Land Smugglers

Black-market smugglers are literally?stealing Indonesia’s small islands, including the legendary Krakatoa. “Sea reclamation projects in China, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore are driving a black market in Indonesia’s abundant supplies of soil, sand and gravel,” reports The Times of London. Twenty-four?islands have allegedly disappeared since 2005 due to erosion driven by sand mining. The mining wreaks havoc with both the environment and the local economy: “In the Riau Islands the fishermen have lost 80 per cent of their income as a result of sand mining,” said Riza Damanik, of the People’s Coalition for Justice in Fisheries.[%comments]