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Daily Maverick
08-05-2025
- Daily Maverick
Russian firm recruits young African women, including from SA, to build drones for war on Ukraine
Some recruits complained of racism and harassment. Others said they were subjected to excess surveillance and had to sign non-disclosure agreements about their work. A Russian firm is fraudulently recruiting hundreds of young foreign women — mostly from Africa, including South Africa — to manufacture drones which it is using to attack Ukraine, according to a new report. The women, aged between 18 and 22, though in the past some have been younger, are not told they are being recruited to Russia to make drones, according to the report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). The report, 'Who is making Russia's drones? — The migrant women exploited for Russia's war economy', said the women were recruited by a private company, Alabuga Start, with promises of good salaries and educational opportunities. The company is part of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (Alabuga SEZ), an industrial park in the city of Yelabuga, east of Moscow. It has been manufacturing Iranian Shahed drones since late 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, in a deal with the Iranian company Sahara Thunder — a subsidiary of the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces, says the report. No mention is made in the recruiting of the migrant workers that they will be contributing to Russia's war against Ukraine, nor that they could face danger, says the report. The production site in the Alabuga SEZ, where Iranian Shahed 'kamikaze' drones and Albatross reconnaissance drones are made, was attacked by Ukrainian drones in April 2024, injuring several African migrant workers. GI-TOC said Alabuga Start participants and other workers at the site described exploitative, repressive and punitive working conditions. Some recruits complained of racism and harassment of African workers. Others said they were subjected to excess surveillance and had to sign non-disclosure agreements about their work. Some workers claimed that they were not paid what they had been promised (around $500 a month), although others expressed satisfaction with the pay. The report noted that Alabuga Start had at times been pitched as a work-study programme and some recruits had been promised they could continue from the Alabuga Polytech alongside the factory, to study at Russian universities. But, reportedly, these opportunities did not materialise, and several workers complained that they were given the least-skilled, most menial work. Euphemistic descriptions GI-TOC found that up to 90% of the migrant workers ended up on the drone assembly line, while the rest did jobs such as cleaning in the factory. Meanwhile, the advertising for recruits contained 'euphemistic or generic descriptions about working as a 'production operator' or 'technician' in otherwise unnamed production lines'. The report's authors found documents which included staffing plans which 'set out three categories of personnel: specialist technicians (Russians); 'Tajik' engineers; and 'mulatto' workers, a derogatory term for the African migrant workers'. The report quoted Timur Shagivaleev, CEO of the Alabuga SEZ, who said the programme was aimed at relieving Russia's labour shortage as 'Russians are simply not ready to work for 30,000–40,000 rubles ($300–400) … in Third World countries … the starting salary is very low – about $200. And that's why foreigners from exotic countries are ready to work for such money.' The report said its research showed that the most recent starting salary was now about $500 per month. Shagivaleev was also quoted as saying Alabuga Start only recruited women because they were more 'accurate' in their work and easier to work with than men. According to Alabuga's figures, the programme recruited participants from 44 countries in 2023, said the report. It added that it identified recruits from at least 32 countries, though there were likely to be more. GI-TOC's list includes South Africa as a source country for workers, but does not provide details. The report noted that the drones produced at Alabuga were central to Russia's war effort, as it has been launching attacks on Ukraine using Shahed-type drones almost daily. The Shaheds are called kamikaze drones because they don't carry separate weapons — they are the weapons. Which means Russia needs lots of them. Alabuga is a private company, and GI-TOC said it had found no evidence that the fraudulent recruitment of migrant women was directed by the Russian government. However, it said the company had close government links — as Moscow is a financial backer and the only user of the drones. Strategic interests It added that Alabuga 'is in line with Russia's strategic interests of growing its presence overseas, including in countries in Africa, and it has often made use of private business to achieve these objectives (including in the case of Wagner)', referring to the private military company founded by Russian President Vladimir Putin's confidante Yevgeny Prigozhin, which helped him fight his battles in Ukraine, Syria and Africa before he mutinied in 2023 and died in a suspicious plane crash with his