>From http://www.examiner.com/000628/0628op-mushkolaj.html?format=print >>This is like catching mercury {quicksilver] ... you squeeze on end (Cloumbia) and the other (Kosovaria) gains momentum and remains elusive. Where's Deutschendorf when we need him to pen new lyrics? A<>E<>R << }}>Begin How drug dealers are invading Kosovo Imer Mushkollaj is editor of the Kosovo Albanian newspaper Epoka and writes for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a London-based independent media organization. By Imer Mushkolaj PRISTINA, Kosovo - The Albanian youths sit sprawled across a sofa in one of Pristina's many cafes. They appear half-asleep, their eyes ringed by dark circles. They are among the growing number of young people here who have joined Kosovo's fast-growing drug culture. A small bag of marijuana, the most popular drug in Kosovo, costs around 10 German marks, or a little over $5. A well-organized distribution network is already established, with dozens of youthful dealers ready to supply hundreds of customers. Ben says he's a dealer. He says he makes at least 10 sales of marijuana or hashish a day. "Nine months ago, when I started to deal, I only had a few clients. Now I've got loads. Marijuana sells the best," he says. Drugs enter Kosovo from Albania and Macedonia. While much of the imported marijuana is for local consumption, the more expensive drugs, like cocaine and heroin, only pass through here on their way to Western Europe. International narcotics experts believe the province's drug smugglers are handling up to five tons of heroin a month, more than twice the amount they were trafficking before the war. "It's coming through easier and cheaper — and there's much more of it," Marko Nicovic, vice president of the International Enforcement Officers' Association, was recently quoted as saying in the Guardian of London. "If this goes on, we are predicting a heroin boom in Western Europe on the same scale as the one in the early '80s." During the war in Kosovo, Albanian drug traffickers abandoned the well- established smuggling route that brought drugs from Afghanistan via Bulgaria, Macedonia and Kosovo to Western Europe. But the end of the fighting, and the absence of robust law enforcement agencies in Kosovo, saw a return of the drug traffic. In addition, southern Albania is a major cannabis growing area, offering the impoverished local community there a much needed source of income. Once harvested, the marijuana is shipped to the northeastern Albanian town of Kukes and then onto Prizren in Kosovo. The porous border between Kosovo and Albania allows traffickers to ship drugs without much fear of capture. The KFOR forces that patrol the Kosovo-Albanian border have had some impact on traffickers, forcing them to find alternative routes along that frontier. One Kosovar dealer concedes he now uses secondary roads and is shipping smaller amounts of drugs than before. But for now, it appears that drug dealers in Kosovo have little to fear from the authorities. A source with the United Nations police forces here concedes that no one is currently being held on drug-related charges. While the police are "carefully following the situation," he said, "we have more important matters to deal with." End<{{ A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. 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