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Azerbaijan Crime and Crime Prevention
In the early 1990s, crime in Azerbaijan generally intensified
and expanded to new parts of society. In the confusion of
economic reform, white-collar criminals absconded with investment
and savings funds entrusted to new and unproven financial
institutions, and mass refugee movements and territorial
occupation promoted the activities of armed criminal groups. At
the same time, law enforcement agencies of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs underwent several reorganizations that hindered
effective crime prevention.
Narcotics Trade
According to United States and Russian sources, illegal
narcotics, including opium, hashish, and marijuana, are assuming
a large role in Azerbaijani exports, although official economic
indicators do not reflect such commerce. In 1993 the United
States Department of State reported that Azerbaijani criminal
networks controlled 80 percent of drug distribution in Moscow.
Only seven kilograms of narcotics were confiscated by customs
officials at border points in 1993, however. According to
official Russian sources, in 1993 some 38.6 percent of illegal
drugs entering Russia from former Soviet republics came from
Azerbaijan, and 82 percent of drug arrests in Moscow were of
Azerbaijanis. The Russian government and Armenian authorities
have alleged that Azerbaijani government officials are involved
in drug trafficking, which they assert helps support Azerbaijani
military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1993 Azerbaijan
joined the International Association Against Narcomania and the
Narcobusiness.
Wartime conditions and expanded trade relations also
increased other types of smuggling dramatically. Widespread
corruption and poor organization in the Azerbaijani customs
service fostered customs violations; in one two-month period in
1994, customs officals seized 6,300 Iranian rials, US$23,700,
forty truckloads of iron pipe, 1,633 tons of metal, 620 grams of
mercury, and batches of military optics equipment.
Data as of March 1994
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