senior commanders. The report also discovered evidence that Russian embassies in Tanzania and Central African Republic were involved in the recruitment of workers from those countries. It said that Alabuga Start primarily recruited online, but also through recruitment partners in source countries, some of whom claimed they did not know the workers were being recruited to make drones. GI-TOC found that the governments of some African countries had assisted in the recruitment of their nationals for the programme. A damaged car at the site of Russian shelling near a residential building in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 07 March 2025, amid the Russian invasion. At least eight people were injured after Russian missile strikes hit near a three-story building and a critical infrastructure facility in Kharkiv, the Mayor of the city Ihor Terekhov wrote on telegram. Russia launched 194 attack drones and 67 missiles across Ukraine overnight, with Ukrainian air defenses shooting down 36 rockets and 186 drones, according to the Air Force Command of Ukraine. EPA-EFE/SERGEY KOZLOV It noted, though, that as the complaints from participating workers and others increased, Alabuga Start had become more politicised, and some host countries in Africa had begun to take action against it. It said Burkina Faso had apparently halted recruitment, while Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania had made moves to regulate recruitment. The report said Uganda had created a bilateral labour agreement with Russia that could cover Alabuga Start, while Kenya and Tanzania had reportedly discussed creating such an agreement. GI-TOC noted that though recruitment initially focused on Africa, it now ranged further, including Asia and particularly Latin America. GI-TOC said that according to the definition of the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, Alabuga Start 'does not constitute a clear-cut case of human trafficking … but something that is more akin to fraudulent exploitation'. It found that Alabuga's failure to inform the recruits that they were going to Russia to make drones did amount to an element of human trafficking under the convention. However, there was not a wholesale denial of the participants' rights, including because they did receive pay and other benefits that were promised. And they were allowed to leave after their contracts ended. The ambiguity was reflected in participants' divergent views, 'which varied from feelings of exploitation to acceptance of the working conditions'. Highly irregular The report concluded, nevertheless, that 'the Alabuga SEZ recruitment programmes constitute an exploitative use of juvenile and migrant labour to support the Russian war economy. It is a highly irregular arrangement that shows the lengths to which Russia is having to go to sustain its military supply chains. 'There is a clear disjoint between the upbeat promises of the glossy marketing campaign made to young women from predominantly the Global South and the harsh realities of the working conditions, and the deception, coercion and risks to safety that the work exposes them to. 'By concealing the true nature of Alabuga's role in producing military drones it denies potential recruits the opportunity to make an informed decision about what they are undertaking as applicants.' The report recommended that countries from which Alabuga Start participants had been recruited should: Contact these participants through their embassies in Russia to ensure their welfare; Investigate the programme and the safeguards for participants; Identify the local intermediaries and ask them to stop promoting the programme; and Stop issuing travel documents to prevent their citizens from participating in the programme. International partners of these countries should share information with source countries of Alabuga Start participants about the company's role in the war economy and the treatment of migrant workers. They should also support the development of alternative work and education opportunities for migrant workers. Daily Maverick did reach out to Alabuga Start for comment, but had receive not response at the time of publication. Their comment will be added should they choose to comment at a later stage. DM
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- The Guardian
Cocaine, corruption and bribes: the German port under siege by Europe's criminal drug gangs
In Hamburg's spring sunshine, 200,000-tonne cargo ships almost half a mile long, piled high with the same weight in shipping containers, are docked quayside along the Elbe River. Cranes slowly offload the metal boxes packed with everything from raw materials to food and electronics, and, in some, cocaine. Between 2018 and 2023 cocaine seizures rose by 750%, marking out Germany as another major European hub in the ever-expanding global trade. But the influx is not just ramping up addiction, it is also fuelling corruption in a country perceived as being one of the least corrupt in the world. 