Drugs – Page 14 – Minivan News

“Shared corruptions” with Maldives worth hundreds of millions, reports Democratic Voice of Burma

The Burmese authorities actively helped the Maldives “cover its tracks” while the Singapore branch of the State Trading Organisation (STO) funneled discounted OPEC oil to the junta using fraudulent paperwork and sold it at a premium, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) has reported.

The DVB is describes itself as a non-profit news organisation providing accurate and unbiased news to Burma.

Referring to a draft report into the activities of STO Singapore compiled by forensic accountancy firm Grant Thorton on request of the Maldives government, “STO Singapore appear to have purchased fuel from Shell Eastern, the Singapore Petroleum Company and Petronas, and then sold it to STO, its parent company, or to third parties,” DVB said.

“The Maldives is given a special, cheap allocation of oil by OPEC because of the cartel’s preferential treatment for 100 percent Sunni Muslim nations, so the tiny island state under [former President] Gayoom would assume a far larger allocation of oil than the residents of the country needed,” it added.

Shipments destined for the Maldives would never arrive, and bills of lading recording receipt of cargo were missing, the report stated.

Details of the operation first appeared in an article by India’s The Week magazine, which identified the intermediary in the transaction between the two countries as Mocom Trading Pvt Ltd, a joint venture with a Malaysian company called Mocom Corporation Sdn Bhd, that was incorporated in 2004 to sell the oil allocation.

Mocom was one of only four foreign companies permitted to sell petroleum to the junta, alongside Daewoo, Hyundai and Petronas, the report stated – permission granted directly by Burma’s Energy Minister Brigadier-General Lun Thi.

The company had four director-shareholders: Kamal Bin Rashid, a Burmese national, two Maldivians: Fathimath Ashan and Sana Mansoor, and a Malaysian man named Raja Abdul Rashid Bin Raja Badiozaman, who was also Chief of Intelligence for the Malaysian armed forces for seven years. Then Managing Director of STO Singapore Ahmed Muneez was also a director.

According to the Grant Thorton report, the contract with Mocom Corporation revealed that a 40 percent commission on profits under the arrangement was paid directly into an account held by Rashid with the United Overseas Bank account in Singapore. The profits whereabouts beyond this point remain unknown.

When the story first broke, former STO chairman Abdulla Yameen, half brother of Gayoom and now leader of the opposition coalition party People’s Alliance (PA) party, told Minivan News that such trading was not illegal as STO Singapore was an “entrepreneurial” trade organisation that was licensed to trade in goods as well as supply the needs of the STO: “Even now the STO buys from one country and sells to those in need,” he said.

Yameen has acknowledged using the STO’s accounts to transfer money from the Maldives to his children in Singapore during his time as Chairman, but claims this was a legitimate means of avoiding foreign exchange fees.

The Week article had cited a source in the Singaporean police as stating that both Yameen and STO Singapore were under investigation. Minivan News contacted Singaporean police seeking to confirm the report, but was told by a police spokesperson that “It is inappropriate to comment on police investigations, if any.”

Obfuscation and heroin links

The DVB reported on several Burmese companies named in the Grant Thorton report as linked to Mocom.

“Among the companies who did business with the Maldivians was Kanbawza Bank, owned by Aung Ko Win, who is close to Burmese vice-general Maung Aye,” DVB reported.

Kanbawza Bank was “no stranger to controversy”, it noted.

“The bank was started in Shan state by the then-unknown and apparently ‘asset-less’ teacher, Aung Ko Win, who happened to meet and befriend Maung Aye. From mysterious profits made in the Shan hills – once the world’s largest source of opium – the bank has grown to become one of the biggest and most important financial institutions in Burma.”

Other companies which were doing business with the Maldives included Golden Aaron and S H NG Trading Pte Ltd, recorded active trading in 2002. During this period, according to the invoices obtained by Grant Thorton, STO revenue increased dramatically to $US78.8 million.

Both these Burmese companies are facing international sanctions, noted DVB, and are owned by Steven Law and his Singaporean wife, Cecilia NG. Law’s father, Lo Hsing Han, is described by the US government’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as “the godfather of heroin”.

Most of the Maldives’ heroin since the 1990s is of the ‘brown sugar’ variety of Afghan or Pakistani origin. However, according to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime Representative for East Asia and the Pacific, Gary Lewis – cited in the DVB report – a wave of ‘china white’ heroin appeared on the streets of Male’ in 2003.

The vast majority of this variety, many times stronger than brown sugar, is produced in Burma.

The DVB report concluded that details such as those appearing in the Grant Thorton report currently “ask more questions than they answer.”

