Pubdate: 29 Aug 2000
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2000 Guardian Newspapers Limited
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Author: Ewen MacAskill and Rob Evans

EUROPE FAILS TO STEM RISING DRUG TIDE

Traffickers Are Defeating Overstretched Police, US Says

Europe is losing the war against drugs, according to intelligence reports 
from the US Drug Enforcement Administration obtained by the Guardian.

The reports reveal dramatic increases in drug production - from poppy crops 
used to make heroin in Afghanistan, to the manufacture of ecstasy in the 
Netherlands - and police forces stretched thin while trying to cope with 
Europe's porous borders.

The drug traffickers have been so successful that they have compiled huge 
hidden stockpiles throughout western and eastern Europe to ensure an 
uninterrupted supply.

An increase in drug seizures throughout Europe and Asia is interpreted not 
as effective policing, but as a sign of increasing volumes.

The DEA is especially critical of the policies of the Netherlands 
government, expressing scepticism about the effectiveness of its liberal 
approach. It describes the Netherlands as "perhaps the most important drug 
trafficking and transiting area in Europe". Trends in the drug trade, it 
says, undermine the Dutch government's policy of discriminating between 
"soft" and "hard" drugs.

DEA reports on 10 countries, from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, 
Albania, Serbia-Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the 
Netherlands, were obtained by the Guardian during the past six months 
through the US Freedom of Information Act. They provide the most up-to-date 
information on the changing supply routes from the golden crescent 
countries - Afghanistan and Pakistan - to Europe.

The traditional route through the Balkans was disrupted by conflict 
throughout the 1990s, particularly the war in Kosovo last year. While 
variations on the route, using Croatia and Macedonia, have been adopted, 
much of that trade has shifted to the north.

Routes that emerged after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 are now 
witnessing the biggest volume of drug trafficking, especially through the 
Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.

The DEA emphasises that the lifting of border restrictions within the 
European Union under the Schengen agreement, which Britain opted out of, 
has made life easier for drug traffickers.

"Although this agreement is advantageous for trade, it is also attractive 
to drug traffickers," the report says.

In one especially pessimistic passage, the DEA concludes that drug 
traffickers have built up stockpiles that allow them to ensure smooth 
supplies. "In the last few years, heroin has been increasingly stockpiled 
in some western and eastern European locations, enabling west European 
travellers to take delivery of the drug closer to home," it says.

"Turkish heroin trafficking organisations work in collusion with nationals 
from eastern Europe who have established heroin depots to store large 
quantities of heroin and release it on demand.

"These storage facilities ensure a steady, uninterrupted drug supply to 
west European consumers."

A report on the Netherlands, prepared by the intelligence division of the 
DEA and dated June 2000, says that Amsterdam is "rather unique in that 
every type of drug-smuggling and distribution organisation is represented 
for strategic and logistical purposes. It is an organisational centre, a 
central brokerage point and a safe haven."

Among the 100 groups which are active in drug trafficking in Amsterdam are 
Turks, Colombians, Kurds, Chinese, Nigerians, Israelis, Moroccans, British 
and Irish.

The Netherlands is the world's biggest producer of ecstasy, a "designer 
drug" that is a mixture of amphetamine and mescaline. The DEA says: "The 
United States is increasingly a target of MDMA [ecstasy] traffickers. 
Quantities of ecstasy tablets are routinely smuggled to the US by air 
courier or in postal or express-mail packages.

The DEA's Hague office recorded the seizure of more than 3.5m ecstasy 
tablets between January and October 1999 destined for the US market (seized 
in both the United States and Europe).

The Netherlands is also the main source in Europe for amphetamines, with 
virtually all shipments going to Britain, Germany or Scandinavia.

The DEA also estimates that 75% of the heroin arriving in the Netherlands 
is for onward shipment throughout Europe and north America.

In contrast with the official approach of the Netherlands government, which 
differentiates between hard and soft drug traffickers, the DEA notes: 
"Dutch hashish traffickers are increasingly distributing heroin, cocaine 
and amphetamine to other countries. This 'poly-drug' activity is being 
encountered more and more frequently."

Smuggling is carried out by rail, air and post, but mainly by road in 
private cars, commercial buses and - the most popular method - in large 
container trucks.

The heroin trail begins in Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of 
opium. Although a reduction in the amount of land being cultivated for 
poppies is predicted for this year, the trend in the volume of opium 
production has been steadily upwards. Production has risen by 33% in the 
past three years, according to US estimates, and 80% of illegal opiate 
products in Europe come from Afghanistan.

The traditional route for heroin trafficking was through Pakistan and Iran, 
but the latter has become more problematic. The Iranian government has sent 
its troops into bloody battles with increasingly sophisticated drug 
traffickers from Afghanistan, so the traffickers have moved their routes north.

The DEA says: "Reports of heroin shipments north from Afghanistan through 
the central Asian states to Russia have increased. Tajikistan is reported 
to be a favourite destination for both opium and heroin shipments."

Russia acts as both a consumer and transit point.

The usual destination for shipments from the central Asian states is 
Turkey, which "plays a significant role in the conversion of opiates from 
source countries in south-west Asia and the trans-shipment of heroin to the 
worldwide market, particularly Europe".

It is estimated that four to six metric tonnes of heroin is either 
processed or transits through Turkey each month. 
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