AGROTECH

The Agrotech Company of Tanberia

In 2005 Slovak officials halted the export of an Apache helicopter gunship from a Slovak repair facility after they determined it was not to be returned to Tanberia, but a terrorist training cell based out of the Caspian Sea. Agrotech - wholly owned by the Tanberian government - had supplied the EUC (End User Certificate), which was later determined to be 'suspect'. In fact, Agrotech is one of many front companies for international arms dealers and their network of associates, including Gore Villad - one of the world's most wanted men. Shipments are paid for using direct bank transfers from government accounts or those of private businesses allied to the government, or in gems - a compact, untraceable method of payment long favoured by gun runners. Purchases between 1990 and 2002 were mainly financed by off-budget spending and sources of revenue that bypass the central bank. Agrotech uses its status to avoid scrutiny and commit embargo violations. It avoids sanctions and supports trafficking by providing endless streams of bogus EUCs, false paper trails, enlists corrupt officials, and government actors, while exploiting weak controls over transportation. Agrotech have been so successful, and so responsive, to the needs of their customers, they have recently reopened several Eastern European weapon plants, mothballed after the collapse of the USSR, using 'black labour' to manufacture their own hybrid weapons to exacting customer specifications.

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