Crackdown on surge of heroin exports
There have been growing signs in recent years of a rising problem here, reflected by a massive rise in seizures up to last year and increased numbers of addicts seeking treatment.
There is evidence of a worsening problem outside Dublin, in cities like Limerick and Cork and towns like Wexford and Edenderry, Co Offaly.
Most recently, there are reports of a rise in the purity of heroin which is seen by experts as a sign of a greater supply of the drug.
The UN and EU bodies have repeated warnings of a possible new heroin crisis, due to stockpiles of opium and heroin in Afghanistan, waiting to come on the market.
In a briefing to journalists at The Hague, the home of the EU police coordination agency Europol, a senior intelligence officer in the Dutch National Crime Squad said Turkish gangs control the trafficking of the drug into the country.
“The heroin comes from Afghanistan by organised Turkish groups through the Balkan route, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany to our country.”
He said most of it goes to Britain but also Germany, France and Ireland through Dutch and foreign criminal gangs.
“Dutch top criminals are very close to British and Irish top criminals. They get on very well.”
Garda sources agree: “Irish criminals have their own networks with Dutch criminals,” said one source. “Sometimes they do work in partnership with British groups to develop contacts.”
A second Garda source said some Irish gangsters work through Irish facilitators who have good contacts with Dutch traffickers.
The Dutch officer said that they were seizing massive quantities of heroin.
“In the last 10-15 years, the loads are getting bigger. Ten years ago, 100kg of heroin would be huge – now we’re talking about 1-2 tonnes. He said most drugs are exported in lorries, not containers.
“So many lorries go to Britain carrying legal goods, it’s easily done to hide drugs. You can’t search every lorry or container – economic traffic would stop. We need intelligence.”
He said greater sharing of information throughout the EU, like in Europol, was the “only way” to combat the problem.
