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Drug trade in Kyrgyzstan: structure, implications and countermeasures

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 23; Issue: 3-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0263493042000321362

1465-3354

Maral Madi,

Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance

Abstract Research for this article was made possible by funding from the Office of the National Drug Policy Coordinator, and the Crisis Management Agency, Stockholm, Sweden. Notes Research for this article was made possible by funding from the Office of the National Drug Policy Coordinator, and the Crisis Management Agency, Stockholm, Sweden. J. Ikelberg, ‘Drugs and conflict’, Discussion Paper, GTZ, 2002, p 12. For a detailed theoretical discussion of the state weaknesses see M. Madi, ‘Drug trafficking in weak states: case of Central Asia’, Uppsala University, 2003.⟨http://www.silkroadstudies.org/supervision.htm⟩. The Taliban movement inherited an already established opium economy when they came to power in Kabul 1996. The main source of income for the Taliban regime was the smuggling of consumer goods from Pakistan and other states. Several factors contributed to the creation of the drug economy in Afghanistan: (1) during the Afghan–Soviet war the opposition forces and mujaheddins needed a financial basis to acquire arms; (2) Iran, under Khomeini, strictly prohibited and combated drugs thus shifting the drug production into its neighboring countries, namely to Afghanistan and Pakistan; and (3) the withdrawal of the Soviets from Afghanistan in 1989 left the fighting sides without a financial supply from their masters, thus pushing them toward the alternative sources of financing, e.g. drug trafficking. According to UNODC there was an increase of 6 per cent in 2003 (3600 mt) opium production as compared to 3400 mt in 2002. Four years previously opium poppies were cultivated in 18 out of 32 provinces, but in 2003 it had spread to new areas and 28 provinces out of 32 are affected. K. Kuvatbekov, Gosudarstvennaya Politika Bor'by s Narkotizmom (Bishkek: State Commission for Drugs Control, 2003). The legal opium cultivation was ended in 1973 when the Soviet Union imposed a ban, because it became increasingly difficult to control the cultivation. For example in 1926 out of the collected 105,852 kg of opium 10 tons were diverted into illegal markets. A. Zelitchenko, Istoriya Afganskoi Narkoekspansii 1990h (SamIzdat, 2003), p 46. There is evidence that opium consumption spread to Central Asia from 1882 when Dungans and Uighurs (250,000 people) migrated to Central Asia from China. Those people were mainly opium poppy cultivators. For details see S. I. Lunev, ‘Cherniye parametry tenevoi ekonomiki’, Vostok, 2000, No 1, p 1. Kathryn Meyer and Terry Parssinen, Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998), p xvi. Ibid, p 3. Colonel Joseph Stitwell, serving as an American attaché in China in 1935 claimed that of these 90 per cent (72 million) used opium and the other 10 per cent (8 million) used morphine or heroin. Opioids such as opium, heroin, morphine and codeine. According to Daniyar Otorbaev, Head of the Department to Combat Narcobusiness under Kyrgyz Ministry of Interior: 30–40 per cent of Kyrgyz marijuana is produced for Kazakh customers, the rest is used within Kyrgyzstan and some northern parts of Russia. There are fields of wild growing cannabis, the total cultivation before 1998 was 5835 ha (in 2002, 3549 ha were eradicated). For details see International Narcotics Control Strategy 1998 report; and ‘V napravlenii glavnogo udara’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 10 August 1999. As a result of the high mortality occurring among addicts using ephedra-based drugs, their consumption is almost non-existent, although in 2003 there were 46,000 ha of ephedra in Kyrgyzstan. A. Bogdanov, ‘Kto postavit zaslon narkotrafiku?’, Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 1–2 May 2003. Up to 1997, heroin was given to drug dealers on top of opium at very cheap prices and after users became addicted, the prices of heroin in Kyrgyzstan increased. See A. Gol'd, ‘Karaul! Nas prikarmlivauyt geroinom’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 5 February 1999. There were reports on a new potent synthetic drug derived from fentanyl smuggled into Central Asia from China. M. Whitlock, ‘Potent new drug hits Central Asia’, BBC News Online, 21 January 2004. P. Jenkins, ‘Healing the hurts of nations: the human side of globalisation’, ch. 14.