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.