Armies of Liberation

Wow. What are the Iranians going to be delivering? All the Yemeni accusations that Iran was supporting the Shiite rebellion must be resolved. I’m joking, that was posturing.

PressTV Tehran and Sana’a have agreed to confront piracy off the coast of Yemen and the Gulf of Aden, says the Iranian foreign minister.

“Yemen has agreed to permit Iranian warships to dock at Yemen’s port (of Aden) to provide security to Iranian commercial ships in the region,” IRINN quoted Manouchehr Mottaki as saying.

The deal was reached during a meeting between Mottaki and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana’a. The agreement came a month after Iran announced that six Iranian vessels were joining the international efforts against piracy off the coast of Somalia.

“Six warships and support vessels have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden region and international waters,” said commander of the Iranian Navy Real-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari…Iran’s first deployment came after Somali pirates hijacked the Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship, Delight, operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) in the Gulf of Aden in November, 2008.

The latest incident involving an Iranian ship came in March when pirates attacked an Iranian vessel for what they called “illegal fishing” in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Related: Prime Minister flies to Syria to firm up transportation agreements

SANA’A, June 27 (Saba) – Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mujawar will leave today for Syria on an official visit during which he will head the Yemeni side in the 9th meeting of the Yemeni-Syrian Supreme Committee.

The two-day session, which will start on Sunday, would be held in Syrian capital, Damascus. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Etri will head his country’s side.

The meeting will focus on finding ways to strengthen Yemeni-Syrian economic cooperation and deal with six documents including one on transport cooperation between the two countries.

Yemen Post

Yemeni economists considered raising the prices of oil derivatives a political suicide, emphasizing that there are no realistic justifications for such a critical decision by the government.
Dr. Mohammad Jubran, Professor of Economics at Sana’a University, said that the 2009 general budget included an increase in some materials’ prices among which were petroleum products.
Jubran pointed out that, raising prices of oil derivatives in such circumstances might lead the citizens’ living conditions even worse.
He stressed that, any justifications for increasing oil prices would seem to be pointless as oil prices are within safe limits, for the time being.

Moreover, Jubran warned that taking such a step would create many problems and unrest for the country. Confirming that not more than 50%of oil derivatives are consumed locally while the rest 50% is smuggled abroad, Jubran said that Yemeni government is not obliged to support foreigners while Yemenis are deprived of their country’s wealth.

Subsidies exceed USD 4 billion, Yemen Post:

Head of Foreign Affairs Circle at the ruling General People Congress (GPC) Mohammed Al-Qubati revealed the government has no plans to increase the prices of oil derivatives on what it known among locals to be a new Jur’ah (dose).

In an interview aired by Al-Saeeda Satellite Channel, Al-Qubati stated that Yemen spends about $4 billion in supporting oil derivatives, stressing this huge sum does overburden the country’s state budget.

The governmental subsidy on oil is a huge structural problem; the subsidies are supposed to be reduced a little at a time and in conjunction with increased social support so the poor is not unduly burdened. Equally important steps include a reduction in military spending and firm anti-corruption measures. Two billion a year of public funds is diverted into the blackmarket with the subsidies, and thats just one vein of corruption in a vast web.

HADRAMOUT, June 19 (Saba) – Yemen says it had seized two fishing boats carrying a huge stash of drugs hidden in 162 bags.

The two boats were apprehended 13 nautical miles off the port of Sher city in the western Hadramout province. Two Africans were seized on one of the boat and five Yemenis were seized on the second boat.

The Africans were a Tanzanian and a Kenyan, ages 35-36, while the five Yemenis were aged 19-52. In May, the Public Prosecution destroyed four tonnes of hashish and six million pills of amphetamines. The drugs quantities were said could sell for over $ 83 million.

About 75 suspects including 47 Yemenis, 12 Pakistanis, 10 Iranians, 2 Syrians, 2 Saudis and a Eritrean and Ethiopian, have faced drugs trafficking and trade charges in the country in recent months.

The trials of some of the suspected drugs traffickers and dealers have been completed with some sentenced to death and others to years in prison. Other trials are still under process.

US State Department

YEMEN (Tier 2 Watch List)

Yemen is a country of origin and, to a much lesser extent, transit and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation.

(Read on …)

Very interesting, I’ve been waiting for more Sudan/Yemen news after the Yemeni fishing boat exploded in Sudanese waters and the Yemeni small plane crashed after take-off in the Sudan.

Cars waiting to take them to the Saudi border is well coordinated, indicates good communication and, for human trafficking to Yemen, elaborate. Landing is not the norm. Often the poor refugees get dumped from the boat and swim to shore; no one is waiting. Landing on the islands I think is new also. I wonder what the boats are taking back? Drugs, guns, diesel? Article is from the Yemen Observer:

Yemen’s Medi Island of Hajjah province close to the Saudi borders has become a new passing point for African refugees to the Gulf countries. The past few days witnessed the arrival of large groups said that an anonymous groups of African refugees from different nationalities-Nigerians, Sudanese, Chadian.

The Red Sea has become also the new passing through point for African refugees after it was only confined to Somalis and their fatal trips in the Gulf of Aden.

Yemen’s Coastguards have captured more than 500 Africans while attempting to sneak into the lands of Saudi Arabia. The coastguards also have captured 110 African refugees in the Medi Island after thie arrival on a smuggling boat. Sources at the coastguards said that there were several cars that were waiting for them to carry them to Hardh district located at the Saudi borders to smuggle them into Saudi Arabia.

