Pubdate: Thu, 19 Feb 2009
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/454
Author: Richard Ford

COCAINE PRICE FALLS AS GANGS SWITCH ROUTES

Cocaine prices will fall as traffickers exploit new routes to Britain 
through West Africa and Eastern Europe, a United Nations agency warns today.

The new routes have emerged as anti-smuggling operations have forced 
South American drugs cartels to abandon the trail through the 
Caribbean and north Atlantic.

Stockpiles of drugs are building in West African states, from where 
they are shipped to Britain and the rest of Europe via the Balkans, 
according to a report by the UN's International Narcotics Control Board.

Traffickers load commercial flights with "large numbers" of drug 
mules, swallowing as much as a kilogram of cocaine each, the report says.

Almost 30 per cent of cocaine used in Europe now arrives through 
countries such as Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

The report says that while seizures of cocaine in West African states 
have increased, they are often haphazard, with police and judiciary 
lacking the capacity to deal with the problem effectively.

Hamid Ghodse, president of the International Narcotics Control Board, 
said: "I think prices are likely to fall if the governments don't 
step up their efforts to intercept supplies."

Cocaine currently has an average street price of between UKP 40 and 
UKP 50 a gram - or as little as UKP 20-UKP 30 for a low-grade version 
that is often mixed with other drugs.

Professor Ghodse said: "The amount of cocaine production in the three 
major countries that do it - Colombia, Peru and Bolivia - has not 
reduced. The amount which gets in to Europe has risen over the past 
few years. The route for traffickers has become relatively easier and 
less susceptible to interdiction."

Traffickers are increasingly sending drugs around the world using 
commercial courier services, the report claims. While courier 
companies themselves are not involved, there is sometimes help from 
employees. "No courier services, including the larger courier 
services, are secure from drug smuggling attempts," the report says. 
"However, reports from some countries indicate that small courier 
companies are more frequently targeted since large ones routinely 
require details about shipments and use a tracking system."

Today's report also highlights cannabis use by British teenagers. 
Britain tops the European league, with 44 per cent of 15 to 
16-year-olds admitting having taken the drug, compared with less than 
10 per cent in Norway.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart