EAST AFRICA MAJOR DRUG CONDUIT, SAYS UN OFFICIAL

Kampala

EAST Africa is Africa's major transit point for drug trafficking, a
UN regional representative on drugs and crime has said.

Carsten Hyttel said drug traffickers had flourished on East Africa's
weak socio-economic and political policies, on top of weak laws, to
transform the region into a major haul mainly for heroin from Asia
and cocaine from South America.

"Drug tracking is like flowing water. Should you block one end, it
changes course to another channel. Since Europe and America have put
stringent measures on them, they have found East Africa a suitable
alternative for the illicit trade due to the ill-equipped capacity to
detect it and track the dealers," Carsten said.

He was addressing journalists on the vulnerability of East Africa on
the phenomenon at Sunset Hotel in Jinja on Monday.