'We are seeing an infiltration of the port infrastructure in Hamburg, bribing of police officers in exchange for information and lately a state attorney awaiting trial for [allegedly] leaking information to a cocaine trafficking network,' said Daniel Brombacher, who runs the Europe bureau at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. In 2021, police announced Europe's biggest ever seizure of cocaine at the port: 16 tonnes of high-purity powder stashed in 1,700 wall-putty tins shipped from Paraguay to Hamburg. The lead public prosecutor in that case was in court last week accused of being on the payroll of the same gang he was supposed to be prosecuting. The man, named as Yashar G, is accused of leaking investigation details to the gang and warning suspects of their imminent arrest in return for €5,000 (£4,250) a month. He was arrested in October by police monitoring the gang's encrypted communications – when police raided the network shortly after the Hamburg seizure, key targets had already fled to Dubai. Yashar G is also accused of leaking sensitive information to other drug gangs. He denies all allegations against him. Cocaine production in Colombia and its consumption in western Europe are hitting record highs. So too is the money being made by European organised crime networks distributing a product worth more by weight than platinum. A kilo of cocaine is worth $2,000 in Colombia, but once in Europe its value rockets to an average of $40,000. Profits from this huge mark-up are not just spent on luxury cars and villas, but used to smooth the path for the next shipment as the gangster creep digs its tentacles into countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Germany. Hamburg, the European Union's third largest port is one of its most targeted ports by drug gangs, according to Europol. Insiders known as hafeninnentäter (including dock and shipping workers, security guards and truck drivers) move the drugs unnoticed. Two Hamburg port workers were this month jailed for helping transport 480kg of cocaine from Ecuador and enabling a physical attack on a colleague who threatened the plot. Police have launched a publicity campaign to help port workers fend off drug gangs trying to recruit or extort them, but Hamburg's port security forces feel so under threat they last year demanded submachine guns. In one incident Belgian police tipped off Hamburg's port police that an armed French drug gang was planning a raid to recover seized cocaine. Cocaine's profits meanwhile spill out on to Hamburg's streets. 'Karl', a former bouncer in the city's red light district, said money from cocaine has become increasingly visible in the last five years. 'Every weekend you see more and more young men in Ferraris, Lamborghinis and €150,000 SUVs,' he said. 'This is not money earned from prostitution, or scams or cannabis. This is cocaine money.' A series of cases in Germany have also highlighted alleged corruption within police ranks: an officer in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg arrested this month on suspicion of being on the Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia's payroll, a senior police officer in Hanover suspected of taking bribes from a drug trafficking network arrested in January, a drug squad officer arrested near Frankfurt in November on charges of 'aiding and abetting' drug dealers and a police officer arrested in Bonn in August who was accused of passing classified information to members of the Dutch-Moroccan mafia, big players in Europe's drug trade. 'The cocaine bonanza that we have witnessed in Germany and the EU in the past decade has led to an unprecedented influx of cash into organised crime,' said Brombacher. 'Organised crime groups have never had so much venture capital available, and also never before such a strong incentive to invest in bribing to make sure the business keeps moving.' Hamburg Port Authority said issues linked to port security were dealt with by Hamburg police. In a statement, a spokesperson for the police said: 'International organised criminal groups are often recruiting employees of the port industry in order to support the smuggling of cocaine from South America into Germany and Europe via the port of Hamburg. These so-called 'internal port offenders' are playing a particular key role in this kind of illegal drug importation.' The spokesperson said the police, alongside customs, the port authority and the private sector, were 'making significant efforts to combat this issue'. They added: 'So far, cases of bribed police officers have not been proven in Hamburg in this context.' Organised crime experts have warned that the true nature of corruption brought by drug trafficking networks remains hidden. 'Germany has found it very difficult to admit its problem with organised crime and still today it is largely in denial. The sudden influx of cocaine has just started to make the problem visible,' said Zora Hauser, a criminologist at the University of Cambridge whose book, Mafia Expansion, about the rise of the 'Ndrangheta in Germany, was published this month. 