GIBRALTAR: SMUGGLING ON THE INCREASE

• published: 21 Jul 2015
• views: 37

English/Nat The prime minister of Gibraltar, Joe Bossano, has told APTV he's doing all he can do stop smugglers operating from the British colony. The smuggling trade has infuriated Spain, whose foreign minister is meeting his British counterpart for talks on the issue. APTV has this report from Gibraltar: There is a virtual siege here at Gibraltar's frontier with Spain. Gibraltarians have all but stopped crossing the frontier into Spain. They are frustrated at recent clampdowns by Spanish border police which have resulted in long delays at the frontier. Relations between the rock and its much larger neighbour are at their lowest since the frontier was opened in 1985 after a 15-year Spanish blockade of the colony. Spain justifies its border crackdown with claims that the colony's numerous banks have become a major European centre for the laundering of drug money. Gibraltar's efforts to cash in on its offshore tax status foundered during the world recession. This grand complex, known as Europort, was supposed to attract the financial institutions in which Gibraltar sees its future prosperity. Instead, it lies virtually empty - having almost bankrupted the colony. Allegations of corruption surrounding its construction continue to haunt Gibraltar's government. Much of Spain's concern centres on these "phantom" launches which are the backbone of the colony's lucrative and ill-disguised smuggling trade. Painted black to avoid detection at night, they make frequent runs across the coast to the Spanish mainland. The cargoes of tax-free cigarettes bring in handsome profits for the smugglers and for unemployed fishermen in the nearby Spanish village of La Linea who receive them. But graffiti in the rubbish-strewn village testify to Spain's acute problem of drug addiction. The Spanish claim that Gibraltar boats are smuggling a much deadlier cargo than cigarettes - heroin. For Gibraltar's young men smuggling is a lucrative alternative to the dole. The launches leave the coast to the eastern side of the Rock. There, cartons of cigarettes are loaded aboard and delivered at high speed to groups of Spanish men waiting on the Spanish side. The risks can be great. The smugglers claim the Spanish customs boats chase and ram the phantoms. They say such tactics have claimed three lives, including the stepson of a minister of the Gibraltar government. Those who admit involvement in the illegal business are at pains to point out that cigarettes are all they smuggle. SOUNDBITE: "There might be one or two Gibraltarians, or a small number, in connection with Spaniards who have boats based in Gibraltar and they go and do a drug run and then they come back and the rest of the Gibraltar tobacco exporters get a bad name. But it's not the Gibraltarians but the Spaniards who have their boats based here and they are using it as a camouflage and false names, and not under their names, and that's why we are getting a bad name. But it's not the Gibraltarians. You've seen tonight what we Gibraltarians are doing." SUPER CAPTION: Gibraltarian smuggler Gibraltar's prime minister, Joe Bossano, told APTV he's doing all he can do stop the smugglers: SOUNDBITE: SUPER CAPTION: Joe Bossano, Prime Minister of Gibraltar SOUNDBITE: SUPER CAPTION: Joe Bossano, Prime Minister of Gibraltar The issue is expected to feature high on the agenda when Spain's foreign minister arrives in London on Tuesday. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/6ccfd236796cd5e8fe647988d3b7812f Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork