Israel is the third largest overseas drug smuggler in the world, according to statistics from the local Ben Gurion Airport. Drugs such as ecstasy, marijuana, hashish, heroine and cocaine are heavily used and traded in the Jewish state.
An Israeli government committee dealing with the nation’s drug problem was briefed by the airport’s customs department on Sunday February 7, 2004, Haaretz reported. It was revealed that some 915,000 ecstasy tablets, 32,000 doses of LSD, 14,500 kilograms of Indian hashish and 50,000 kilograms of cocaine were smuggled into Israel via international flights in 2003.
Moreover, the department reported that 2,000 kilograms of marijuana and eighty tons of cigarettes were also smuggled into the country last year. The illegal goods entered the country unnoticed while hidden in artwork, children’s toys, candles, shampoo bottles, mail, books and cosmetics.
Israel is an affluent, drug-consuming country-with an estimated 300,000 casual drug users and some 20,000 junkies. According to a report of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, 75 percent of all crime in Israel is drug-related. Drug trade has also led to troubling breaches of Israel’s borders with Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
