Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) seized about 15 lakh yaba tablets worth an estimated Tk 75 crore on the street and arrested 12 people after intercepting a fishing trawler coming to the country from Myanmar early yesterday.
The arrestees, five of whom are Myanmar citizens, were bringing the haul to Chittagong, Rab said.
On information that a trawler was on its way, Rab intercepted it at the outer anchorage of Chittagong port, said Rab-7 Commanding Officer Lt Col Miftah Uddin Ahmed at a press conference at his office yesterday.
Searching the trawler, Rab personnel later uncovered the large haul, he said.
The trawler, named "Mayer Doa [mother's blessings]" was fitted with a bus engine to be able to go faster, he added.
The five arrested Myanmar citizens are Ismail, 20, Abdul Khalek, 20, Saddam Hossain, 19, Nur Alam, 25 and Selim , 20. The rest are Cox's Bazar's Nazir Ahmed, 55, Hashem, 19, Khairul Amin, 20, Zafor, 30, Khokan, 25 and Anisur Rahman, 18 of Bandarban's Chhadek.
In primary interrogation, the arrestees said the haul and the vessel were owned by one Faruque alias Baittya Faruque, 42, of Patiya upazila. Miftah said they were looking for him.
Rab-7 Senior Assistant Director Mimtanur Rahman, quoting the arrestees, said drug traffickers used the trawler to go to Myanmar at least five times and smuggled in about 30 lakh yaba tablets recently.
Miftah said drug traffickers recently started bringing consignments of yaba through unfrequented coastal areas in Chittagong such as Gohira, Potenga, Anwara, Khejurtola, Halishahar, Bhatiyari and Kumira at night.
Since January 2016, Rab-7 recovered over 1.18 crore yaba tablets, he added.
Yaba are tablets containing a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine.
From ya khayan (energy pill) in its early days to ya maa (horse medicine), the drug was named ya ba (crazy pill) in 1996".It was given to horses when pulling carts up steep hills and for other strenuous work in Shan State.
Ya ba is sometimes called "bhul bhuliya" in India. The name commonly used for it in the Philippines and Indonesia is "shabú". In north Thailand it is often referred to as "chocalee" due to the somewhat sweet taste ya ba leaves in the mouth and its strong chocolate smell. The name commonly used for it in China is "ma-goo" or "ma-guo". In Bangladesh it's colloquially known as "baba".
Ya ba is typically produced in a round pill form. There are many different versions of ya ba, and the most common are red, orange, or lime green in color and carry logos such as "R" or "WY". They are small and round, roughly 6 millimetres (0.24 in) in diameter, which means they can be packed inside a plastic soda straw for easy transportation or in a reusable "mint" container.
Ya ba tablets typically are consumed orally. Another common method is called "chasing the dragon". Users place the ya ba tablet on aluminum foil and heat it from below. As the tablet melts, vapors rise and are inhaled. The drug also may be administered by crushing the tablets into powder, which is then snorted or mixed with a solvent and injected.
When swallowed in pill form the duration of the drug's effect is between 8–16 hours, as compared to 1–3 hours when smoked, while the intensity is considerably reduced. The peak of the drug's effect is followed by a come down period lasting 6–10 hours, during which the user may have difficulty sleeping or eating. Many users report that it takes them up to 24 hours after consumption to be able to fall asleep.
Ya ba is not commonly injected as many intravenous users favour the pure product instead (methamphetamine, called "ice" in Southeast Asia). This illegal drug is especially popular in Thailand, where it is imported from Burma or Laos even though it is sometimes manufactured locally in Thailand.
Typical ya ba users are working males, aged 16–40 years old, and its use is not uncommon among both female and male prostitutes in Thailand and Cambodia.
Myanmar is the largest producer of methamphetamine in the world, with the majority of ya ba found in Thailand being produced in Burma, particularly in the Golden Triangle and northeastern Shan State, which borders Thailand, Laos, and China. In 2010, Burma trafficked 1 billion tablets to neighboring Thailand.
Ethnic militias and rebel groups,in particular the United Wa State Army are responsible for much of this production; however, the Burmese military units are believed to be heavily involved in the trafficking of the drugs.
Ya ba tablets were formerly sold at gas stations and were commonly used by long-haul drivers to stay awake. After many horrific long-distance bus accidents, they were outlawed by the Thai government in 1970.
The deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's campaign from 2003 on to eliminate drug-trafficking further helped to curtail widespread use. In particular, use of the drug by bus drivers and truckers is not as widespread as it was in the 1980s.
As a result of the Thai government crackdown, restricted supply has had an effect on prices, further curtailing the popular use of ya ba. In 1999–2000, when buying a straw-full (around 20 pills) in Chiang Rai Province, north Thailand, ya ba was sold for around 10 baht per pill and commonly used on the go-go circuit and by young "MTV" clubbers.
