Evidence pointing to Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations in the EU
The research that culminated in my 2012 book “Cocaine Trafficking in the Caribbean and West Africa in the Era of the Mexican cartels” and the research thereafter published on my website is driven by a search for evidence in the public domain of Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) operating in the EU today. This search is made difficult by the reality that I am beached, stranded, a castaway in Trinidad and Tobago and the operational strategies of the MTTOs particularly their use of affiliates and partner organisations from EU organised crime such as and especially the Ndrangheta in the EU that masks their activities.
Europol in its press release dated October 11, 2016 “Europol delivers crucial support to international operation leading to the seizure of about 100 tonnes of Hashish” describes a trafficking organisation that bore all the hallmarks of an affiliate of the MTTOs. The most potent indication of this is the range of illicit activities Europol states the trafficking organisation was involved in namely: hashish, cocaine, weapons and migrant smuggling/trafficking to the EU. Then there is the process of smuggling into Palermo and Cagliari of Italy and Malaga of Spain. Next is the trafficking methodology where the press release indicates but Europol doesn’t say so where Libya is a key operational centre to move the range of products to Italy. The reality in Libya is multi-faceted and of paramount importance to smuggling into Italy as cocaine is stockpiled in Libya at the end of the journey from West Africa via the Sahel and Sahara to Libya. Libya is an arms bazaar where arms for smuggling are available openly and no state exists to control its borders in fact Libya exists only on maps and in the mind of the West. African migrants are moved via the drug pipeline and housed in Libya until they are moved to Italy. The most active pipeline moving migrants to the EU in 2016 is the Libya to Italy pipeline. The hashish produced predominantly in Morocco is moved to Libya and stored for the run to Italy and other points along the North Mediterranean rim. None of these pipelines to Italy that all come ashore in spaces dominated by Italian organised crime can function against the wishes of Italian organised crime and to their exclusion this simply doesn’t happen in the GAME! The press release states that the trafficking group may be using its proceeds of crime to finance terrorist groups or their affiliates. There then is nothing evidential from Europol on this simply a statement from a political agenda that conjures the image of the race and ethnicity of the group whilst masking their affiliation to Italian organised crime and the MTTOs which cripples any effective state response to the threat. What persons must understand and digest is the fact that extremist groups in trafficking transition zones to the EU are involved in trafficking for at minimum they sell safe passage through zones they control or they move product, acquire and sell product likewise the same reality applies to migrants, arms and other illicit products. The illicit trades to the EU generate threats to the EU that the political structure of the EU cannot neutralise if the political will existed. Dealing with extremists is the accepted norm of the illicit trades to the EU the question that arises is what is the nature of the terms of endearment between the trafficking organisations and extremist elements within the EU. The politicians, the security apparatus and Europol of the EU must answer that question for its their remit to ensure the safety of the people of the EU. A discourse of power driven by denial is the genesis of grave problems it cannot solve potently illustrated by the migrant tsunami and the march of the neo-nazis now termed “populists.”