Report Highlights Level of Intimidation Here and Outlines Kinahan’s Gangs Operations
UPDATED: County lines is a drug distribution system in which
criminal networks funnel hard drugs from cities to towns and rural regions
across the country. “County lines” is the innocuous term given to a devastating
criminal phenomenon which has emerged in the UK in recent years. It refers to a
system used by major criminal gangs to traffic drugs, mainly heroin and crack
cocaine, into rural areas. County lines gangs recruit vulnerable young people,
including teenagers, to travel to provincial towns to sell their drugs. Some
children are recruited directly from care homes. The gang establishes a
dedicated phoneline for users in these areas to ring in their orders – this is
where the term “county lines” originates from. The young person on the ground
then delivers the order. It’s as easy as ordering a takeaway.
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/cocaine-trafficking-europe_en
https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/drug-markets-report-2019
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/cocaine-trafficking-europe_en
https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/drug-markets-report-2019
The bland terminology masks the ruinous
consequences of this model of drug dealing. Teens recruited into county lines
gangs face daily threats and intimidation from their “superiors”.
In turn they
dish this violence out to the customers; it is up to the dealers to collect
payment or they’ll suffer the consequences. Towns across the UK previously
unaffected by seriously criminality have seen dramatic increases in violence
because of the activity of these gangs.
According to the UK’s National
Crime Agency, there has
been an 807 per cent increase in the number of victims of child slavery since
2014, as a consequence of county lines gang activity, while the Children’s
Commissioner estimates 27,000 children in England
now identify as gang members.
The phenomenon has remained largely
unknown on this side of the Irish Sea. However, a new report from Europol
suggests that might soon change.
New form of distribution
According to Europol’s 2019 Drug Markets
Report, county-lines-style drug distribution is now a feature of the Irish drug
trade. Rather than selling drugs to local dealers in provincial towns,
organised crime groups are now often selling the drugs themselves.
DRUG LORD CHRISTY KINAHAN |
This State is one of several EU
countries where this new form of distribution has been observed by authorities,
the others being Belgium,
Estonia,
Greece
and Sweden.
The report said the phenomenon has
become associated with “a range of harms, such as violence and the exploitation
of vulnerable populations, including children”.
The
end users also suffer as they end up buying directly from big-city criminals
who are more likely to use extreme violence to enforce their debts. This ties
into another worrying Irish trend noted by Europol: the scale and severity of
drug debt intimidation.
“Notably, in Ireland many
communities have been severely affected [by intimidation], with major impacts
on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities and the
functioning of local services and agencies,” it noted.
DRUG LORD: Christy Kinahan's Son Dan
Runs the day to day business of the drug-cartel.
|
Local Gardaí and community activists
have long tried to highlight the scale of the problem of intimidation and
threats by drug gangs seeking to enforce debts. They have had mixed success. The
Garda has set up a network of inspectors responsible for dealing with
complaints of drug debt- intimidation but the issue remains rife throughout the
country.
Three-tier structure
According to
Europol, Irish drug gangs have a three-tier structure. At the top are the
“serious players” who are often linked through family ties. They control a
middle tier comprising criminals “typically engaged in high-risk, low-reward
activities, such as transporting, holding or dealing drugs, carrying guns, and
conducting shootings, beatings and serious intimidation”.
At the bottom is a large number of
“highly disadvantaged young people” who are often addicts themselves. It is
this tier which carries out the bulk of the intimidation. According to Europol,
their typical activities are “bullying, assaulting, stealing, vandalising and
spreading fear on behalf of the network”.
Despite
these developments there is, as yet, little evidence Irish county-lines-style
gangs are employing the same level of sophistication as their UK counterparts.
The same cannot be said of the Kinahan
gang, however, which Europol identifies as one of the main cocaine importers
operating in the EU.
The
gang is mentioned by name several times throughout Europol’s 290-page report,
with Europol noting its members are engaging in some of the worst gang violence
in Europe,
namely the feud with the rival Hutch gang which has claimed some 20 lives in
three countries.
The
Kinahan gang has been so successful in flooding Ireland with cocaine that it is
now smuggling surplus supplies to non-EU countries such as Australia,
the report notes.
DRUG LORD GERRY HUTCH.
|
Dark side of Ireland's Economic Boom Is The Growth of High-Octane Gangsterism;
Mark
Glennon knew what was coming. He slept in a bullet-proof vest and his west
Dublin council house was a fortress of bullet-proof glass, CCTV cameras and
reinforced doors. To maintain his edge, and his trigger finger, he fuelled
himself with cocaine.
