Sand is becoming a scarce resource. It is also heavy and so expensive to transport. That creates an opportunity for local mining gangs; if they can mine sand in areas close to building operations, they can sell it on cheaper than legitimate suppliers.
Being part of a 鈥渟and mafia鈥� can seem attractive because it is a low-risk, high-profit enterprise that doesn鈥檛 require much specialist equipment. It is also a legal grey area. There are no coherent international laws forbidding sand mining. Where local regulations exist, they aren鈥檛 always enforced, especially in remote areas. In India, for example, sand mining requires a licence, but some local governments turn a blind eye to illicit operations because they provide an income for otherwise destitute people.
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The term 鈥渕afia鈥� conjures up the idea of a well-organised group that dominates a territory. But that isn鈥檛 always appropriate, says criminologist at the University of Southampton, UK. Many groups operate opportunistically in small areas. In some cases, including in Morocco, child labour is involved.
We know most about sand mafias in India and Italy, thanks to by Lavorgna and of Temple University in Philadelphia. Here mafia is the right word.
In Italy, sand is simply a new strand of the traditional mafia鈥檚 activities. In India, the researchers found that groups are active in 12 of the country鈥檚 29 states. They often mine other commodities such as manganese, which is used to make magnetic metal alloys, and sometimes they use extreme violence to exert control over resources. In June 2015, the burned body of a journalist who had been reporting on the sand mafia, , was found near a railway line in Maharashtra. .
There are reports of illicit sand mining in Morocco, Algeria, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, and studies suggest it goes on in at least 70 countries. It鈥檚 difficult to get a handle on the size of the illegal sand trade globally. But reports suggest that about . We also know there is a gap between the official figures for sand imports and exports worldwide. That suggests much activity is slipping through the authorities鈥� hands. 鈥淢y feeling is that there might be a lot more going on, but it is not known about,鈥� says Lavorgna.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪and Mafia鈥�
