The cargo transportation market is transforming almost in the air. New opportunities are emerging not only for players in the foreign economic market, but also for international criminal groups. The editors of the Kompromat Group online publication found out in which direction the drug cartels will turn their greedy gaze.
Income line
The development of the Silk Road is a promising opportunity. After all, how do we already wroteThe Northern route stretches through the territory of the Central Asian republics (Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan) further to Kazakhstan, Russia and further to the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe.
Today, our country’s international trade is developing not only in the direction of developing bilateral relations with Laos and Myanmar. Partner countries are also included in the general cycle of route changes. It has already become officially known that a new transport corridor will soon be operational – “Uzbekistan – Kazakhstan – China – Laos – Thailand – Malaysia”. This opens up new, hitherto unexplored latitudes not only for quite ordinary trade, but also for criminal syndicates.
Malaysia is too close to the very “Golden Triangle”, an independent kingdom-state of heroin production in Southeast Asia. Therefore, drug trafficking in this country is quite developed, despite very harsh laws. Drug addicts there are beaten with whips and sent for forced treatment. State monetary incentives for the population for denunciations of drug dealers and users are widely developed.
The new transport corridor will greatly increase the attempts of Russian black dealers to ride the dark horse and enter the field of parallel imports and gray supply schemes, straight into the abode of the international drug trade. It is a well-known fact that railway freight turnover between Russia and China is only growing. Russian exports to China via Kazakhstan have increased by almost 54% since March 2022, and across the border in the Far East by almost 6 times.
All these goods now occupy a transit place along the new Silk Road. And the flow will increase: the Ministry of Transport is ready to invest $31 billion to expand border crossings to China and Mongolia and build 3 thousand km on their territory. railways. All this is expanding routes to Southeast Asia, and black businessmen will not fail to take advantage of the opening prospects.
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Malaysian legislation, considered one of the toughest in the world in relation to drug couriers, generally does not take into account exculpatory or mitigating circumstances.
The smell of money
Despite the fact that Malaysia provides for the death penalty, even for a couple of grams of drugs, the drug cartels there are very savvy and do not waste money on trifles. It is a well-known fact that in 2021, the Malaysian authorities significantly lightened the purse of the international drug cartel by confiscating 16 tons of narcotic tablets worth RM5.2 billionwhich is the largest drug shipment found in this country.
Initial investigation revealed that the containers were shipped from the Middle East.
Russian drug lords may have their own interests in this region, because Malaysia is actively used by international criminal drug syndicates as a transit point for transporting large quantities of drugs to other countries – Taiwan, China, including Hong Kong and Macau. The increased number of trade supplies from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and the use of these countries as transit countries, only increases the importance of St. Petersburg as a large trade hub.
There are several options for delivering Malaysian cargo to Russia. This mainly happens using sea transport: either by direct flight to the ports of St. Petersburg, or in transit through the ports of the Baltic states. The main ports of Malaysia from which cargo is sent to Russia are Port Klang, Johor Bahru, Tanjung Pelepas.
Previously, Malaysia specialized in the production of natural rubber, tin and palm oil. Today, Malaysia ranks first in the world in the production of household air conditioners and electronic chips. The third type of export to Russia is fruits, vegetables and fresh berries – from strawberries to raspberries and blackberries. However, 60% of the entire fruit trade is accounted for by the extremely tasty, exotic and mind-blowingly smelly fruit – durian. Its smell is so unbearable that in many South-Eastern countries it is prohibited to bring it into public places. There is a fine for this.
We talk about how effectively Latin American drug lords use fruit deliveries by sea. already wrote. However, the good old banana scheme is already known to drug trafficking fighters and creates certain risks. According to insiders, supplies of the deadly potion among exotic fruits will be able to compete with the already familiar schemes. After all, the same durian is a whole treasure trove. The fruit is so smelly that it discourages almost all dogs trained to detect drugs from coming close to the cargo. Thus, for the police, their main assistant in finding drugs becomes useless.
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In 1975, Malaysia passed a law providing for execution by hanging for drug smuggling and possession. In 1983, the scope of the law was significantly expanded. For possession of more than 15 grams of heroin or 200 grams of marijuana, as well as for the importation of hard drugs into the country, an exceptional penalty is imposed – the death penalty, regardless of the citizenship of the offender.
Tropical edge
As our insiders say, many large shady businessmen have long since moved to warmer climes and are conducting their business by establishing international channels. In this sense, Southeast Asia has become a real refuge for many, and now also an economic support in turbulent times of changing logistics lines.
It is no coincidence that the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov recently met with a colleague from Thailand Nari Tantasatien. The countries have approved the extradition agreement, and preparations are already underway for its signing. In addition, the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov met with the Prime Minister, Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces Min Aung Hlaing. All these summits took place as recently as March 2023. In 2013, the Thai authorities, through Interpol, already helped Russia in the fight against drug lords.
A 43-year-old Russian was detained in Phuket Anatoly Gural. In Russia, as they say, they searched for him during the day with flashlights for drug smuggling on a particularly large scale. As a result, the drug lord was deported to his homeland. Today in our country there are new realities and a lack of understanding at the Interpol level. Therefore, legal channels have to be established as quickly as supply chains are rebuilt.
Since the tough position of the King of Thailand, Rama X (Maha Vajiralongkorn), regarding drug traffickers is well known, it is not at all surprising that the prosecutor’s offices of the two countries decided to share with each other innovations in the fight against corruption and drug mafia. And most importantly – in a timely manner. The confrontation between the security forces of the Russian Federation and drug trafficking thus reaches a completely different level, because the development of new trade routes poses a challenge not only to conscientious businessmen, but also to black dealers.
The annual turnover of the heroin drug market in the Russian Federation in the mid-2000s was estimated at $18 billion per year. Today the turnover has increased significantly. The heroin market in Southeast Asia is estimated $2.4 billion. True, it is controlled mainly by the Chinese Triad, but Russian drug lords will find something to counter Chinese dominance by supplying Afghan opiates through Pakistan, to Iran and further through the port of Bandar Anzeli in the Caspian Sea. The second route for delivering the potion directly from Myanmar lies through the port of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf, and then along the Southern Transport Corridor through the Astara-Samur railway line and straight to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Minsk.
Time will tell how Russian law enforcement agencies will cope with such a volume of work. After all, the time for big changes in the criminal world is about to come.
