Natalee Holloway - Aruba

[liberato]

One thing I haven't heard, is what the 2 Surinam Kalpoe boys do...What are those 2 doing in Aruba? Nada has been told with that regard.

Well, this tells us a lot about them...

John said Kalpoe told him the brothers figured Holloway would turn up "a few days after, in some crack house or beach bar."

 

[MoonWrasse]

Evidently Aruba plays a big role in the hard drug trade. I wouldn't be surprised if these substances were readily available there, perhaps even with law enforcement knowledge.

The Caribbean island of Aruba was politically separated from the Netherlands Antilles in 1996, becoming an autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands the same year. Located only 20 miles off the coast of Venezuela, Aruba serves as a transshipment point for illicit drugs—primarily cocaine from South America.

Smugglers generally move large loads of cocaine into Aruba on fishing vessels, private yachts, and go-fast boats. They also move drugs out of Aruba inside maritime containerized cargo and airfreight. Drug trafficking organizations continue to exploit Aruba’s air and sea links to the continental United States, South America, Europe, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean nations. Most of the cocaine transiting Aruba is destined for European markets—primarily the Netherlands.

Aruba has large free-zone facilities (areas that allow goods to be held and then re-shipped elsewhere without paying an import or duty tax), which provide opportunities for bulk shipments of cocaine to transit the area without the scrutiny of local officials. Cocaine shipments in containerized cargo increasingly are transiting the area, specifically through the free zone. The free-zone facilities on Aruba are conducive to transshipments, not only of drugs, but also chemicals used in illicit manufacture of drugs. Some firms in the free zone are suspected of involvement in money laundering.

Couriers on commercial flights and cruise ships smuggle small (usually from 1- to 10-kilogram) amounts of cocaine and, to a lesser extent, heroin, into and out of Aruba, either concealed in their luggage or taped to their bodies. Commercial air couriers, sometimes swallow up to 1 kilogram of cocaine or heroin per trip. Drug couriers easily blend into the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit Aruba each year.

The proximity of Aruba to South America, a high standard of living in Aruba, and an underdeveloped law enforcement infrastructure make the country an attractive meeting place for South American, European, and U.S. drug traffickers. Colombian traffickers play a major role in the shipments of cocaine and heroin that transit the island, having forged trafficking relationships with local Arubans. In the past, some airline employees and cruise-ship personnel have smuggled drugs through Aruba.

Aruba plays a significant role as an offshore center for drug-related money laundering. Money laundering organizations are well established on Aruba and enjoy protection from considerable bank secrecy laws and a stable currency. The organizations use Aruba’s offshore banking and incorporation systems, free-zone areas, and resort/casino complexes to transfer and to launder drug proceeds. Although money laundering was made illegal in 1999, the legislation requires a provable underlying crime with a penalty of at least 4 years. The Government of Aruba also has an asset-seizure law that allows for seizure at the time of arrest to prevent criminals from moving assets prior to conviction.

The Government of Aruba has recently issued several decrees on money laundering that include increased oversight of casinos and insurance companies. The Government of Aruba also is in the process of instituting reporting requirements for cross-border currency movements in excess of 20,000 Aruban florins (approximately US$11,200). Aruba has a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), known as the Meldpunt Ongebruikelijke Transacties (MOT), and is a member of the Egmont Group, 5 an international group of FIUs.

Aruba is not a source country for any of the chemicals used in illicit drug production and has no specific legislation controlling essential chemicals. Difficulties abound when attempting to gauge the levels of chemical transshipment through Aruba, as most chemicals legally pass through Aruba’s Free Trade Zone—an area in which local law enforcement has limited oversight due to local regulations and manpower shortages. The reporting of chemicals transiting the island is strictly voluntary.

The Aruba Organized Crime Unit, a small investigative team of the Aruba Police, or Politie, has responsibility for investigating large-scale drug trafficking crimes. The Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba (CGNAA) is responsible for maritime drug interdictions around Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. The Governments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba have agreed to work more closely with the other coast guards operating in the region in order to present a united front against drug trafficking. The CGNAA has its own Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) which is separate from the Politie. However, due to Dutch law, unless the CGNAA can demonstrate that a given vessel is either coming from or going to territorial waters of the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba, any drug law enforcement, other than an administrative boarding, is considered illegal. Dutch investigators also support law enforcement investigations in the Netherlands Antilles.

