MUKALLA: The coasts of the southern Yemeni province of Hadramout have seen an increase in drug trafficking, said Col. Fahmi Mahroos, the head of the Hadramout branch of the Anti-Narcotics General Directorate.
“Drug trafficking in Hadramout is a growing problem ... this was not a critical issue five years ago. In other countries, police seize only a handful of drugs but here we confiscate hashish in tons,” said Mahroos, adding that drug trafficking has been on the rise for the past four years.
“In 2008, 26 tons of hashish and a few pills were seized. In the first six months of this year, the amount exceeded two tons but with a surge in the number of the pills. We seized 180,000 amphetamine pills at Mukalla International Airport,” he added.
“The pills were sent from Syria, passed Sanaa airport and were confiscated in Mukalla. They were destined for neighboring countries,” he added.
Mahroos said not all drugs in Hadramout end up in neighboring countries; some enters the local market. “It is not true that Hadramout is only a transmit point for drug traffickers ... some of the drugs are consumed locally,” he said.
“Traffickers have chosen Hadramout as an ideal trafficking environment for two reasons. First, there are few police patrolling the border, which makes it very porous. Secondly, some locals are willing to help the smugglers,” he said.
He added that his office simply does not have the necessary finances to efficiently carry out counter work. “The current ANGD situation in Hadramout is miserable. We cannot do our work properly. We even used a local fisherman’s boat in a recent operation to crack down on smugglers. We need more cars, fuel and funds. We sometimes hire people to work as informers and we don’t even have money to pay them,” he said.
Mahroos said the ages of arrested smugglers range between 13 and 40, and that the drugs are shipped from Pakistan. Even though we seize huge amounts of drugs, we haven’t seized other fatal kinds of drugs like cocaine and opium. Just because we haven’t seized such types, it doesn’t mean they are not being smuggled.”
Drug traffickers can face death in Yemen. However, most smugglers are handed jail sentences, usually in the range of 25 years.
Rahma Al-Gadri, head of the Hadramout branch of Life Makers Foundation, is one woman who is campaigning against drugs. “Unfortunately, women are falling victims to drugs. We are doing our utmost to protect them from drugs. We have circulated 400 cassettes and 1,000 posters warning people about drugs,” Al-Gadri said.
She said there are certain reasons for youths taking drugs. “Some parents mistreat their children or don’t keep an eye on them.”
