Drug Trafficking Remains 'Big Business' in Balkans

Countries in the Balkans have again been noted as major drug trafficking transit points, with increases in the cultivation of cannibas and the trafficking of cocaine, the 2010 report from the International Narcotics Control Board shows.

Bulgaria ranked just after Germany in a ranking of countries which receive the highest number of heroin shipments in Europe, followed by Macedonia, Romania, the Netherlands and Greece. Heroin continues to be smuggled almost exclusively overland in vehicles, the international control board notes.

According to the World Customs Organisation, customs authorities in Eastern European and Central European countries seized a total of 3.5 tons of heroin in 2009, compared with 4.9 tons in 2008. Europol and EMCDDA report that European law enforcement authorities seize between 8 and 15 tons of heroin each year.

As has been noted in earlier reports on heroin trafficking in Europe, almost all the heroin available on illicit drug markets in Europe originates in Afghanistan, and enters the continent mostly via the Balkan route, which runs from Turkey to either Bulgaria or Greece and from there to Albania or Serbia.  

Meanwhile, illicit cultivation of cannabis is on the rise in Europe, including in Balkan countries.

Bulgaria is mentioned as one of the largest producers of cannabis abused in Central and Eastern Europe, together with Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Macedonia and Ukraine.

In Macedonia in particular, illicit cultivation of cannabis plant appears to be on the increase. A major seizure of about 700 kg of locally produced cannabis herb suggests that the illicit cultivation of marijuana plants in that country was significantly higher in 2009 than in previous years, when it was reported that cannabis plants were illicitly cultivated on small plots only.

The country is increasingly being used by traffickers as a transit area for cannabis shipments. The amount of cannabis seized in shipments having as their final destination Macedonia increased significantly in 2009, to 404 kg, compared with 157 kg in 2008.

Balkan countries have also seen an increase in the amount of cocaine shipped from South America.

Cocaine, which is smuggled into Europe by air and by sea, is often shipped in multi-ton shipments transported by sea from South America and dropped off near the coasts of Portugal, Spain and other countries. Although most consignments of cocaine are bound for Western Europe, in recent years authorities have made substantial seizures of cocaine, usually concealed in containers, at major seaports in the Balkans.

At the Black Sea port of Constanţa, Romania, authorities seized 1.2 tons of cocaine that had been concealed in a shipment of wood loaded at Paranaguá, Brazil. Law enforcement authorities in Varna, Bulgaria, seized 1,020 bottles containing a mixture of cocaine and wine shipped from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia; the pure cocaine content was estimated at 100 kg. In Greece, 450 kg of cocaine concealed in a shipment of scrap metal were seized at Piraeus.

According to Europol, the number of nationals of Balkan countries involved in cocaine trafficking has grown in recent years. Albania, in addition to having a historical role in heroin trafficking along the Balkan route, has reportedly been used as a storage area for consignments of cocaine, the report notes.

The greater involvement of organised criminal groups may indicate that the infrastructure established in the Balkan area for smuggling cannabis and opiates (particularly heroin) is now being used for smuggling increasingly larger quantities of cocaine.

The illicit market for opiates in Europe is the largest in the world. The abuse of opiates has reportedly been increasing in several Eastern European countries, particularly in Albania, Belarus, Croatia, the Republic of Moldova and countries along the Balkan route.

The Russian Federation remains the European country with the highest number of people who abuse opioids.