Latin American drug traffickers cause violent incidents in Europe

As a woman opens the door at Paris She-Leaf Bank, the man standing in front shouts, “One in seventy, two in one hundred and twenty.” “I’m like a delivery rider delivering sushi and other groceries to homes across Paris. I take orders and deliver.”

“Customers order drugs at home through various platforms and use people who appear to be the same as regular delivery people,” according to Vergeman Lehaye, police commissioner attached to the anti-narcotics department in Paris. . It is easier for people to go to a dark and bad place to buy drugs and get them delivered to their homes.

According to EUMCDDA, the European drug watchdog, about three and a half million Europeans used cocaine in 2021. According to Eric Snook, head of the Belgian Federal Police, Europe is facing a ‘tsunami’ of cocaine. It is significant that two hundred and forty tons of cocaine were exported in Europe in 2021. This amount is almost five times higher than a decade ago.

Europe is a major market for drug gangs involved in violence, kidnapping and other crimes. These same groups are firmly entrenched in South America through corruption and extreme violence. According to Stéphane Cherboni of France’s anti-narcotics office, “the financial lure for organizations involved in kidnapping, torture and other crimes is so great that they bring these drug traffickers to our doorstep.”

Northern Europe’s major ports, such as Antwerp and Rotterdam, are now experiencing a wave of drug-related violence, while democracy is at risk, with some gangs planning to kidnap even Belgium’s justice minister. Made.

Belgium’s chief prosecutor, Johan Delmoule, said in a recent statement that Antwerp could soon become a ‘drug-dominated state’ if the armed conflicts and battles on its streets escalate. It should be noted that the center of cocaine production is the highlands of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, where cocaine is produced from coca leaves.