Retail prices have risen from 100–150 baht (US$3–4) to 250–450 baht per pill as a result of the crackdown, though it remains a popular party drug.
In 2000, ya ba was smuggled across the porous border with Myanmar and from the neighbouring Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai Provinces of Thailand. Illegal traffickers often marketed or promoted their product by claiming that the pills contained up to six percent heroin. Rumour suggested it was produced by the corrupt personnel of Wa State Army in Burma.
In 2014, it was reported that Thailand's northeast provinces have seen a 700 percent increase in the number of people arrested for meth since 2008, according to data from the Narcotics Suppression Bureau.
In 2013, authorities counted more than 33,000 meth-related arrests in the northeast. The rapid growth of ya ba use in Isan mirrors that which is occurring across Asia, which now accounts for more than 50 percent of global amphetamine-type stimulant users.
On 16 June 2016, the National Council for Peace and Order, the military junta ruling Thailand, stated that it was planning to decriminalise ya ba in the country.
In 2006, ya ba ma consumption became fashionable for the well-to-do in Bangladesh. A series of highly publicized drug raids in 2007 by authorities implicated some well-known business people.Although the extent of ya ba abuse in Bangladesh is not precisely known, seizures of the drug by authorities are frequent.
It is also believed those who use it on a regular basis are frequently involved in the distribution of the drug, either directly or indirectly.It is commonly known in Bangladesh as "khaon", "pill", "BABA", "gari", "guti", and "bori", among other street names.
Many Rohingya refugees are hired to smuggle yaba from Myanmar into Bangladesh.In 2016, 359 Rohingyas were arrested on yaba-smuggling charges, and up to $29 million worth of yaba was seized by the Bangladeshi authorities.
In February 2010 it was reported that increasingly large quantities of ya ba were being smuggled into Israel by Thai migrant workers, leading to fears that its use would spread to the Israeli club scene, where ecstasy use is already common. In recent years, it has also been used by immigrant populations in the United States, and occasionally as a club drug replacing ecstasy.
The majority of long term effects associated with ya ba are analogous with those of methamphetamine, as ya ba mainly consists of caffeine and methamphetamine. Side effects include long-term decline of cognitive functions.[
Tourism, Travel, Hospitality, Conservation: News,Stories And Experiences From Allover The World
Showing posts with label Golden Triangle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golden Triangle. Show all posts
Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Friday, 28 April 2017
JORDAN: Golden Triangle Of Tourism,Wadi Rum, Petra And Aqaba Most Affected By Drop In Tourist Arrivals
The drop in tourists is most noticeable in what is known as Jordan's 'golden triangle' of tourism: the sites of Wadi Rum, Petra and Aqaba.
Shaker al-Onaizi started his career in tourism at the age of five by selling postcards to tourists who flocked to the desert expanse of Wadi Rum in southern Jordan.
Now the 24-year-old, like tens of thousands of other Jordanians who rely on tourism for their living, is facing his leanest year. Campsites are empty, and his 4x4 pick-up truck, which once took dozens of visitors on guided tours each day, sits idle.
"If there are tourists, we work and eat. If not, we sleep," Onaizi said as he gazed across the reddish desert.
While tourism in Jordan has been on the decline since the outbreak of the Arab Spring uprisings four years ago, it has witnessed its sharpest drop in 2015, with the number of tourists in the first four months of the year down 40 percent from 2014.
The tourism sector makes up 13 percent of Jordan's gross domestic product, and provides jobs in hotels and resorts for around 49,000 people. This figure excludes members of local communities - Bedouins in Petra and Onaizi in Rum - whose livelihoods are based on tourism.
Officials and experts in the sector attribute the decline to Jordan's prominent role in the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). "We are paying a tax for being in the middle of an inflamed region," said Abul Razaq Arabiat, the head of Jordan's Tourism Board.
In December, ISIL downed a Jordanian jet and captured its pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, in the Syrian city of Raqqa. In February, ISIL released a video showing the pilot being burned alive, sparking angry protests across Jordan calling for revenge and increased Jordanian air strikes against the group in Syria.
Tourism industry leaders say the worldwide publicity created by these events scared off thousands of tourists, prompting tour groups to cancel their bookings to the kingdom.
"The pilot crisis created a perception that Jordan is not safe," said Lina Khalid, director of the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association.
The capture of the pilot happened at around the same time as the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, which Khalid believes also caused thousands of cancellations.
Many French tourists were worried by demonstrations against the cartoons that took place in Jordan,she said
Late last year and early this year, the US and French embassies in Jordan issued travel warnings, asking their citizens to be cautious and to stay away from malls and shopping centres in the country. The travel warnings have "discouraged many Westerners" from visiting Jordan, according to Arabiat.
The drop in tourists is most noticeable in what is known as Jordan's "golden triangle" of tourism: the sites of Wadi Rum, Petra, and Aqaba.