⟨http://www.palden.co.uk/hhn/hhn.html⟩, 13 January 2004. Meyer, op cit, Ref 7. K. Osmonaliev, Organizovannaya Prestupnost' v Kyrgyzskoi Respublike (Bishkek: Ministry of Interior, 2003), p 59. Some parts of this flowchart (Figure 1) were built based on the data obtained from Osmonaliev, ibid, p 43. ‘Kazakhstani officials confiscate 1.5 kg uranium oxide, heroin’, Interfax, 11 March 2002. Osmonaliev, op cit, Ref 15, p 30. Osmonaliev, op cit, Ref 15, p 36. For more details see M. Kenney, ‘From Pablo to Osama: counter-terrorism lessons from the war on drugs’, Survival, Vol 45, No 3, 2003, pp 187–206; I. Griffith, Drugs and Security in the Caribbean: Sovereignty Under Siege (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997). Where 10 is highly clean and 0 is highly corrupt. According to UNDP in 1995 Kyrgyzstan ranked 89, out of 174 countries, in human development index and in 2003 it ranked 102 (out of 174). N. Lubin, ‘Who is watching the watchdogs’, Journal of International Affairs, Vol 56, No 2, 2003, pp. 43–49. A. Gol'd, ‘Bishkek. Heroin. Interpol’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 28 December 2001. A. Gol'd, ‘Bishkek. Heroin. Interpol’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 28 December 2001. OGD, The World Politics of Drugs 1997–1998 (Paris, France: Observatoire Geopolitique des Drogues, 1998), p 94. A. Otorbaeva, ‘Besslavniy konets chempiona’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 4 September 1998. ‘V Kirgizii strada. Sbor konopli idet na vseh 5,000 gektarah’, Deutsche Welle, 23 October 2003. In 2003 in the Issyk–Kul region, the percentage of women involved in crime increased up to 29.8 per cent. ‘Sokrashyautsya posevy opiynogo maka v Priissyk–Kul'ye’, AKIpress, 24 December 2003. For a detailed discussion, see S. Cornell and R. Spector, ‘Central Asia: more than Islamic extremists’, The Washington Quarterly, Vol 25, No 1, 2002, p.5; and A. Rashid, Jihad: the Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002), pp. 137–155; V. Naumkin, Militant Islam in Central Asia: the Case of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (Berkeley, CA: University of California, 2003), p 27. Juma Namangani was killed in Mazar-e-Sharif in November 2001 during the US bombings of Afghanistan. D. Kyshtobaev, ‘Wahhabity planiruuyt udar: Kirgizia gotovitsya k otrazheniyu novoi agresii Islamskih fundamentalistov’, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 29 March 2000. It is notable that IMU intrusion into Batken and Chechen fighters intrusion into Dagestan were carried out at the same time, thus suggesting that both intrusions were planned. For a detailed discussion on IMU see Zelitchenko, op cit, Ref 5; Cornell, op cit, Ref 28; Rashid, op cit, Ref 28. K. Kozhanov and E. Avdeeva, ‘Echo of Batken’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 7 September 1999; A. Otorbaeva, ‘Batkenskiy dnevnik’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 3 September 1999. L. Akilova, ‘Rossiyane uhodyat. Poka’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 26 August 1999. Zelitchenko, op cit, Ref 5, p 28. S. Ikramov, ‘Proizvol Uzbekskih pravoohranitelei’, Initiative Group of Independent Legal Defenders of Uzbekistan, 3 December 2003; ‘Ex-security chief and henchmen to face trial in Turkmenistan’, RFE/FL Analytical Reports, 9 May 2002, Vol 2, No 18. ‘V Kirgizii oficialno zapresheny za ekstremism i terrorizm 4 organizatsii’, AKIpress, 20 December 2003. UNODCCP, Global Illicit Drug Trends 2002 (New York: UNODCCP, 2002), p 11. UNODC, Afghanistan Opium Survey (Vienna: UNODC, 2003), p 8. UNODC, op cit, Ref 39; UNODCCP, op cit, Ref 38, p 45. IMF, Islamic State of Afghanistan: Rebuilding a Macroeconomic Framework for Reconstruction and Growth (Country Report No. 03/299, 2003), p 22. For a detailed discussion see, ‘Poppy glut in Afghan markets’, News Central Asia, 1 October 2003; IMF, op cit, Ref 41, pp 38–43; P.-A. Chouvy, ‘The ironies of Afghan opium production’, Asia Times, 17 September 2003. Some of the information was quoted from Kuvatbekov, op cit, Ref 4, p 9. UNODCCP, op cit, Ref 38, p 12. UNODC, op cit, Ref 39, p 1. Brown heroin in the form of a base, also called ‘brown sugar’. See UNODCCP, Demand Reduction: Glossary of Terms (New York: UNODCCP, 2000). Quoted from IMF, op cit, Ref 41, p 43. PBS, ‘How Afghan origin opium reaches the West’, Photo Essay.