But
last month Glennon, 32, became the latest in a long line of drug dealers with
reputations for extreme violence to be shot dead in Ireland's gangland wars. He
was gunned down in broad daylight outside his home in Blanchardstown, Ireland's
silicon- valley, an area of conspicuous wealth.
Nearly 10 years after the crime reporter Veronica Guerin was
shot dead for pursuing Dublin's drug barons, Ireland's criminal gangs are more
dangerous and unpredictable than ever, according to residents on their estates.
They are heavily armed with automatic weapons from eastern Europe. They are high
on their own cocaine supply and turning over ever-increasing profits from drugs
and spectacular armed robberies - some making in six months what the godfathers
of Guerin's time made in two years.
Thirteen
men have been shot dead in gangland-style
killings this year, 11 in Dublin alone. Politicians say people are so inured to
the turf wars that it now merits little attention when the bullet-riddled
corpse of a drug dealer is discovered.
The government, which had prematurely declared last
year that the fight against gangs was nearly won, is now cracking down, and
police are seizing weapons - 500 this year - from sawn-off shotguns to M16
rifles and armour-piercing bullets. Amid the clamour for police to be seen to
be addressing Ireland's armed robberies, two post office raiders, one an armed
drug dealer and another unarmed man, were gunned down by undercover police in
an ambush in May.
Crossfire
Amnesty International is demanding an independent
inquiry and the men's families are planning a case for the European court of
human rights alleging excessive force. Politicians and commentators are warning
of the dangers of civilians getting caught in the crossfire.
The new generation of Irish druglords, known as
the "mini-godfathers" or the "Celtic tiger cubs", are not
the character criminals of the desperate days of 1980s Ireland, men like
"the general", Martin Cahill. Unlike the abstemious Cahill, who
carried out one of the world's biggest art heists, the new breed are described
by those who live among them as "cocaine androids", whose
personalities seem to have been formed by the drug they use and peddle.
Their lives are fast and short, their violence is
said to be almost psychopathic. Some who lost kidneys in shoot-outs continued
to wage war on their rivals unworried by their colostomy bags, pumping
themselves with steroids to compensate for ill health.
Ireland has the third highest cocaine use in
Europe. Seizures of the drug have gone up 800% in the last five years.
"People get shot and we don't even hear about it. It just becomes
commonplace - drug-related and part of a feud," said one community worker
on Blanchardstown's sprawling estates, driving past landmarks of recent feuding.
There are flowers at a tree where a young man bled to death after he was shot
in the legs. At a parade of shops, another group of men were lined up and shot
for stepping out of line. The local hospital is becoming expert at gunshot
wounds - admissions have gone up fourfold in four years.
If this sounds ominously like Belfast, but in a
wealthier setting, it is because the new gangsters have begun to ape
paramilitary methods of intimidating their own communities. Joan Burton, Labour
MP for Blanchardstown, said: "Dublin is seeing a mixture of guns and
paramilitary culture."
DRUG LORD: The PENGUIN GEORGE MITCHELL |
Some gangsters even claim to be in the IRA -
boasts sometimes not without credibility as the IRA has long
"licensed" criminals in Dublin, taking a cut of the action in return
for protection. "There is a quasi-social and political control associated
with thuggery and crime," Ms Burton added. "There is harassment and
intimidation across the estates." There is a hard core of 15 to 30 gangs, and some
are branching out into multi-million -euro cash-in-transit robberies. Irish
people, once among the poorest in Europe, are now second richest in the world,
according to the United Nations; with so much money sloshing around, it seemed
inevitable that a high-octane criminal culture would develop. But although the
tiger brought jobs, Ireland now has one of the widest gaps between rich and
poor in the developed world.
Torture
Not far from where Mark Glennon was shot is the
council house that once belonged to John Gilligan, head of the gang responsible
for shooting Guerin in 1996. He was acquitted of ordering her murder- but is
serving a 20-year term after being convicted of running the biggest drugs
empire Ireland had known.
Glennon and his brother Andrew, known as
"Madster", were the second wave of drug dealers on the local patch.
Once part of the notorious "Westies" gang, which dominated the area
by torturing its rivals, the Glennon’s broke off and challenged their former
bosses. They were suspects in the 2003 murder of a leading "Westie".
But the Glennon’s did not last long. Andrew was killed five months before his
brother, in April, when a rival gang surrounded his car and riddled him with
bullets. But the Glennon’s had associates prepared to avenge them, and locals
fear the feud is not over.
Blanchardstown is in no way unique. Drug gang wars
have spread across the city - and into Europe. Last month a Cork drug
smuggler's corpse was found in the freezer of an apartment in the Algarve in
Portugal. Michael "Danzer" Ahern's head was said to have been severed
as proof of his death.
