2007年VOA标准英语-Officials Fear Drug Activities Increasing in Ma

By Phuong Tran
Nouadhibou, Mauritania
02 August 2007

International drug officials continue to worry that West Africa's porous¹ borders and weak law enforcement are attracting drug smugglers shipping² to Europe. They say they have evidence criminals are looking to Mauritania's largely unguarded coastline, airport, open deserts and facilities to funnel³ and process top-dollar illegal drugs. Phuong Tran has more from the fishing town, Nouadhibou, Mauritania.

Security officials are trying to bring Mauritanians arrested on drug charges in Morocco, last month, back to Mauritania to face criminal charges.

Law enforcement officials from nine countries had been pursuing one of the arrested men, Sidi Mohamed Ould Haidalla. They say he is behind the country's largest known cocaine⁴ seizure⁵, in May.

Drug investigators⁶ say the shipment of more than 600 kilograms of cocaine was destined⁷ for Haidalla, son of a former Mauritanian president.

Mohamed Yahya is governor of Nouadhibou, where security officials tracked down the abandoned $20 million worth of cocaine at the airport.

The governor says he has doubled the number of guard posts around the city and also the number of undercover agents. But Yahya says he needs more money.

He has asked for more funds from the national government to pay informants to report possible drug activity and to buy 4x4 patrol vehicles.

Security forces survey the hundreds-of-kilometers-long coast mostly by foot and camel.

United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime West Africa Representative Antonio Mazzitelli says, although seizures⁸ have been happening for years in West Africa, there is now also evidence of drug processing.

"A chemical precursor⁹ [finishing product] here might be much more easily available than in Latin American countries, where there are quite well developed systems of control," he said.

 

He says processing cocoa into cocaine in West Africa generally cuts down the price for sellers, because of cheaper chemical products.

Mauritania National Security Service Director Mohamed Abdellahi Taleb Abedi says his forces have found evidence of drug processing and have detained a number of people in the capital, Nouakchott.

 

He says investigators have not yet found the final drug product, only a chemical form of the drug before it is processed.

He says some of the suspects will be released, but others will be held longer for the investigation¹⁰.

Abedi dismisses lawyers' allegations evidence for this drug case is being gathered through the use of torture.

U.N. drug representative Mazzitelli says smuggling¹¹ investigations¹² in West Africa are still a fragile and sometimes corrupt¹³ enterprise.

"We are really scared in certain countries drug money are becoming, to a certain extent, widely available in the corridors of power," he said. "Because the very moment the drug money starts to infiltrate¹⁴ power, then it will be extremely difficult for everybody to get rid of it."

But newly-elected Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi says his government is committed to transparent¹⁵, legal drug investigations, as well as the pursuit of all criminal drug activities.

Spanish officials recently reported finding 800 kilograms of cocaine, dropped in the sea shortly before an emergency plane landing in the Canary Islands, last month.

Based on information they have received, U.N. drug officials say the small plane most likely left from northern Mauritania or Western Sahara.

1 porous   

adj.可渗透的，多孔的

参考例句：

• He added sand to the soil to make it more porous.他往土里掺沙子以提高渗水性能。
• The shell has to be slightly porous to enable oxygen to pass in.外壳不得不有些细小的孔以便能使氧气通过。

2 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

3 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

4 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

5 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

8 seizures   

n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物

参考例句：

• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year. 今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Other causes of unconsciousness predisposing to aspiration lung abscess are convulsive seizures. 造成吸入性肺脓肿昏迷的其他原因，有惊厥发作。 来自辞典例句

9 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

12 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

13 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

14 infiltrate   

vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润

参考例句：

• The teacher tried to infiltrate her ideas into the children's minds.老师设法把她的思想渗透到孩子们的心中。
• It can infiltrate as much as 100 kilometers into enemy territory at night.可以在夜间深入敌领土100千米。

15 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。