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OK lets get the deisel smuggling out of the way- daily shipments from Yemen to Africa of government subsidized diesel. (Related: Daily Star: US Navy rescues 52 stranded Somalis.)

The much bigger issue is the exploding fishing boat. Its unclear that any missile hit it at this point; its could have been laden with explosives or carrying an aged gas canister and blew up accidentally. Its important for the international fleet to remain vigilant about the danger of maritime terror attacks in the Gulf of Aden. There is good reason to assume a defensive position after the USS Cole bombing (and the later Limburg). The sailors on the Cole waved at the approaching boat; the Navy cannot repeat that mistake, especially now when its easy to be desensitized by having dealt with the Somali pirates for a year or more. The rules of engagement should not allow hapless lost Yemeni fishermen to approach military vessels, blame it on al Badawi.

A statement from al Qaeda Central called for naval jihad (May 26 2008), the October one by a Yemeni forecast a major event around Somalia. The links between AQAP in Yemen and al Shabab go back to the ICU and before. Its a predictable scenario that AQAP would attempt to outdo the Cole bombing when the waters are full of such tempting targets. And I don’t necessarily mean al Wahishi.

Why Yemeni fishermen are near the Sudan is another question. The Yemeni flight school for small planes that flies back and forth between Yemen and Sudan is something, what I don’t know. Its could be normal criminal smuggling activity, spotters for pirates or something entirely innocuous.
Yemen Post

Two Yemeni fishermen were killed and one was injured while the fate of a fourth one is still unknown after their boat came under an aggressive assault by one of the international naval ships patrolling the Red Sea near Sudan on Tuesday.

A source at the Coast Guard said Abdu Marwani and Muhammad Naj’e were killed immediately after their boat was totally destroyed by a missile which some suspect was an air strike. Sources at Yemen’s navy said it probably came from sea.

While the third fisherman made it to Sudanese coast and is now in critical condition. The fishermen came from the Midy area, Hajjah before their boat was hit near Sudan’s waters.

A coordinated investigation by Yemen and Sudan is underway to explore reasons for the attack.

Meanwhile, director of the Midy district Abdul Majeed Al-Himyari dismissed reports a Yemeni boat was attacked in Yemen’s territorial waters, saying the incident took place while the boat was in Sudan’s territorial waters. He told the media the survivor is being investigated by Sudan.

Tuesday’s attack comes in a series of attacks against Yemeni fishing boats by international forces patrolling the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Early this year, two Yemeni sailors were killed as their boats came under separate attacks by international troops in the Indian Ocean. Few others were hurt, with troops saying they suspected the boats were for pirates and then hit them.

And this month, the Interior Ministry said a Yemeni boat was provoked, with NATO’s mission in the region intimidating its crew.

The area where the boat was hit on Tuesday is witnessing large fuel smuggling, with eyewitnesses affirming boats smuggle diesel to African Horn States daily.

A compilation post, a bit more detail on this in an article I wrote for the Yemen Times in December. The VOA article is very good:

VOA: UN Warns of Ties Between Lawless Groups in Somalia and Yemen

For years, criminals have used ports in the Arab world’s poorest country, Yemen, as staging areas for trafficking humans, drugs, and weapons. There are growing fears that criminal groups in Yemen and pirate gangs in Somalia are moving closer together, further complicating international efforts to stabilize the region.

(Read on …)

A good idea. Gen. Turki says AQAP are the greatest threat to Saudi Arabia. We knew that was their focus way back when the nine shoulder fired missles were smuggled from Yemen to SA. Also Saudis are planning an electronic fence to go with the berms and metal fencing. If its an effective fence, then it will cut into Yemen’s substantial black market economy- smuggling drugs, people and weapons into SA and the Gulf. That would prompt an economic crisis of different proportions.

al-Watan

خاص ( الوطن ) - Special (home) –
بحث نائب رئيس الوزراء لشئون الدفاع والأمن وزير الإدارة المحلية اللواء رشاد العليمي مع الجانب السعودي آليات عمل جديدة لمواجهة البلدين لحضر تنظيم القاعدة في الدولتين. Deputy Prime Minister for Defense, Security, Local Administration Minister Rashad Al-Alimi Brigade with the Saudi side of new mechanisms of action to address the two countries attended the al-Qaeda in the two countries.

(Read on …)

The first time I heard this years ago, I didn’t beleive it. Its horrific.

CAIRO, April 21 (Saba) - The Egyptian authorities have deported nine Yemeni children to their homeland after the police in association with the Yemeni community broke up an international human trafficking ring accused of trading in human organs.

Almotamar.net quoted a Yemeni diplomat in Egypt as saying the Egyptian authorities had found ten Yemeni children early last month in Cairo. The children were trafficked by the ring and expected to undergo surgeries to remove their organs to trade in them.

(Read on …)

Part Two, Yemen Times, Courtesy of the investigative reports department SABA News Agency Translated by Yemen Times Staff

About 1,000 people – according to the official institutions in Yemen- were involved in drug crime in the past 8 years. During the past 4 years, more than 800 people involved in drug smuggling have been arrested, 150 of them foreigners, mainly from Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

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A collection of articles on the topic of the illegal drug trade in Yemen. Primary sources are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, some Syrian. First up, a bust of two tons of Iranian drugs. al Motamar

Almotamar.net - Yemen’s Specialised Criminal court o Monday condemned a Yemeni person and another Jordanian on charge of smuggling 2 tons of drugs from Iran.