Last year the "Westies" leaders, Shane
Coates and Stephen Sugg, went missing from a villa near Alicante in Spain. They
are presumed dead, perhaps killed in a row over drug importation.
But on their old turf some residents fear that
they staged their own disappearance and could return. "Their families
haven't seemed to be in mourning," said one local man. Others feel that,
like Mark Glennon, they would be unable to stay away, whatever the risk.
In the UK: Sixteen
people have received prison sentences for transporting and selling class A
drugs as part of a “county lines” operation in south-east England.
The convictions follow a joint investigation by
the Metropolitan and Kent police forces into five county lines supplying drugs
in Berkshire, Hampshire, Kent, London, Surrey and Sussex. Many in the group, which comprised 15 men and one
woman, had connections to a south London gang called the 67. Eight of those
convicted, feature in music videos for songs with violent lyrics by the drill
group of the same name.
Paul Rice. THE ENFORCER for Christy
Kinahan's Drugs Cartel.
|
County lines is a drug
distribution system in which criminal networks funnel hard drugs from cities to
towns and rural regions across the country.
The
defendants were sentenced over three days at Inner London crown court. The
judge, Benedict Kelleher, said: “Each time class A drug was sold under one of
these conspiracies, those responsible were committing an act of harm towards
the buyer and the wider public who live in those communities, who have to
suffer the appalling effects of crime and degradation class A drug addiction
brings.
“The evidence that is linked to the 67 gang
demonstrates the entrenched connection between gang membership and drug supply.”
Kelleher told the court crack cocaine and heroin
had a “devastating effect” on communities and the individuals who took them.
The police investigation first focused on phone lines, sifting through hundreds of thousands of pages of call data. With this information, they were able to identify the individuals involved.
The police investigation first focused on phone lines, sifting through hundreds of thousands of pages of call data. With this information, they were able to identify the individuals involved.
Of the 16 convicted, 10 pleaded guilty to two
counts of conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin. They were also charged
with one count of participating in an organised crime group, which would remain
on file.
A further six pleaded not guilty to two counts of
conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin and one count of participating in
an organised crime group, but were convicted after the trial.
Those found guilty included line holders, who
managed the lines from London and directed younger members of the gang to
“cuckoo” addresses in the south-east where they would conduct the sale of
drugs. These properties often belonged to local drug users. This method of
operation was typical of county lines, the Met said.
While there has been recent focus on children being
used to transport drugs across counties, the investigation did not find any
exploited young people connected to the gang. The police did, however, identify
a number of vulnerable adults.
The phone lines operated by the gang each had a
different name. The National Crime Agency estimates that one county lines phone
can generate £800,000 a year.
Between August and November 2018, officers identified the gang were running five county lines: the Si, which ran from London into Bognor Regis in Sussex; the AJ, which operated in towns and villages on the borders of Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey; the Pepsi line, which ran between London and Medway in Kent; the Jeezy, which ran between London and Medway; and a local line that was responsible for the sale of crack cocaine and heroin in south London.
Between August and November 2018, officers identified the gang were running five county lines: the Si, which ran from London into Bognor Regis in Sussex; the AJ, which operated in towns and villages on the borders of Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey; the Pepsi line, which ran between London and Medway in Kent; the Jeezy, which ran between London and Medway; and a local line that was responsible for the sale of crack cocaine and heroin in south London.
DI
Anthony Jones, from the Met’s Trident and area crime command, said: “County
lines remains a national issue but, as this investigation shows, we will work
closely with colleagues from other forces to share intelligence, gather
evidence and dismantle drug dealing networks.
“There is a clear link between the drug supply and
the violence we have seen unfold on the streets of London.
By
disrupting the activity of this organised crime group, we have reduced the
violent activity which blighted local communities in the months prior to this
investigation.”
DCI Gavin Moss, from Kent’s crime investigation department, said: ‘The sentences imposed send out an unmistakable message that there is no place for county lines drug dealing. “These, offenders were all looking to make money from people living with drug misuse and cared little about the harm they were causing to numerous communities. The length of time they will spend in prison reflects the seriousness of such offending.”
DCI Gavin Moss, from Kent’s crime investigation department, said: ‘The sentences imposed send out an unmistakable message that there is no place for county lines drug dealing. “These, offenders were all looking to make money from people living with drug misuse and cared little about the harm they were causing to numerous communities. The length of time they will spend in prison reflects the seriousness of such offending.”
