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Global production of cocaine / UN report: Albanian-speaking groups, key role in drug trafficking. British markets dominate

Politiko 2023-03-16 10:59:11

Global production of cocaine / UN report: Albanian-speaking groups, key role in

Global cocaine production has reached record levels as demand rebounds after the Covid lockdowns. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, in a prepared report , says that cocaine cultivation increased by 35% between 2021 and 2022 to record levels.

The findings suggest that new centers for trafficking have emerged in West and Central Africa. The report notes that traffickers were increasingly using international postal services to deliver drugs to consumers.

Europe and North America are the largest markets for cocaine, followed by South and Central America and the Caribbean.

In the UK, the report says there has been a "significant increase" in seizures of cocaine in "fast parcel and post modes". Colombia still dominates the trafficking routes, although the routes to Europe have evolved.

Mexican and Balkan criminal groups have moved closer to the production center to gain access to supplies. Here the role of Albanian-speaking groups in drug trafficking is introduced. According to the UN report, Albanian criminal groups start distributing cocaine from the Netherlands, where the port of Rotterdam stands out.

"From the Netherlands, cocaine is further distributed to other European countries and Albanian-speaking groups seem to play an important role in this, especially in the traffic to Italy and Albania. The important destination of the United Kingdom, where Albanian-speaking groups are also estimated to exercise considerable control over the drug market, is also supplied to a large extent through cargo ports in the south-eastern United States," the report says .

The use of crack cocaine is on the rise in several Western European countries, including the UK, Belgium, France and Spain.

Global production of cocaine / UN report: Albanian-speaking groups, key role in

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