Drug Use, Smuggling Increasing in Libya
Source: Voice of America
TRIPOLI, LIBYA Drug use is on the rise in Libya, as a host of post-revolutionary challenges after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi prevent the government from stemming the tide. The evidence of drug use isnt hard to find in Libyas capital, from discarded syringes littering small parks in residential side streets to the smell of pungent hashish being smoked in the rubble-strewn remains of toppled strongman Gadhafi's former residential compound.
According to the chairman of the national security committee of the countrys parliament, Abd Al-Wahhab Muhammad Qaid, drug trafficking is a serious challenge for the Libyan government, with narcotics flowing in from its southern neighbors, Chad and Niger.
I live in the south and I know we have big borders, and in fact we suffer from many things - from illegal immigration and drugs. We dont control our borders, said Qaid.
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Libya isnt just a trans-shipment point, though. It is a market itself. There are increasing reports of Libyans using drugs, presenting both a public health crisis, as well as a law-and-order problem. Police claim that 80 percent of Libyan crime is drug-related, with traffickers and dealers fighting nightly turf battles in Tripoli and Benghazi, and addicts resorting to carjacking and robbery.
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