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Russia is Yemen’s biggest creditor by far.

Yemen Post

President Saleh’s recent visit to Russia raised a great deal of media fuss and this fuss was associated with the nature of the visit. The official media mentioned that Saleh’s visit was meant for canceling Yemen’s debts as well as the economic cooperation, while the international media revealed that Yemen signed weapons deals at billions of US Dollars. This was later affirmed by the official media as they revealed that the country signed a four-billion dollar weapons deal, the biggest deal ever.

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Again? Did this happen last month or is it a new confrontation between the Coast Guard and the Border Guard? Its a current article, so maybe its a second occurence.

Sahwa Net – Confrontations have erupted between border guards and coast guards in Lohia district ,Hodaida, as coast guards conducted check campaign on boats suspected that they were carried with smuggled commodities.

Local sources said clashes broke out when border guards prevented coast guards from checking fishing boats in Lohia .

The source explained that border guards harbored smugglers , pointing out that trafficking is carried out regularly as border guards protect smugglers.

Yemen Post has more: (Read on …)

The US and counter-piracy coalition noticed the substantial support for Somalia piracy coming from Yemen. And it is substantial, including weapons, diesel, use of territorial waters, phone service, ship coordinates etc. Earlier the UN monitoring group noted the nexus of piracy, human smuggling from Somalia to Yemen and the weapons smuggling from Yemen to Somalia on the return trip. The US Admiral is careful to make the point that the support is coming from private individuals, when actually all substantial criminal networks in Yemen are tied to the highest levels of the Yemeni regime. The US hopes for Yemeni governmental support in diminishing logistical aid to the pirates.

The Economist notes the enmeshing of criminal gangs and Mukallah’s importance in particular: It is said that pirates from Somalia and Yemen have now teamed up with smuggling gangs elsewhere in Africa to conduct illicit trade through Yemeni ports such as Mukalla and Belhaf with coalition force having only occasional success, piracy is plainly spreading more widely across the Indian Ocean.

Good. We noted that Mukallah port was an important entry point for drugs and exit point for weapons in 2005: One regionally destabilizing regime activity is drug smuggling. A variety of illegal drugs are smuggled via the Indian Ocean into the southern Yemeni governate of Hadramawt. The drugs are then transported inland to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States under the supervision of a close relative of the president who is also responsible for the governmental security apparatus, a well informed former regime official reported.

The 10 tons of hashish was coming in through Mukallah. I noted in the Yemen Times that Makallah is not under the authority of the Coast Guard yet:

Increased activity by the Yemeni Coast Guard between Aden and al Mukalla impacted arms shipments from ports in the patrolled areas. However, the monitoring group found that the lack of regular patrols in al Mukalla “means that arms traffic continues unabated.” The group recommended capacity building programs for the Coast Guard and direct naval interdiction.

Yemen’s coast line extends 1906 km. The Coast Guard, created in 2003, is working towards taking control of Mocha and al Mukalla from the military. The Republican Guard and Central Security forces have authority at ports where the Coast Guard has limited presence.

The Republican Guard is under the direction of Prince Ahmed and the Central Security is under Yahya Saleh, the “close presidential relative” referenced in the 2005 article above. The US says the logistical support for the pirates is undertaken by private individuals. ,

Reuters The international community should work with Yemen to stop its people supplying Somali pirates who are disrupting lucrative international shipping routes, a senior U.S. admiral said on Monday. Somali pirates, who have disrupted lucrative international shipping trade, are getting fuel and engine parts from individuals in Yemen, Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, a Nato commander and the top U.S naval officer for Africa, told Reuters….”The fuel for instance, is coming from Yemen, a lot of the logistic supplies, things like motor boat engines (too)… And so we just need work with the government there to start tightening up controls,” Fitzgerald said.

“Its (support) not from the Yemen government, its from people in Yemen,” Fitzgerald said on the sidelines of an African naval conference in Cape Town, without giving further details.

Says a lot, Yemen Online

Yemeni Sheikh closed “Ilb” Yemen-Saudi border crossing in Sa’ada governorate, calling for the implementation of the agreement terms between his grandfather and Saudi Arabia.
YemenOnline. March 01 - Armed elements believed to be followers to Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Moqait, Baqim district, Sa’ada governorate closed on Saturday morning “Ilb” Yemen-Saudi border crossing, denying entry and exit of people and vehicles to and from Saudi Arabia, learned tribal sources reported to Al-Ishteraki Net. According to the sources, hundreds of cars and trucks piling up on both sides of the border of Yemen Saudi Arabia since the early hours of Saturday morning To reopen the border crossing, Sheikh Moqait , a senior Baqim sheikh, demanded that both Saudi Arabia and Yemen authorities implement his terms, in particular allowing the people of his tribe to enter to Saudi Arabia and work there without having to obtain what is known as the Saudi “sponsor”.
According to Sheikh Moqait , Saudi Arabia is obligated to implement the agreement terms between “AL Saud” and his grandfather in particular allowing Yemeni-Saudi border tribes, including Baqim and Monabbih tribes, to work in Saudi Arabia without having to obtain work permits or a Saudi sponsor.

