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Balkans: criminal network key actors in EU drug markets

Member of Italian criminal organisations hiding in the region

22 November, 16:34
(ANSA) - BELGRADE, NOV 22 - In a new report released on Monday, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said that criminal networks in the Western Balkans seem to have become key players in both the regional and EU drug markets. The Western Balkans are at the crossroads of a number of important drug trafficking routes, such as the Balkan route for heroin. There may also be new routes for other drugs, such as cocaine, the EMCDDA said. These criminal networks have a significant impact on security, governance and the rule of law in the region. Violence associated with competition for drug markets and control of trafficking routes is a significant security threat. Several murders in the EU and other places have been linked to criminal networks in the Western Balkans that deal in drugs, especially cocaine, the report reads.

There are also rumors that members of international criminal networks operate in the Western Balkans or work with local criminal networks. For example, the EMCDDA said that members of Italian and Turkish criminal networks hide out in the Western Balkans to avoid being caught by the police. (ANSA).

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