods, such as by couriers who dispatch the cocaine to consumers who contact special, dedicated call centers
Dozens arrested in new pro-Palestinian protests at University of California, Los Angeles
- Protest camps have sprung up on university campuses across the US and in Europe as students demand their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its war efforts
LOS ANGELES: Police thwarted attempts by pro-Palestinian demonstrators to set up a new encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, where officers cleared a previous camp this spring after it was attacked by counterprotesters.
Officers arrested 27 people late Monday during the demonstration, Rick Braziel, UCLA associate vice chancellor for campus safety, said in a statement.
The individuals were cited for willful disruption of university operations and one for interfering with an officer, according to UCLA police. They were issued 14-day orders to stay away from UCLA and then released.
Any student arrested will face disciplinary action, which could include being banned from campus and not being able to take finals or participate in commencement ceremonies, Braziel said.
The demonstrators repeatedly tried to set up tents, canopies and barriers as they moved to various locations, disrupting nearby final exams. The group also damaged a fountain, spray-painted brick walkways, tampered with fire safety equipment, damaged patio furniture, stripped wire from electrical fixtures and vandalized vehicles, police said.
During the demonstration, there were also attacks that led to six UCLA police being injured, as well as a security guard left bleeding from the head after being struck, according to Braziel.
“Simply put, these acts of non-peaceful protest are abhorrent and cannot continue,” Braziel said in the statement.
Protest camps have sprung up on university campuses across the US and in Europe as students demand their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its war efforts. Organizers have sought to amplify calls to end Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which they describe as a genocide against the Palestinians.
UCLA has been repeatedly roiled by protests and the university administration’s handling of the situation.
At one point, a pro-Palestinian encampment was attacked by counterprotesters, with no immediate response from police, and dozens were then arrested as the camp was cleared. The episode led to reassignment of the campus police chief and creation of a new campus safety office. A subsequent attempt to set up a new camp was also blocked.
Monday’s protest comes just days before University of California regents are scheduled to meet at UCLA and this coming weekend’s commencement ceremonies.
EU urged to welcome skilled Russians to ‘bleed’ Putin regime
- Nearly 80 percent of respondents left Russia after 2014, the year Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine
PARIS: A group of exiled Kremlin critics on Tuesday urged EU countries to do more to welcome Russians fleeing Vladimir Putin’s regime, arguing that a shortage of skilled workers would deal a blow to the country’s war-time economy.
According to some estimates, up to one million people have fled Russia since Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 but some of them have begun returning back, discouraged by the scarcity of available jobs and difficulties getting visas and long-term residence permits, in countries like Turkiye but also in the European Union.
“One less engineer is one less missile flying in the direction of Ukraine,” Russian opposition politician and former lawmaker Dmitry Gudkov said in Paris.
Speaking at the French Institute of International Relations, Gudkov unveiled a study of the Russian diaspora in several EU member states, one of the first attempts to study the Ukraine war-triggered exodus.
Conducted by researchers associated with the University of Nicosia on behalf of a new think tank co-established by Gudkov and the economist Vladislav Inozemtsev, the study is based on a survey of over 3,200 Russians living in France, Germany, Poland and Cyprus.
Nearly 80 percent of respondents left Russia after 2014, the year Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Of them, 44 percent fled after the full-scale invasion.
As part of policy recommendations, the study called for a broad program of “economic migration” from Russia, adding that most Russians who have fled the country were well-educated “Russian Europeans” supporting Western values.
“The strategy to undermine the Putin regime should include orchestrated ‘bleeding’: stimulating the outflow of qualified specialists and money from Russia unrelated to the war,” the study said.
Authorities in Moscow have acknowledged that labor shortages have become a serious problem, threatening economic growth.
Inozemtsev said more should be done, arguing that welcoming skilled Russians and their financial resources could be a more effective blow against the Kremlin than multiple rounds of Western sanctions that have so far failed to halt Russia’s war machine.
“Even we have been surprised by the qualifications of those who have left,” Inozemtsev said.
Citing figures from 2022, the study said the average monthly salary of Russian immigrants in Cyprus stood at more than 5,480 euros ($5,880), compared with the average monthly salary of 2,248 euros for native Cypriots.
Mindful of the rise of anti-immigrant sentiments across Europe, the study argued that Russian exiles could integrate into European societies relatively easily and would not be a burden on social security systems.
Several hundred thousand Russians could also provide an “additional boost” to slow-growing European economies, the study said, adding that in the future the exiles could help promote “reconciliation between Europe and Russia.”
EU nations, especially France and Germany, have welcomed anti-Kremlin Russians since the start of the invasion. But Gudkov said problems persisted and EU governments were concerned that new arrivals could pose a security risk.
Russian and Belarusian citizens, who were initially approved to serve as volunteers for the Olympic Games in Paris, were told by organizers in May that they had not passed security checks.