Cocaine, heroin, and marijuana are readily available in Aruba. Wholesale amounts of cocaine sell for from US$3,800 to US$4,500 per kilogram among drug traffickers; heroin sells for about US$23,000 per kilogram; and marijuana sells for about US$2,000 per kilogram. These low prices suggest a heavy flow of drugs into Aruba. According to Aruban statistics, an estimated 14 percent of Arubans regularly use illicit drugs.

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/intel/03014/03014.html#aruba

 

[liberato]

Yes, very interesting. Not only is Aruba a major hub of South American cocaine and heroin to Europe and the fastest growing money laundering location in the Carribean it is also the primary distribution hub for the worlds largest MDMA manufacturing industry in the Netherlands. Almost all of the MDMA in the US comes through Aruba.

Also, that 14% regular drug use statistic more than doubles when you consider the under 21 age segment and that use includes cocaine and its cognates. The seedy underbelly of Aruba is about to be revealed due to this unfortunate incident.

 

[pilot fish]

Evidently Aruba plays a big role in the hard drug trade. I wouldn't be surprised if these substances were readily available there, perhaps even with law enforcement knowledge.

The Caribbean island of Aruba was politically separated from the Netherlands Antilles in 1996, becoming an autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands the same year. Located only 20 miles off the coast of Venezuela, Aruba serves as a transshipment point for illicit drugs—primarily cocaine from South America.

Smugglers generally move large loads of cocaine into Aruba on fishing vessels, private yachts, and go-fast boats. They also move drugs out of Aruba inside maritime containerized cargo and airfreight. Drug trafficking organizations continue to exploit Aruba’s air and sea links to the continental United States, South America, Europe, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean nations. Most of the cocaine transiting Aruba is destined for European markets—primarily the Netherlands.

Aruba has large free-zone facilities (areas that allow goods to be held and then re-shipped elsewhere without paying an import or duty tax), which provide opportunities for bulk shipments of cocaine to transit the area without the scrutiny of local officials. Cocaine shipments in containerized cargo increasingly are transiting the area, specifically through the free zone. The free-zone facilities on Aruba are conducive to transshipments, not only of drugs, but also chemicals used in illicit manufacture of drugs. Some firms in the free zone are suspected of involvement in money laundering.

Couriers on commercial flights and cruise ships smuggle small (usually from 1- to 10-kilogram) amounts of cocaine and, to a lesser extent, heroin, into and out of Aruba, either concealed in their luggage or taped to their bodies. Commercial air couriers, sometimes swallow up to 1 kilogram of cocaine or heroin per trip. Drug couriers easily blend into the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit Aruba each year.

The proximity of Aruba to South America, a high standard of living in Aruba, and an underdeveloped law enforcement infrastructure make the country an attractive meeting place for South American, European, and U.S. drug traffickers. Colombian traffickers play a major role in the shipments of cocaine and heroin that transit the island, having forged trafficking relationships with local Arubans. In the past, some airline employees and cruise-ship personnel have smuggled drugs through Aruba.

Aruba plays a significant role as an offshore center for drug-related money laundering. Money laundering organizations are well established on Aruba and enjoy protection from considerable bank secrecy laws and a stable currency. The organizations use Aruba’s offshore banking and incorporation systems, free-zone areas, and resort/casino complexes to transfer and to launder drug proceeds. Although money laundering was made illegal in 1999, the legislation requires a provable underlying crime with a penalty of at least 4 years. The Government of Aruba also has an asset-seizure law that allows for seizure at the time of arrest to prevent criminals from moving assets prior to conviction.

The Government of Aruba has recently issued several decrees on money laundering that include increased oversight of casinos and insurance companies. The Government of Aruba also is in the process of instituting reporting requirements for cross-border currency movements in excess of 20,000 Aruban florins (approximately US$11,200). Aruba has a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), known as the Meldpunt Ongebruikelijke Transacties (MOT), and is a member of the Egmont Group, 5 an international group of FIUs.