But the outline of STO Singapore’s operations thus far suggested that the “shared corruptions” between Burma and the Maldives were “worth hundreds of millions, [from] which [it] will take generations to fully recover.”

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Comment: Lack of good parenting is the root cause of youth issues and a dysfunctional society

Dysfunctional families are a root cause of emerging youth issues in Maldivian society.

Adding complexity, youth lack supporting guidance in the educational sphere because school management and the teachers lack effective approaches for dealing with children from such families. While most families in Maldives are dysfunctional, Maldivians have a tendency to ignore problems and treat them as evils caused by others.

A child’s behavior reflects their experiences at home. When there is hostility or fighting among parents, this creates a lot of anxiety. When parents are rude and abusive towards each other, children experience insecurity. A cycle of competition, jealousy, rivalry, disrespect and forms of abuse starts amidst confusion and nervousness and thus creates the dysfunctional family. Dysfunctional families disconnect and neglect each other.

The Maldives has one of the world’s highest divorce rates. Many parents do not handle their separation maturely and can be seen to act with bitterness and revenge controlling their behavior. An unfair burden is placed upon the child during the divorce.

It is time to stop looking at where to put the blame. It is right there with parents as children learn firstly from parents. Relationships lose their magic overnight and love tanks empty out leaving a feeling of desolation and regret. Divorcing/separating parents are mostly self-centered and self-absorbed, forgetting the pain left in their children.

Children replay what they observe and experience. Children experience the feeling of loss, betrayal and being cast aside while parents tangle with resentment, sense of failure and blame, leading to self-victimisation and succumbing to revenge or silence and resignation.

In the aftermath of divorce or separation (where the father does not divorce the woman but takes a second wife), children develop identity issues as to where they stand and who they are, in relation to their parents’ foundation. Added to this confusion, children are treated as a financial burden when parents openly fight on alimony disregarding the sensitivity of the child in question. One common behavioral issue I have observed is a resentful parent labeling a child with the negative character of the other parent, destroying the child’s life further. This burden of guilt is poison that will last a long time.

Causing sibling rivalry

Sibling rivalry is often caused by parents. Conclusions are drawn in early childhood depending on the ease or stress experienced by parents. Hence a parent labels a child from the first experience of babyhood thus influencing the child’s life over the years to come.

The comparisons are voiced in phrases such as “an easy child”, versus “a difficult child”. Later: “Why can’t you be like your brother?”, “Why can’t you be obedient like your sister?” or constantly referring to the better performing sibling.

This a common occurrence at home, and puts children in competition with each other. Children are taught to compete with each other when parents consistently show favoritism or praise one child, and not another. This creates hostility and resentment. It’s difficult for siblings to be friends in adulthood when they were taught to compete as children.

Parents are the first tribe influencing their child’s belief

Most Maldivian parents do not realize they are the first and most influential role model for the child. Children shape up to parents. A child grows up influenced and shaped by the environment they live in. In the front line of tribes around the child, are the parents. Parents have a direct influence on the child’s emotions leading to behaviors and ultimately their lives, for better or for worse. If parents fail, the child will experience huge hurdles. These can only be overcome eventually.

The child is like a recorder, taking up the parent’s behavior and playing it back. How a child behaves in school or the environment outside home tells the story of what the child experiences at home. As children absorb and respond to what they experience, it requires the parents to behave with responsibility, love and respect towards each other, care for the people around them, respect the natural environment including animals, respect money and materials, being humble and grateful and be the child’s guide to become a fully developed individual to take its place in the world.

Most families have dysfunction in one way, shape, or form. It’s never safe to assume that a family is not dysfunctional just by how they act in public. This assumption makes people wonder why a child from such a “good family” or “good parent” is rebellious or resigned in class, in gangs, in drugs and crime.
The root cause of the aggression, lack of ethics, abuse and violence, power hunger and suppression, blind obedience, corruption, fear, envy and jealousy, greed or any anti-social or anti-human behavior (including destruction of nature) in Maldivian society is parents failing to be good examples and role models, to attend to the child’s needs, to stay connected to their children and nurture them to adulthood.

The vulture snaps up its prey

Disconnected from families, marginalised by social, economic and cultural forces, young people are pushed in the direction of gangs that provides peer support, sense of belonging, protections and strangely enough covers up for the relationships that they have not experienced at home and school.

Youth coerced into gangs and seemingly by lack of choice happens because parents have not been able to guide their child to make good judgments and have expected children to do what they are told to do (interpreted as a sign of obedience).