The 10 defendants who pleaded guilty were Connell
Bamgboye, 25, who was jailed for six years; Christopher Thomas, 23, jailed for
four-and-a-half years; Rhys Walcott-Holder, 23, jailed for four years; Shemiah
Bell, 27, jailed for four years and eight months; David Mundle, 23, jailed for
five years; Tife Orawusi, 20, jailed for three years and four months; Ryeene
Cowan, 24, jailed for seven-and-a-half years, including five years for an
additional firearms offence; Sadjo Diakite, 21, jailed for three years and four
months, and Kayce Leigh, 20, and Kyle Milton, 19, who were both given two-year
suspended sentences, 200 hours’ unpaid work and 15 days’ rehabilitation.
The remaining six defendants who pleaded not
guilty but were convicted after trial were Mohammed Jalloh, 20, who was jailed
for four and a half years; Taylor Mackey, 24, jailed for four years; Darnell
Bailey-King, 21, jailed for three years and six months; Telvin Nugent, 23,
jailed for four and a half years; Robert Allison, 20, jailed for four years,
and Geoffrey Allen, 56, jailed for three years.
UPDATE ADDITION:
Cocaine is Europe’s most- commonly used illicit stimulant drug, with about 3.6 million adults (aged 15–64) estimated to have used it in the last year. It is the second most seized drug in Europe, after cannabis. Cocaine is trafficked to Europe from the producer countries of South America by both air and sea using a range of methods and routes. This analysis provides an insight into the European cocaine market, the trafficking routes used to bring it to Europe, and the different methods criminals employ to move their drugs.
UPDATED 31.5.2016
emcdda.europa.eu/topics/ pods/cocaine-trafficking-europe
Full edition of this article with interactive - features available online at
PERSPECTIVES ON DRUGS I Cocaine trafficking to Europe
or snorted but is also sometimes injected. It is the most common form and is generally used infrequently, but a small proportion of users consume it more frequently and may experience problems. Less commonly available is crack cocaine, a smoke-able (free base) form of the drug; there are a few countries with small groups of people who use crack cocaine in a more harmful way, often in conjunction with heroin use. The crack cocaine available in Europe is typically manufactured from cocaine hydrochloride near where it is retailed and used and so there is very little cross-border or long-distance crack trafficking.
Cocaine is the most consumed stimulant drug in Europe, with a retail market value estimated by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) to be about EUR 5.7 billion a year. It is also estimated that approximately 91 tonnes of cocaine are consumed in Europe every year. Cocaine is the second most seized drug in Europe, after cannabis. In 2014 about 78 000 seizures of cocaine were reported in the European Union (EU), yielding an estimated 61.6 tonnes of the drug. The situation has been relatively stable since 2010, although both the number of seizures and the volume seized are at levels considerably lower than the peak values reached in the mid to late 2000s. In 2014, 9 % of the drug law offences in the EU (99 000) related to cocaine, 29 000 of which were drug supply offences.
I Cocaine trafficking routes to Europe
Cocaine is trafficked to Europe from the producer countries of South America by both air and sea, using a range of methods and routes. Cocaine is shipped from Latin America to Europe in vessels departing from Brazil and other countries such as Ecuador and Venezuela. The increasing use of Brazil as a departure point reflects the growing importance of Bolivia and Peru as the source of cocaine shipped to Europe. Venezuela has become more important in recent years as trafficking organisations move Colombian cocaine overland across a porous border and take advantage of the busy maritime traffic between the coast and the islands of the Caribbean, but cocaine is also trafficked from Venezuela to Europe by air, either directly or via the Caribbean and Africa. Although Colombia appeared to have declined in importance as a direct departure point for cocaine heading to Europe over recent years, large seizures continue to be made on the Caribbean coast, including a 7- tonne shipment destined for the Netherlands seized in Cartagena in April 2014. This and the recent upturn in production suggests that Colombia is likely to remain an important departure point for maritime shipments of cocaine. Cocaine is also shipped through the southern cone of Latin America, particularly Argentina.
There are two main areas through which cocaine shipments transit en route to Europe. The first is the Caribbean, where
the Dominican Republic and Jamaica are considered the main hubs, although operations elsewhere appear to have pushed some trafficking through the eastern Caribbean. Central America and the Caribbean was the only region in which cocaine seizures rose in 2013 (UNODC, 2015). This apparent increase in the use of the Caribbean route may be a reflection of recent crackdowns in Mexico and Central America (Eventon and Bewley-Taylor, 2016). From the Caribbean the cocaine is generally shipped by sea via the Azores or by air, either on direct flights or through a variety of different transfer points.
The other major transit area includes the West African mainland and neighbouring islands, Cape Verde, Madeira and the Canary Islands, although there has been some reduction in seizures in this area in recent years following a marked increase in seizures between 2004 and 2007. From West Africa, the cocaine is transported onward to Europe by air, sea or land routes. Transport through North Africa taking advantage of pre-existing cannabis routes is a concern, as occasional large seizures are made, although it is likely that routes through the region are fluid and transient (Algeria recorded a sudden spike in seizures in 2012, for example).
