PARIS: The seizure of a large amount of performance-enhancing drugs in a raid by Yemeni law enforcement agents is “a landmark moment,” the head of investigations for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has told AFP.
Gunter Younger said the operation, which netted 447kg of both narcotics and performance-enhancing substances, mainly amphetamines, showed authorities were increasingly tracking the cross-border trade of prohibited substances.
The raid — one of several carried out including at sea — sends “a clear signal to criminal networks that the landscape is shifting, that trafficking of performance-enhancing drugs is now on the radar of the authorities,” Younger said.
WADA and the Yemeni authorities believe Syrian and Iranian drugmakers have switched their operations to Yemen since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in December last year.
They believe the drugmakers are exploiting the war and economic crisis in Yemen and claim the drugs provide a source of income for the Iranian-backed Houthi group in the country.
Major Murad Al-Radwany, Interpol’s Yemen-based internal security coordinator, expressed satisfaction his colleagues had helped to dismantle “the first factory to be set up in Yemen and equipped with the latest modern devices.”
“It was controlled and dismantled before it began operations and exporting drugs and stimulants abroad, and the experts were arrested,” he told AFP.
“At the same time, they were preparing to open a new factory in other cities” to “export drugs and stimulants to neighboring countries,” he said.
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Yemeni drugs seizure a ‘landmark moment,’ says Anti-Doping Agency
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Yemeni drugs seizure a ‘landmark moment,’ says Anti-Doping Agency
- Yemen authorities seize 447kg of narcotics and performance-enhancing substances
- World Anti-Doping Agency says the capture sends clear signal to criminal networks
Romanian president invited to first meeting of Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’
- Nicusor Dan said Romania had not yet decided whether to participate in the February 19 gathering
BUCHAREST: Romanian President Nicusor Dan said Sunday he had received an invitation to attend the inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” in Washington on February 19.
Dan, writing on his Facebook page, said Romania had not yet made a decision as to whether it would participate.
That would depend, he said, “on discussions with our US partners on the format of the meeting for countries like Romania, which are not currently members of the Board but which wish to be part of it on condition its charter is revised.”
On Saturday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he, too, had received an invitation to attend the meeting, and that he intended to go.
Trump launched his “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January and some 19 countries have signed its founding charter.
Originally designed to oversee the Gaza truce and post-war reconstruction, the board’s mandate has since expanded, prompting concerns among critics that it could evolve into a rival to the United Nations.
Several leaders around the world have received invitations to be part of Trump’s “Board of Peace,” whose permanent members are required to pay $1 billion to join.
Some countries — including Croatia, France, Italy, New Zealand and Norway — have already declined joining it, and others have said they could only consider doing so if its charter were changed.
Under its current charter, the “Board of Peace” has Trump both as its chairman and as the US representative.
It says Trump, as chairman, will have “exclusive authority to create, modify or dissolve entities as necessary” and that he can only be replaced in case of “voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity.”
Dan, writing on his Facebook page, said Romania had not yet made a decision as to whether it would participate.
That would depend, he said, “on discussions with our US partners on the format of the meeting for countries like Romania, which are not currently members of the Board but which wish to be part of it on condition its charter is revised.”
On Saturday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he, too, had received an invitation to attend the meeting, and that he intended to go.
Trump launched his “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January and some 19 countries have signed its founding charter.
Originally designed to oversee the Gaza truce and post-war reconstruction, the board’s mandate has since expanded, prompting concerns among critics that it could evolve into a rival to the United Nations.
Several leaders around the world have received invitations to be part of Trump’s “Board of Peace,” whose permanent members are required to pay $1 billion to join.
Some countries — including Croatia, France, Italy, New Zealand and Norway — have already declined joining it, and others have said they could only consider doing so if its charter were changed.
Under its current charter, the “Board of Peace” has Trump both as its chairman and as the US representative.
It says Trump, as chairman, will have “exclusive authority to create, modify or dissolve entities as necessary” and that he can only be replaced in case of “voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity.”
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