⟨http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/centralasia/imap2.html#3⟩(20 March 2003). ‘Po severnomu marshrutu prohodit okolo 30% Afganskikh narkotikov’, RIA Novosti, 16 September 2003. ‘Natsionalniy biznes. Afghanstan nikak ne hochet rasstavatsya s geroinom’, Izvestiya, 10 October 2003. In 1999 Mr. Januzakov was a Secretary of the Security Council of Kyrgyzstan. ‘75 per cent of Afghan drugs pass through Central Asia’, Interfax Central Asia News, 21 November 2003. It is estimated that during 1999 over 80 per cent of the heroin seized in Europe transited the Balkan route. According to Interpol, the former Yugoslavian branch of this route, which was disrupted for a number of years because of civil war, apparently, reopened for drug traffic during 1996 and continued to be active in 1999. The Balkan route is supplied via Iran and Turkey. EMCDDA, Annual Report on the UK Drug Situation 2001 (Lisbon: EMCDDA, 2001). EMCDDA, Report on Drug Situation in Germany 2001 (Lisbon: EMCDDA, 2001). Drug Control Headquarters, National Drug Control Report (Iran: DCHQ, 2001), p 8. Drug Control Headquarters, National Drug Control Report (Iran: DCHQ, 2001), p 8. Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 November 2003 ‘Kyrgyz–Uzbek chegarasyn anyktoo boyuncha expertterdin jolugushuusu otyydyu’, Azattyk, 21 January 2004. ‘Na granitse Kyrgyzstana i Tadzhikistana ostalos’ eshe okolo 70 spornyh uchastkov', AKIpress, 17 December 2003. B. Rubin, S. Nunn and N. Lubin, ‘Calming the Ferghana Valley: development and dialogue in the heart of Central Asia’ Century Foundation Report, USA, The Twentieth Century Fund, 2000. For a detailed discussion on enclaves see F. Ahmedova, ‘Enclaves may provoke conflicts’, Global Security Cooperation Quarterly, No 10, Fall 2003. A. Novikova, ‘Afganistan ob'yavil Rossii voinu. Geroinovuyu’, Utro.ru, 26 April 2001. UNODC, Kyrgyzstan: Country Profile.⟨http://www.undcp.org/uzbekistan/en/country_profile_kyr.html⟩, 11 January 2004. Osmonaliev, op cit, Ref 15, p 14. UNODCCP, Global Illicit Drug Trends 2003 (New York: UNODCCP, 2003), p 172. Before anti-terrorist coalition allies entered Afghanistan the Taliban regime was earning up to US $40 million and the Northern Alliance up to US $60 million. A. Umarov, ‘Otkaze: pod opiyniy mak v Afgane zanyato 30 tysyach ga Luchshey Zemli’, Novosti Nedeli, No 34 (150), 27 August 2003. See N. Swanström, ‘The Southeast Asian and Chinese connection to drug trade in Central Asia’, Central Asia–Caucasus Analyst, 27 August 2003. ‘Torgovtsy beloi smert'yu’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 27 October 2003; ‘Narkogonets v kamuflyazhe’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 10 November 2003. Osmonaliev, op cit, Ref 15, pp 44–45. Osmonaliev, op cit, Ref 15, p 16. Kuvatbekov, op cit, Ref 4, p 12. On corruption cases in Central Asia, see Madi, op cit, Ref 2. B. Buzan and O. Waever, Security: a New Framework for Analysis (London: Lynne Rienner, 1998), p 153. A. Isaev, ‘U MNB byli eshe i geroinoviye tainy’, Delo No, 24 January 2001. Osmonaliev, op cit, Ref 15, p 36. A. Seger, Drugs and Development in the Central Asian Republics (Bonn: GTZ, 1996), p 14. A. Seger, Drugs and Development in the Central Asian Republics (Bonn: GTZ, 1996), p 15. A. Seger, Drugs and Development in the Central Asian Republics (Bonn: GTZ, 1996), p 17. ‘Pravitel'stvo Kirgizii priznalo uroven' tenevoi ekonomiki strany v 25%’, AKIpress, 15 February 2004. For a detailed discussion on money laundering in Kyrgyzstan see K. Osmonaliev, ‘Legal and organizational aspects of the fight against money laundering in Kyrgyzstan’, Report for the Deutsche Stiftung für Internationale Entwicklung.