Cocaine – A European Union perspective in the global context

Increasingly sophisticated techniques to conceal and smuggle cocaine into Europe are reviewed in a new EMCDDAAEuropol market analysis – Cocaine: A European Union perspective in the global context

Published today, the review provides insight into how cocaine is produced and trafficked into the EU, the people involved, routes taken, and the scale of the problem in Europe. Also analysed are some of the supply reduction initiatives already developed at European level.

One innovative technique identified in the report involves incorporating cocaine base or hydrochloride (HCI) into other materials (e.g. beeswax, plastic, clothing), then extracting it in special laboratories set up inside EU borders.

Around 40 of these cocaine so–called ‘secondary extraction’ laboratories were seized in the EU in 2008, says the report, an issue of increasing concern to the two EU agencies. These differ from laboratories found in South America which manufacture cocaine base or HCI from coca leaves or coca paste.

Europe has become an important destination for cocaine manufactured in South America. In 2007, an estimated 73 800 seizures in EU Member States, Croatia, Turkey and Norway resulted in the interception of almost 77 tonnes of cocaine. With these figures, Europe ranked third in the world for the amount of cocaine confiscated, after South and North America.

With a significant proportion of the global cocaine output now destined for Europe, new cross-Atlantic trafficking routes have emerged. The report describes the three main Europe–bound cocaine smuggling routes (Northern, Central, West African). It also shows how law enforcement data point to shifting landing points within Europe’s main gateway regions – the Iberian Peninsula and the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) – as well as to the spread of trafficking networks eastwards. According to the report, this increases the risk of cocaine use diffusing into central and eastern European countries which, to date, have been comparatively little affected.

Full report

Further reading:

Methamphetamine – A European Union perspective in the global context