TURKISH AND GREEK CYPRIOTS AGREE; CUSTOMS TRAINING

UNCLAS NICOSIA 000887 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR ISC, YVETTE WONG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP KSTC PREL CY SUBJECT: TURKISH AND GREEK CYPRIOTS AGREE; CUSTOMS TRAINING NEEDED IN NORTH This is an action request. ¶1. (SBU) Over the past year there have been reports of increasing levels of people smuggling and drug trafficking through north Cyprus. Although we have no firm evidence, Post believes that the passenger ferry between Famagusta and Syria has augmented previously established smuggling via cargo ship and trucks utilizing the car ferry between Mersin, Turkey and Kyrenia. TC "officials" tell us that they have seen an increase in drug seizures and drug usage in the north and the numbers tell a similar story in the RoC. The most recent, high profile, case involved a container with 176 kilos of drugs shipped from Mozambique to Mercin for transshipment to Famagusta. We believe that the final destination was either the RoC or other points within the EU. ¶2. (SBU) Businesspeople in north Cyprus have frequently described the high level of corruption among T/C "customs officials" whom they bribe in order to pay reduced or zero tariff on imported goods. A senior "customs official" was implicated in the drug container case described above. ¶3. (SBU) In 2008, Cyprus graduated from an Export and Border Security (EXBS) program effort to upgrade RoC ports against the shipment of WMD. However, with the "Green Line" between the RoC and north Cyprus only lightly controlled by RoC customs, ports in the north could be utilized for introducing WMD into the EU given the apparent current usage of such routes for drugs and people smuggling. ¶4. (SBU) We have proposed the idea of WMD training for "customs officials" in the north to Zeren Mungan, the "Undersecretary of Finance," who promises to fully support our effort. We also met with Andreas Patsalides, the RoC Permanent Secretary of Finance (responsible for customs) who agreed that efforts should be made to do something to mitigate the risks arising from the north's poorly monitored ports. Patsalides acknowledged the problem seems to be increasing and the RoC has no capability or plan to deal with the problem. He made no objection at all to our proposed efforts. ¶5. (SBU) Comment and Action Request. It is rare that the two communities in Cyprus agree on a course of action. We would like to move quickly to take advantage of this situation to generate some momentum towards better cooperation between the two sides while improving the extremely deficient security posture at ports in the north. Request ISN to advise the possibility of conducting a training course in north Cyprus on how to search containers and identify potential WMD as a first step. The UK High Commission in Nicosia has offered GBP 4000 (US$6340) to support our efforts. Urbancic