'It's the perfect storm: a combination of fragmented policing, political neglect, weak legislation especially in relation to money laundering, and excessive data protection have made Germany a paradise for criminal operations.' Organised crime's lifeblood is cocaine. But the authorities are being hopelessly outfought. Despite all the work by law enforcement in targeting the cocaine trade in Europe, supply is plentiful and, unlike most products, it costs around the same as 10 years ago. When the Dutch spent €524m increasing port security in response to a wave of gangland executions linked to the cocaine trade, the gangs just switched to ports in France, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia and the Baltics. Cocaine seizures at Hamburg were down in 2024, but the drug is still arriving in abundance: on small boats into smaller north German ports or via 'parasite smuggling', where cocaine is attached to the outside of cargo ship hulls and retrieved by divers at the destination port. But catching the gangsters themselves is not enough, criminologists warn, and the search for corruption needs to go deeper. 'Cocaine trafficking and the associated money laundering in Germany can only function on a large scale through corruption of public officials and other facilitators. But the focus of investigators is only on the perpetrators within the criminal networks,' said Robin Hofmann, a specialist in organised crime at Maastricht University. Instead, Hofmann said, as has been done in the Netherlands, the search for the infiltration of cocaine money must be widened further 'to the facilitators, the lawyers, local politicians and financial advisers who enable organised crime and profit from it'.
Boston Globe
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Haiti turns to weaponized drones in fight against gangs
Advertisement 'If the intention is to create the illusion that the situation is under control, this is quite the opposite,' said Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, a Haiti analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. 'This is a very, very dangerous escalation.' A humanitarian worker in Port-au-Prince said aid groups are figuring out how to adapt. 'We work in places where thousands of people are present,' said the aid worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. 'This situation is clearly dangerous for civilians, especially if something were to detonate during a distribution.' Since drones were first deployed in early March, they have not killed any gang leaders. But they have injured at least nine civilians, including women and children, according to a health care worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals by Haitian officials. Two had such severe burns that they were transferred to specialized facilities for treatment. Advertisement Little is known about the drones. Haitians say they see them and hear the explosions. Gang leaders post videos of them in their territory and the injuries they say they have sustained from them. They appear to be commercial drones that were weaponized with improvised munitions, analysts say. It's also unclear who is in charge of the drone operations. Neither Haiti's interim government nor its police have publicly claimed responsibility for them. But a Haitian government official said the unit is run by a task force created this year by interim prime minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé and the transitional presidential council. 'They have no transparency,' said Nathalye Cotrino, a senior researcher for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, 'and we haven't seen any accountability.' The Haitian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security issue, defended the drone operations. Haiti, he said, is 'at war.' The drones have killed 'many' gang members, though he did not have a number, and without them, he said, the gangs would have taken over the affluent neighborhood of Pétion-Ville. The drones are being used to target gang strongholds that civilians have already fled, he added. But when asked about the civilian casualties - which have not been previously reported - he said they would not be a 'surprise.' 'Let's be honest - it's inevitable,' the official said, adding, 'To me, it's just a detail. As long as you're in a zone controlled by gangs and there are attacks, collateral damage is going to happen.' Advertisement The official said the task force responsible for the drones includes specialized police units. But Haitian National Police spokesman Lionel Lazarre said police use drones for surveillance and referred questions about weaponized drones to the government. Godfrey Otunge, the commander of a UN-backed, Kenya-led international police mission to Haiti, said that the force does not use weaponized drones and that Haiti's transitional government is in charge. Neither the secretary of state for public security nor a spokesman for Haiti's transitional presidential council responded to requests for comment. Canada and the United States, which have provided equipment for the Haitian police, said their support has not included lethal drones or logistical support or training for their use. A spokesman for Canada's Foreign Ministry said that 'to our knowledge, neither the Haitian National Police nor the Haitian military forces were involved in the new Haitian task force's drone attacks.' Analysts worry that Haiti's gangs could now be spurred to add weaponized drones to their arsenals. 'Be careful,' Jimmy 'Barbecue' Chérizier, one of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders, warned authorities in a video after a drone attack failed to kill him last month. 'The world sells everything. I can buy what you bought.'
