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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Africa: International Crime
Africa: International Crime
Date Distributed (ymd): 970126
Document reposted by APIC
The following document consists of a slightly condensed
version of an article ("United against the Creeps") published
in Living Africa magazine, November 1996, Johannesburg, South
Africa. Living Africa, a monthly travel magazine, is at PO Box
281723, Suite 401, 4th Floor, West Tower, Sandton 2146, South
Africa; Phone 27-11-884-7344.
Special Report: Both the FBI and the US Drug Enforcement
Administration will post permanent agents in South Africa next
year. THOMAS CALLAHAN explains why South Africa can't go it
alone in the fight against crime.
# # # Thomas J. Callahan (callahan@wn.apc.org) is South Africa
Program Director for the International Republican Institute.
From 1992-95, he was Director of African Affairs at the US
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He has lived in
Johannesburg since December 1995. This article was written in
his personal capacity, and does not necessarily represent the
views of IRI. For more information, contact Callahan at IRI,
20 Melle St., 2nd Fl., Braamfontein 2001, South Africa. Tel:
27-11-403-8956; Fax: 27-11-339-3368.
On a Sunday morning not long ago, I was strolling down Rockey
Street in the Yeoville section of Johannesburg. In the half
kilometre between the Time Square Cafe and Rockerfeller's Nite
Club, I was approached three times by drug dealers. Granted,
I have a beard and was overdue for a haircut, but this was
ridiculous.
I was already annoyed after the first two solicitations when
a skinny guy in a rasta hat hissed at me and approached. I
responded to him with a loud, "What's that? Oh, you're a drug
dealer, is that it?" His eyes darted back and forth a few
times and, possibly thinking I was a PAGAD member with a box
of matches, he took a step back and said, "No, no man! Not
drugs, just ganja!" [N.B.: PAGAD is abbreviation for People
Against Gangsterism and Drugs, a virulent vigilante group in
the Western Cape which burned to death one high profile drug
lord in the Cape Flats area near Cape Town.]
The story always gets a laugh, but that comical little fellow
who pretended he wasn't a real drug dealer is but the tip of
an enormous iceberg whose mass lurks dangerously near.
The fact that South Africa has a growing drug problem, and,
more generally, a major crime problem, is not exactly fresh
news. But, the size, sophistication, complexity and reach of
the international syndicates that employ my ganja-peddling
friend and hundreds of thousands like him may come as a shock.
Leading law enforcement agencies around the world have
concluded that international crime can only be fought
internationally, and they are eager to assist South Africa.
This is not "foreign aid" in the altruistic sense. Rather,
foreign governments view South Africa as a linchpin country
for emerging international crime syndicates whose deadly reach
extends far into their own countries.
"Grave crime is no longer bound by the constraints of borders.
Such offenses as terrorism, nuclear smuggling, organised
crime, computer crime and drug trafficking can spill over from
other countries into the United States."
US FBI Director Louis Freeh made this statement in March 1996
to the members of the US Senate Committee on Appropriations,
the committee which controls the expenditure of US government
resources. The topic of the hearing was international
organised crime, and he argued persuasively for the generous
funding of FBI field offices abroad: "One of the most
effective ways to fight international crime is by building
cop-to-cop bridges between American law enforcement and our
overseas counterparts. More and more of these bridges are
being built, and successes are flowing from them." The FBI has
agents serving in 23 nations. The US Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) is even more internationally oriented,
with 70 offices in 49 countries worldwide. Both agencies are
planning to post senior agents to South Africa on a permanent
basis in 1997.
Many other countries have law enforcement liaison officers in
their embassies here, and numerous exchanges, conferences,
technical assistance and training seminars involving foreign
crime fighters are occurring. It is an ominous indication of
the degree to which South Africa is considered one of those
countries most vulnerable to international criminal
operations. The spectre of Colombia and Nigeria, whose basic
government institutions were undermined and corrupted by
criminal organisations, fuels the desire of experienced
international law enforcement to provide timely and useful
support for South Africa.
