Sea trafficking report reveals how ships move guns and drugs
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute study Most ships involved in reported cases of sanctions-busting or illicit transfers of arms, drugs and equipment that could be used in the development of missiles and weapons of mass destruction are owned by companies based in the world's richest countries, according to the first comprehensive study of maritime trafficking.The ships are primarily commercial lines based in Germany, Greece and the US, according to the report, released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute."This doesn't mean the ship owners, or even the captains, know what they are carrying. But it is relatively easy for traffickers to hide arms and drugs in among legitimate cargoes," said the report's co-author Hugh Griffiths.The report shows that the methods adopted by arms trafficking networks in response to UN embargos on Iran and North Korea were pioneered by drug traffickers.They included hiding goods in sealed shipping containers that claim to carry legitimate items; sending the goods on foreign-owned ships engaged in legitimate trade; and using circuitous routes to make the shipments harder for surveillance operations to track."Containerisation has revolutionised international trade, but it also provides ideal cover for traffickers. So many shipping containers pass through the world's ports ...
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