Drug trafficking

EUROPOL STRATEGIC REPORT: HOW ILLEGAL DRUGS SUSTAIN ORGANISED CRIME IN THE EU

These are some of the main points highlighted in the Strategic Report How Illegal Drugs Sustain Organised Crime in the EU, which Europol releases today. The report provides a concise overview of the illicit drugs market in the EU and was published on the occasion of a high-level conference at Europol to discuss enhancing the fight against illegal drugs.

Europol’s Deputy Executive Director of Operations Wil van Gemert: “The illicit drugs market remains the largest criminal market in the EU. More organised crime groups are active in the production, trafficking and distribution of illicit drugs than any other phenomenon. Moreover, drug markets are increasingly diversified and globalised, and interrelate more and more with other illicit and criminal markets and activities. The latter include, although not systematically, terrorism. Fortunately, in recent years cooperation between law enforcement authorities to fight serious and organised crime, be it drugs or any other crime area, is improving and providing grounds for good results in dismantling organised crime groups and networks.”

On 6 and 7 December 2017, the Heads of Drugs Units of all EU Member States, representatives of the EU Commission and EU agencies such as Eurojust and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction (EMCDDA) as well as the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) , other operational partners and 10 third countries with operational agreements with Europol  will gather at Europol to identify and discuss the implementation of new ways to tackle the trade in illegal drugs, which is one of the most threatening criminal phenomena in the EU. The conference complements the evaluation of the implementation of the EU Drugs Strategy 2013-2020 and the EU Action Plan on Drugs 2013-2016 by the European Commission.