On the drug front, the problem is bad and is likely to get
worse. South Africa's status as a narcotics transit country
has become well established. In fact, it has become
increasingly central for global commerce in contraband of all
kinds.
The region's extensive air, sea and land infrastructure make
it a prime conduit for moving illegal cargos. The number of
airlines operating from Johannesburg International Airport has
increased from 20 in April 1994 to more than 120 today,
including those originating in drug source countries like
Thailand, India and Brazil. Long, porous borders and weak
border controls, including undermanned ports and numerous
secondary airports, give drug traffickers and other smugglers
nearly unlimited access .
The large banking and financial sector in South Africa and
lack of adequate money laundering controls allow profits from
illegal trade to mix easily with legitimate revenues. Police
forces in the region are understaffed and undertrained.
Current customs and immigration laws cannot adequately cope
with the massive volume of international connections.
Regarding the domestic consumption of drugs, the question is
not whether it will rise, but by how much. Transit countries
tend to become user countries. It is happening quite quickly
in South Africa, and, like so many other ills, it can be
blamed in part on the shaky rand.
The economics are quite simple and predictable: Drug transit
countries with fluctuating currencies quickly become drug
consumption countries because traffickers (more specifically,
the in-country controllers who monitor and oversee courier
activity) would rather be paid their share of the profits with
the product itself, which doesn't lose value, than with cash
in an unpredictable local currency. Controllers with product
to sell need domestic buyers, and they employ a wide variety
of techniques to generate demand. These invariably result in
rocketing dependency.
One DEA agent who asked not to be named observed this
phenomenon first hand when he was stationed in Pakistan in the
early 1980s: "Pakistan was a premier heroin producer and
transit country for markets in Europe and the United States.
When I got there, we estimated there were fewer than 100
heroin addicts. The traffickers had just begun taking their
cuts in product and selling it locally. In just two years,
the number of addicts was up to half a million. Today, the
government of Pakistan says the number of addicts is 1.3
million, but I think even that estimate is low.
Speaking at a conference on crime in August, Sylvaine de
Miranda, director of Johannesburg's Phoenix House, confirmed
the emergence of this trend in South Africa: "Four years ago,
heroin was almost unobtainable in South Africa. now free
samples of heroin are often provided when you buy cocaine or
crack."
The Nigerian Connection
Africa did not play a significant role in the international
drug trade until fairly recently. Producing neither opium nor
coca, it was not a source for heroin or cocaine. Although
Africa has a long tradition of dagga [marijuana] cultivation,
it was never a significant international supplier since
virtually every other region of the world also produced
marijuana.
Africa's real contribution to the international drug trade
began in the early 1980s when a group of Nigerian naval
officers undergoing training in India organised a trafficking
ring to smuggle Southwest Asian heroin to Europe and,
eventually, to the United States. Organised around a virtual
army of couriers, this initial effort was boosted by the
collapse of the Nigerian economy in the mid-80s, allowing
smugglers to be recruited more cheaply and in greater numbers.
Today, Nigerians run some of the premier drug trafficking and
organised crime networks in the world. They still rely
heavily on individual couriers known as "swallowers," who
transport drugs by wrapping them in condoms or the fingertips
of surgical gloves and ingesting them. Upon safe arrival at
the delivery site, they are given a laxative and a magazine.
(Users should think about that the next time they consider
snorting a line of coke.) This method precludes the seizure
of large, costly shipments even if it means only small amounts
can be smuggled at any one time. The networks continuously
make significant operational adjustments to avoid detection
and apprehension (for example, they changed the "profile" of
their couriers from West African men to mostly young or
middle-aged white women).