Washington Post
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Haiti turns to weaponized drones in fight against gangs
With the capital of Haiti on the cusp of falling to gangs, authorities in the crisis-racked Caribbean nation are turning to a new weapon in their fight against the armed groups: weaponized drones. Some in Haiti hope that the unmanned aerial vehicles, which have shaped conflicts from Ukraine to Sudan, will lift the country from its worst crisis in decades. One of its leading human rights groups backs the tactic, and a song shared widely on social media praises the drones for stirring fear among gang leaders. But their emergence has also alarmed analysts, other rights groups and aid workers, who say their use in Haiti's densely populated capital, Port-au-Prince, adds fuel to a combustible conflict, endangers civilians, complicates the delivery of aid and may violate international law. 'If the intention is to create the illusion that the situation is under control, this is quite the opposite,' said Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, a Haiti analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. 'This is a very, very dangerous escalation.' A humanitarian worker in Port-au-Prince said aid groups are figuring out how to adapt. 'We work in places where thousands of people are present,' said the aid worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. 'This situation is clearly dangerous for civilians, especially if something were to detonate during a distribution.' Since they were first deployed in early March, the drones have not killed any gang leaders. They have injured at least nine civilians, including women and children, according to a health-care worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals by Haitian officials. Two had such severe burns that they were transferred to specialized facilities for treatment. Little is known about the drones. Haitians say they see them and hear the explosions. Gang leaders post videos of them in their territory and the injuries they say they have sustained from them. They appear to be commercial drones that were weaponized with improvised munitions to make them lethal, analysts say. It's also unclear who is in charge of the drone operations. Neither Haiti's interim government nor its police have publicly claimed responsibility for them. But a Haitian government official said the unit is run by a task force created this year by interim prime minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé and the transitional presidential council. 'They have no transparency,' said Nathalye Cotrino, a senior researcher for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, 'and we haven't seen any accountability.' The Haitian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security issue, defended the drone operations. Haiti, he said, is 'at war'; the drones have killed 'many' gang members, though he did not have a tally; and without them, he said, the gangs would have taken over the affluent neighborhood of Pétion-Ville. The drones are being used to target gang strongholds that civilians have already fled, he added. But when asked about the civilian casualties — which have not previously been reported — he said they would not be a 'surprise.' 'Let's be honest — it's inevitable,' the official said, adding, 'To me, it's just a detail. As long as you're in a zone controlled by gangs and there are attacks, collateral damage is going to happen.' The official said the task force responsible for the drones includes specialized police units. But Haitian National Police spokesman Lionel Lazarre said police use drones for surveillance and referred questions about weaponized drones to the government. Godfrey Otunge, the commander of a United Nations-backed, Kenya-led international police mission to Haiti, said that the force does not use weaponized drones and that Haiti's transitional government is in charge. Neither the secretary of state for public security nor a spokesman for Haiti's transitional presidential council responded to requests for comment. Nonlethal drones have had a presence in Haiti, with both the police and gangs using them to conduct reconnaissance and plan attacks. Johnson 'Izo' Andre, head of the 5 Segonn gang, used them to coordinate a prison break at Haiti's National Penitentiary last year. The acquisition of the drones 'has had a significant impact on the fighting capacity of gangs,' a U.N. expert panel on Haiti wrote to the president of the U.N. Security Council last year. It said that while there was no evidence of gangs weaponizing the drones, the provision of commercial drones to gangs could constitute assistance to criminal groups that would be grounds for the imposition of sanctions. The use of lethal drones by authorities, however, is new. What little is known about the drones comes from videos shared on social media by gang members. They do not appear to be military-grade with precision-guided munitions. Trevor Ball, a former explosive ordnance disposal