Although it may be hard to swallow, parents need to accept responsibility for what occurs in their child’s life. Poverty, low parental attachment to the child, and low parental supervision, lack of attention to child’s needs, all increase the probability of the child spending the youthful years in violence, drugs and gangs.

Additional risk factors are bad education systems leading to poor learning and consequent low success in school, low student commitment to school, and low attachment to teachers. The potential combination is associating with delinquent friends and unsupervised “hanging around” with these delinquent friends. Easy access to drugs and the lack of nurturing from parents (in additional to parents with resentful, violent attitudes) are high risk factors for young people’s involvement in gangs at a very young age. Drugs coexist with dealing and theft.

The point is lack of good parenting is the root cause for the increasing social issues arising in the Maldivian communities. The question is how do we bridge the gap, address the parent issue, support children, guide youth and create a better society.

Aminath Arif is the founder of SALAAM School

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Police seize Rf184,000 drug haul during two day crackdown

The Maldives Police Service has announced the seizure of illegal drugs with a suspected value of Rf184,000 (US$14,431) during a two day period late last month.

The drugs were found during three separate cases recorded by authorities between 30 January and 31 January.

Among these cases, police said they arrested a person at GMR Male’ International Airport’s domestic terminal on 31 January who was said to be carrying 20 bullet sized packets containing illegal narcotics as well as four small packets of cannabis.

According to the police, the airport officers on duty at the time said they has discovered the drugs during a search of the suspect.

The Police claimed that the street value of the illegal drugs found on the individual would fetch up to Rf100,000 (US$7,843).

The second case was related to a report received by police intelligence that led to a search of Mahchangolhi Kulhafilaage for drugs and the discovery of eight bullet-sized packets of suspected illegal drugs.

The Police Service said that upon searching garments in the house, 53 packets of suspected illegal drugs were discovered stored inside the pocket of two shirts as well as another two bullet sized packs.

Inside short pockets in the house, police said they additionally found packets containing suspected illegal drugs.

Police officers who searched the house also reported finding two 500ml life water bottles filled with alcohol and seven other packets containing illegal drugs on an individual.

The Police Service said that two men were arrested in connection to the case, which resulted in drugs with a value of Rf50,000 (US$3,921) being found.

In another case reported over the two day period, police intelligence said they had acted over reports that a person aboard a boat travelling to Velidhoo in Noonu Atoll was carrying drugs and conducted a special operation in collaboration with the Velidhoo police station.

Police said the suspect had thrown away a bag when he saw the police, but it was later retrieved and checked in his presence.

Seven plastic packets of narcotics, a can of cannabis and other materials linked to drug use were found inside it.

Police said the street value of the drugs found in the third case would be approximately Rf34,000 (US$2,666)

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Significant increase in drug charges against juveniles last year, says Juvenile Court

The Juvenile Court has observed a “significant increase” in the number of juveniles charged with drug offences last year.

”In 2009 there were 22 drug-related charges in the court concerning juveniles, while 34 such cases were presented to the court last year,” said the Juvenile Court in a statement.

The court said it had also observed a rising number of charges of drug dealing against minors, with nine cases sent to the court in 2010, an increase of three on 2009. Of the nine cases, three youths were found guilty.

‘The court added that 10 juveniles were brought to the court for extension of detention on charges of possessing illegal drugs for dealing, suggesting that this was “very concerning ” as it was “a sinister crime in nature that serves high penalties.

Juvenile Court said that it was very important for parents to prevent their kids from committing such crimes and urged everyone to pay more attention to juveniles.

Furthermore, the Juvenile Court said, that there were people in society “who are behind the crimes committed by juveniles.”

Police statistics for 2010 showed that most arrests made across the Maldives in 2010 were for drug offences (1153), assault (941) and theft (773), and that most of these were first time offenders.

While the bulk of those arrested were young men aged between 17-23, key crimes committed by minors (aged under 18) were assault, theft and drug offences – albeit with an overall decline in 2010 on 2009.

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US$1.5 million for student loans, but drugs remain an obstacle for youth

Youth Minister Dr Hassan Latheef has said the ministry has budgeted Rf 19 million (US$1.5 million) to be given out as loans for young people to pursue higher education.

Latheef said the money would be distributed to provinces equally, with a view to increasing the number of educated professionals in the islands.

While Latheef claimed that during the MDP’s campaign across the islands he had witnessed a great amount of support for the ruling party among youth, the ongoing lack of education and employment opportunities for young people in the Maldives has led many to become involved in crimes, drugs and gang violence.

President Mohamed Nasheed has previously said that there is “not even a single family in the Maldives that has not been affected by drugs.”

