National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

The smuggling of heroin by air couriers mainly seems to involve shipments of
limited size – several kilograms each time. This is also called the ‘little but often’
method or the ‘ant trade’. However, the couriers are usually not occasional
couriers, but people who are members of organised criminal groups. Smuggling
organisations are highly inventive as regards concealing the transport of goods
and avoiding inspections. Whenever a working method is discovered, they
simply change it. In Pakistan, for example, the authorities saw a change take
place from Nigerian air couriers to white Pakistani air couriers.
Consumption
Approximately 11 million people use heroin worldwide. This number has
stabilised in recent years, but there are still two major growth markets for
opiates, namely Asia (especially China) and Eastern Europe (especially the
Russian Federation, Estonia, Latvia and the Ukraine). The size of the European
heroin markets is estimated at 3.3 million users. The largest market is in Eastern
Europe, with over 1.8 million users. The heroin markets in Western and Central
Europe consist of more than 1.4 million heroin users and are stable or shrinking.
The largest groups in these markets are users in the UK, Italy, Germany, France
and Spain.
The Dutch situation
The Netherlands mainly acts as a transit and distribution country for the major
heroin markets, such as those in the UK and France. The Dutch heroin market
is an open market on which various suppliers (wholesalers) of heroin are present,
all of whom have their own heroin supply lines. The (Dutch-)Turkish wholesalers
dominate the heroin market, but there are also several other groups as well. The
customers, the people who buy from the heroin wholesalers, are mainly dealers
who buy heroin in the Netherlands for the aforementioned foreign markets.
There are even British criminals living in the Netherlands for this purpose.
They can be described as ‘criminal liaisons’.
The enforcement agencies in the Netherlands seized a total of 984 kilograms
of heroin in 2006, compared to 901.5 kilograms in 2005.
The number of heroin users in the Netherlands is stable (almost declining).
In total, the number of problem heroin users is estimated at around 33,500
people. Based on this number, national heroin consumption is estimated at
around 3.800 kg of street heroin, which is equivalent to 1.900 kg of heroin at
wholesale level. Users are generally aged between 30 and 40. However, specific
groups of young people also seem to be using heroin more often these days.
Problem youngsters in Amsterdam, for example, combine heroin with other
drugs, such as crack, benzodiazepines, alcohol and cannabis.
chapter 2 – Illegal markets
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