According to Khalid, occupancy of hotels in the region has not exceeded 20 percent so far this year, whereas normally occupancy rates can reach 90-95 percent.
The ancient city of Petra is nearly empty; on one day in early June, just a few dozen tourists wandered its cavernous gorges and rock-carved temples. Out of desperation, children clung to the occasional visitor who passed by, trying to sell them postcards.
Bedouin men and women advertised 50-percent-off sales on silver and antiques, while young men strolled back and forth, treading the same dusty paths with their horses and camels, trying to convince the handful of visitors to take a guided tour.
In Petra alone, 10 hotels have been reported closed this year due to mounting losses, and many have reduced their staff, leaving hundreds of residents jobless.
In Rum village, which has a population of roughly 1,300, people rely mainly on tourism as a source of income, while others work in the military or herd animals.
Onaizi, the tour guide, who dropped out of school at the age of 14 to help his father open one of the area's first campsites, said that unless the industry rebounds soon, he and many of his peers will abandon the sector.
"I have been engaged for a year and a half, and I do not know how long it will take me to build my future home," said Onaizi. In previous years, his camp used to host up to 30 or 40 people a night; now, barely a handful trickle in each week.
In recent weeks, the Jordanian government announced that it was taking measures and adopting an "emergency plan" to address the challenges facing the country's tourism sector.
The measures include waiving the $56 visa fee for visitors staying in the country for a minimum of two consecutive nights, and introducing a new, $100 "all-inclusive" pass for the country's most famous tourist sites, such as Petra, Jerash, and the site where Jesus is believed to have been baptised. Currently, the entry fee to Petra alone is $70.
Jordan's Ministry of Tourism avoids giving clarifications.
But it remains to be seen whether these measures will be enough to counter potential tourists' security concerns.
"Instability around us will remain our biggest challenge," Arabiat said. "Until the regional turmoil calms down, we have to tell the world that Jordan is safe."
Standing on a hill overlooking the flat green plains that stretch between the northern Jordanian town of Ramtha and the Syrian border, Ahmad Abu Sarhan laments the devastating consequences of the Syrian war on his hometown.
"Here, we are living in a state of war - without war," said Abu Sarhan, a 43-year-old shopkeeper.
Once known as the "Sinbads" of Jordan due to their relentless trade and ability to find commercial opportunities abroad, residents of Ramtha, 90km north of Amman, relied on the ancient route to Syria as their lifeline, counting on trade and transport between the two countries for income.
But ever since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in 2011, thousands of Ramtha families have lost their livelihoods, and now struggle to put food on the table. "Our war is economic. We are fighting to feed our children," Abu Sarhan said.
The final nail in Ramtha's economic coffin was the closure of the Jaber-Nassib border crossing after Syrian rebel groups seized it on April 4. Amid the chaos on the Syrian side, armed fighters and civilians reportedly looted the Syrian-Jordanian free zone, with losses estimated at 100 million Jordanian dinars ($140m).
"Overnight, I lost all my business and my staff lost their jobs," said Abdullah Abu Aqoolah, whose car dealership was looted. After boasting a display of 388 cars, he has only six left to his name now.
Nabil Rumman, the manager of Jordan's free zones, estimates that some 7,000 Jordanians - working in logistics, transport and other services - have lost their jobs since the Jaber-Nassib border closure.
The majority of those laid off were from Ramtha, cutting the last sources of income for the border town, while others hailed from the northern Jordanian towns of Irbid and Mafraq, which are also housing an influx of more than 200,000 Syrian refugees.
"It is a blow for the Jordanian economy, but it is the work force that has been hit hardest," Rumman said. Heavy items such as wood and construction equipment survived the looting and have been transferred to the Zarqa Free Zone, according to Rumman.
But for the residents of Ramtha, this was just the latest, and most devastating, of a series of attacks that have gradually taken away their livelihoods.
In 2011, Jordanian authorities closed the Deraa-Ramtha border crossing, a move that cost 3,500 taxi drivers their jobs, according to residents and community leaders. It also gradually blocked the flow of goods such as cotton, food and clothing from Syria to Ramtha's wholesale merchants.
"The economy in Ramtha was on life support for the past three years, but the latest closure has completely killed it," said Abdul Salam Thunibat, head of Ramtha's Chamber of Commerce. The number of active merchants in the border town registered with the chamber declined from 6,500 in 2010, to 1,000 in 2015, according to Thunibat.
"They cannot afford to pay rent, taxes, and salaries when there are no goods coming in," Thunibat said, adding that some merchants have turned to Turkey and China to import from, shouldering higher transportation costs.
By midday in Ramtha, most shops remain shuttered, with no local demand to encourage them to open. Even the local butcher offers his customers an economic choice between "fresh meat" or days-old "leftovers", due to declining demand and purchasing power.