Notably, Ilb border crossing is one of the most important crossings between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

This was a huge bust, tens of millions in street value. As usual, it was with a bit of help: On Thursday, a source indicated that Yemeni Coast Guard forces in collaboration with military ships belonging to coalition forces positioned in the Arab Sea managed to seize a Pakistani ship (Makran) boarding 10 ton of drugs. It was seized near Mukallah, where lots of guns exit en route for Somalia.

al Motamar

Almotamar.net - The Specialised First Instance Criminal Court in Yemen passed its sentence Monday against Pakistanis condemned of bringing drugs into Yemen. It has sentenced execution penalty against one of the Pakistanis and gave other 15 Pakistanis 25 years in jail for each. They have been convicted of bringing and transporting a quantity of 10 thousand kg of drugs to Yemen.

In the court sitting on Monday chaired by Judge Muhsin Mohammed Alwan the Judge read out reasons and findings of the ruling that also stipulated the destruction of drugs materials and confiscation the boat on board of which the drugs were seized.

After reading the verdict, the defendants began shouting and called names against the Judge and the sentence that they described as unjust. They resisted security men inside the court and attacked some of them.

The prosecution had charged the accused with bringing 10 thousand kg of drugs on board of a boat coming from the Pakistani port of Qawadir and entering in it into the Yemeni regional waters.

The convicted were caught in the Indian Ocean during their entering the Yemeni territorial waters and in their possession the quantity of the hashish drug.

Yemen offers its Perim island for NATO-led anti-piracy fleet
Sanaa, 21 February – As NATO is expanding into the Red Sea and towards the Horn of Africa, the improvised naval and military base in Djibuti is perceived to be insufficient. French sources now revealed that French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to build an artificial port on Yemen’s Perim island, to harbour the international NATO-led naval forces that have been tasked by the United Nations Security Council with future large-scale and enduring anti-piracy missions. The Yemeni Perim island has been chosen for its strategic location at the entrance to the Red Sea between Yemen and Djibouti. Bernard Kouchner is expected to arrive in Djibouti tomorrow for talks with the local government and that of Somalia about a future coordination between their executive forces and the newly to be allocated international anti-piracy mission

(Read on …)

Yes they do.

The footprint of criminal gangs and al Qaeda overlap all over the world, and this is another nexus between Ali Abdullah Saleh and his family and the terrorist networks. One reason the regime is so reticent to crackdown is these networks are their business partners and facilitators.

Yemen Observer In a battle which seems to mark the decisive struggle between Yemen and terrorism, a well-informed source has said anti-terrorism forces were moved last Thursday towards the hideouts of terrorists to begin a crucial battle. Military forces are being led by general Rashad al-Masri, the Interior Minister, in coordination with the other branches of the armed forces.

Sources have said the campaign will attack terrorist hideouts, as well as narcotic and weapons trafficking camps, both of which are thought to have strong links with terrorist networks. The campaign is targeting Mareb, al-Jawf, Shabwa and Hadramout.

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10,000 bottles of wine, if one of those bottles…misses its mark, there’ll be 9,999 bottles of wine in a shark.

Yemen Authorities discovers over 10 thousand bottles of liquor smuggled inside the guts of sharks.
YemenOnline. Feb 09, 2009 - Yemeni security forces discovered in Bajil city, Hodeidah governorate 10260 bottles of liquor in the guts of sharks loaded on trucks that were heading to the capital Sana’a, official said. The source added that this fish load was smuggled into Yemen through one of the African countries

How big of a boat would it take to smuggle a load of that size? And related, two million Keptagon tabs found, it is implied, on a tip. Its always Keptagon. The shipment was pre-cleared with on a Yellow Route not subject to inspection. Y Observer:

Security authorities in the Aden Free-Zone port have prevented the importation of over 2.6 million narcotic tablets hidden in ovens being shipped from Egypt. The authorities said they seized 2,610,000 keptagon pills in five bags. Authorities stated that new measures in place ensured they had few problems seizing and finding the narcotics.

(Read on …)

From last wek, a conclusion, the 11 Iranian durg smugglers’ trial is over and they will be deported, Yemen is impounding the hash and the boat. These are the ones who tried the OJ defense, the marines planted the hash…

The hashish of course will be properly disposed of by government authorities.

SABA
Yemen expels 11 Iranians and one Pakistan linked alleged drug trafficking

[26 January 2009]

SANA’A, Jan. 26 (Saba)- The state security court has decided to expel 11 Iranians and a Pakistani accused of alleged drug trafficking to their home due to they were being arrested in international waters.

At a hearing of the court presided by Judge Radwan al-Namer, the court listened to a report of lawyers of the defendants about the non-jurisdiction of the Yemeni judiciary to deal with their case where the defendants were caught in international waters and not in Yemen’s water.

The court decided to depart immediately the defendants and impair about 3560 Kg of hashish as well as confiscating their boat.

The defendants were seized last February in the international waters by German troops which handed over them to the Yemeni Coastguard Authorities.

ISRIA

Yemen, US discuss ports security
Minister of Transport Khalid al-Wazir discussed here on Monday with Deputy Chief of U.S. Mission to Yemen Angie Bryan coordinating efforts between the two countries in field of ports’ security.

The meeting dealt with exchanging visits between the two friendly countries and how the Yemeni part could availing from the American experiences in fields of maritime transport and ports security.

