Brussels, March 11.- European Union authorities warned that the massive trafficking of illicit drugs on the continent is fueling "unprecedented" levels of violence between criminal gangs, involving the use of torture chambers, children shooting each other with Kalashnikov and the use of teenagers to unload cocaine from containers in ports.
Europol and the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) revealed in a press conference the latest summary of the European narcotics market, which they valued at 30 billion euros ($32.83 billion). In that sense, it was highlighted that cocaine imports and ecstasy exports reached record figures.
While the agencies did not provide statistics on the magnitude of the problem, Alexis Goosdeel, director of the EMCDDA, said that Europe is now seeing a level of drug-related violence similar to that in Central America. "It is part of daily reality in the European Union," he warned.
torture chambers
For her part, Europol executive director Catherine De Bolle said: "We even found torture rooms in the EU." "We have never seen this before. This was used in Latin America, but not in the EU," she explained.
The official did not give more details about it, but in 2020 the discovery of a "clandestine prison" with a torture chamber in maritime containers near the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands) was reported. Several people were convicted in the case.
Chris Dalby, director of the consulting firm World of Crime, based in that country, told Politico that while it is "impossible to know" how widespread torture chambers are in Europe, the case was "without a doubt a wake-up call about the growing severity of gang violence in Europe.
armed children
Another point that alerted the agencies was the increasingly lower age of the people who work in this illicit market. Gangs in Marseille (France) hire teenagers as security guards or to sell drugs, which leads to minors killing each other with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Along these lines, the port authorities of Rotterdam and Antwerp (Belgium) captured dozens of teenagers, who were paid to extract shipments of cocaine from containers. "Entire families live off the income they obtain through young people who work for criminal groups," De Bolle stressed.
Most of the violence on the streets is related to cocaine and cannabis, the agencies announced.
Latin American Tip
For her part, Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden traveled to Bolivia in February, where she signed a joint declaration with Latin American countries "to effectively address all aspects of the world drug problem" for a period of 5 years.
However, some countries in the region – including Colombia and Ecuador – have suggested that European leaders should look closer to home, as cities such as Brussels, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Tarragona have some of the highest per capita cocaine consumption rates. highest in the world, according to the EMCDDA's own figures. (RT) (Photo: Gettyimages.ru)
