Kosovo: A Point of Transit for Drug Traffic

WASHINGTON - Kosovo represents one of the transit countries over which mainly heroin produced in Turkey and Afghanistan is being transferred to Western European countries. But it is also a „promising market for drugs'', according to the 2008 U.S. State Department's International Narcotis Control Stategy Report.

A large quantity of drugs enters Kosovo through the neighboring countries, while „family clans'' make up the main dealers.

The officials believe that there is cooperation in these activities between drug dealers from Kosovo, Serbia and Albania, while the UNMIK police believes that a link exists between drug traffic and human trafficking.

The report says that, according to some of the information collected, the drugs are being "broken up'' into smaller packages before they continue to make their way to Western Europe.

Gnjilane, Prizren and Mitrovica represent the major points of transit, even though it was in Pristina that the largest quantity of drugs has been seized up until october 2007.

Source: www.politika.co.yu