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
Israel reopens West Bank-Jordan crossing for Gaza aid
- Israel closed the Allenby crossing to aid destined for the Gaza strip in September
- Palestinian official says 96 trucks carrying cement meterials were allowed to pass through on Tuesday
JERUSALEM: Israel reopened the only crossing on the border it controls between Jordan and the occupied West Bank on Wednesday to aid trucks for Gaza after nearly three months of closure, Israeli and Palestinian officials told AFP.
Israel closed the crossing after a Jordanian truck driver shot dead an Israeli soldier and a reserve officer at the border in September.
The crossing in the Jordan Valley reopened to travelers a few days later, but not to humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by more than two years of war.
“The Allenby crossing was open today and trucks are going from the Allenby crossing to Gaza,” said a spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian Territories.
A Palestinian official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that the crossing had been opened.
On Tuesday 96 trucks carrying materials for the production of cement were allowed to pass through the crossing, the official said.
On Wednesday a further 20 trucks of humanitarian aid entered, and on Thursday sand was expected to be allowed in for the construction sector, the official added.
Since the crossing’s closure, Jordan said it had been able to send some aid to Gaza via the Sheikh Hussein crossing, located north of the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday, an Israeli official said the transfer of goods and aid from Jordan through Allenby was about to resume after a government directive.
“All aid trucks destined for the Gaza Strip will proceed under escort and security, following a thorough security inspection,” the official said.
The Allenby crossing is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require entering Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.
Israel closed the crossing after a Jordanian truck driver shot dead an Israeli soldier and a reserve officer at the border in September.
The crossing in the Jordan Valley reopened to travelers a few days later, but not to humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by more than two years of war.
“The Allenby crossing was open today and trucks are going from the Allenby crossing to Gaza,” said a spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian Territories.
A Palestinian official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that the crossing had been opened.
On Tuesday 96 trucks carrying materials for the production of cement were allowed to pass through the crossing, the official said.
On Wednesday a further 20 trucks of humanitarian aid entered, and on Thursday sand was expected to be allowed in for the construction sector, the official added.
Since the crossing’s closure, Jordan said it had been able to send some aid to Gaza via the Sheikh Hussein crossing, located north of the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday, an Israeli official said the transfer of goods and aid from Jordan through Allenby was about to resume after a government directive.
“All aid trucks destined for the Gaza Strip will proceed under escort and security, following a thorough security inspection,” the official said.
The Allenby crossing is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require entering Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.
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