Good! After they finish discussing weapons smuggling to Somalia, maybe they can ask Saleh’s nephew to shut down that dock that recieves the drugs.

I’m joking of course.

Syrian drug smuggling into Lebanon is a major source of funding, and drug smuggling through Yemen into the Gulf is a well-established route for all those keptagon tablets, kilos of hash etc.

Yemeni-Syrian security committee holds 1st mission

[06 January 2009]

SANA’A , Jan. 06 (Saba) - The first talks session of the Yemen-Syrian security committee started on Tuesday in Sana’a.

The session was chaired by Undersecretary of Interior Minster for General Security Major General Mohammed al-Qawsi and Assistant of Syrian Interior Minister for Organizing and Training Affairs Major General Ibrahim Salman Ali .

The two dealt with the bilateral security cooperation, particularly coordinating aspects in fighting terrorism, organized crime, and drugs as well as the areas of training and qualification, discussing the special procedures for facilitating the entering and departing process and residence of people between the two brotherly countries.

After the first session, the Syrian delegation paid a visit to the Counter-Terrorism Unit in the Central Security Forces and got acquainted with its tasks, achievements and establishing phases, praising the unit’s role in fighting terrorism and expressing their admiration in the advanced level to which the unit reached in its training and combating terrorist crimes .

Yemen Online

Coast Guard Forces and Border Guards integrated.
YemenOnline. Sunday 25, 2009 – The President of the Republic, H.E. Ali Salih, declared yesterday that the Coast Guard Forces and Border Guards are intended to be combined into one authority reporting to the Ministry of Interior.In his speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the Ministry of Interior Leadership’s 19th Conference under the motto “Homeland’s security is a national and collective responsibility”, he said” We have recruited 1000 soldiers to enhance security capacities of Coast Guard Forces (CGFs) in particular after the recent increase of marine piracy.” In addition, these forces are to be provided with the necessary arms and equipments.

Yemen the main source of illegal arms to Somalia: UN
———————————————-

Jane Novak for the Yemen Times

SANA’A, Dec. 27— A UN investigation found Yemen is the primary source of arms and ammunition to Somalia which has been under an arms embargo since 1992. The panel of independent experts monitoring the embargo also reported arms smuggling from Yemen intersects with acts of piracy and human trafficking. The findings were presented in a December 10 report to the UN Security Council.

The report notes commercial weapons imports from Yemen supply Somali retail markets as well as opposition and criminal groups. The Yemeni government’s inability to stem the large scale arms trafficking is “a key obstacle to the restoration of peace and security to Somalia,” the panel found. The UN Security Council extended the monitoring group’s mandate for another year.

Yemen plans to refute the charges. SABA news agency dubbed the report “misleading” and noted that “smuggling weapons is sometimes associated with the arriving of displaced Somalis.” A Foreign Ministry statement said that one million Somali refugees in Yemen create an economic burden that “sometimes leads to social, security and health repercussions.” Nearly 50,000 Somali refugees made the maritime crossing to Yemen in 2008, authorities reported.

In prior years, about 30,000 Somalis migrated annually.

The UN report ties together weapons smuggling, human trafficking and piracy, noting some small boats used in acts of piracy also “move refugees and economic migrants from Somalia to Yemen, bringing arms and ammunition on the return journey,” Piracy in the waters between Yemen and Somalia spiked dramatically with over 100 pirate attacks and over 40 vessels captured by pirates this year. The authorities in Puntland and Somaliland told the UN monitoring group that “maritime traffic from Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden, remains their largest single source of arms.” Weapons purchased in Yemen are also smuggled to insurgent groups in Ethiopia, the investigation found. One intercepted shipment included 101 anti-tank mines, 100 hand grenades, 170 rocket-propelled grenade-7 rounds, and 170 boxes of 7.62 mm ammunition.

Increased activity by the Yemeni Coast Guard between Aden and al Mukalla impacted arms shipments from ports in the patrolled areas. However, the monitoring group found that the lack of regular patrols in al Mukalla “means that arms traffic continues unabated.” The group recommended capacity building programs for the Coast Guard and direct naval interdiction.

Yemen’s coast line extends 1906 km. The Coast Guard, created in 2003, is working towards taking control of Mocha and al Mukalla from the military. The Republican Guard and Central Security forces have authority at ports where the Coast Guard has limited presence. The Coast Guard has nine operational ships in a fleet of 15, and only two with deep water capacity.

Inadequate funding is an obstacle to increased capacity, Coast Guard Commander Ali Ahmed Ras’ee said in May.

The US provides some operational and training support and in 2004 donated seven patrol boats. With Italian financing, the Italian firm SELEX is implementing a coastal radar system that will eventually cover 450km of coast line including hot spots for piracy and smuggling.

Responding to the UN report, the Foreign Ministry said, “Yemen reiterates its readiness to cooperate with the UN and all regional concerned parties to fight piracy and all forms of weapon smuggling, the issues resulted due to the situation in Somalia where there is not a central government.”

Yemen has the second most heavily armed citizenry per capita after the United States. In August 2007, authorities implemented a ban against carrying weapons in cities and have confiscated over 150,000 weapons since the program began. Over 200 weapons shops were also closed.