Ordinary Russians have also been affected by the fallout of sanctions.
Gudkov’s father Gennady Gudkov, himself a prominent Kremlin critic now based in France, said he struggled to open a bank account despite receiving political asylum.
Dmitry Gudkov said many Russian exiles were struggling and it was no surprise that some choose to go back to Russia.
“It is very hard to live like this,” he said.
US thanks next Indonesia leader for Gaza aid
- Blinken congratulated Prabowo, now Indonesia’s defense minister, on his election and discussed how the US-led ceasefire initiative “would benefit both Israelis and Palestinians,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller
SWEIMEH, Jordan: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Indonesia’s incoming president, Prabowo Subianto, for offering assistance in crisis-hit Gaza during their meeting Tuesday at an aid conference in Jordan.
The president-elect of the world’s largest Muslim-majority country has pledged to send peacekeeping forces if a UN-backed ceasefire is in place and to increase medical aid immediately.
Blinken congratulated Prabowo, now Indonesia’s defense minister, on his election and discussed how the US-led ceasefire initiative “would benefit both Israelis and Palestinians,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Blinken “thanked the defense minister for Indonesia’s support for the proposal to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of all hostages,” Miller added.
Addressing the conference on the Dead Sea, Prabowo said Indonesia was ready to send medical teams, a field hospital and a hospital ship to war-battered Gaza.
He also said Indonesia would evacuate 1,000 people for medical treatment in the Southeast Asian country, as well as children who have lost their parents or suffer other trauma, and help them return them to Gaza after the war is over.
“Although we are willing to support and contribute to all these efforts, the final solution to this problem is a two-state solution,” he said.
“Only with a two-state solution with Palestine and Israel living side by side in security and safety can we resolve this problem.”
The United States, a longstanding ally of Indonesia, has encouraged a greater global role for the country, historically known for religious moderation, although some US officials in the past have questioned whether Jakarta carries such ambitions.
Indonesia has no official relations with Israel, yet it has allowed limited contact such as trade, and Israeli officials have voiced guarded hopes for eventual normalization.
While the United States had previously denied Prabowo a visa over alleged involvement in the abduction of democracy activists at the end of Suharto’s dictatorship, US President Joe Biden has signalled a change in approach by personally congratulating Prabowo.
Putin to keep demoted ally Patrushev on Russia’s Security Council
- Russia’s Security Council, chaired by Putin, is a Kremlin consultative body responsible for managing and integrating national security policy
President Vladimir Putin will keep demoted ally Nikolai Patrushev, a Cold War warrior who crafted the Kremlin’s national security strategy, on Russia’s top consulting security body, according to a decree published on Monday.
In one of the most surprising moves in the May reshuffle of his entourage and the government, Putin moved Patrushev from his 16-year stint as the country’s security chief to a position with virtually no power — to oversee shipbuilding as a Kremlin aide.
With no explanation given for the demotion, Putin stirred weeks of media and diplomatic speculations on what would happen to Patrushev, viewed for years as one of Russia’s most powerful figures, and what it means for Russia’s course.
The 72-year-old Patrushev, a former director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) from St. Petersburg where Putin was born, once delivered sensitive Kremlin signals to both the Chinese and the Americans.
He is also credited with helping to root out the ideological foundations of Russia’s biggest confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
“Considering Patrushev’s reported personal importance to Putin’s regime stability and Putin’s longtime tendency to balance Russian siloviki (strongmen with political influence) such as Patrushev within the power vertical, Patrushev’s next position will be an important reflection of Putin’s intent,” analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, said in a May report.
Russia’s Security Council, chaired by Putin, is a Kremlin consultative body responsible for managing and integrating national security policy. It does not have direct authority over Russia’s security agencies and ministries.
In its Monday decree published on a government website Putin also named the new Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov as a permanent member of the Security Council.
Russian rights commissioner calls for swift release of Russians held by Hamas
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner said on Tuesday she had issued a fresh appeal to senior UN and other officials to take action to secure the release of Russian nationals still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Tatyana Moskalkova, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said she had launched the appeal after meeting in Moscow with relatives of those still being held. “In one conversation, one of the mothers told me details of the situation of those being held,” she wrote.
News reports have put at eight the number of hostages holding Russian passports, including three who were released.
Moskalkova said she had appealed to the UN High Commissioner For Human Rights, Volker Turk, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, and other officials “for the rapid return home of our compatriots.”
Gunmen took around 250 hostages back to Gaza after a mass attack on Israel last Oct. 7 and more than 100 were released in exchange for about 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails in November.
There are 116 hostages left in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies, including at least 40 whom Israeli authorities have declared dead in absentia.
Russia has sought to speak to both sides in the conflict in Gaza and a Hamas delegation visited Moscow last year. But President Vladimir Putin has said the violence in the region exposed the failure of US policy, particularly in considering the needs of the Palestinians.
