1/06/2020 – As law enforcement focuses of the Coronavirus lockdown measures, a substantial increase in cannabis cultivation in Albania is anticipated. Recent seizures indicate that the Balkan route remains a favoured trafficking route for Europe destined cannabis. Albania is also about to conclude a draft law which allows for the cultivation of medical cannabis in…
The lock-down measures adopted in Morocco have disrupted the usual routes used to traffic cannabis towards Europe. Indeed, traffickers were previously relying on the commercial shipping vessels or high-speed boats crossing the Mediterranean. So as to avoid detection, they are favouring longer and more expansive routes however such methodology requires drug hand-overs at high sea. Burmese authorities…
Heroin production is on the rise in the Golden Triangle according to the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general in Thailand and as seizure along the border between Myanmar and Laos suggest. The Golden Triangle is one of the largest areas where opium is grown. A large criminal network involved in fraud, money laundering and social…
Malaysian customs discovered six tonnes of African pangolin scales hidden beneath a layer of sacks containing cashew nuts. This was the first seizure at Port Klang since September 2017 and may indicate that traffickers are responding to greater security at other Malaysian ports as well as ports in Singapore where, last year, 40 tonnes of pangolin scales was…
For 5 days, from 25 to 29 November, participants exchanged on coordination and synergies, but also challenges in the fight against illicit trafficking, and in particular drug trafficking, both inside and outside Europe. The launch of the EU Drug Market’s Report on 26 November underpinned discussions on the current global drug production and European consumption,…