⟨http://www.dse.de/ef/crime/osmonaliev.htm⟩, 12 January 2004. In Kyrgyzstan the drug addicts usually buy cheaper brown heroin that is used for smoking, but since smoking is rather expensive the lesser amount is converted to the salt form by adding acid (citric) and mixed with water and injected. For details on brown heroin conversion into salt form, see UNODCCP, op cit, Ref 46. ‘8 iz 10 narkomanov prozhivauyut v chuiskoi doline’, AKIpress, 2 April 2003. Ibid. In 2001 the highest number of IDUs were in the Chui region (79.3%), in Bishkek City (79.2%), in the Osh region (73.4%) and in Osh City (87%). In 2001 the opiate addicts were concentrated to Chui (75.4%), Osh (73.4%) and Bishkek (69.4%). S. Maichiev, ‘STDs/HIV/AIDS prophylaxis in the Kyrgyz Republic’,⟨www.ilo.ru/aids/docs/dec02/cis/Kyrgyzstan-eng.pdf⟩, 13 January 2004; and The State Programme on the Prevention of AIDS, and Intravenously and Sexually Transmitted Infections for 2001–2005 (Bishkek: Printhouse, 2002). N. Swanström and M. Madi, ‘The emperors' new clothes: international cooperation against drug trafficking in Central Asia’, in K. Santhanam, ed, United Nations, Multilateralism and International Security (Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi: SHIPRA, 2004). For a detailed discussion on international cooperation see Swanström and Madi, op cit, Ref 84. DCA's main task is to combat transnational criminal groups involved in regional and international drug trafficking activities. DCA is a coordinating governmental agency, though it does not include the department to combat narco-business under the National Security Service; and the department to combat narco-business under the Ministry of Interior. Mr Kuvatbekov, Director of DCA, stated that the work of DCA and the above mentioned departments do not overlap, and they complement each other. B. Maripov, ‘Na bor'bu s narkobiznesom v novom sostave’, Obshestvenniy Reiting, No 29 (151), 24 July 2003. The State Programme on the Prevention of AIDS, op cit, Ref 83. Following state structures are involved in this state program: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Defense, the state mass media; including NGOs, UNDP, WHO and AIDS centers. In January 2004, USAID launched a program on reduction of drug demand in the Ferghana valley in Kyrgyzstan. ‘Bishkekskiy ofis USAID vystupit protiv narkotikov v Ferganskoi Doline’, KyrgyzInfo, 26 January 2004. For details on local initiatives in health sector see ‘Aaron’ Peak–Peak Options Consulting, ‘Summary of fact finding mission to Kyrgyzstan’,⟨http://www.eurasianet.org/policy_forum/kyrgyzst030101a.shtml⟩, 15 January 2004. See Aaron Peak–Peak Options Consulting, op cit, Ref 89. Osmonaliev, op cit, Ref 79. ‘Kogda Chinovniki otkazhutsya ot vzyatok’, Vecherniy Bishkek, 4 December 2003. Kuvatbekov, op cit, Ref 4, p 8. The following UN projects were completed: ‘mapping of areas of the drug containing plants in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’ (AD/RER/97C32) with a budget of US $742,600 (November 2000); ‘the creation of the agencies and strengthening of the measures on drug control’ (AD/KYR/94/842) with a budget of US $551,000 (May 1994). Kuvatbekov, op cit, Ref 4, p 17. ‘Strengthening of law enforcement agencies and cooperation development at the borders of the Central Asian sub-region (Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan–Uzbekistan)’ (AD/RER/96/B88) budgeted at US $1,863,257. It is believed that the project could not work, partially because of the disagreements between the project and at that time Director of the State Commission for Drugs Control of Kyrgyzstan, General Mameev. ‘Precursors control’ project (AD/RER/00/E29) covers period 2000–2005 with a budget of US $5 million and ‘drug law enforcement systems’ project (AD/RER/00/F23) budgeted at US $811,000. For description of the projects see ‘UNODC Projects in Central Asia’,⟨http://www.undcp.org/uzbekistan/en/projects.html⟩, 20 January 2004. ‘V Kyrgyzstane poyavyatsya 2 novyh kpp protiv narkotikov’, KyrgyzInfo, 26 January 2004. ‘E.U.'s Central Asian Drug Action Programme’,⟨http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/tacis/publications/general/case_studies/project_25.pdf⟩, 20 January 2004. V. Neshkumai, ‘E.U. to help Kyrgyzstan in fighting drug trafficking’, ITAR–TASS, 13 January 2004. ITAR–TASS, 12 June 2002. The MoU is a result of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), which was set up in 1992 and in recent years developed a strong focus on strengthening drug control in the region. ECO includes all five CARs, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. ‘Ministry Soveshalis’. Raboty nepochatiy krai', Vecherniy Bishkek, 2 May 2003. M. J. Dziedzic, ‘The transnational drug trade and regional security’, Survival, Vol 31, No 6, 1989, p 534. Drug Control Headquarters, op cit, Ref 55, p 5.