2007年VOA标准英语-Two British Girls Face Drug Smuggling Charges i
时间：2019-02-06 作者：英语课 分类：2007年VOA标准英语（七月）
Dakar
13 July 2007
Two British teenagers have been provisionally charged with drug possession and drug trafficking in Ghana. Experts say Europeans, as well as pregnant women and minors 1, are increasingly being used by traffickers to smuggle 2 drugs from West Africa to Europe. Selah Hennessy reports from the West Africa bureau in Dakar.
Two girls, Yasemin Vatansever, 16, and Yatunde Diya, 16, were arrested at Accra airport on July 2.
Officials at the airport say they had over five kilos of cocaine 3, worth around $600,000, found inside laptop bags the girls were carrying.
Beryl St. James, a spokeswoman for Britain's Revenue and Customs in London, says it is not uncommon 4 to see Europeans used as drug couriers.
"The thing that is quite surprising is that they are young, but people being arrested from Europe is not unusual," she noted 5.
But Antonio Mazzitelli, the representative for West and Central Africa at the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes, says their age is no surprise.
He says recent trends have shown that trafficking networks are using a broader range of so-called 'mules 6' to smuggle drugs into Europe.
"More and more traffickers use all kinds of couriers, minors or not," he explained. "Women, pregnant women, Europeans coming from East Europe or from West Europe. We should not be surprised to see minors or in the future why not even children being used for smuggling 7 drugs."
Mazzitelli adds that as governments have become stricter on migration 8 and illegal immigration, it has become harder for Africans to get visas. As a result Europeans are increasingly recruited by drug trafficking networks.
The international police organization Interpol has recently reported that drug trafficking has risen sharply in Africa, with the continent being used as a transit 9 point for smugglers bringing drugs from Latin America to Europe.
According to an official, cocaine seizures 10 totaling nearly 7,000 kilograms have been reported to Interpol by West African police forces during the last three months.
If found guilty, the British teenagers could face up to ten years in jail.
- The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
- She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。
- That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
- Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。
- Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
- Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。
- The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
- Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
- The cart was pulled by two mules. 两匹骡子拉这辆大车。
- She wore tight trousers and high-heeled mules. 她穿紧身裤和拖鞋式高跟鞋。
- Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
- The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。
- Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
- He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。
- His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
- The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。