In an effort to understand the country’s drug trade and its impact, Minivan News interviewed several self-described drug dealers in May last year, and was told that more treatment facilities and job opportunities would curb addiction.

One claimed to earn “at least Rf15,000 every day” (US$1167) selling drugs, approximately Rf465,000 per month (US$36,186).

”Everyday one person will buy at least three to five packets, sometimes people from the islands come and buy 40 packets also,” he said, claiming that each 0.03 gram ‘packet’ (of brown sugar) cost Rf 100 (US$7.70).

“All gangs are operated by people and money. Gangs earn money by selling drugs. If someone gets stabbed also the gangs would provide them with medication and financial assistance,” he told Minivan News, adding that drugs were imported into the country 1-2 kilograms at a time “with the assistance of high-profile people in the country.”

“Real drug dealers” did not use drugs themselves, he added.

Police statistics for 2010 showed that most arrests made across the Maldives in 2010 were for drug offences (1153), assault (941) and theft (773), and that most of these were first time offenders.

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Customs makes “significant” drug seizure in Trivandrum shipment

Customs authorities have seized what they are calling a major shipment of hash oil during a routine search of perishable products that arrived at Male’ International Airport yesterday from Trivandrum, India.

Mohamed Ibrahim of the Maldives Customs Service confirmed that 1.07 kg of hash oil was found hidden in false compartments within cardboard boxes of perishable goods, a technique he said has been used by smugglers before to try and get drugs past border controls.

The seizure is the latest in a number of drug seizures made by Maldives customs coming from Trivandrumin southwest India over the last 16 months, which Ibrahim claimed reflected concerns among customs officials in the country about a “high level risk” for smuggling.

“This is a big seizure and we have been collaborating with Indian police following routine searches based on a number of risk management factors,” he said.

“These risk management factors are based on a number of concerns, such of the origin of shipments and sometimes the company involved in sending the goods.”

In collaboration with local and regional police services, Ibrahim added that Customs authorities were continuing investigations into both parties suspected of sending and receiving the seized perishable goods, but could not comment any further at this time.

Just last month, Minivan News reported that two Maldivian nationals have been arrested in Trivandrum Airport for allegedly trying to traffic drugs to the Maldives smuggled into the baggage of a 14 year-old passenger.

In September, police said they had arrested 23 people suspected of having links with the country’s drug trade that lead to 36 separate cases being sent to the Prosecutor General’s office.

These allegations follow a number of high profile drug seizures made by Maldives Customs Services during the last two years from areas such as Trivandrum that saw 12 separate attempts at illegal narcotics transportation – totaling 12.56 kilograms with a street value of Rf 11 million – uncovered during 2009 alone.

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Failure to pass drug bill hampering drug user rehabilitation efforts

Amidst the 2011 Maldives budget and a host of other laws waiting to be passed in the Majlis, a bill outlining new policies on drug enforcement remains a key concern for one Male’ based NGO , which has just launched what it claims is a first-of-its-kind drop in centre for recovering addicts in the country.

“In the 1990’s in every Male’ household there was a probably an addict,” claimed Mohamed Shuaib, a reformed drug user and vice chairperson of Journey, a Maldivian NGO. “We didn’t know of the consequences [of drug abuse] at the time.”

Shuaib added that although the Maldives’ relationship with drugs was not as intense as it appeared to be a few decades previously, the abuse of heroin – and to a lesser extent alcohol and cannabis – remained serious problems for Maldivians.

Journey, which was started in 2005 by former addicts looking to provide support and possible rehabilitation for drug users, said that despite positive government support, public attitudes and a failure to pass new laws relating to drug offences remained major concerns in trying to prevent drug abuse and rehabilitate addicts.

Shuaib told Minivan News that the official opening of a drop-in centre operated by the charity on November 29, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Fund, reflected improving fortunes in the country for drug users looking to kick possible addiction.

The idea behind the drop-in programme is to try and give recovering addicts a safe place to not just come and hang out, but to also seek counselling and training once they have undergone detox, according to Journey. The programme extends a growing number of services that the NGO said it has provided over the last five years to recovering addicts; like outreach programmes across Male’ and the wider atolls where Journey tries to consult directly with addicts to try and help them seek rehabilitation.

The opening of the new drop-in centre, which also coincides within the same month of Journey’s fifth anniversary of coming into operation, was attended by President Mohamed Nasheed who claimed that reducing drug abuse was a top priority for his government. By pursuing a society-wide approach to tackling drug abuse, the president added that he was confident of a further crackdown on narcotics abuse.

“I believe we can do this. I believe we have the capacity. I believe our youths can recover from this,” he added.

