2023-12-11 18:46:11
Vienna. While 40 percent more cocaine was produced in Colombia last year compared to 2021, in Afghanistan, due to the Taliban’s money concerns, the focus is on synthetic drugs that promise higher profit margins and are easier to traffic, instead of opium cultivation. The number of armed conflicts financed by drug sales in the Sahel region is increasing day by day.
The destruction of rainforests in South America (more cropland), the EU’s refusal to quickly integrate the Balkans (less attention from the judiciary and police to the fight against crime) or the war in Ukraine (where numerous professional drug laboratories are hunted (there are also problems) even affects the drug trade in Europe and therefore in Austria. This results in more “goods”, more consumers and more affordable prices and higher purity content due to the increasing number of suppliers. And all this is leading to a record number of deaths in Austria. According to the latest drug report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there are 235 victims.
Higher purity, lower price
On the other hand, drugs are becoming more and more powerful; While years ago heroin was sold with a three percent purity level, today it is sold with an average of 15 percent, with the highest level reaching an incredible rate of 57 percent. Poppy (up nine percent in the last five years) and cocaine (up nearly twelve percent) are also on the rise. According to testers at Check-it, eight percent of ecstasy contains more than 200 milligrams of the active ingredient MDMA. Cocaine consumption has also reportedly tripled in the EU within a year.
While Nigerian groups were prominent in street sales in the past, it is known that Serbian gangs are active today and organize the transportation of cocaine from the Andes to popular bars in Vienna’s city center. It is also observed that there has been a great increase in the number of Afghan dealers bringing opium or synthetic drugs from their own country to Europe. It is reported that there are laboratories producing cocaine in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
Police’s successful fight against drug cartels
While drug cartels are running rampant in Austria, the police department continues its successful fight. Police Brigadier Daniel Lichtenegger from the Federal Criminal Police Office pointed out that a drug dealer was recently sentenced to life imprisonment for the first time in Austria.
„During investigations into crypto messaging services such as ANOM and Sky ECC in Austria since April 2021, we have gained unprecedented insight into the machinations of organized crime groups in Austria. This is clearly the largest investigation complex in the history of the Austrian criminal police. The connection between organized drug trafficking, acts of violence, as well as arms trafficking and corruption plays an important role. “These investigations will be with us for years to come,” emphasized Lichtenegger, explaining that approximately one billion chat messages were seized.
But the abuse of benzodiazepines and the anesthetic ketamine has become an increasingly big problem in Austria, according to drug buster Lichtenegger. Stating that ketamine is currently included in the NPSG (New Psychoactive Substances Act), but since the penalties are not sufficient, this does not allow the police to take the necessary investigative measures, the Police Brigade requested that ketamine be transferred from the NPSG to the Narcotic Substances Act. (yenivatan.at)
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