The Syrian war has not only cut off the border town's lifeline. It has also brought an influx of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, who have strained the local infrastructure in Ramtha and flooded the labour force with cheap, skilled labour that out-price Jordanian workers.
Rihab Krasneh, 37, shut down her 15-year-old hair salon in Ramtha after her customers turned to Syrian hairstylists who offered half-price services in their own homes. "They do not pay for rent or taxes, so whatever they earn is profit," Krasneh said.
Locals blame the Jordanian government for not doing enough to create job opportunities or improve the services and infrastructure that have been burdened by the Syrian crisis. Before the Syrian war, Ramtha's population stood at 90,000. With the influx of refugees, it has ballooned to 160,000, according to Ibraheem Saqqar, head of Ramtha's municipality.
The Jordanian government received $216m in aid to help the country cope with the pressure placed on them by the Syrian crisis. But Ramtha locals say the government has not properly allocated the funds. "We still have only one hospital. No more schools have been built, and no job opportunities were created with this aid money they talk about," Saqqar said.
The only noteworthy addition to the town has been the establishment of two new cemeteries donated by a local charity, after the war raging a few kilometres away filled up Ramtha's burial plots.
The only "breathing space for families", a community garden known as King Abdullah Gardens, was long ago converted into a camp for Syrian refugees.
Jordanian officials, however, say that aid money is not sufficient to solve the problems caused by the Syrian crisis.
With Jordanian border towns suffering economically and coping with a doubling of the population, they say their needs are too great and the donations too few. With so much need, they say it is difficult to know where to allocate the limited funds.
"Regardless of how much you do, it is not going to have an impact because the sheer numbers of refugees are enormous," Hassan Assaf, governor of Irbid,said. "If I have a million dinars, will it be enough to build a school, hospital, or fix streets?"
Meanwhile, the sounds of the Syrian war, which has killed 210,000 and displaced 3.7 million Syrians, continue to echo in Ramtha.
Every night, the crack of gunfire and the low rumble of shelling from Syria interrupts their sleep, while the occasional mortar shell falls on Jordanian soil. Luckily, the errant mortars have caused no casualties, but several Ramtha residents have been wounded over the past four years.
And lately, pictures of civilians and armed groups looting the free zones have been circulating over mobile phones. To protect their children from the echoes of war, Abu Sarhan and his wife used to tell them that the sounds of shelling were fireworks from celebrations.
But now as the children "go to school with Syrian children who tell them horrific stories about the shelling", the war has crept into their home as well.
Shaker al-Onaizi started his career in tourism at the age of five by selling postcards to tourists who flocked to the desert expanse of Wadi Rum in southern Jordan.
Now the 24-year-old, like tens of thousands of other Jordanians who rely on tourism for their living, is facing his leanest year. Campsites are empty, and his 4x4 pick-up truck, which once took dozens of visitors on guided tours each day, sits idle.
"If there are tourists, we work and eat. If not, we sleep," Onaizi said as he gazed across the reddish desert.
While tourism in Jordan has been on the decline since the outbreak of the Arab Spring uprisings four years ago, it has witnessed its sharpest drop in 2015, with the number of tourists in the first four months of the year down 40 percent from 2014.
The tourism sector makes up 13 percent of Jordan's gross domestic product, and provides jobs in hotels and resorts for around 49,000 people. This figure excludes members of local communities - Bedouins in Petra and Onaizi in Rum - whose livelihoods are based on tourism.
Officials and experts in the sector attribute the decline to Jordan's prominent role in the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). "We are paying a tax for being in the middle of an inflamed region," said Abul Razaq Arabiat, the head of Jordan's Tourism Board.
In December, ISIL downed a Jordanian jet and captured its pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, in the Syrian city of Raqqa. In February, ISIL released a video showing the pilot being burned alive, sparking angry protests across Jordan calling for revenge and increased Jordanian air strikes against the group in Syria.
Tourism industry leaders say the worldwide publicity created by these events scared off thousands of tourists, prompting tour groups to cancel their bookings to the kingdom.
"The pilot crisis created a perception that Jordan is not safe," said Lina Khalid, director of the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association.
The capture of the pilot happened at around the same time as the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, which Khalid believes also caused thousands of cancellations.
Many French tourists were worried by demonstrations against the cartoons that took place in Jordan,she said
Late last year and early this year, the US and French embassies in Jordan issued travel warnings, asking their citizens to be cautious and to stay away from malls and shopping centres in the country. The travel warnings have "discouraged many Westerners" from visiting Jordan, according to Arabiat.
The drop in tourists is most noticeable in what is known as Jordan's "golden triangle" of tourism: the sites of Wadi Rum, Petra, and Aqaba.
According to Khalid, occupancy of hotels in the region has not exceeded 20 percent so far this year, whereas normally occupancy rates can reach 90-95 percent.