Trafficking of cocaine into Europe appears to mainly take place through western and southern countries, with Spain and Portugal in the south and ports in the Netherlands and Belgium in the north being the most important entry points for South American cocaine reaching the European market. It is estimated that together Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Italy accounted for around four-fifths of the cocaine seized in the EU in 2014.
Interactive map of cocaine trafficking routes to Europe available on the EMCDDA website: www.emcdda.europa.eu/topics/pods/cocaine-trafficking-europe
I Interactive element
PERSPECTIVES ON DRUGS I Cocaine trafficking to Europe
In the past few years, seizure data have suggested some use of south-eastern Europe as an entry point, spurring talk of an emerging Balkan route, and even a ‘Balkan cartel’ for cocaine, overlapping the established heroin route. Some seizures in Baltic countries have also led to discussion of another possible passage for cocaine. However, the data suggest, first, that to date the use of these ‘routes’ appears to be sporadic, and, second, that they remain of minor importance compared with established primary routes but may indicate a spread of the cocaine market eastward, where traditionally other stimulants have predominated, and in particular a growing market in the Russian Federation.
The European countries reporting the greatest number of interceptions of air couriers in 2013 were the Netherlands and Spain, followed by France and Portugal, and then the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Belgium (1). However, this may to some extent be a reflection of the resources directed towards such interceptions. Cocaine couriers come from a very wide range of countries, and couriers of over 100 different nationalities were intercepted in Europe in 2012–13. Generally, nationals of the intercepting country predominate, and as a result European Nationals make up the majority of intercepted couriers (EMCDDA–Europol, 2016).
I Methods of cocaine trafficking to Europe
Cocaine traffickers make use of a wide range of trafficking methods that are used flexibly and evolve over time in response to enforcement effort. Maritime transport allows the transportation of large quantities at one time, and over two-thirds of EU seizures in the period 2011–13 involved this form of transportation. The nature of international commercial maritime traffic means that a vast number of routes can and
will be used. In addition, smaller private boats are able to bring in large quantities of cocaine in single shipments, entering Europe at many points; in September 2014, for example, a private yacht carrying a tonne of cocaine that had been picked up in Venezuela was intercepted off the coast of Ireland (Roche, 2015).
An important development has been an increase in the use of containers on commercial vessels to ship cocaine, making detection more difficult. Since 2006 maritime seizures that involve containers have increased while seizures from vessels have declined (Gandilhon, 2016).
A diverse and continually evolving array of concealment methods is used, and the importation of cocaine in forms such as its incorporation into plastics or other materials that require chemical extraction in Europe continues to be a concern. Concealing the drugs within shipments of perishable goods is another common tactic as there are procedures to allow these to pass through ports more quickly.
The methods used for container trafficking have also evolved. For example, there has been a shift from concealment within the container or cargo to the rip-on/rip-off method (see box on trafficking in containers), which by 2012 accounted for the majority of seizures. Corrupt officials and port employees facilitate this form of trafficking, and staff involved in the aviation industry can also be vulnerable in this regard, as illustrated by two cases of the arrest of Nigerian airline crew members in London for cocaine smuggling (EMCDDA– Europol, 2016).
Cocaine trafficking by air involves individual couriers, air freight aboard commercial flights and the use of private aircraft. However, compared with maritime shipments the quantity transported by air is generally smaller, although the number of seizures of cocaine transported in this way is high, and this mode of transport does have the effect of spreading the risk for traffickers. Couriers transport cocaine on commercial flights, whether internally (swallowed or stuffed), in their baggage, or, less frequently, on their body. Some concealment methods, such as the use of cocaine incorporated into breast implants, involve surgical procedures on cocaine couriers and pose significant risks to the lives of couriers, while ingestion by smugglers of numerous packages can result in death if a package- ruptures. Until recently, cocaine smuggled in this way was always in powder form; however, there has been a switch by the smugglers to the use of cocaine in liquid form, presumably in an attempt to avoid the scanning equipment now in place at several airports.
(1) Based on a Europol data collection exercise covering 14 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
PERSPECTIVES ON DRUGS I Cocaine trafficking to Europe
I Conclusion
Cocaine trafficking to Europe is conducted by organised crime groups that are characterised by diversity and adaptability. These groups are innovative and skilled in switching and modifying both trafficking routes and modi operandi to circumvent law enforcement activities. They are quick to identify and exploit new opportunities for cocaine
trafficking. This includes taking advantage of new technology and methods to facilitate access to maritime containers loaded with cocaine (e.g. rip-on/rip-off) and for concealing cocaine (e.g. incorporating liquid cocaine into materials for later extraction). In addition, OCGs also shift transit routes and storage points to capitalise on the presence of ineffective border controls, and areas where instability and poor governance make for weak law enforcement.
