Al-Sufi: Drug Trafficking in Yemen is On the Increase
In his lecture delivered at the SCSS on Tuesday, Colonel Musab Ali Al-Sufi, the Deputy General Director of Anti-Narcotics Administration, talked about the growing activity of drug trafficking in Yemen and how drug dealers use Yemen as a transit point to reach the neighboring countries.
Al-Sufi pointed to the increased volume of cannabis and Captagon (or Fenethylline) tablets seized by the security authorities: cannabis rose from nil in 2004 to 26 tons in 2008; Captagon from 11 thousand tablets to 13 million tablets in 2008, and then during 2009 the number went up to reach approximately 3 million tablets. As regards the drug cases and suspects accused of drug dealing, they rose from 42 and 75 respectively in 2004 to 100 and 239 in 2008.
To prove that drug trafficking in Yemen is conducted by across-border organized multinational gangs, Al-Sufi said that the number of non-Yemenis involved in this dirty business is on the increase; those of the Arab nationalities rose from nil in 2004 to 15 in 2008 whereas those of foreign nationalities rose from 3 in 2004 to 64 in 2008; and the number of Yemenis involved in drug dealing rose from 72 to 160 in 2008.
The Deputy General Director warned against the low awareness at the political, social and civil level about the risks of this serious problem, pointing that all types of crime such asterrorism funding and money laundering are connected to drug trafficking as they are lucrative business.
Al-Sufi indicated that all moral and religious considerations are dwarfed by the profiteering of drug dealing and the perpetrators use any means to market their lethal commodities, warning against drug promotion among adolescents and youths, especially primary and secondary students and university undergraduates and mentioning that there are warning signs to which all people should stand up before they turn into an incurable blight.
As regards viable remedies to the spread of drug dealing, Al-Sufi called for adopting a comprehensive approach and passing legislations that can protect the society against such plague, pointing out that the 1993 Anti-Drug Act is in need of essential amendments to safeguard the society from the risks of drugs.
In passing, in his answering some questions raised by the audience about any link between Qa'ida's terrorist acts and the Huthi rebellion, the lecturer did not rule out such connection, pointing out that drug dealers are active in the provinces of Sa'da and that many events are suggestive of that link and the events in Afghanistan confirmed that terrorists use drug trafficking to finance their activities.