Weapons smuggling from Yemen to Saudi Arabia is also a concern. In July, Saudi Arabia announced that in a three month period, border guards confiscated over a ton of explosives and a large number of arms including 13 rocket-propelled grenades, 99 sticks of dynamite, 100 fuses, 12 detonators, more than 100 guns and 15,000 cartridges.

The UN monitoring group on the 1992 arms embargo on Somalia finds “Yemen remains the most important source of commercial arms transfers to Somalia.”

One shipment for the ONLF in Ethiopia contained 101 anti-tank mines, 100 hand grenades, 170 rocket-propelled grenade-7 rounds, and 170 boxes of 7.62 mm ammunition, each containing 440 rounds. The mines were packed in rice sacks from a company in Sana’a. The same boats that bring the migrants bring back weapons and are involved in piracy.

143. Not surprisingly, there appears to be an intersection between piracy and other
criminal activities, such as arms trafficking and human trafficking, both of which
involve the movement of small craft across the Gulf of Aden. One sub-group of the
Puntland network, based in the Bari region, allegedly uses the same boats employed
for piracy to move refugees and economic migrants from Somalia to Yemen,
bringing arms and ammunition on the return journey.

Of course, commercial weapons trafficing in Yemen is often sponsored by those in official positions. The purported largest weapons dealers (for example, Faris Manna, Regent Street, Sana’a) are said to be partners with some very top officials (Salah & family). This is part of the reason the military budget is so high. Not only is this hooked in with piracy and refugee smuggling but also drug and oil smuggling. Its John Gotti with an air force.

Report text below the fold: (Read on …)

SABA

Yemen hands over Syria involved-drug trafficking companies list

DAMASCUS, Jan. 12 09 (Saba) - Yemen handed over on Monday to Syria a list of the Syrian companies involved in trafficking drugs to Yemen.

The list was delivered by the Yemeni ambassador to Damascus Abdul Wahab Tawaf to the Syrian Industry Minister Fouad Issa Juni.

The Ambassador told the minister that the companies facilitate hiding drugs within their goods exported to Yemen, demanding Syria to take deterrent measures against the companies and including them in the blacklist.

During the meeting, both sides discussed activating the cooperation protocols signed between the two countries to increase the trade exchange volume.

www.alghadyem.net

Received an official note tomorrow to complain about the Coast Guard and the Customs Directorate of the coastal province of Hodeidah beard that their employees are threatened by the border guards prevented from carrying out their duties in the seizure and prosecution of smugglers of petroleum products, sheep from Africa across the coast of the Directorate.
وأوضح مصدر محلي مسؤول في المديرية، فضل عدم الكشف عن هويته، بأنه قد تم إبلاغ الجهات المعنية بالمحافظة والعاصمة بالقضية، إلا أنه لم يتم اتخاذ الإجراءات القانونية لوقف عمليات التهريب، ومحاسبة حرس الحدود المرابطين في المنطقة ممن يقومون بحماية المهربين بالتعاون مع مجموعة من مشائخ المنطقة المتنفذين. The source said a local official in the Directorate, on condition of anonymity, that he had been informed stakeholders and to maintain the capital case, however, are not taken legal action to stop the smuggling operations, and to hold the border guards stationed in the region who were protecting the smugglers in collaboration with a group of the region Mchaik powerful.
وأكد المصدر بأن ظاهرة تهريب الأغنام والمشتقات النفطية إلى بلادنا من إفريقيا تسير بوتيرة عالية وبصورة علنية عبر سواحل المديرية، وخاصة في خور المديرية ومرسى العلوي دون أي حسيب أو رقيب، وبحماية من حرس الحدود المتواجدين في المنطقة، والذين يقومون بمنع أفراد خفر السواحل والجمارك بالمديرية من مزاولة أعمالهم في مكافحة التهريب وضبط المهربين وهم في حالة تلبس، كما يمنعونهم من ترقيم القوارب اليمنية والأجنبية والكشف عليها أو تفتيشها. The source added that the smuggling of sheep and oil derivatives in the country of Africa is moving quickly across the public and the coast of the Directorate, particularly in the Directorate and the creek without any upper berth total impunity, and to protect the border guards who are in the area, who are members of the prevention of the Coast Guard and the Customs Directorate of the to operate in the fight against smuggling and smugglers who are controlling in the case of flagrante delicto, and prevented the boats from the numbering of the Yemeni and foreign disclosure or inspection.

March 09, WI

Beyond small arms, Israeli intelligence estimates that some 250 tons of explosives, 80 tons of fertilizer, 4000 rocket-propelled grenades, and 1800 rockets were transported from Egypt to Gaza from September 2005 to December 2008…According to Israeli assessments, the arms-smuggling network is directed by Hamas offices in Damascus and aided by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which provides the majority of the weaponry. The arms travel overland to Egypt, through a variety of routes that cross Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and South Africa and eventually meet in Sudan, where they are moved to Egypt’s Sinai desert. After the materiel enters the Sinai, it is transferred into Gaza via tunnels underneath the “Philadelphia Corridor,” the Gaza-Egypt border that runs through the city of Rafah. Less frequently, arms are moved to Gaza via the Mediterranean Sea: the weapons are deposited in waterproof barrels submerged below the surface and tied to buoys eventually retrieved by fishermen.

Yemeni confesses at court of phone contact with Iranian intelligence
Tuesday, 11-November-2008
Almotamar.net - The Yemeni Specialised criminal First Instance Court continued Tuesday listening to evidence presented by the prosecution against one of three persons accused of holding phone communication with Iran.

