19-03-2012, 08:37 PM
Quote:After 1990, many operatives engaged in Securitate's smuggling and other illegal
operations abroad returned to Romania to expand their "business." When the war in
the former Yugoslavia closed down the traditional "Balkan Route" for heroin,
Romania became one of its alternatives.
The inadequate legislation, the collapse of public order, the economic recession and rampant corruption contributed to turning
Romania into, as Observatoire Geopolitique des Drogues put it, "the biggest drug warehouse
in Eastern Europe."
Of all the Southeast European countries, foreign nationals have played perhaps
the largest role in organizing the smuggling channels in Romania. As one of the
measures taken to raise funds for paying off the foreign debt, Ceausescu's regime
invited thousands of students from developing countries (mostly the Arab world) to
Romania. During the shortages in the 1980s, many of these students turned into "businessmen"
and became the main suppliers of the expanding black market. In 1990,
many Arabs were among the first to "legalize" their businesses, using them as a cover
for the expanding smuggling networks. Arab presence was especially strong on the
drug and cigarette smuggling scene. The biggest competitors to the Arab smugglers
seem to be the Kurds from Turkey, who control the heroin shipments from Turkey
through Romania to Western Europe. Indications exist that the profits from Kurdishrun
heroin trade are used for financing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).36
Like all other Serbian neighbors, Romania also exploited the opportunities
offered by the international sanctions imposed on rump Yugoslavia. In the year
2000, the then-President Constantinescu accused his predecessor, the current
President Iliescu and the former Foreign Minister Melescanu of being involved in the
oil smuggling to Serbia (see chart 1). Such allegations are not uncommon in the
Southeast European political infighting and should be treated with caution. Yet, it is
hard to believe that the largest operation, involving around 1,000 railway wagons
loaded with fuel and which, as subsequent investigation revealed, crossed from
Romania into Serbia at the Jimbolia border crossing, could have been performed
without the knowledge of some of the highest Romanian officials.37
Romania was also among the largest exporters of arms to all warring sides in the
former Yugoslavia during the arms embargo imposed on them. The illegal arms
exports were controlled by former Securitate and army employees. Viktor
Stanculescu, the former head of the quartering corps for Romanian army and a member
of the tribunal which sentenced Ceausescu to death, became the owner of several
leading arms exporting companies (all of which were selling weapons to Croatia
and to Serbia) almost immediately after the revolution.38
From the paper in this thread