Timor: Narcotráfico 2008

A CRIME syndicate with links to former pro-Indonesian militias supplied drugs to youth gang members involved in violent attacks in East Timor. This is the finding of an investigation ordered by East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta. It also found girls as young as 12 were being trafficked into East Timor for prostitution, some at a brothel frequented by United Nations personnel. A report on the investigation, obtained by The Age, criticises the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) and United Nations police in East Timor for failing to "recognise the importance and gravity of this new phenomenon" in the troubled country of 1 million. "The swiftness in which international drug syndicates mobilised into Timor Leste (East Timor) was underestimated by the international security forces," the report said. But within days of Mr Ramos Horta receiving the report last month, East Timor and United Nations police began raids in the capital, Dili, and arrested almost 100 Timorese and foreigners on drugs and prostitution charges. Mr Ramos Horta is recovering in Royal Darwin Hospital from gunshot wounds received in a rebel attack on February 11. The confidential report said girls aged between 12 and 15 were brought from Indonesian West Timor and held in safe houses in Dili and "only brought out on request" to a brothel operated by a drugs and human trafficking syndicate. The Age, Austrália 2008