Irish gangs cutting out middlemen to import drugs - study

IRISH CRIMINAL gangs are cutting out European wholesalers and importing drugs directly from Colombia and Pakistan, a new report has found.

The European Organised Crime Threat Assessment (OCTA) report by Europol assesses organised crime trends such as drug and human trafficking, money laundering and illegal immigration.

Irish criminal gangs traditionally procured drugs through middlemen in the Netherlands or Spain. However, they are increasingly establishing business contacts in the drugs’ country of origin such as Colombia, the report said.

As a result, Irish drug dealers were reducing the amount of go-betweens and increasing their profit margins in the “relatively competitive and efficient” northwest European market.

The report said a significant amount of heroin for the Irish market was being directly sourced from Pakistan and the role of Pakistan as a direct source for opiates was likely to increase.

Irish criminals were active in drug trafficking in Spain and the Netherlands, where they were partly based, the report said. Logistical problems and the economic potential of these markets were among the reasons why such gangs based themselves abroad.

The report also identified the increased presence of international criminal gangs in Ireland

The report said synthetic drug methamphetamine (such as crystal meth) from Lithuania was being introduced into the Irish market by criminals from the Baltic countries.

It said organised criminal gangs from west Africa and Nigeria were expanding their activities in the EU. In Ireland they have established “important final distribution roles” in relation to cocaine and cannabis.

Such gangs were also responsible for the trafficking of Nigerian victims for sexual exploitation, the report found.