Report: Drug Money and Opiate Trafficking on the Balkan Route

OrganizationsInternational Organizations ♦ Published: December 14, 2015; 11:00 ♦ (Vindobona)

A report recently launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that the total value of illicit heroin and opium trafficked from Afghanistan to Western Europe through the Balkans amounts to some $28 billion every year. Sixty-five per cent of this total ($18 billion) is generated in Western and Central Europe.

The main trafficking routes of Afghan opiates / Picture: © UNODC - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The four largest European markets for heroin - France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy - account for nearly half of the gross profits, as the major heroin benefits are made by traffickers on the retail markets.

The report, entitled Drug Money: the illicit proceeds of opiates trafficked on the Balkan route, shows that the total value generated by Afghan heroin and opium…