Shuaib said that Journey was generally encouraged by the government’s work and focus in regards to rehabilitating drug users, though he said that abuse of heroin – and to a lesser extent alcohol and cannabis – remained serious problems for Maldivians.

“The current government is trying, they have formed committees with parents and businesses to consult on drug policy and they are also working closely with us,’ he added.

Despite the support seemingly offered by president Nasheed, Shuaib said that the continued wait for a new drug bill to be passed in the Majlis was a source of frustration for the NGO.

According to Shuaib, current regulations on drugs in the country have failed to sufficiently differentiate between the types of drugs being used as well as the amounts found on a person.

In September, Minivan News reported how Maldivian reggae artist Haisham Mohamed Rasheed had been sentenced to ten years for use and possession of less than one gram of cannabis. Haisham, of Maafannu Loha, was arrested with a bag containing the illegal narcotics while in a resort to perform a live music show.

Ahmed Nazim, a fellow member of Journey’s staff, added that in certain situations, the current legislation meant that someone caught smoking drugs like heroin could receive five years imprisonment for every different compound contained in the drug.

Shuaib said he believed that current deadlock in parliament, which has hampered a wide number of bills alongside cabinet appointees and next year’s budget, was the main obstacles to passing new regulations on drug abuse. The Vice Chairperson added that he expected and hoped the majority of parliament would eventually lend their support to new laws on drugs when they came to be passed.

Besides political argument, Shuaib claimed that religious teachings has generally shaped beliefs in society making the issue of discussing and trying to confront drug addiction difficult for many people. The Vice Chairperson accepted that many Maldivians might not see addiction as an illness or affliction, but rather a personal weakness, it was an issue he added, “about perception.”

Beyond rehabilitation, preventing future cases of drug addiction through education is seen as another important focus of the work Journey carries out. To this end, Shuaib said that the NGO is regularly travelling to schools in Male’ and many islands across the country to try and outline the potential dangers of addiction. Journey claims that effective drug education can be very difficult though particularly young people who fall into drugs as part of gangs. Beyond becoming addicts, the NGO claimed that gang members were also being encouraged to sell narcotics themselves, creating a lucrative and attractive career path for young people with little to do in crowded streets.

“In certain cases, a parent may suspect involvement in dealing drugs, but they fail to challenge a lifestyle that pays,” added Shuaib.

In relation to factors driving Maldivians to drugs, or even the type of people susceptible to addiction, whether in the latest fashions or more conservative wear, the Vice Chairperson said that Maldivians of all walks of life were seen as being vulnerable to addiction.

One recovering addict at the drop-in centre suggested that he had first turned to drugs after separating from a former girlfriend, when a friend suggested drugs may be more than an adequate cure for the pain.

Some 12 years later, when asked by Minivan News if he thought schemes like the drop-in centre could work to help Maldivian addicts, he hesitated before optimistically replying “I think so.”

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Two Maldivians arrested in Trivandrum for drug smuggling

A pair of Maldivians have been arrested in Trivandrum Airport for allegedly trying to traffic drugs to the Maldives.

Haveeru reported that 24 year-old Mohamed Waheed Adam and a 14 year-old were arrested on Sunday.

The newspaper reported that the two Maldivians attempted to boarded a flight at 12:30pm flight on Sunday were being held in the airport after illegal drugs were allegedly found in the child’s baggage. The Malayalam newspaper also reported that hash oil was found hidden in the child’s trousers.

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Bangladeshi killed in street mugging

A 30 year-old Bangladeshi man was killed this morning in Maafanu Carnation Magu in Male’ after being stabbed in the chest during what is thought to have been an attempted mugging.

According to police, the incident took place at about 7am and the man died shortly afterward while undergoing treatment at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

No arrests have been in connection to the case yet, a police media official said.

Residents of the area told Minivan News that two men attempted to the rob the Bangladeshi of his backpack and Nokia mobile phone and he was stabbed when he fought back.

“People from the neighbourhood came out when they heard him screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’,” a woman who wished to remain anonymous recounted. “There was blood on the middle of the road and his insides had spilled out.”

She claimed that while police arrived on the scene promptly, it was only 30 minutes later that the victim was taken to the hospital.

But, a police media official denied the accusation, claiming that “police went to the scene and did the necessary checks and he was taken to the hospital as quickly as possible; it can’t have been 30 minutes.”

None of the residents who witnessed the aftermath saw the assailants.

A Bangladeshi in the area claimed that the victim was on his way to work after having breakfast when he was attacked by ‘parteys’ (drug addicts).

“A few days ago, two of them stole my phone when I was in front of the house,” he said. “It is not safe for us here anymore.”

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