I´m not saying huge drug business. I know collegues who were send to saudi arabia and told me you can do anything you want there. Party with hot girls. Not all saudi girls are very "religous". I think you know as much as i do that there are some "sex bombs" under the hijab ;P
I only know UAE from personal visits there and it gets pretty wild there.
As for your links, we both know this game. A westerner gets caught for a crime...sentenced to death and then it sinks into silence and he is released.
As for drug operations...i can assure you that most drug operations regarding Cocaine are operated and managed from the italian mafia. But no italian would ever do transport that himself. Usually poor 3rd worlders are used for this.
You have the rich italian mafia boss doing business with a rich saudi guy. The dirty work is done from some poor guys...98% of business wents on smoothly and if one contract gets busted the drug mule gets sacrificed.
Of course not all Saudi Arabian women or let alone persons are religious. Not all are even Muslims. Those who are Muslims are not always observing Muslims just like you have millions of Catholics whose observance of the religion differs greatly.
I know that Saudi Arabian women are going to the UAE and other nearby GCC countries to party. I know that some have sex before marriage. I know that the 80.000 Saudi Arabian female students abroad are not all observing Muslims and also engage in what their peers do in for instance the US, UK etc. Let alone the men. We all know that. It's utopia to think otherwise. We are all sinners and I am not the judge. I can just state my opinion as a private individual. For instance I find it very disturbing when 10-12 year old girls in the West are dressed as 20 year olds with very revealing clothing and I find it repulsive that very young girls have had sex with several strangers from a very young age. This is against my religion, values etc. While others don't care and that's fine.
Yes, that's what I explained when I wrote that certain countries do more for their citizens and have a bigger clout. It's the same in the GCC. It's because of influence. People with money and political clout always have better possibilities of escaping than those that don't. It's the same everywhere. A rich German will afford to hire the best lawyer while the poor one is limited and this can often mean that he gets a much harsher sentence. We see this especially in the US where it is also racial and social hence why the jails there are overrepresented when it comes to Blacks, Latinos etc.
I am not denying that GCC citizens have many more opportunities in that department than a Belarusian or Mexican. Likewise the French will have a bigger clout than the Malaysian. The world is unfair we all know this. Always was and will be.
I don't know who controls the drug trade but it is probably international cartels. The Arabian Peninsula borders several big markets (Europe, Africa, remaining Asia) so it slowly becoming a bigger and bigger transit area for drugs and sometimes also a consumer place depending on the drug.
Drugs are horrible. In the West many think that it's just some pills and you are not forced to take it but once a relative dies from an overdose given by her by some drug pusher at a nightclub you would like to wish hell upon those that who were behind it.
It's quite huge. In khyber pakhtunkhwa province for example, we have drug selling hotels all over the rural areas. The fact that marijuana plant is a natural weed in Pakistan doesn't help much either. Like if I stop mowing the lawn in my Pakistani home for example, it would get covered with marijuana plants within months.
And yes in Pakistan there is a major problem with heroine and low quality cocaine, but as another poster mentioned, major politicians themselves are involved in the drug selling business. The whole police system is broken too. Like all the police stations literally take orders from the local politicians. Politicians can easily get "rebellious" police officers transferred or suspended. Typical developing world problems.
I think it can... Their leaders tend to be huge cowards btw. Like the Pakistani Taliban leader, Fazlullah's wives and children are under government's custody but he didn't turn himself in. Shows what a coward and shameless person he is. Like how can he live with his conscience knowing that some unruly government employees might have raped or tortured his wife and family.
Thanks for the information. Qat is also a natural drug in Yemen and parts of Horn of Africa. It's rather harmless although addicting compared to heroin but still a problem as those plants need a hell lot of water and they must be grown in the mountains. Instead the locals could plant coffee, tropical fruits, vegetables etc. but there is not that much money in this business.
It's the same with the opium trade in Afghanistan, sadly. Heroin is horrible. Just look at Iran, Russia and Afghanistan.
Well whenever there is money to be made there will be powerful people around. I remember that a Saudi Arabian prince (there are at least 3000 Saudi Arabian princes that have direct or indirect influence in the decision making) was caught smuggling drugs etc. I don't really know much about the case and what happened afterwards. I think he did it in the US and they wanted him extradited but KSA refused. Not sure if he got punished. If everything happened 100% justly he should have been executed too.
