National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

2.3 Trading and smuggling heroin 21
2.3.1 Introduction and scope
Heroin is produced from the dried latex (raw opium) of the poppy species
Somniferum. The raw opium is converted into morphine and then mixed with
chemicals to make heroin. The most important of these chemicals is acetic
anhydride (AA), which is also traded legally. There are various types of heroin,
depending on the production method that is used. As a powder, it can be pure
white, brown or grey. It can also take the form of grains (‘rocks’) that are light
brown in colour. Heroin is rarely used in its pure form; it is usually adulterated
by adding agents such as paracetamol and caffeine. The purity of heroin at
wholesale level is approximately 50% to 60%.
Most heroin comes from two parts of the world that are called ‘the Golden
Crescent’ (Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan) and ‘the Golden Triangle’ (Burma,
Vietnam, Thailand and Laos). Globally speaking, the most illegal poppy
cultivation takes place in Afghanistan. Ninety percent of the heroin consumed
in Europe comes from Afghanistan, which is therefore the main focus of
this section.
2.3.2 General context: nature and scale
Production
The production of opium in Afghanistan has increased since the fall of the
Taliban in 2001. In 2006 poppies were cultivated illegally in 28 of the 34 Afghan
provinces (a total of 165,000 hectares). In 2007 this had risen to 195,000
hectares of land where poppies were cultivated. According to estimates, opium
production doubled between 2004 and 2007. With an average crop of
43 kilograms per hectare, the total Afghan opium production was estimated
at 8,200 tons in 2007, which is 93% of worldwide production. This level of
production comes from using 4% of the total amount of agricultural land in
Afghanistan, which means that it is not inconceivable that the harvest will be
even higher in future.
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This section is based on a report prepared in part for NTA 2008: Dienst Nationale Recherche
(DNR), 2008. Heroïne. Deelrapport Criminaliteitsbeeldanalyse 2007. Korps landelijke
politiediensten (Netherlands Police Agency), DNR (National Crime Squad), Driebergen
(confidential). The authors of this report are B. Lieuwen and H. Rengelink. The information from
this report was included with a view to qualifying the threat level of the criminal phenomenon.
This qualification and a summary of the arguments can be found in the final section.
chapter 2 – Illegal markets
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