The increase in the use of containers for trafficking cocaine to Europe has been marked in recent years and there has been a shift from concealment within the container or cargo to the rip-on/rip-off method (Gandilhon, 2016). The largest seaports in Europe are in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Antwerp, Belgium, and they are key points for this type of trafficking. After around 10 000 kg of cocaine was seized in Rotterdam over the course of 2013 it was reported that Dutch police estimated that 25–50 % of the cocaine reaching Europe now enters via the port, which handles around 11 million containers a year, only 50 000 of which are scanned (DutchNews, 2014, quoted in Eventon and Bewley-Taylor, 2016). However, large container ports in other countries are also used, such as Algeciras and Valencia in Spain, and Hamburg in Germany (EMCDDA– Europol, 2016).
Corrupt officials and port employees facilitate this form of trafficking. There are concerns that the organised crime groups involved in cocaine trafficking may be making systematic efforts to corrupt workers in all major ports to facilitate shifting of routes as necessary in response to law enforcement activity.
Rip-on/rip-off method of cocaine smuggling.
The so-called ‘rip-on/rip-off’ method involves loading the consignment in the port of departure and recovering it in the port of arrival. The use of one or more corrupt employees at both ends is therefore a key element.
A suitable container must be identified in South America with a legitimate cargo destined for Europe. The drugs are usually loaded in the dock area, so the ‘rip-on’ team must be able to get the drugs into the container terminal and to locate the container, which must be in an accessible position. In most cases the security seal needs to be replaced with a duplicate to avoid obvious signs of tampering.
At the port of arrival, the drugs need to be retrieved, which can be achieved in a variety of ways. The drugs can be removed from the container by corrupt port workers or by external teams who gain access to the terminal. After the ‘rip-off’ is complete, the container is either left open or resealed with another false/duplicate seal. The success of the rip-off depends on knowing the location of the container within what is often, a very large container terminal with tens of thousands of containers. However, just knowing the container number is usually not enough. It must also be accessible, which again usually requires a corrupt port or company worker to manipulate the position of the container.
In December 2014 a joint- customs–police team in Berlin examined a container transporting coffee. The container had left Santos, Brazil, and had arrived at Bremerhaven port, from where it would have been delivered to a coffee roaster in Berlin. Immediately after the container was opened, a sports bag and an unused container security seal were found. Inside the sports bag, 30 individual packages were found, each containing 1 kg of cocaine marked with a ‘horseshoe’ logo.
ENDS:
UPDATE ADDITION:
Cocaine is Europe’s most- commonly used illicit stimulant drug, with about 3.6 million adults (aged 15–64) estimated to have used it in the last year. It is the second most seized drug in Europe, after cannabis. Cocaine is trafficked to Europe from the producer countries of South America by both air and sea using a range of methods and routes. This analysis provides an insight into the European cocaine market, the trafficking routes used to bring it to Europe, and the different methods criminals employ to move their drugs.
UPDATED 31.5.2016
emcdda.europa.eu/topics/ pods/cocaine-trafficking-europe
Full edition of this article with interactive - features available online at
PERSPECTIVES ON DRUGS I Cocaine trafficking to Europe
or snorted but is also sometimes injected. It is the most common form and is generally used infrequently, but a small proportion of users consume it more frequently and may experience problems. Less commonly available is crack cocaine, a smoke-able (free base) form of the drug; there are a few countries with small groups of people who use crack cocaine in a more harmful way, often in conjunction with heroin use. The crack cocaine available in Europe is typically manufactured from cocaine hydrochloride near where it is retailed and used and so there is very little cross-border or long-distance crack trafficking.
Cocaine is the most consumed stimulant drug in Europe, with a retail market value estimated by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) to be about EUR 5.7 billion a year. It is also estimated that approximately 91 tonnes of cocaine are consumed in Europe every year. Cocaine is the second most seized drug in Europe, after cannabis. In 2014 about 78 000 seizures of cocaine were reported in the European Union (EU), yielding an estimated 61.6 tonnes of the drug. The situation has been relatively stable since 2010, although both the number of seizures and the volume seized are at levels considerably lower than the peak values reached in the mid to late 2000s. In 2014, 9 % of the drug law offences in the EU (99 000) related to cocaine, 29 000 of which were drug supply offences.
