The Global threat of Narco-Terrorism

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Globally, one of the gravest threats to the national security environment is without question, terrorism. Modern terrorism has grown in step with the development of innovative weapons and modern means of transportation. The modern transportation industry not only enables terrorists to transport destruction throughout the world, but also poses vulnerable targets for terrorist attacks.

As the threat posed by international terrorism to world peace and security increases, the international community must seek ways to strengthen ties of cooperation among its members in the fight against terrorism. People become terrorists in different ways, in different roles, and for different reasons. Effective leaders of terrorist organizations must be able to maintain a collective belief system, establish and maintain organizational routines, control the flow of communication, manipulate incentives for followers, and keep action going.

Findings indicate that ideology and weapon type are two of the most significant factors associated with target selection by terrorists. Most involvement in terrorism results from gradual exposure and socialization towards extreme behavior. Ideology plays a crucial role in terrorist’s target selection; it supplies terrorists with an initial motive for action and provides a prism through which they view events and the actions of other people.

Narco-Terrorism

There is a direct link between terrorism and international illicit drug markets. While drug traffickers are not thought of as terrorists by definition, their use of threats, violence, and enforcement policy can be characterized as terroristic. Narcotic trafficking, the phenomenon which started as an organized cross border crime has now emerged as a threat to nation states because of its diabolic alliance with terrorist groups.

Benefitting from increased travel, trade, telecommunications networks and computer links, the organized crime groups are determined for growth. The word Narco-terrorism was used for the first time in the US when drug smugglers in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua and other Central American countries organized the illegal trade as a profession and ran a parallel Government. There are two major categories of drugs used in the business of illicit drug trafficking: opiates and cocaine. While opiates primarily originate from Afghanistan, cocaine comes from the Latin American countries, but mostly from Colombia. In addition to this, synthetic drugs are also increasingly penetrating the traditional categories of trafficked drugs.

The revenue generated from the drug trafficking business constitutes a fifth of the organized crime revenues, with annual worldwide value of the trade estimated to be around $650 billion. Terrorist organizations may be related to drug trafficking either through direct involvement in both activities or through a “marriage of convenience.” Most terrorist organizations tax the drug traffickers and farmers directly. The relationship is sometimes referred to as a “marriage of convenience.” Terrorists that control regions where illicit drugs are grown will place a tariff on drug traffickers.

International organized crime groups are the reverse of legitimate multinational corporations. Many countries lack economic alternatives and crime groups become dominant economic and political forces. Offshore banking centers thrive in such settings, drawing money steadily from countries with powerful crime groups and eager tax evaders.

A deadly link

Links between terrorist organizations and drug traffickers take many forms, ranging from facilitation, protection, transportation, and taxation to direct trafficking by the terrorist organization itself in order to finance its activities. Traffickers and terrorists have similar logistical needs in terms of materiel and the covert movement of goods, people and cash. From the relationships between drug traffickers and terrorists benefit both. Drug traffickers benefit from the terroristsʹ military skills, weapons supply, and access to clandestine organizations.

As highlighted in UNODC’s 2018 World Drug Report, cannabis continues to be the most widely produced and consumed drug around the world, while cultivation of both opium poppy and coca bush show a marked increase: the global area under opium poppy cultivation has doubled since 2006, primarily the result of a marked increase in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan which accounted for 86 per cent of global opium production in 2017.Between 2000 and 2015, when the Taliban was profiteering from the drug trade and assuming greater control over the regions in Afghanistan where opium was cultivated, it was at the same time responsible for 73% of all terrorism-related deaths in Afghanistan and approximately 13% of all terrorism-related deaths worldwide (UNODC). Narcotics have been an important source of income for tribal people at the Pak-Afghanistan border since time immemorial.

The annual drug market in the European Union is valued at approximately €24.3 billion, and roughly two-thirds of organized criminal groups in Europe are involved in drug trafficking, which is more widespread than any other illicit activity across organized crime in the European Union.

Terrorists gain a source of revenue and expertise in illicit transfer and laundering of proceeds from illicit transactions. Both groups bring corrupt officials whose services provide mutual benefits, such as greater access to fraudulent documents, including passports and customs papers. Narcotic drug traffickers may also gain considerable freedom of movement as they operate in conjunction with terrorists who control large amountof territory. Terrorist groups and drug trafficking organizations increasingly rely on cell structures to accomplish their respective goals.

Another interesting aspect in the colliding worlds of drugs and terror is the use of the cultivated or manufactured drug by the terrorists themselves. After Iraqi security forces reclaimed the city of Mosul, US Army said there was evidence of amphetamine use among ISIS soldiers. Criminal networks are in a perfect position to use methods that require doctoring of passports or customs declaration forms. These methods are unlikely to change in the near term. Though many countries have been quick to update their regulations, few have the law enforcement structure in place to carry out interdiction. Sponsoring terrorism is an expensive affair and money for killing, kidnapping and sabotage does not come through proper channels. It comes through illegal and unofficial channels. The market value of narcotic drugs is much higher than any consumer products in the world. It fetches voluminous amounts of money in hard cash.

The Indian Ocean drug network is pivotal to the opiate trade, which, after leaving the Makran coast (in Pakistan and Iran), bifurcates into two branches. The western branch leads to Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar and Yemen. The eastern branch moves to India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and other Southeast Asian countries. The western branch further gets bifurcated into many sub-branches leading to South Africa, West Africa and the US, after crossing the Atlantic. Seychelles has also become a prominent transit point as well as an end-user country. Drugs landing on the African coast further make their way to Central and West African countries.

Both producer and consumer countries perceive the other side as being responsible for solving the problem. Many States indicated that terrorist groups were frequently involved in trafficking in illicit drugs and firearms. The manifestations of Narco-terrorism are manifold and far reaching: increased drug production; wide spread abuse of drugs; drug-related crime; threats to the rule of law, public security, and public health; money laundering; infiltration of the economy; and financing of terrorism.

Modern-day Narco-terrorism originated in Columbia when the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) used illicit drug enterprise as a means of financing terror operations throughout the 1980s. It is impossible for drug cartels to make heroin and methamphetamine without acquiring the right chemicals. Narco-terrorists use diverted precursors to manufacture a variety of illicit narcotics, ultimately destroying communities and providing financial support to organizations who engage in terrorist activity.

National drug prevention and intervention strategies should set a sharper focus on diminishing the demand for narcotic drugs among drug abusers.

Precursor chemicals are the reason Afghan opium is being synthesized into heroin, and it is infecting thousands of Americans. A new legislative and enforcement regimen is required to quash the drug manufacturing and terror financing instrumentalities that are destroying countless communities across the world.Narco Terrorism is a deadly threat to all nations.

Dishan Joseph