The ancient city of Petra is nearly empty; on one day in early June, just a few dozen tourists wandered its cavernous gorges and rock-carved temples. Out of desperation, children clung to the occasional visitor who passed by, trying to sell them postcards.
Bedouin men and women advertised 50-percent-off sales on silver and antiques, while young men strolled back and forth, treading the same dusty paths with their horses and camels, trying to convince the handful of visitors to take a guided tour.
In Petra alone, 10 hotels have been reported closed this year due to mounting losses, and many have reduced their staff, leaving hundreds of residents jobless.
In Rum village, which has a population of roughly 1,300, people rely mainly on tourism as a source of income, while others work in the military or herd animals.
Onaizi, the tour guide, who dropped out of school at the age of 14 to help his father open one of the area's first campsites, said that unless the industry rebounds soon, he and many of his peers will abandon the sector.
"I have been engaged for a year and a half, and I do not know how long it will take me to build my future home," said Onaizi. In previous years, his camp used to host up to 30 or 40 people a night; now, barely a handful trickle in each week.
In recent weeks, the Jordanian government announced that it was taking measures and adopting an "emergency plan" to address the challenges facing the country's tourism sector.
The measures include waiving the $56 visa fee for visitors staying in the country for a minimum of two consecutive nights, and introducing a new, $100 "all-inclusive" pass for the country's most famous tourist sites, such as Petra, Jerash, and the site where Jesus is believed to have been baptised. Currently, the entry fee to Petra alone is $70.
Jordan's Ministry of Tourism avoids giving clarifications.
But it remains to be seen whether these measures will be enough to counter potential tourists' security concerns.
"Instability around us will remain our biggest challenge," Arabiat said. "Until the regional turmoil calms down, we have to tell the world that Jordan is safe."
Standing on a hill overlooking the flat green plains that stretch between the northern Jordanian town of Ramtha and the Syrian border, Ahmad Abu Sarhan laments the devastating consequences of the Syrian war on his hometown.
"Here, we are living in a state of war - without war," said Abu Sarhan, a 43-year-old shopkeeper.
Once known as the "Sinbads" of Jordan due to their relentless trade and ability to find commercial opportunities abroad, residents of Ramtha, 90km north of Amman, relied on the ancient route to Syria as their lifeline, counting on trade and transport between the two countries for income.
But ever since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in 2011, thousands of Ramtha families have lost their livelihoods, and now struggle to put food on the table. "Our war is economic. We are fighting to feed our children," Abu Sarhan said.
The final nail in Ramtha's economic coffin was the closure of the Jaber-Nassib border crossing after Syrian rebel groups seized it on April 4. Amid the chaos on the Syrian side, armed fighters and civilians reportedly looted the Syrian-Jordanian free zone, with losses estimated at 100 million Jordanian dinars ($140m).
"Overnight, I lost all my business and my staff lost their jobs," said Abdullah Abu Aqoolah, whose car dealership was looted. After boasting a display of 388 cars, he has only six left to his name now.
Nabil Rumman, the manager of Jordan's free zones, estimates that some 7,000 Jordanians - working in logistics, transport and other services - have lost their jobs since the Jaber-Nassib border closure.
The majority of those laid off were from Ramtha, cutting the last sources of income for the border town, while others hailed from the northern Jordanian towns of Irbid and Mafraq, which are also housing an influx of more than 200,000 Syrian refugees.
"It is a blow for the Jordanian economy, but it is the work force that has been hit hardest," Rumman said. Heavy items such as wood and construction equipment survived the looting and have been transferred to the Zarqa Free Zone, according to Rumman.
But for the residents of Ramtha, this was just the latest, and most devastating, of a series of attacks that have gradually taken away their livelihoods.
In 2011, Jordanian authorities closed the Deraa-Ramtha border crossing, a move that cost 3,500 taxi drivers their jobs, according to residents and community leaders. It also gradually blocked the flow of goods such as cotton, food and clothing from Syria to Ramtha's wholesale merchants.
"The economy in Ramtha was on life support for the past three years, but the latest closure has completely killed it," said Abdul Salam Thunibat, head of Ramtha's Chamber of Commerce. The number of active merchants in the border town registered with the chamber declined from 6,500 in 2010, to 1,000 in 2015, according to Thunibat.
"They cannot afford to pay rent, taxes, and salaries when there are no goods coming in," Thunibat said, adding that some merchants have turned to Turkey and China to import from, shouldering higher transportation costs.
By midday in Ramtha, most shops remain shuttered, with no local demand to encourage them to open. Even the local butcher offers his customers an economic choice between "fresh meat" or days-old "leftovers", due to declining demand and purchasing power.
The Syrian war has not only cut off the border town's lifeline. It has also brought an influx of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, who have strained the local infrastructure in Ramtha and flooded the labour force with cheap, skilled labour that out-price Jordanian workers.