I Cocaine trafficking routes to Europe
Cocaine is trafficked to Europe from the producer countries of South America by both air and sea, using a range of methods and routes. Cocaine is shipped from Latin America to Europe in vessels departing from Brazil and other countries such as Ecuador and Venezuela. The increasing use of Brazil as a departure point reflects the growing importance of Bolivia and Peru as the source of cocaine shipped to Europe. Venezuela has become more important in recent years as trafficking organisations move Colombian cocaine overland across a porous border and take advantage of the busy maritime traffic between the coast and the islands of the Caribbean, but cocaine is also trafficked from Venezuela to Europe by air, either directly or via the Caribbean and Africa. Although Colombia appeared to have declined in importance as a direct departure point for cocaine heading to Europe over recent years, large seizures continue to be made on the Caribbean coast, including a 7- tonne shipment destined for the Netherlands seized in Cartagena in April 2014. This and the recent upturn in production suggests that Colombia is likely to remain an important departure point for maritime shipments of cocaine. Cocaine is also shipped through the southern cone of Latin America, particularly Argentina.
There are two main areas through which cocaine shipments transit en route to Europe. The first is the Caribbean, where
the Dominican Republic and Jamaica are considered the main hubs, although operations elsewhere appear to have pushed some trafficking through the eastern Caribbean. Central America and the Caribbean was the only region in which cocaine seizures rose in 2013 (UNODC, 2015). This apparent increase in the use of the Caribbean route may be a reflection of recent crackdowns in Mexico and Central America (Eventon and Bewley-Taylor, 2016). From the Caribbean the cocaine is generally shipped by sea via the Azores or by air, either on direct flights or through a variety of different transfer points.
The other major transit area includes the West African mainland and neighbouring islands, Cape Verde, Madeira and the Canary Islands, although there has been some reduction in seizures in this area in recent years following a marked increase in seizures between 2004 and 2007. From West Africa, the cocaine is transported onward to Europe by air, sea or land routes. Transport through North Africa taking advantage of pre-existing cannabis routes is a concern, as occasional large seizures are made, although it is likely that routes through the region are fluid and transient (Algeria recorded a sudden spike in seizures in 2012, for example).
Trafficking of cocaine into Europe appears to mainly take place through western and southern countries, with Spain and Portugal in the south and ports in the Netherlands and Belgium in the north being the most important entry points for South American cocaine reaching the European market. It is estimated that together Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Italy accounted for around four-fifths of the cocaine seized in the EU in 2014.
Interactive map of cocaine trafficking routes to Europe available on the EMCDDA website: www.emcdda.europa.eu/topics/pods/cocaine-trafficking-europe
I Interactive element
PERSPECTIVES ON DRUGS I Cocaine trafficking to Europe
In the past few years, seizure data have suggested some use of south-eastern Europe as an entry point, spurring talk of an emerging Balkan route, and even a ‘Balkan cartel’ for cocaine, overlapping the established heroin route. Some seizures in Baltic countries have also led to discussion of another possible passage for cocaine. However, the data suggest, first, that to date the use of these ‘routes’ appears to be sporadic, and, second, that they remain of minor importance compared with established primary routes but may indicate a spread of the cocaine market eastward, where traditionally other stimulants have predominated, and in particular a growing market in the Russian Federation.
The European countries reporting the greatest number of interceptions of air couriers in 2013 were the Netherlands and Spain, followed by France and Portugal, and then the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Belgium (1). However, this may to some extent be a reflection of the resources directed towards such interceptions. Cocaine couriers come from a very wide range of countries, and couriers of over 100 different nationalities were intercepted in Europe in 2012–13. Generally, nationals of the intercepting country predominate, and as a result European Nationals make up the majority of intercepted couriers (EMCDDA–Europol, 2016).
I Methods of cocaine trafficking to Europe
Cocaine traffickers make use of a wide range of trafficking methods that are used flexibly and evolve over time in response to enforcement effort. Maritime transport allows the transportation of large quantities at one time, and over two-thirds of EU seizures in the period 2011–13 involved this form of transportation. The nature of international commercial maritime traffic means that a vast number of routes can and
will be used. In addition, smaller private boats are able to bring in large quantities of cocaine in single shipments, entering Europe at many points; in September 2014, for example, a private yacht carrying a tonne of cocaine that had been picked up in Venezuela was intercepted off the coast of Ireland (Roche, 2015).
An important development has been an increase in the use of containers on commercial vessels to ship cocaine, making detection more difficult. Since 2006 maritime seizures that involve containers have increased while seizures from vessels have declined (Gandilhon, 2016).
A diverse and continually evolving array of concealment methods is used, and the importation of cocaine in forms such as its incorporation into plastics or other materials that require chemical extraction in Europe continues to be a concern. Concealing the drugs within shipments of perishable goods is another common tactic as there are procedures to allow these to pass through ports more quickly.
