Categories
· Cross-Border/Crime
non-USA, by Country
· Moldova
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Jump to full article: New York Times, 2002-03-05
Author: MICHAEL WINES
Intro: Some also say that the region is a hotbed of smuggling and a potential haven for terrorists. "I can assure you," Mr. Marakutsa said emphatically, "that neither terrorists nor smugglers will find a place on our territory." . .
The Trans-Dniester Republic is unique, the experts say, in that it is rooted not in religion or ethnicity, but in its ability to turn a fast and often illegal buck. . .
Or look at trade: after the Trans- Dniester Republic and Moldova briefly set up a joint customs operation, 1998 figures uncovered by Mr. Nantoi showed that Trans-Dniester, with but one-sixth of Moldova's population, imported 6,000 times as many cigarettes as the rest of the country.
Mr. Nantoi said he believed that most of the cigarettes were illegal knockoffs of Western brands, illicitly made in Ukraine and exported through the Trans-Dniester Republic as far as Germany. [This graph only]
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