Belgium Ferry
Belgium
In December Irish authorities discovered eight illegal Turkish immigrants dead in a truck container carrying office furniture. Five others survived. The container was loaded in Italy, shipped by rail to Germany, trucked through Belgium, and loaded onto a ferry at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge bound for Waterford, Ireland. It was unclear if the eight Turks were victims of trafficking. A Belgian driver was arrested shortly after the discovery; at year's end, the case against him remained pending. ... [Read More]
Brunei Immigrations
9. Serasa Ferry Terminal – Muara (ferries & private yachts) ... [Read More]
Europe and Central Asia
Corruption. Corruption has been the most significant problem within Georgia's law enforcement agencies. Georgia's anti- corruption efforts continue to be hampered by the widespread tolerance of corruption within Georgian society. During 2001 the Government of Georgia formed a commission to reform the law enforcement agencies (so-called "power ministries"). The commission developed a strategy for reorganization that was forwarded to the Georgian National Security Council; however, no significant changes were made. In any case, none of these proposed measures can truly ameliorate the situation given the low wages of officials and poor standard of behavior from those in charge that nourish wide-scale, low level corruption. The new hope of eradicating corruption within the system emerged with the appointment of a new Minister of Internal Affairs, who has publicly and repeatedly announced his commitment to combating corruption and the trafficking ... [Read More]
Europe and Central Asia
AlbaniaI. Summary Drug trafficking is a significant problem in Albania, which is a major transit country for heroin from Afghanistan and Turkey destined for markets throughout Europe. Organized crime groups use Albania as a transit point for drug and other types of smuggling due to the country’s strategic location, weak police and judicial systems, and porous borders. The most common illegal drugs are heroin, marijuana, and to a lesser extent, cocaine. Heroin is typically transported through the "Balkans Route" of Turkey-Bulgaria-Macedonia-Albania, and on to Italy, Greece and the Netherlands. Cocaine is smuggled from South America, via the United States, Italy, Spain, Greece or the Netherlands, and ... [Read More]
International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORTMARCH 1995BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRSEUROPE 301 Albania 303 Austria 305 The Baltics 308 Estonia Latvia Lithuania Belarus 313Belgium 316 Bulgaria 319 Cyprus 323 Czech Republic 326 Denmark 329 Finland 331 France 334 Germany 337 Greece 340 Hungary ... [Read More]
Europe and Central Asia
Agreements and Treaties. Italy is a party to the 1961 UN Single Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the 1972 Protocol and the 1988 UN Drug Convention. In December 2000, an international conference was held in Palermo, Italy, for the signing of treaty on transnational crime. The treaty must be ratified by a quorum of 40 countries before it comes into force. This new treaty will strengthen governments against serious crimes, including drug trafficking, money laundering, trafficking of human beings and arms trafficking. As a member of the European Union, Italy participates in the Dublin Group, UNDCP Pompidou group, Europol, the EU Commission, and attendant committees and working groups.Cultivation/Production. There is no known coca bush cultivation in Italy. However, opium poppy grows spontaneously in the southern part of Italy and the island of Sicily. It does not present a threat due to the low alkaloid content. [Read More]
J) Europe and Central Asia
Icelandic customs officials closely cooperate with the Faeroe Islands Police in stopping drug shipments coming to Iceland aboard a ferry that goes from Denmark to Iceland via the Faeroes. Icelandic officials believe this ferry has the potential to be a major drug smuggling route into Iceland. ... Drug Flow/Transit. Greece is a major transshipment route to Western Europe for heroin from Turkey, hashish from the Middle East, and heroin and marijuana from Southwest Asia. Metric ton quantities of marijuana and smaller quantities of other drugs are smuggled across the borders from Albania, Bulgaria, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Marijuana has been smuggled into Greece on pack mules across the mountainous border with Albania. Hashish is off-loaded in remote areas of the country and transported to Western Europe by boat or overland. Larger shipments are smuggled into Greece in shipping containers, on bonded “TIR” trucks, in automobiles, on trains, and in buses. Such trucks typically enter Greece via Turkish border crossings, then cross the Adriatic by ferry to Italy. A small portion of these drugs is smuggled into the United States, including Turkish-refined heroin that is traded for Latin American cocaine, but there is no evidence that narcotics enteri ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
There is regular ferry service between Helsinki and Tallinn several times daily, as well as “fast-boat” catamaran and hydrofoil service between Helsinki and Tallinn from April through October. Ferries and catamarans can carry motor vehicles, but hydrofoils are for passengers only. Passage by ferry to Helsinki takes about 3½ hours; the trip by catamaran or hydrofoil takes 1½ hours. The hydrofoil costs about 150% of the ferry price; the catamaran costs about 200% of the price of the ferry. Although the catamaran is more expensive than the hydrofoil, it is more reliable; stormy weather and/or rough seas sometimes force cancellation of the hydrofoil. The trip from Tallinn to Helsinki by ferry is cheaper than flying and then taking a taxi or bus into the Finnish capital. ... [Read More]
H - Europe Overview
Chechen separatists and sympathizers also used Turkey as a staging ground for terrorist attacks. On 22 April, 13 pro-Chechen gunmen—led by Muhammed Tokcan, an ethnic-Chechen Turkish national who served fewer than four years in prison for hijacking a Russian ferry from Turkey in 1996—took over a prominent Istanbul hotel, holding hostage for 12 hours approximately 150 guests, including 37 US citizens. The gunmen, who eventually surrendered peacefully, claimed that they wanted to focus world attention on Russia’s activities in Chechnya. Turkey’s court system has been relatively lenient with pro-Chechen terrorists. The state court addressing the hotel incident did not indict Tokcan’s group under the country’s stringent antiterrorism laws but instead charged the militants with less serious crimes, including weapons possession and deprivation of liberty. ... [Read More]
|