Rihab Krasneh, 37, shut down her 15-year-old hair salon in Ramtha after her customers turned to Syrian hairstylists who offered half-price services in their own homes. "They do not pay for rent or taxes, so whatever they earn is profit," Krasneh said.
Locals blame the Jordanian government for not doing enough to create job opportunities or improve the services and infrastructure that have been burdened by the Syrian crisis. Before the Syrian war, Ramtha's population stood at 90,000. With the influx of refugees, it has ballooned to 160,000, according to Ibraheem Saqqar, head of Ramtha's municipality.
The Jordanian government received $216m in aid to help the country cope with the pressure placed on them by the Syrian crisis. But Ramtha locals say the government has not properly allocated the funds. "We still have only one hospital. No more schools have been built, and no job opportunities were created with this aid money they talk about," Saqqar said.
The only noteworthy addition to the town has been the establishment of two new cemeteries donated by a local charity, after the war raging a few kilometres away filled up Ramtha's burial plots.
The only "breathing space for families", a community garden known as King Abdullah Gardens, was long ago converted into a camp for Syrian refugees.
Jordanian officials, however, say that aid money is not sufficient to solve the problems caused by the Syrian crisis.
With Jordanian border towns suffering economically and coping with a doubling of the population, they say their needs are too great and the donations too few. With so much need, they say it is difficult to know where to allocate the limited funds.
"Regardless of how much you do, it is not going to have an impact because the sheer numbers of refugees are enormous," Hassan Assaf, governor of Irbid,said. "If I have a million dinars, will it be enough to build a school, hospital, or fix streets?"
Meanwhile, the sounds of the Syrian war, which has killed 210,000 and displaced 3.7 million Syrians, continue to echo in Ramtha.
Every night, the crack of gunfire and the low rumble of shelling from Syria interrupts their sleep, while the occasional mortar shell falls on Jordanian soil. Luckily, the errant mortars have caused no casualties, but several Ramtha residents have been wounded over the past four years.
And lately, pictures of civilians and armed groups looting the free zones have been circulating over mobile phones. To protect their children from the echoes of war, Abu Sarhan and his wife used to tell them that the sounds of shelling were fireworks from celebrations.
But now as the children "go to school with Syrian children who tell them horrific stories about the shelling", the war has crept into their home as well.
Thursday, 22 October 2015
MEXICO: Jailbreaker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Henchmen Arrested
Mexico's government on Wednesday announced the capture of six people believed responsible for the July prison break by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, including the elusive drug lord's brother-in-law and the suspected mastermind of the escape.
Attorney General Arely Gomez said the alleged mastermind is a member of Guzman's legal team who had access to the Altiplano prison near Mexico City, and was able to notify the capo of the operation's progress and receive instructions. The person also purportedly relayed orders and payments to others involved in the escape.
Other suspects arrested included Guzman's brother-in-law, believed to have supervised construction of the mile-long (1.5-kilometer) escape tunnel and organized transportation; a person who negotiated the purchase of the plot of land where the tunnel emerged; and an airplane pilot.
"Today we are able to affirm that the group responsible for planning, organizing and carrying out the escape from outside the prison) has been broken up," Gomez said.
She confirmed that after the escape, the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel boss traveled by land to the city of Queretaro where officials say he caught a small plane to a mountainous region of Sinaloa, his home state and stronghold.
The attorney general added that two Cessna aircraft left from Queretaro. She did not give details or take questions, but a federal official who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity said one of the flights was apparently a ruse to throw any pursuers off the scent. Authorities recently detained a second pilot in the case.
Gomez did not name any of the suspects but said they planned, organized and carried out the jailbreak in cahoots with officials inside the maximum-security lockup.
About 23 prison officials and employees have also been arrested; some face criminal charges.
Security agents have focused their manhunt in recent weeks on Sinaloa and neighboring Durango state, part of Mexico's notorious drug-producing Golden Triangle region. Officials say Guzman was injured in the leg and face there while evading a dragnet in rugged terrain.
"El Chapo's" July 11 escape through a tunnel dug to the shower in his cell was his second brazen flight from prison. In 2001, he slipped out of another maximum-security facility, purportedly hidden in a laundry cart.
The latest jailbreak made him once again Mexico's most-wanted fugitive and was a huge black eye for the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which had dismissed the possibility that Guzman could escape a second time.
Washington had called for Guzman's extradition to face charges in U.S. federal courts, fearing that Mexico might have trouble keeping him behind bars. But Mexican officials said he would only be extradited after first serving out long prison sentences for crimes committed in his home country.
Attorney General Arely Gomez said the alleged mastermind is a member of Guzman's legal team who had access to the Altiplano prison near Mexico City, and was able to notify the capo of the operation's progress and receive instructions. The person also purportedly relayed orders and payments to others involved in the escape.
