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.