Report: Bulgarian drug trafficking finances key terrorist groups

10/04/2008

A Bulgarian parliamentary committee adopted a report Wednesday suggesting that part of the funding for operations by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad came from drug trafficking through Bulgaria.

(The Times, FT - 10/04/08; Reuters, AP, DPA, Balkan Insight, SNA, Dnevnik, Mediapool - 09/04/08; Reuters, Mediapool - 08/04/08)

A report finds profits from the narcotics trade in Bulgaria have helped fund Middle Eastern terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. [Getty Images]

Some of the huge profits from drug trafficking through Bulgaria have ended up in the coffers of terrorist groups based in the Middle East, according to a report adopted by a Bulgarian parliamentary committee on Wednesday (April 9th).

Bulgarian crime rings involved in trafficking synthetic narcotics sometimes team up with Arab citizens linked to terrorist organisations, reaping significant profits from smuggling through the Balkan nation's territory, lawmakers said.

"We can draw the conclusion that part of the money accumulated from drug trafficking is used to finance the operations of terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and Christian militias," the parliament's 27-member Internal Security and Public Order Committee said.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese-based Shiite guerrilla organisation, while Islamic Jihad is a Palestinian militant group operating in the Palestinian territories, particularly on the Gaza Strip. Both are listed by the EU and the United States as terrorist organisations.

Situated on one of the main drug trafficking routes through the Balkans, Bulgaria "is a transit country, as well as a producer of illicit narcotics", the US State Department said in February.

The parliamentary committee's report focuses on the production and distribution of synthetic drugs and problems in efforts by Bulgaria's interior ministry. Based on information provided by the State National Security Agency, the panel noted a significant decline in the number of amphetamine labs closed by police in 2006 and 2007. Law enforcement agencies shut down nine such facilities in 2004 and another four in 2005. Those numbers dropped to a mere two in 2006 and to only one last year.

Similarly, the amount of illegal drugs seized by police dropped considerably -- plunging from 1,018kg in 2005 to just 169kg in 2007.

The lawmakers attributed this fall to the interior ministry's "alarming practice" of leaking classified information to criminals under investigation.

They took up the matter amid a raging scandal involving questionable contacts between shadowy businessmen and high-ranking ministry officials. Two senior police officials have been arrested.

It also emerged that Interior Minister Rumen Petkov had met with alleged underworld bosses, prompting calls for his resignation or dismissal. He refuses to quit, and Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev backs him.

Mincho Spasov, chairman of parliament's Interior Committee, told reporters on Wednesday that Petkov's actions were reprehensible. "If I were in his place, I would quit," he said.

Last week, opposition parties in parliament filed their fifth motion of no confidence against the government over the case. A vote is expected on Friday.

The EU, which has repeatedly criticised Bulgaria for its ineffective campaign against organised crime and high-level corruption, urged Sofia this week to take urgent action, particularly after the murders of two prominent figures. Borislav Georgiev, the chief of a nuclear energy company, and Georgi Stoev, the author of several books on the Bulgarian mafia, were shot dead within 24 hours.

"Shootings have continued to take place on a regular basis over the last couple of years and without successful prosecution," European Commission (EC) spokesman Mark Gray said. "Urgent action is required."

EU experts are due to visit Bulgaria next month ahead of an EC report in July on the country's progress in fighting high-level corruption and contract killings.

More than 150 people have been killed by gangland assassins in Bulgaria since 2001, with not a single suspect convicted.