The methods used for container trafficking have also evolved. For example, there has been a shift from concealment within the container or cargo to the rip-on/rip-off method (see box on trafficking in containers), which by 2012 accounted for the majority of seizures. Corrupt officials and port employees facilitate this form of trafficking, and staff involved in the aviation industry can also be vulnerable in this regard, as illustrated by two cases of the arrest of Nigerian airline crew members in London for cocaine smuggling (EMCDDA– Europol, 2016).
Cocaine trafficking by air involves individual couriers, air freight aboard commercial flights and the use of private aircraft. However, compared with maritime shipments the quantity transported by air is generally smaller, although the number of seizures of cocaine transported in this way is high, and this mode of transport does have the effect of spreading the risk for traffickers. Couriers transport cocaine on commercial flights, whether internally (swallowed or stuffed), in their baggage, or, less frequently, on their body. Some concealment methods, such as the use of cocaine incorporated into breast implants, involve surgical procedures on cocaine couriers and pose significant risks to the lives of couriers, while ingestion by smugglers of numerous packages can result in death if a package- ruptures. Until recently, cocaine smuggled in this way was always in powder form; however, there has been a switch by the smugglers to the use of cocaine in liquid form, presumably in an attempt to avoid the scanning equipment now in place at several airports.
(1) Based on a Europol data collection exercise covering 14 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
PERSPECTIVES ON DRUGS I Cocaine trafficking to Europe
I Conclusion
Cocaine trafficking to Europe is conducted by organised crime groups that are characterised by diversity and adaptability. These groups are innovative and skilled in switching and modifying both trafficking routes and modi operandi to circumvent law enforcement activities. They are quick to identify and exploit new opportunities for cocaine
trafficking. This includes taking advantage of new technology and methods to facilitate access to maritime containers loaded with cocaine (e.g. rip-on/rip-off) and for concealing cocaine (e.g. incorporating liquid cocaine into materials for later extraction). In addition, OCGs also shift transit routes and storage points to capitalise on the presence of ineffective border controls, and areas where instability and poor governance make for weak law enforcement.
The increase in the use of containers for trafficking cocaine to Europe has been marked in recent years and there has been a shift from concealment within the container or cargo to the rip-on/rip-off method (Gandilhon, 2016). The largest seaports in Europe are in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Antwerp, Belgium, and they are key points for this type of trafficking. After around 10 000 kg of cocaine was seized in Rotterdam over the course of 2013 it was reported that Dutch police estimated that 25–50 % of the cocaine reaching Europe now enters via the port, which handles around 11 million containers a year, only 50 000 of which are scanned (DutchNews, 2014, quoted in Eventon and Bewley-Taylor, 2016). However, large container ports in other countries are also used, such as Algeciras and Valencia in Spain, and Hamburg in Germany (EMCDDA– Europol, 2016).
Corrupt officials and port employees facilitate this form of trafficking. There are concerns that the organised crime groups involved in cocaine trafficking may be making systematic efforts to corrupt workers in all major ports to facilitate shifting of routes as necessary in response to law enforcement activity.
Rip-on/rip-off method of cocaine smuggling.
The so-called ‘rip-on/rip-off’ method involves loading the consignment in the port of departure and recovering it in the port of arrival. The use of one or more corrupt employees at both ends is therefore a key element.
A suitable container must be identified in South America with a legitimate cargo destined for Europe. The drugs are usually loaded in the dock area, so the ‘rip-on’ team must be able to get the drugs into the container terminal and to locate the container, which must be in an accessible position. In most cases the security seal needs to be replaced with a duplicate to avoid obvious signs of tampering.
At the port of arrival, the drugs need to be retrieved, which can be achieved in a variety of ways. The drugs can be removed from the container by corrupt port workers or by external teams who gain access to the terminal. After the ‘rip-off’ is complete, the container is either left open or resealed with another false/duplicate seal. The success of the rip-off depends on knowing the location of the container within what is often, a very large container terminal with tens of thousands of containers. However, just knowing the container number is usually not enough. It must also be accessible, which again usually requires a corrupt port or company worker to manipulate the position of the container.
In December 2014 a joint- customs–police team in Berlin examined a container transporting coffee. The container had left Santos, Brazil, and had arrived at Bremerhaven port, from where it would have been delivered to a coffee roaster in Berlin. Immediately after the container was opened, a sports bag and an unused container security seal were found. Inside the sports bag, 30 individual packages were found, each containing 1 kg of cocaine marked with a ‘horseshoe’ logo.
ENDS:
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