Sky NewsAl Qaeda "Linked To Drugs Plane Network'
7:43pm UK, Thursday January 14, 2010
A rogue aviation network with links to al Qaeda is regularly flying drugs and weapons across the Atlantic Ocean, according to documentary evidence found by the Reuters news agency.
The US Department of Homeland Security report detailing "the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11" was initially ignored by officials in early 2008.
They claim al Qaeda links were unclear at the time.
Described as a global security threat by officials in several countries, the network is allegedly transporting illegal goods from South America to the West African coast where the group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb operates.
From here, officials believe that drugs are smuggled across the Sahara desert into Europe.
Reuters interviews with officials in the United States and three West African nations found at least 10 aircraft, including several retired Boeing 727s and executive jets, have been discovered since 2006.
The Sahel region in Mali has become a stronghold for a faction of al Qaeda
Actual numbers are thought to be significantly higher.
Reuters thinks the air network was set up by drug smugglers to transport tonnes of cocaine from the Andes to African countries including Mali, Sierra Leone, Mauritania and Guinea Bissau, where disused landing strips act as makeshift runways.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency said all aircraft seized in West Africa started their journeys in Venezuela, ideally located for flights to Africa on the Caribbean and Atlantic coast.
UN representative Alexandre Schmidt urged action from the international community against the rogue network, adding the issue should be the "highest concern" for governments in West Africa, Western Europe, Russia and the US.
"When you have this high capacity for transporting drugs into West Africa, this means that you have the capacity to transport as well other goods, so it is definitely a threat to security anywhere in the world," he said.
The issue highlights the need for central intelligence agencies to step up the effort to get a clear picture of the situation.
US President Barack Obama rebuked intelligence officials recently after their failure to spot and prevent the alleged attempt to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.
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