ENN DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Friday, June 13, 1997 Vol. 3 - 164
HEROIN PROLIFERATES WORLDWIDE
...
By Steve Macko, ERRI Crime Analyst
In a recent United Nations report that was released at an Interpol conference in Bangkok, Thailand, cheaper and purer heroin is said to be entering U.S. and European markets at a growing pace. This is because of new trafficking routes that are opening up from Asia. The report said that fast-paced geopolitical and economic changes, mostly in Asia, have created new supply routes and new markets for drugs.
An Interpol narcotics expert, Ramachandra Sunda, wrote the U.N. report. Sunda commended several countries for the efforts to stop the flow of drugs. He said, "Thai authorities have made a dent." Sunda also said that China has also done a good job in its anti-narcotics enforcement. In 1995, China seized 2.3 tons of heroin. So far, in 1996, China has confiscated one ton.
But, according to the report, authorities are intercepting only a fraction of the drug produced in Burma, Laos and Thailand. That area, which is called the "Golden Triangle." supplies most of the heroin that reaches the United States.
The recent Interpol conference heard evidence that where political change has been most dramatic -- such as in Russia -- the potential for criminal activity becomes most alarming. In referring to the boom of opium production in Afghanistan, Sunda said, "The warlords of the 80s have become the drug lords of the 90s."
Narcotics seizures, worldwide, have generally declined and the number of smuggling routes has grown. The production of opium, from which heroin and morphine are made, has remained steady or is rising.
The United States State Department Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs reports that 59 percent of the world's opium is produced in Burma. 31 percent comes from Afghanistan, Laos produces 5 percent, 4 percent comes from Pakistan and the rest is from Thailand and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.
Interpol says that up to 4,500 tons of opium are cultivated in Asia. That amount of opium can be used to produce 450 tons of heroin or morphine. The United Nations report said that the area around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, nicknamed the "Golden Crescent," is the main source of heroin and morphine that are smuggled into Europe.
According to intelligence from Western European narcotics experts, it is suggested that 80 to 90 percent of the heroin that was seized in Europe from 1993 to 1995 came from southwest Asia via Turkey and southeastern Europe. The report said that Istanbul was "the princpal clearing house for heroin bound for the Western market." This was because of improvements made at airports, seaports and trans-European highways.
Ethnic Chinese criminal gangs continue to dominate the heroin trafficking in southeast Asia. West African organized crime groups, mostly from Nigeria, as said to be responsible for large shipments to North America. Traffickers are also hiring more Eastern and Central Europeans to try to smuggle narcotics out of Bangkok. This is seen as a change of personnel rather than of venue.
The United Nations report also said that the dramatic increase in criminal activity in Russia and the former Soviet republics in central Asia merit particular concern. It was also said that an eye should be kept on the political turmoil in those countries. The report said, "Russia by its vastness remains vulnerable as a transit country. Indications are that Russian territory will be increasingly used by drug trafficking groups operating between Central Asia and Europe."
The report also said, "The stage is ... already set for a massive involvement of this region in all aspects of global drug criminality." Playing a major part in all of this are increased air links and more free movement of goods. It is combined with poor customs and banking controls.
Overall, the United Nations report did not provide any encouragement in the battle to staunch the flow of drugs worldwide.
(c) Copyright, EmergencyNet NEWS Service, 1997. All Rights Reserved. Redistribution without permission is prohibited by law.
The ENN DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT is a subscription publication of the EmergencyNet NEWS Service, which is a part of the Chicago-based Emergency Response and Research Institute. This publication specializes in Security/Terrorism/Intelligence/ Military and National Security issues.
Emergency Response and Research
Institute
6348 N Milwaukee Ave, Suite 312, Chicago, Illinois 60646 USA
773-631-ERRI Voice/Voice Mail
773-631-4703 Fax
773-631-3467 Computer/Modem - EMERGENCY BBS
Internet e-mail: enn@emergency.com
WWW page: http://www.emergency.com
Telnet: emergency.com