technician for the U.S. Army, said the drone munition in one video appeared to be improvised and was designed to be lethal. A purple cylinder, with cross-hatching typical of a 3D printer, held what appeared to be plastic explosives. The drone munition, Ball said, did not appear to have detonated properly. Philip J. Alston, a law professor at New York University, said Haitian authorities have 'an absolutely impossible job,' but the use of weaponized drones in this way runs afoul of international law. Canada and the United States, which have provided equipment for the Haitian police, said their support has not included lethal drones or logistical support or training for their use. A spokesman for Canada's Foreign Ministry said that 'to our knowledge, neither the Haitian National Police nor the Haitian military forces were involved in the new Haitian task force's drone attacks.' Analysts worry Haiti's gangs could now be spurred to add weaponized drones to their arsenal. 'Be careful,' Jimmy 'BBQ' Chérizier, one of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders, warned authorities in a video after a drone attack failed to kill him last month. 'The world sells everything. I can buy what you bought.' Gangs control at least 85 percent of Port-au-Prince. At least 5,600 people were killed in gang violence in 2024, according to U.N. data, up 17 percent from 2023. Roughly 1 million people, or 10 percent of the country's population, have been displaced. The violence has worsened after warring gangs joined to form a coalition called 'Viv Ansanm,' which has launched attacks against the capital and the countryside. The gangs have filled a leadership vacuum. The presidency has been vacant since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the legislature empty since the last lawmakers' terms expired in 2023. In their place is an interim council and an appointed prime minister. The police are outmatched and outnumbered by the gangs. The Kenya-led police mission has been stymied by its own lack of resources. Compounding the sense of lawlessness, the U.N. office in Haiti has also reported an increase in abuses by vigilantes and a rise in extrajudicial killings by police. 'Haiti's survival is at stake,' William O'Neill, the U.N. expert on human rights in Haiti, said last month. Amid such a desperate situation, some in Haiti support the drones. 'They make it so that for the first time,' the Haitian official said, 'the bandits are afraid of something.' Pierre Espérance, director of Haiti's National Human Rights Defense Network, backs their use. But the drone operations should not be controlled by political actors or used for political purposes, he said. 'These gangs are committing acts of terrorism,' he said. 'We welcome any action that counteracts them.' Marc-Arthur Mésidort, president of Haiti's Action Group for the Defense of Human Rights, said a better strategy would be to focus on dismantling the ties between gang leaders and the elites who back them. Markinson Dorilas, a preacher at a church in the Delmas 19 neighborhood, worries about civilian casualties. 'These drones won't solve anything,' he said. 'On the contrary, they'll only make things worse.' A Port-au-Prince resident, Jean-Marie, disagrees. One day last month, he heard six loud booms — drones targeting nearby areas. He was forced to flee his home in March after gangs set it ablaze. Jean-Marie, who asked to be identified by only his first name because of safety concerns, said he had just spent 65,000 Haitian gourdes (about $500) on school supplies for his three children. All of it was lost in the fire. Now, the sight of other children going to school brings him to tears. 'If God knew my life would turn out like this, I would have preferred to have not been born,' he said. 'The drones should have been used a long time ago.'
Rudaw Net
05-04-2025
- Rudaw Net
Nearly half a ton of cocaine seized at Istanbul airport
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish customs confiscated nearly half a ton of cocaine at Istanbul airport, the government said on Saturday. 'Following the technical analysis and targeting studies, a cargo shipment originating from abroad and transiting through our country was examined in detail. The cargo shipment consisting of 40 boxes prepared for the cocaine-type drug trade weighing 455.2 kilos was seized,' read a statement from the Ministry of Trade. The investigation is ongoing, according to the ministry. The statement did not reveal the shipment's origin or final destination, but it was flagged during routine checks and underwent a thorough inspection, local media reported. Turkey is becoming a transit hub for the cocaine trade into Europe. 'Turkish criminal networks - already key players in the heroin trade - appear to have found new ways to exploit the country's minimal resilience to organized crime, working with Latin American and Balkan groups to keep up with the escalating global demand for cocaine,' according to a 2023 report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
