The illegal drug trade in Aruba involves trans-shipment of cocaine and other drugs through Aruba to the United States.
Corruption in Aruba is so widespread that Claire Sterling, widely acclaimed for her works on drugs and crime, said of it: "The world's first independent mafia state emerged in 1993." [1] The Italian daily Corriere della Sera described Aruba as "the first state to be bought by the bosses Cosa Nostra." Between 1988 and 1992 the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan was said to have acquired 60% of Aruba through investments in hotels, casinos and the election-campaign of a Prime Minister. [2] As a result of the public outcry, Aruba's independence from the Netherlands, planned for 1996, was cancelled. [2]
The route taken by a strange tugboat that was intercepted off the coast of Aruba and found to have two tons of cocaine on board provides information regarding smuggling techniques and the present position of the Caribbean island in the drug trade. According to El Pitazo, the tugboat was halted on October 13 in the territorial seas of Aruba, one of the Dutch Antilles' islands. The five-person crew, all Venezuelans, were detained and the boat was confiscated after 2.2 tons of cocaine were discovered during an Aruban government check of the vessel. Members of the Colombian navy have scoured the boat, which left from Cartagena, with drug-sniffing dogs. Authorities claimed that the cocaine was likely brought aboard the boat in open waters and that the boat eventually vanished from radar. A cocaine smuggling boat has been discovered in Aruba's territorial seas before this year. Off the island's northern shore, officials detained a suspicious watercraft in August. About 500 kilograms of cocaine were inside. https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/tugboat-off-aruba-coast-hides-more-than-just-cocaine/
While drug trafficking through Aruba used to be a major issue, it is much less so today.[ when? ] Aruba was removed from the US State Department's list of major drug producing and transit countries in 1999. The reason for this decline is unclear. Case Study [ permanent dead link ][ full citation needed ]
The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. The think tank Global Financial Integrity's Transnational Crime and the Developing World report estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between US$426 and US$652 billion in 2014 alone. With a world GDP of US$78 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally and it remains very difficult for local authorities to reduce the rates of drug consumption.
Jossy Mehsen Mansur was the editor of the Papiamento-language newspaper Diario in Aruba. He wrote two dictionaries for the Papiamento language and a history of Aruba among other books.
Serbian organized crime or Serbian mafia are various criminal organizations based in Serbia or composed of ethnic Serbs in the former Yugoslavia and Serbian diaspora. The organizations are primarily involved in smuggling, arms trafficking, heists, drug trafficking, protection rackets, and illegal gambling. The mafia is composed of several major organized groups, which in turn have wider networks throughout Europe.
The Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan was a Mafia clan of the Cosa Nostra and held a key position in the illicit drug trade and money laundering for Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and 1990s. The Italian press baptized the clan as "The Rothschilds of the Mafia" or "The Bankers of Cosa Nostra".
Organised crime in Nigeria includes activities by fraudsters, bandits, drug traffickers and racketeers, which have spread across Western Africa. Nigerian criminal gangs rose to prominence in the 1980s, owing much to the globalisation of the world's economies and the high level of lawlessness and corruption in the country.
The Macedonian mafia is a body of illegal gangs and criminal organizations operating in North Macedonia and within the Macedonian diaspora. The organizations are primarily involved in smuggling, arms trafficking, heists, drug trafficking, protection rackets, and illegal gambling. The mafia is composed of several major organized groups, which in turn have wider networks in Macedonia and throughout Europe.
A narco-submarine is a type of custom ocean-going self-propelled typically semi-submersible to fully-submersible vessel built for smugglers.
The Illegal drug trade in Puerto Rico is a problem from a criminal, social, and medical perspective. Located in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico has become a major transshipment point for drugs into the United States. Violent and property crimes have increased due in part to dealers trying to keep their drug business afloat, using guns and violence to protect themselves, their turfs, and drug habits.
Illegal drug trade in Venezuela is the practice of illegal drug trading in Venezuela. Venezuela has been a path to the United States for cocaine originating in Colombia, through Central America and Mexico and Caribbean countries such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. In the 2010s, Venezuela also gradually became a major producer of cocaine.
The illegal drug trade in Guatemala includes trans-shipment of cocaine to the United States. According to some reports, Mexican drug cartels such as Sinaloa have also established poppy growing operations there. There is a reported relationship between the Mexican Los Zetas cartel and the Guatemalan Kaibiles military force.
The illegal drug trade in The Bahamas involves trans-shipment of cocaine and marijuana through The Bahamas to the United States.
Illegal drug trade in the Turks and Caicos Islands involves trans-shipment of cocaine and marijuana through The Turks and Caicos Islands to the United States.
Slovakia is a Central European country with a history of relatively low crime. While crime became more widespread after the Revolutions of 1989, it remains low when compared to many other post-communist countries.
British firms are organised crime groups originating in the United Kingdom.
The Cartel of the Suns is a Venezuelan organization supposedly headed by high-ranking members of the Armed Forces of Venezuela who are involved in international drug trade. According to Héctor Landaeta, journalist and author of Chavismo, Narco-trafficking and the Military, the phenomenon began when Colombian drugs began to enter into Venezuela from corrupt border units and the "rot moved its way up the ranks."
Operation Martillo is a multi-national anti-drug operation that began on 15 January 2012, and "aims to combat international drug trafficking, and promote peace, stability in Central and South America", according to the U.S. Southern Command, as one of the public institutions involved in it. It is a defense project led by the United States Southern Command with help of multi-national forces from Latin American and European countries. News coverage of their activities and results reach back to 2012 and up to 2020, but mainly from defense-focused media.
East African drug trade refers to the sale and trafficking of illegal drugs that take place in East African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, and Ethiopia. The most prevalent types of drugs traded in East Africa are heroin, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and khat, all of which are strictly prohibited in East African countries.
Maritime drug trafficking in Latin America is the primary mean of transportation of illegal drugs produced in this region to global consumer markets. Cocaine is the primary illegal drug smuggled through maritime routes because all of its cultivation and production is settled in the Andean region of South America.
The Moroccan mafia is a term that describes various criminal organisations that are primarily made up of people of Moroccan descent. These organisations are specialized in trafficking large quantities of cocaine and synthetic drugs through Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium, from where it is distributed to the rest of the European continent, thus being one of the most dominant participants in the European drug trade.
Seychelles is a small island nation with a vast maritime territory, consisting of 115 islands and a 137 million square kilometer Exclusive Economic Zone. The prevalence of drugs in the country is high and the country is experiencing a heroin epidemic, with an equivalent to 10% of the working force using heroin in 2019. Due to its location along a major trafficking route, drugs can easily be trafficked by sea to Seychelles.