Cape Verde wages war with drug gangs

waltky · Nov 30, 2015

Small country stands up to drug gangs...

Tiny Cape Verde picks big fight with drug gangs
30 Nov.`15 - When Cape Verde police dismantled a drugs network preparing to smuggle tens of millions of dollars of cocaine to Europe in 2011, the operation was hailed as a rare victory against international crime by one of Africa's smallest states.

Within two years it had yielded a series of convictions as well as further seizures of cash and real estate. Soon after that, however, senior officials began receiving threats. Then, in September last year, a gunman shot dead the 56-year-old mother of Katia Tavares, Cape Verde's top anti-drugs investigator, at her yellow two-storey house in the capital, Praia. The son of Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves was wounded in a separate shooting months later. Both attacks have been linked to the drugs probe, testing the tiny country's determination to crack down on powerful smuggling gangs ahead of elections early in 2016.

Cape Verde's judicial police arrange drugs seized during their raid on targets in the Flying Boat case are seen before being burnt in Praia, Cape Verde

A cluster of 10 volcanic islands 570 km (350 miles) off Senegal, Cape Verde stands out both as a pocket of relative stability in West Africa and for its firm action against the networks channeling Latin American cocaine to Europe. European and U.S. law enforcement officials engaged in the same struggle view Cape Verde's efforts as a model for the region. "They are much better than on the mainland," said one.

Cape Verde's judicial police arrange drugs seized during their raid on targets in the Flying Boat case are seen before being burnt in Praia, Cape Verde

But the violence unleashed in the wake of the so-called Flying Boat case - a reference to the smugglers' high-powered motor launch - has pushed security concerns to the forefront of public debate. "They're trying to threaten the authorities and the state as it fights organized crime," said Patricio Varela, head of the country's Judicial Police. The Tavares killing sent shockwaves through the former Portuguese colony's population of 500,000. Prosecutor Oscar Tavares - no relation - described it as an attack on democracy.

Drugs seized by Cape Verde's judicial police during their raid on targets in the Flying Boat case are burnt in Praia, Cape Verde

Although accustomed to occasional bloodshed among traffickers, the state had never seen such a direct challenge to its authority. Cape Verde has suffered no coups or civil conflict in the four decades since independence, despite its scant resources and punishing drought cycles. Several Western countries sent teams to support local police in the wake of the shootings, and a suspect was killed resisting arrest.

SLAVERY TO COCAINE
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Cape Verde wages war with drug gangs

waltky Well-Known Member

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Cape Verde wages war with drug gangs

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