At the court sitting chaired by Judge Muhsin Alwan the prosecution continued presentation of statements of the first defendant Abdulkarim Ali Abdulkarim Laji in reports of the prosecution investigations containing what he provided to staffers in the Iranian embassy of information on the Yemeni Coast Guard and movements of American citizens in Yemen.

On the court question to the defendant on the statements attributed to him he confessed they were his but deeds were not his.

The court then decided to postpone the sitting to Wednesday to continue presenting statements of the second defendant Hani Ahmed Shin. The prosecution accused three persons of conducting phone calls and illegitimate communication with a foreign country and work for its interest and providing it with news and information in addition to documents and photos on the political and security situations in Yemen in the way that harmed the political, economic and war status of the Republic of Yemen

The prosecution said in the court sitting that Abdulkarim Ali Abdulkarim Laji, 33, Hani Ahmed Shin 31, secretary of the director general of Coast Guard
Of Hadramout and Iskandar Abdullah Yusuf, 57 had in the year 1997-2008 held contacts with Iran and that they were holding meetings foreigners and provided them with news and information on Yemen. The prosecution pointed out that the defendants were exchanging information via CDs and telephone memories.

Most of the arms dealers were released after signing a pledge

Almotamar.net - Interior Minister General Mutahar Rashad al-Misri revealed that security authorities on Tuesday seized 3 million and 700 thousand intoxicating pills and managed during the first half of this year 18 tons of drugs, saying it was a quantity enough to destroy the entire youth of the Arab homeland.

Minister al-Misri also said the security authorities also managed to capture the terrorist cell that was sending threatening messages to some embassies in Yemen. In addition, security authorities were able to carry out the campaign of prohibiting weapons and the closure of 230 shops for selling arms and munitions. They detained 270 arms dealers in a number of governorates.

The Americans planted the drugs on the boat, they say.

13 Iranians stand trial on charges of smuggling drugs
Sunday, 12-October-2008
Almotamar.net - Yemen Specialised Criminal Court has on Sunday begun its first sittings for the trial of thirteen Iranian defendants on charge of bringing in and promoting drugs as well s entering the Yemeni regional waters in an illegal way.

In the sitting chaired by Judge Muhsin Alwan the prosecution accused the defendants of bringing drugs from Iran to Yemen via the Iranian port of kanar on board of a boat and entering the Yemeni regional waters illegally.

The attorney added that 20kg of hashish were caught in possession of the defendants. The prosecution related causes of the accusation and a list of evidence containing confessions of the defendants of being arrested by American forces and in their possession the narcotics on board of the launch they were boarding and then they were handed over to Yemeni forces and that they had no permission for entering the Yemeni regional waters an had signed the minutes of their capture, but they accused the Americans of putting drugs in the boat though they do not possess the evidence that the Americans were the ones that put the drugs on the boat. That cohesion was made by most of the defendants whereas some confessed of possessing o drugs.

The court decided postponement of the trial to next Sunday to enable the prosecution present evidence and address the lawyers union to retain lawyers to defend the defendants.

American international forces had caught the boat al-Hussein in the regional waters and on its board 13 Iranians and 3 tons of hashish which was destroyed by the international forces there and kept a sample of 20 kg in addition to capturing 22 empty sacks which were hashish package. The captured things were also 3 Thoraya telephone sets, a wireless set a set for spotting locations and a sum of 830 Iranian riyals and 10200 Pakistani rupees.

Penal court tries Iranians on charges of drugs trafficking

[12 October 2008]
SANA’A, Oct. 12 (Saba)- The specialized primary penal court started on Sunday trying a new group of thirteen Iranians accused of bringing drugs from Iran to Yemeni regional waters.

In the first session presided over by Judge Mohsen Alwan, the court conducted judicial investigations with accused for knowing their identities, their business and their personalities as well as it heard the accusation decision made by the prosecution against them.

The decision clarified that the accused brought last March 3100 pound of drugs of Hashish kind from Iran port of Kiran into Yemeni regional waters.

The prosecution showed the court that the international forces that arrested the boat, carrying Iranian banner and 13 Iranians on board, in the Indian Ocean had spoiled the quantities of Hashish and kept 20 kilos, then handed them over to Yemeni authorities with other plastic sacks.

The court then presented the case directed by the prosecution against the accused who denied knowledge of the drugs seized in their boat. They accused the American forces who arrested them of banding their eyes and laying down the drugs in their boat after they unloaded the fish they hunted into the sea.

The court asked the prosecution to provide the evidences for discussing them during the session to come and directed memo to Lawyers Syndicate for authorizing advocate for defending the accused Iranian.

Yemen Times

Yemen seizes ten million drugs capsules in 8 months

Security sources said on Sunday that Interior Ministry seized about 1400000 capsules of drugs since the beginning of 2008. The sources added that the latest operation of capturing drugs was done in the Aden harbor, where about 3500000 capsules of drugs were found inside water heaters imported from a neighbor country. The source pointed out that investigations are underway with the smugglers.

Last week, the security forces in Hodeidah province held a Syrian citizen charged with smuggling 1.212 million captagon pills into the country. The seizure comes after the security forces seized a large amount of captagon pills concealed in water heaters shipped in a container and after they found large quantities of hashish on two cars.