Other suspects arrested included Guzman's brother-in-law, believed to have supervised construction of the mile-long (1.5-kilometer) escape tunnel and organized transportation; a person who negotiated the purchase of the plot of land where the tunnel emerged; and an airplane pilot.
"Today we are able to affirm that the group responsible for planning, organizing and carrying out the escape from outside the prison) has been broken up," Gomez said.
She confirmed that after the escape, the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel boss traveled by land to the city of Queretaro where officials say he caught a small plane to a mountainous region of Sinaloa, his home state and stronghold.
The attorney general added that two Cessna aircraft left from Queretaro. She did not give details or take questions, but a federal official who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity said one of the flights was apparently a ruse to throw any pursuers off the scent. Authorities recently detained a second pilot in the case.
Gomez did not name any of the suspects but said they planned, organized and carried out the jailbreak in cahoots with officials inside the maximum-security lockup.
About 23 prison officials and employees have also been arrested; some face criminal charges.
Security agents have focused their manhunt in recent weeks on Sinaloa and neighboring Durango state, part of Mexico's notorious drug-producing Golden Triangle region. Officials say Guzman was injured in the leg and face there while evading a dragnet in rugged terrain.
"El Chapo's" July 11 escape through a tunnel dug to the shower in his cell was his second brazen flight from prison. In 2001, he slipped out of another maximum-security facility, purportedly hidden in a laundry cart.
The latest jailbreak made him once again Mexico's most-wanted fugitive and was a huge black eye for the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which had dismissed the possibility that Guzman could escape a second time.
Washington had called for Guzman's extradition to face charges in U.S. federal courts, fearing that Mexico might have trouble keeping him behind bars. But Mexican officials said he would only be extradited after first serving out long prison sentences for crimes committed in his home country.
Thursday, 8 October 2015
LAOS: Laos' Jungle Sin City
IT'S nine in the morning and the gaming tables are still going strong.
As croupiers take bets from the overnight die-hards, several exhausted gamblers sleep nearby, one still clutching a wad of betting slips.
Welcome to the Kings Romans, a sprawling casino complex topped by a giant golden crown that bursts into view from a sleepy river bank on the Laos' side of the Mekong River.
The Chinese-owned casino in Ton Pheung district, Bokeo, is the centrepiece of a 10,000-square metre "Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone" set up by communist-ruled Laos with investment from its giant neighbour.
The other Golden Triangle nations, Thailand and Myanmar sit just across river, an intersection that has long hosted illicit activities – from drugs and human trafficking to weapons smuggling and the sale of rare species.
The casino is an attempt by the Laos government to cash in on an activity that is banned in China yet loved by its people: gambling.
And the good times are rolling as a Chinese crackdown on gambling and other vices pushes pleasure-seekers to more permissive nations nearby.
The two-storey Kings Romans casino is dwarfed by its rivals in the regional gambling hub of Macau and even in Southeast Asian neighbours Cambodia and Vietnam.
But – open seven days a week, 24 hours a day – Kings Romans receives a steady stream of Chinese gamblers who have made their way south with pockets and briefcases filled with cash.
"Chinese players really are among the greatest gamblers in the world," a hostess responsible for welcoming customers enthused during a recent visit.
"They can stay one or two days at the same gaming table non-stop, it's incredible," she added, unwilling to give her name in a zone dominated by murky interests and where discretion is the watchword.
Slice of China
Venturing inside the SEZ feels like stepping into mainland China. The clocks are all set to Beijing time, Mandarin and other Chinese dialects are commonplace and the main currency is the yuan.
Few of the employees are Laotian. Most are Chinese or from Myanmar.
For impoverished, landlocked and isolated Laos, the zone is a much needed source of income.
Chinese money runs throughout the Laos economy. It is the nation's biggest investor with rail, roads and hydropower among China's main interests.
But observers say the inflow of cash has come at a cost – including serious environmental damage and the displacement of landless poor to make way for mega-projects.
Observers say the SEZ has now become a place to wash dirty money from China as well as local criminal networks, with fears the 99-year lease will only cement that status.
The Golden Triangle has long been known for its drug production. In previous decades it produced some of the world's most sought after heroin.
In more recent years many of the drug syndicates have switched to lab-produced crystal meth and other synthetic highs, according to a recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report.
"Cash-based commercial activities such as casinos, currency exchange shops or even just restaurants offer better opportunities to introduce in the legitimate economy money obtained through illegal activities," warns Giovanni Brossard, from the UNODC.
Laos has moved to crack down on money laundering, Brossard notes, with laws against the crime and by setting up a financial intelligence unit within the country's state bank.
"Yet so far no single money laundering case has made it to court," he says.
"Sauteed tiger meat"
Alongside gambling a whole host of other bacchanalian industries have sprung up to cater to punters looking to play away from prying eyes in their homelands.
Sex workers openly ply their trade on the sidewalks or at the myriad massage parlours.
"People love to come here with friends and book private rooms," explains a Chinese member of staff at a disco near the casino.