According to a recent DEA report, Nigerian groups are major
traffickers in both heroin and cocaine in South Africa:
"Since 1993, 60,000 Nigerian citizens have moved to the
Johannesburg/Pretoria area, particularly Johannesburg's
inner-city, high-rise suburb of Hillbrow. Many enter South
Africa as tourists, illegally obtain South African
identification books, and then apply for South African
passports. Some have claimed South African citizenship
through political asylum
"According to SANAB [South African Narcotics Bureau], many of
these individuals have no visible means of support, yet are
living very affluent lifestyles."
Law-abiding Nigerians are, of course, unhappy with the
international reputation for drug trafficking and fraud that
the nation's active criminal minority has attracted. Whether
the stigmatisation is fair or not, the threat is real and
growing. Jonathan Winer, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, told a
Congressional committee in September that Nigerian enterprises
were organised and active in at least 60 countries worldwide.
"They are adaptable, polycrime organisations. They launder
money in Hong Kong, buy cocaine in the Andes, run prostitution
and gambling rings in Spain and Italy, and corrupt legitimate
business in Great Britain.South African authorities have
advised the US of their deep concern over Nigerian criminal
penetration of the entire southern African region, including
heroin and cocaine trafficking, frauds, car theft, alien
smuggling and gang activities."
The situation is so bad that the US government is afraid to
offer anti-fraud training to Nigerian police or central
bankers for fear that the training will merely increase the
sophistication of Nigerian crooks.
Thankfully, criminal organisations in South Africa have not
penetrated government agencies to that extent, and foreign
governments are eager to assist South African crime fighters.
The DEA report quoted above has high praise for the South
Africa Narcotics Bureau: "There is no evidence of
drug-related corruption among senior drug law enforcement
officials. SANAB has earned a reputation worldwide as a
highly-dedicated and competent law enforcement agency. SANAB
is aggressively cooperating with drug law enforcement
officials from the United States and other countries "
But SANAB is just one entity with approximately 340 agents
fighting an illicit industry worth billions. There can be no
doubt that they are on the front lines of a bitter struggle
when one considers that between 1994 and 1995, 31 SANAB
officials were shot in the line of duty or died as a result of
job-related stress. The question remains whether all the
offers of international assistance and cooperation will be
enough.
International Training and Collaboration
Peter Gastrow, a Special Adviser to the Minister of Safety and
Security, describes different stages in which South African
law enforcement needs have changed.
South Africa had first to form one service out of 11 different
police organisations, and a new training and integration
curriculum was necessary. It received assistance in that
effort from a number of countries, including the UK,
Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Ongoing
planning and training requirements signal a different phase in
which French, Belgian and British police forces have assisted
with public order police training, community policing, and
provincial law enforcement efforts.
In the current stage, says Gastrow, South Africa's focus is on
improving overall effectiveness in a range of areas, and he
views international cooperation as critical: "The Ministry
wants to expand international contact and cooperation.
Southern Africa has been our immediate focus, and this has
resulted in some restructuring in our police services. We
have reinforced our connection with Interpol, and that is
yielding good results. And we are finalizing a number of
international agreements to facilitate exchanges and
information sharing. Cooperation can only improve if police
agencies like the FBI and DEA have an ongoing presence here in
South Africa."
The areas which he identified as benefitting from
international expertise include: detection and investigative
methods; narcotics trafficking; motor vehicle thefts and
smuggling; white collar crime, including money laundering and
fraud; official corruption; general management and
administrative techniques; and cross border arms smuggling.
In some ways, the United States is a latecomer to the process.
Anti-apartheid legislation remaining on the books in America
prevented any police assistance to South Africa during the
pre-election period that the European Union, Commonwealth and
United Nations were sending police and security observer
missions here.
It appears, however, that the US is making up for lost time.
In addition to the planned opening of DEA and FBI offices
here, there has been a great deal of US-sponsored activity:
the US Customs Service has conducted several courses in
border, air and seaport control for South African and
neighbouring country police; the US Marshal's Service has
provided technical assistance for South Africa's witness
protection program; the Department of the Treasury has held
several courses on methods to thwart money laundering; and the
DEA has conducted several drug enforcement seminars and has
helped SANAB establish a trafficker database.
