Mexican cartels and criminal groups from the European Union are collaborating in the trafficking of methamphetamine and cocaine from Latin America to Europe, according to a report Wednesday by Europol and the US Drug Agency (DEA).
According to the report, the first joint initiative of its kind involving both parties, criminal gangs based in Mexico and their European counterparts are bribing public and private officials to help them smuggle drugs.
Criminals also send shipping and trading companies to hide their shipping, or create their own companies with the help of individuals who hide their identity.
Europol and the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) warned in May that Europe is increasingly becoming a center of cocaine production and a transit point for ships to other parts of the world, due to the increase in production in South America. and the growing capacity of processing crude drugs on the European continent itself.
According to the report, cartels send drugs into Europe by sea or air, usually hidden in food, construction materials and basic products such as water filters and wooden door panels. Once they arrive in the EU, they are moved by local criminal networks to final destinations in Europe and beyond.
In methamphetamine, the destination is often outside the EU, which is merely a transit, before the drug is transferred to Oceania and Asia, according to the audience, more profitable markets.
“Some evidence points to the involvement of Mexican criminal groups in the abuse of cocaine conversion laboratories in EU territories,” the report said, adding that there is also a risk that illicit cooperation could be extended to other drugs.
The main cartels in Mexico, such as the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación, have large areas of influence in the country and exercise brutal violence for control of the drug routes.
In February 2020, Italian authorities discovered a drug-trafficking operation by members of Sinaloa and its EU-based partners. The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain have also taken down the possibility of illegal production, according to the report of Mexican citizens in recent years.
A greater presence of cartels on EU soil could mean more violence, and greater profits for Mexican criminal networks.
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