News / Health & Wellness
International Drug Raids Up
Seizures of illegal drugs are on the rise in Turkey. What’s to blame for the spike and why is the country such a popular drug thoroughfare?
Turkey has seen a sharp increase in the amount of illegal drugs seized in the country, according to a November report by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Seizures of heroin, cannabis resin and herbal cannabis are all up from 2003 to 2008, some increasing by as much as 10 times.
A total of 45 tons of drugs were seized in Turkey between 2005 and 2008, whereas the amount of drugs seized in European Union countries, Norway and Croatia were 25 tons, according to the report.
Reason for Turkey’s Increased Drug Rate
Why is Turkey seeing such drug traffic? The country is a major gateway for heroin destined for West and Central Europe, with Turkey located on major drug trafficking routes, including the Balkan route, the northern (Black Sea) route and an eastern Mediterranean route, according to the report. Cocaine enters Turkey from South America for mainly domestic use, while cannabis is mainly produced domestically.
The 2010 World Drug Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released in April 2010 said most of the heroin heading for West European markets comes from Afghanistan and passes Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, which collectively seized 40 percent of the estimated flow intercepted in 2008. Heroin is mostly seized in Turkey's eastern provinces of Van, Hakkari and Agri along the Iranian border, en route to Istanbul.
The UN report said ethnic Kurdish groups, with large border populations in Iran, Iraq and Turkey, might be responsible for drug trafficking through their own networks, but the majority of drug traffickers arrested in Turkey are Turkish nationals. Not surprisingly, drugs are big business for organized crime groups, which manage the heroin trafficking between Iran and Turkey and on to the Balkans, earning them around $600-700 million every year.
While seizures are working to limit the amount of drugs getting through, Turkey has also launched a new comprehensive national strategy against drugs and agreed on integrating its strategy with the " European Union Strategy and Action Plan on Drugs" in the short term.
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