South African participants in these and other nations'
training programs are generally enthusiastic about them. A
five year veteran of SANAB, Captain Kadwa has been to ten or
so internationally sponsored conferences or training programs.
"Any effort on the drug side, any strategy will always have to
have an international effort. Any isolated effort will not
work. We used to have just mandrax and cannabis to worry
about. Now we are dealing with cocaine, heroin, and a big
Nigeria connection. We have to learn their mentality,
understand their tactics and their modus operandi.
"The US knows these guys already and can provide helpful
information. They have also developed various laws like the
one to fight money laundering . They've had that law for 26
years. They can show us how it evolved, and then we can adapt
it in ways that make sense for South Africa."
Not all of these programs have filtered down to the street
cops on the front lines. Police in the Soweto Dog Unit have
not received much assistance from abroad since a DEA dog
trainer worked with them two years ago.
With 50 people in the dog squad, they cover all of Soweto 24
hours a day. At any given time, they are a few handlers short
that they have lost to border patrol or other special duties.
The lack of manpower would make it very difficult for them to
take advantage of training courses even if they were
available, but they would like to have access to information
about new techniques, drugs, and developments. All their
information, they say, they get from the street.
The Globalisation of Law Enforcement
According to some observers of the situation in South Africa,
training and good police work are not enough by themselves.
The criminal justice system in its entirety must work
reasonably well or effective law enforcement techniques will
not matter.
The establishment of laws that authorise conspiracy
investigations, promote criminal asset seizure and forfeiture
and prohibit money laundering, for example, would allow police
to employ the more sophisticated types of investigative
techniques that have been used successfully against organised
crime in some other countries. Some of this legislation,
modelled on those laws but adapted to South Africa's needs,
has already been proposed.
The judicial system must also have the procedural capacity to
successfully prosecute, convict and imprison guilty criminals
even when they have enormous legal talent at their disposal.
Incompetent or corrupt judges must be identified and properly
dealt with by a strong internal control system.
In addition, priorities based on sound information must be
established. Veteran law enforcement officials from abroad
refer to South Africa as a "target-rich environment," meaning
that there are a lot of criminals, or targets, for law
enforcement to go after. The problem with such an environment
is that government can quickly squander its limited crime
fighting resources and achieve only marginal results if they
use them to pursue highly elusive or unimportant targets.
An example of this might be using the entire SANAB force,
including its undercover agents, to arrest all the petty
dealers in Yeoville and Hillbrow. Arrest statistics would
rise temporarily, a few of the dealers would be successfully
prosecuted, and all of the agents' covers would be blown.
The only way law enforcement can "work smart" in a target-rich
environment is to have enough information to identify the size
and nature of the threat, assess its consequences, and design
an effective strategy to impose the most damage on the
criminal organisation at the least relative cost.
Going after syndicate leaders and financiers is one method
used successfully against the Cali drug cartel in Colombia.
The arrest and successful prosecution of a number of Cali
kingpins in 1995 was the result of years of front-end
information gathering and analysis. North American, European
and Asian law enforcement agencies worked closely with the
Colombian police in that process. There is no reason that the
same forces couldn't be marshalled against South Africa's
emerging criminal kingpins.
If the world were a fair place, South Africa would be given a
breather to sort out its own domestic political and economic
issues after all it's been through in the last 50 years. It
should not have to deal with gangs of highly mobile,
well-funded, and destabilising crime syndicates putting down
roots here. But the world is not fair, and the threat is
real. At least, South Africa will not have to go it alone.
Indeed, it appears that the world's best law enforcement
entities have concluded that, against modern criminal
organisations, no one can.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational
affiliate of the Washington Office on Africa. APIC's primary
objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States
around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by
concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and
individuals.
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