Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998 Source: Toronto Sun (Canada) Contact: http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoSun/ Author: Rob Lamberti, Toronto Sun 'GLOBAL DRUG TRAFFICKING EXPLODING' Crack Down On Money-Laundering: Interpol International dealing in illegal drugs is exploding as drugs become cheaper, purer and deadlier, a police conference in Toronto was told yesterday. Interpol drug consultant Ramachandra Sunda said heroin is considered a serious problem in 150 of the 177 member nations of the international police service. And Southeast Asian drug syndicates, traditionally growers of opium and makers of heroin, are shifting to making synthetic drugs. "Global drug trafficking is exploding, based on seizure data and statistics," Sunda told the Asian Organized Crime Conference at the Sheraton Centre. "It's exploding because it's big money." He said the power of international crime groups has "gone beyond expectations and imaginations" of the international law-enforcement community. With the development of new trafficking routes, new syndicates, increasing demand and supply, Sunda said law enforcement will have to become globally oriented. He said Interpol has urged member nations to adapt uniform money laundering laws: "Who is the money-launderer? He's unseen, unknown, unheard of," Sunda said. "I see the laws, the laws are good. (But) how many money launderers have been convicted? "The biggest privatization in the history of the world is under way today," Sunda said. "Drug syndicates and criminal organizations are investing this illegal money in legitimate enterprises in several countries." He said laundered money is currently part of the $170 billion U.S. flowing among the world's financial institutions daily. Sunda noted methamphetamines are being produced in large quantities on the Thai-Myanmar border, "because there's a big market for methamphetamines in southeast Asia." "Synthetic drugs are going to be the nightmare of the millennium," Sunda said. - ---