Drug Smugglers Discover Romania -- Light Penalties, Inadequate Laws `Encouraging' Traffickers

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By Cristi Cretzan



BUCHAREST, Romania - In Malaysia, drug smugglers are hanged.

In the United States, a large-scale trafficker can get life imprisonment.

But in Romania, the maximum penalty is five years in jail.

So perhaps not surprisingly, since the 1989 collapse of communism and the 1991 outbreak of war in neighboring Yugoslavia, the main route for smuggling drugs from the Middle East and Asia to western Europe has shifted east through Romania.

"Our law encourages smugglers," Col. Ion Roibu, the police drug-squad chief, complained in an interview.

In addition to worrying about how that might affect relations with European neighbors, authorities fear that the stream of drugs passing through will lead to an increase in domestic abuse, currently almost nil.

Alain Giaroli, a drug specialist at Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, says Romania became a key transit point for smuggling after the fall of communism loosened its border controls. He estimates thousands of pounds of heroin pass through each year.

The International Narcotics Control Board, a United Nations agency, said in its report for 1995 that most of the 10 tons of heroin seized in Europe last year had been transported through the Balkans. It cited the Yugoslav conflict as a key factor in Romania's new role.

Light penalties - from six months in prison to a maximum of five years - are another factor.

The laws on trafficking date to the Communist era, when tight

controls on travel by foreigners and Romanians made it difficult to engage in smuggling.

And Marxist theory also held that crime was a problem only for capitalist societies.

In a 1992 case cited by Roibu, a Turkish man who owns a hotel in Romania was caught with 121 pounds of heroin in his car.

"He was sentenced to one year and two months in jail," Roibu said. "Now he is free and does business in the country. How much heroin did he need to smuggle to get the maximum punishment?"

Parliament is working on a law to increase penalties. Under the draft law, drug smugglers could get 15 years in jail, and face up to life in prison if they were found to be part of an organized network.

The legislation was adopted by the Senate and is now before the Chamber of Deputies. But it is unlikely to be approved this term, which ends in July, because of other issues considered more pressing, including the recent passage of the government budget and consideration of new election laws.

Meanwhile, Romanian police and customs officials say they lack the training and equipment needed to combat smuggling.

Drugs from Asia arrive in Turkey then go north to Bulgaria, on to Romania and then Hungary before they reach Western Europe.

According to Interpol statistics, about 70 percent of the drugs destined for the West European market are transported on this route. Heroin, opium, hashish and cocaine top the list of smuggled narcotics.

The smugglers are mainly from countries like Turkey, Britain and the Netherlands, although authorities say Romanians are also involved.

Roibu said Romanian authorities have seized more than 13 tons of narcotics in the past five years, although that is believed to be only one-tenth of what crossed the country.

"We can only manage to check the transiting trucks when we have very strong suspicions," said Mihaela Dragos, chief of the Customs Anti-Drug Service.

Searching a single truck takes at least four hours because of a lack of tools and manpower.

"Sometimes, our officers use their penknife because they don't have an ordinary screwdriver," Dragos said.

The United States and Britain have offered to give Romania a few drug-sniffing dogs; it currently has none. But even free dogs would pose problems in Romania, where the average monthly salary is the equivalent of $100 and meat is expensive.

"First, we have to persuade some of our officers to take these dogs home," Dragos said. "Otherwise we can't afford to take care of them."

Romanians have begun to catch onto the idea of making easy money. A middleman can earn $1,000 for 11 pounds of heroin transported through the country.

In 1991 only one Romanian was prosecuted for drug smuggling. Since then, 100 Romanians have been prosecuted, along with 229 foreigners.

Authorities also foresee an increase in drug usage by Romanians.

Only a few cases have been reported so far, because of a lack of availability and high prices by Romanian standards - $1.50 for a gram of hashish to $20 for a gram of heroin.

But the rising flow of drugs could bring down prices.

"In the next years we'll have a boom of cases," Roibu predicted. "If we don't do something now, then it will be too late."

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[KawaiiKawaii]

Same in Switzerland, Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Basel and Bern have become huge open air drug markets. French drug addicts comme to Geneva because heroin is much cheaper and the penalties are non-existant. Well, every country should open state controlled pharmacies where junkies can buy their drugs. Profits for the state, clean drugs, no criminality associated with dealers - everything is cool Plus psychologically, medicalizing drugs make them much less cool, so the "I'm a rebel I sniff glue" effect disappears.