"Most are men and they bring in girls."
Conservationists say the SEZ also caters to those with illegal culinary tastes.
A recent probe by campaign group the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) found visitors could openly buy products from endangered species including tigers, leopards, elephants, rhinos and bears.
Restaurants offered sauteed tiger meat, bear paws and live pangolins on their menus.
"One business kept a live python and a bear cub in cages, both of which were available to eat on request," the NGO's investigators found.
As a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Laos is supposedly committed to stopping illegal wildlife trafficking and clamping down on the illegal ivory trade.
But the convention is widely flouted.
Animal rights workers say both Laos and China have a responsibility to ensure the special economic zone does not become a haven for the illicit wildlife trade.
"The Chinese businesses and consumers are exploiting weak enforcement in Laos, but the Laos government can't pretend they are ignorant of what is going on," says Debbie Banks, from EIA
As croupiers take bets from the overnight die-hards, several exhausted gamblers sleep nearby, one still clutching a wad of betting slips.
Welcome to the Kings Romans, a sprawling casino complex topped by a giant golden crown that bursts into view from a sleepy river bank on the Laos' side of the Mekong River.
The Chinese-owned casino in Ton Pheung district, Bokeo, is the centrepiece of a 10,000-square metre "Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone" set up by communist-ruled Laos with investment from its giant neighbour.
The other Golden Triangle nations, Thailand and Myanmar sit just across river, an intersection that has long hosted illicit activities – from drugs and human trafficking to weapons smuggling and the sale of rare species.
The casino is an attempt by the Laos government to cash in on an activity that is banned in China yet loved by its people: gambling.
And the good times are rolling as a Chinese crackdown on gambling and other vices pushes pleasure-seekers to more permissive nations nearby.
The two-storey Kings Romans casino is dwarfed by its rivals in the regional gambling hub of Macau and even in Southeast Asian neighbours Cambodia and Vietnam.
But – open seven days a week, 24 hours a day – Kings Romans receives a steady stream of Chinese gamblers who have made their way south with pockets and briefcases filled with cash.
"Chinese players really are among the greatest gamblers in the world," a hostess responsible for welcoming customers enthused during a recent visit.
"They can stay one or two days at the same gaming table non-stop, it's incredible," she added, unwilling to give her name in a zone dominated by murky interests and where discretion is the watchword.
Slice of China
Venturing inside the SEZ feels like stepping into mainland China. The clocks are all set to Beijing time, Mandarin and other Chinese dialects are commonplace and the main currency is the yuan.
Few of the employees are Laotian. Most are Chinese or from Myanmar.
For impoverished, landlocked and isolated Laos, the zone is a much needed source of income.
Chinese money runs throughout the Laos economy. It is the nation's biggest investor with rail, roads and hydropower among China's main interests.
But observers say the inflow of cash has come at a cost – including serious environmental damage and the displacement of landless poor to make way for mega-projects.
Observers say the SEZ has now become a place to wash dirty money from China as well as local criminal networks, with fears the 99-year lease will only cement that status.
The Golden Triangle has long been known for its drug production. In previous decades it produced some of the world's most sought after heroin.
In more recent years many of the drug syndicates have switched to lab-produced crystal meth and other synthetic highs, according to a recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report.
"Cash-based commercial activities such as casinos, currency exchange shops or even just restaurants offer better opportunities to introduce in the legitimate economy money obtained through illegal activities," warns Giovanni Brossard, from the UNODC.
Laos has moved to crack down on money laundering, Brossard notes, with laws against the crime and by setting up a financial intelligence unit within the country's state bank.
"Yet so far no single money laundering case has made it to court," he says.
"Sauteed tiger meat"
Alongside gambling a whole host of other bacchanalian industries have sprung up to cater to punters looking to play away from prying eyes in their homelands.
Sex workers openly ply their trade on the sidewalks or at the myriad massage parlours.
"People love to come here with friends and book private rooms," explains a Chinese member of staff at a disco near the casino.
"Most are men and they bring in girls."
Conservationists say the SEZ also caters to those with illegal culinary tastes.
A recent probe by campaign group the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) found visitors could openly buy products from endangered species including tigers, leopards, elephants, rhinos and bears.
Restaurants offered sauteed tiger meat, bear paws and live pangolins on their menus.
"One business kept a live python and a bear cub in cages, both of which were available to eat on request," the NGO's investigators found.
As a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Laos is supposedly committed to stopping illegal wildlife trafficking and clamping down on the illegal ivory trade.
But the convention is widely flouted.
Animal rights workers say both Laos and China have a responsibility to ensure the special economic zone does not become a haven for the illicit wildlife trade.
"The Chinese businesses and consumers are exploiting weak enforcement in Laos, but the Laos government can't pretend they are ignorant of what is going on," says Debbie Banks, from EIA
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)