South America is drug traffickers’ ‘stepping stone’ to Europe’s addicts

By David Cronin

Date: 17/03/05

Major drug-traffickers are seeking to use South American countries as a 'stepping stone' to EU member states, according to a new report from EU experts.

The finding is contained in a series of papers drawn up by the Dublin Group, a body set up by Ireland's then EU presidency in 1990 to analyse trends in the international drug trade.

The group says that crime gangs are routing Colombian cocaine and opium poppy - the raw material for heroin -through countries such as Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador to Europe. Cracking down on the trade is hampered by Colombia's "inadequate" cooperation with authorities in neighbouring lands, particularly Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador. "It is particularly important to increase security and controls along the land borders with Venezuela, especially in the Cúcuta region, which drug traffickers have been using extensively of late to evade the maritime controls off the Colombian Atlantic coast," says the group. Accounting for 70% of overall production, Colombia remains the world's principal cocaine producer. Statistics indicate that seizures of cocaine originating from Colombia fell from 113,000 tonnes in 2003 to 78,000 tonnes last year. As for heroin, the Colombian police impounded just 481kg in the first 10 months of 2004.

But the success of the US-funded Plan Colombia to destroy plantations used for illicit drugs has led some organisations to choose new methods for securing and transporting drugs. Uruguay has become one of the favoured transit countries.

The Dublin Group also recommends that farmers in Colombia be helped to switch from coca to alternative crops. The increase in cocaine use in Nigeria is linked to its use as a transit country for drugs originating in Latin America, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. "These drugs are intended for the European and American markets and are frequently transported in the body after having been swallowed, by couriers pretending to be pregnant or they are simply hidden in luggage," it comments.

Major drug-traffickers are seeking to use South American countries as a 'stepping stone' to EU member states, according to a new report from EU experts. The finding was contained in a series of papers drawn up by the Dublin Group, a body set up by Ireland's then EU presidency in 1990 to analyse trends in the international drug trade.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG External Relations: Policies: Drugs: International Co-ordination: The Dublin Group http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/drugs/dublin/

European Commission: DG External Relations: Policies: Drugs http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/drugs/index.htm

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