UN Office on Drugs and Crime

Due to its technological development under communism,
Bulgarian criminals have had an advantage in synthetic
drugs production. They are best known for production
of Kaptagon (fenethylline), a synthetic stimulant prized
in the Middle East for its alleged aphrodisiacal qualities.
Today, most pills sold as Kaptagon are, in fact, forms
of amphetamine that are easier to produce, but large
quantities of these counterfeits are regularly seized.
There have also been reports of false Kaptagon being
produced in Turkey, destined largely for markets in the
Middle East. According to Europol:
… amphetamine tableted with the ‘captagon’ logo is produced
on a substantial scale in Bulgaria for the domestic
market as well as for the export to Turkey and Middle
East countries such as Saudi Arabia. More than 900 kg
of amphetamine were seized in Bulgaria in 2006, the
majority on its way to Turkey. Moreover, Turkey reported
the seizure of nine amphetamine production, storage
and tableting sites detected in its territory plus more than
fourteen million amphetamine / ‘captagon’ tablets as well
as 65 kg of BMK. According to Bulgarian information this
production is controlled by Bulgarian organised crime.189
But the potential for synthetic drug production exists in
other countries as well, such as Serbia.

but lets just call them all terrorists:

Yemen Observer

220 out of 1045 terrorist suspects were arrested by the Yemeni police in the year of 2007, according to a recent report issued by the Yemeni Ministry of Interior.

According to the report the 220 detainees were arrested under accusations of being involved in terrorist cases or in other organized and drug crimes. The report also revealed that other thousands of criminals were detained in 2007 for being involved in other different crimes.

The report stated that the security authorities could handle 34,386 crimes out of 36,894 at a rate of 63.2 percent.

According to the same report the number of premeditated crimes dropped by 96 percent compared to the year 2006 due to the firm implementation of the law that banned weapon-carrying in the main cities.

The report also revealed that 812 stolen cars out of 1,173 were brought back to their owners.

In 2007 the Yemeni authorities deported 1,390 Arabs and foreigners living illegally in the country, while more than 27,900 illegal immigrants were caught by the coastguard. The coastguard also registered more than 1,418 cases of smuggling refugees and water pollution cases in 2007. The report also stated that Yemeni authorities have given more than 32,000 residence identity cards for refugees from Africa and other Arab and Asian countries.

The United Nations granted the Yemeni Ministry of Interior its shield for the year 2008 in recognition for the great success it achieved in fighting drugs.

AFP

RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi border guards have seized almost a tonne of explosives and large quantities of arms and drugs on Yemen’s border over the past three months, making hundreds of arrests, Okaz newspaper said on Saturday.

The paper, quoting the guards, said 13 hand- and rocket-propelled grenades, 99 sticks of dynamite, 100 fuses, 12 detonators, more than 100 guns and 15,000 cartridges figured in the seizures.

Okaz praised security guards for their vigilance which had prevented the weapons and drugs from falling into the hands of “terrorists and other elements seeking to destabilise” the Saudi kingdom.

As many as 800 suspected arms and drugs dealers were arrested over the same period, along with 83 illegal immigrants, the report said.

Some 1,600 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of hashish, two million amphetamine pills and 280 bottles of alcohol, which is banned in the ultra-conservative Muslim country, were also seized.

Interior Ministry releases detained weapon dealers
Saturday, 12-July-2008
Almotamar.net - Yemen’s Ministry of Interior on Saturday released all merchants of weapon it has arrested in its campaign carried out by security authorities for closing own shops trading with weapons. The shops included in the campaign amounted to 234 until the end of last week.
Security sources said instructions of the Interior Ministry decided to keep weapons shops closed and continue the seizure of the weapons it captured in the campaign that covered all governorates of Yemen until to decide what to do about them later.

The Security Information Centre at the Ministry of interior sad that Ministry released weapons merchants after they submitted written pledges of not practicing again this type of activity that is violating the law and their pledge to report to security authorities whenever they are requested.

Good topic. FYI I didn’t write this article and Jane’s is not me. Jane’s Intelligence Digest is published by Janes Information Group, which produces independent publications on the defense, security, transport and law enforcement sectors. Jane’s Information Group and associated publications like Janes Defense Weekly are in no way associated with the British military or the US Pentagon and are not published by any government. (D’oh, the regime idjits misunderstooded.)

An important point raised by this article is the collusion between criminal elements in Iraq and in Yemen, and the extent to which the smuggling pipelines of all sorts are within the domain of officials in the Yemeni adminstration. There are well established transportation routes between Yemen and Iraq upon which persons and contraband pass both ways.

In the last three years, Yemen has become a centre for trafficking Iraqi women.

In Yemen, this has focused on transhipment; the women are brought to Yemen and then sold to clients in other countries, mainly the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.

A number of factors have contributed to Yemen’s development as a centre for human trafficking. Yemen is relatively close to the GCC countries and the Yemeni police are either unwilling or unable to stop or impede the traffickers.

Trafficking not only exacts a terrible cost in human terms but also contributes to the continued instability of Iraq. The amount of money being generated through the sale of these women is substantial. While most of the money generated through the trafficking operation remains in Yemen, some of the money is returned to Iraq where it helps fund additional criminal activity.

Given the continued instability in Iraq and the lack of enforcement in Yemen, it seems certain that even more women will be sold into sexual slavery this year.