Read the map; narcotics, principally cocaine, coming from South America and Africa, lands in Malta, for sale and transshipment into Central Europe. Due to the systemic corruption that pervades Malta, seizures only occur very rarely, and are believed to be orchestrated to give the impression that law enforcement and customs is handling the influx. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Payment by wholesalers who ship out their cargo to Central Europe is bulk cash smuggling to Istanbul. The cash-sniffing canines at Malta International Airport (MLA) are among the most active in the European Union, but most of the money is bulk cash smuggled to Istanbul, via scheduled airline service.
Local consumption in Malta is said to have increased, with the arrest of street-level retail sales significantly up since 2014. Abuse by members of the ruling Labour Party is well known; one scandal involved the discovery of kilogram-size contraband in a party social club, where no arrests were made, and the matter censored in the local press.
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