Huge heroin stockpiles set to hit Europe

A UNITED NATIONS expert yesterday said huge stockpiles of heroin will soon hit the European market.

The warning follows another large seizure of heroin on Monday night. The 20kg haul in Dublin brings the tally for this year to more than 110kg.

This is equal to 75% of last year’s total figure, which itself was a record year for heroin seizures.

Thomas Pietchmann, research officer at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told the Irish Examiner there had been bumper crops of opium in Afghanistan in the past two years, reaching a new high last year.

“There has been a doubling in two years. That’s just dramatic,” he said.

“We know a lot of stocks are built up. At some stage the stocks will get on to the market. Normally, opiates are directed towards Europe.

“We still have not seen an increase in use in Europe, but we have seen trafficking increasing towards Europe, so the warning is you can expect an increase in use to be coming, unless people are intelligent enough not to use heroin.”

He said in the past it took about a year-and-a-half after harvest for the heroin to arrive in western Europe.

“We now have two years of good harvest. At this stage you could expect it could or would happen.”

A Garda source said yesterday: “There has been a massive increase in seizures, but this does not necessarily mean an increase in the use of heroin. The intelligence is better, the operation success has improved.”

However, he said heroin use had “definitely spread” outside Dublin.

He said the gang behind Monday night’s seizure was trying to “flood” west Dublin with heroin, but that the Garda National Drug Unit had dealt three significant blows against the crew.

The 20kg were seized when drug unit officers moved on a car in Ashtown, west Dublin, shortly after the heroin was brought into the country from Britain.

It was the third seizure of heroin, totalling 62kg, belonging to the gang so far this year.

The Garda source said the gang would have bought the heroin for between €20,000 and €25,000 a kilo, making the debt owed to their suppliers worth about €1.24 million to €1.55m.

The gang based in the Clondalkin-Ballyfermot area, would have sold the heroin wholesale in the republic for about €40,000 a kilo, representing a loss in potential profit of almost €1m.