National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

An important indicator of heroin production is the presence of laboratories.
Mainly morphine laboratories were found during criminal investigations in
Afghanistan; the number of heroin laboratories was smaller. This might suggest
that most of the opium in Afghanistan is only converted into morphine and that
it is converted into heroin elsewhere. In principle, heroin can be produced
anywhere in the countries along the smuggling routes from Afghanistan to
Western Europe. In practice, it will mainly be produced at locations where
AA is available or where the risks attached to conversion are smaller.
It is estimated that 25% of all the opiates produced worldwide were seized
in 2006. However, this has apparently not affected the prices or the purity of
opiates on the Western European markets. The assumption is therefore that
opium produced and stored previously has been used to balance out the
‘shortage’. Little is known about opium storage locations. The shelf life of
opium is several years.
Smuggling
Two major smuggling routes run from Afghanistan to Europe: the Northern
Route and the Southern Route. The Northern Route runs from Afghanistan via
the countries of Central Asia and Kazakhstan to the Russian Federation and on
to Europe. The Southern Route runs from Afghanistan to Iran (sometimes via
Pakistan) and then through Turkey to join up with the various Balkan routes.
According to the Turkish authorities, this Southern Route has had a branch for
a number of years, whereby the route from Iran no longer runs to Turkey, but
veers to the north and runs through the countries next to the Black Sea or even
crosses the Black Sea. This is known as the ‘Northern Black Sea Route’. In Europe
this route runs through Romania and/or Bulgaria to join up with the usual Balkan
routes. Romania and Bulgaria have formed the external border of the European
Union since 1 January 2007. As a result, Romania and Bulgaria have become even
more appealing to smugglers as transit countries. The Netherlands plays a role in
the distribution of heroin, especially to the UK, France, Spain and Portugal.
The smuggling method depends greatly on the criminal group involved. Turkish
criminal organisations, for example, appear to smuggle heroin primarily over
land via the Balkan routes, where they sometimes outsource the transport to
‘Balkan criminals’. In addition, shipments are also transported by sea from
South-West Asia, but less is known about these transports. Smuggling from
Turkey by air couriers is called the ‘Balkan Route by Air’. The number of couriers
arrested at Schiphol has increased, and so has the amount of heroin smuggled.
Pakistani criminals seem to be smuggling heroin directly from Pakistan using
air couriers.
38 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime