BALKANS DRUG ROUTE BACK ON MAP AFTER DECADE OF CONFLICT ENDS

VIENNA After a decade of conflict in the former Yugoslavia, traffickers
have rushed to revive the old Balkans route to get their wares into the
hands of Western consumers.

Two routes running to the west have seen an explosion in traffic, one
supplying Italy via Macedonia and Albania, the other using Bulgaria,
Romania and Hungary to serve Germany, the Netherlands and Britain.

According to the UN's most recent report on drugs, the Balkan region is now
the transit route for more than 80 percent of heroin seized in Europe
destined for the countries of the European Union.

"With the end of the war in the Balkans, traffickers returned to the
region. The number of arrests has increased, as has the size of drug
hauls," said Jenoes Sipos, spokeman for Hungarian customs.

A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin can fetch between 50,000 dollars and
200,000 dollars on the Western market, and drug experts in Vienna say that
individual seizures are often at least 30 kilograms and can near the 200
kilogram mark.

Opium is produced on a large scale in Afghanistan, is transformed into
heroin in Turkish laboratories, and then starts out on its Balkan journey
in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian customs confiscated two tonnes of heroin last year. The lion's
share, some 1.7 tonnes, was seized at the Bulgarian-Turkish border crossing
of Kapitan Andreevo.

In Austria, the number and size of seizures which have come out of the
Balkans have increased dramatically over the last two years.

In 1999, just under 90 kilograms of heroin were confiscated, while in 2000
the figure rose to 230 kilograms.

This year kicked off with a record seizure at the Austrian border with
Hungary of 135 kilograms of the drug in a Turkish lorry headed for the
Netherlands, which had taken the Balkans route.

The drug was found wrapped up in 215 separate packages underneath a false
floor.

Hungary has also noted a significant increase in seizures, recording 184
large confiscations in 1999 compared with just 32 four years earlier.

Just a few days before Austria's record seizure, Hungarian customs
officials at a border crossing with Austria found over 100 kilograms from a
truck also headed towards the Netherlands.

The haul included a stock of 7,500 cartons of cigarettes, with an estimated
street value of 150,000 euros.

"Connections between the networks supplying drugs and those of illegal
cigarettes appear to be growing ever closer," said one drugs expert based
in Vienna.

In Sofia, drugs officials point the finger at the Albanians.

"Mafia groups of Albanian traffickers have established themselves on all
the routes heading towards Europe, and the Kosovo Albanians are very active
indeed," declared Serguei Damianov, the head of Bulgaria's state department
for organized crime and drug control.