Aruba is not a source country for any of the chemicals used in illicit drug production and has no specific legislation controlling essential chemicals. Difficulties abound when attempting to gauge the levels of chemical transshipment through Aruba, as most chemicals legally pass through Aruba’s Free Trade Zone—an area in which local law enforcement has limited oversight due to local regulations and manpower shortages. The reporting of chemicals transiting the island is strictly voluntary.

The Aruba Organized Crime Unit, a small investigative team of the Aruba Police, or Politie, has responsibility for investigating large-scale drug trafficking crimes. The Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba (CGNAA) is responsible for maritime drug interdictions around Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. The Governments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba have agreed to work more closely with the other coast guards operating in the region in order to present a united front against drug trafficking. The CGNAA has its own Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) which is separate from the Politie. However, due to Dutch law, unless the CGNAA can demonstrate that a given vessel is either coming from or going to territorial waters of the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba, any drug law enforcement, other than an administrative boarding, is considered illegal. Dutch investigators also support law enforcement investigations in the Netherlands Antilles.

Cocaine, heroin, and marijuana are readily available in Aruba. Wholesale amounts of cocaine sell for from US$3,800 to US$4,500 per kilogram among drug traffickers; heroin sells for about US$23,000 per kilogram; and marijuana sells for about US$2,000 per kilogram. These low prices suggest a heavy flow of drugs into Aruba. According to Aruban statistics, an estimated 14 percent of Arubans regularly use illicit drugs.

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/intel/03014/03014.html#aruba

And we all keep going to these places, spending our money and getting ripped off on occassion. Then we wonder why things never change.

 

[H2Andy]

there was one murder in Aruba last year

and two murders so far this year

that's three murders in a year and a half..

sounds like a drug-infested, crime-ridden, smuggler's den of iniquity to me

 

[CSD1129]

the drug part cracks me up.
Drugs are everywhere. You just have to avoid them.

 

[500 PSI]

Uncle Ricky that is a wise observation. How come the government or press does not comment on this possibility?? Could it be an oil rich county??

 

[liberato]

the drug part cracks me up.
Drugs are everywhere...

Yes, the point is that Aruba is not the idyllic place of the travel brochures. The free trade zone is the playground of international narco traffickers.

Another statistic: Aruba has a dropping birthrate yet one of the fastest increasing populations in the area (something like 40% in a decade). That means most of the increase are immigrants and transients without much historical connection to the island and its culture.

 

[H2Andy]

Yes, the point is that Aruba is not the idyllic place of the travel brochures

no, but what place is?

as to the transient nature of the new arrivals... what percentage of the
population do they make? (i.e. how signifcant a change are we talking about?)
and where are those people coming from? if they come from fairly similar areas
or cultures, again... not much of an issue

also, there's been no significant (in fact zero) growth in crime as far as i
can tell (admittedly from very quick research) for like the past 20 years

 

[CSD1129]

We've all learned that there's no such thing as utopia.

last year I read a lot about large numbers of police officers being spotted in town. They were trying to keep out the number of illegals from Jamaica. (Read it on Travel Talk I think...or AOL can't remember).

You have to also account for the number of students and people (Such as hotel workers and those in the dive industry) that re-locate to Aruba. It is very hard to buy property/ become a resident in Aruba much less get work papers. I think the Aruban govt does this to crack down on illegals.

Can you honestly say that a place is a lovely as it appears on a brochure? Will a brochure ever highlight the down sides of a travel destination? Aruba is still a safe family-oriented place regardless of what is happening in the media.

As for the drugs, I come from a small middle-uppermiddle class town. A buddy of mine is an EMT and she told met that we're having a large problem with Heroin in the area. You can find people doing marijuana at your local high school. Drugs are a problem. I definately do not support the free trade zone, but there's not much we can do about it. The "drug trade" in aruba wouldn't stop me from returning. No one has ever approached me and asked me to buy drugs of any kind. (This has happened to two friends in Jamaica and ST.Maarten...)


Regarding people coming in with no connection to aruban history/culture: Other islands have the same problem. Actually everywhere pretty much has this problem. People come and go...culture comes and goes with them.

I think Natalee was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I feel sorry for her, and I hope she's found alive and well soon.