According to a top United States drug official, nearly 30 per cent of all cocaine imports into Europe are being shipped through Portugal with just over 40 per cent entering the 27 EU member states via Spain.

United Sates drug control director John Walters said during a meeting with EU police authorities in Brussels, that the street value of cocaine being shipped to Portugal from South America and Africa, was close to one billion euros a year and is expected to rise still further during 2007.

"There has been a growing problem of cocaine coming to Europe from South America.

The vector to Europe is going up," he told reporters.

"What we see now is growing movement by air coming out of Venezuela for the first time flying to known airfields, not clandestine airfields, mov ing their illicit shipments into the Caribbean area, most heavily into Haiti and the Dominican Republic on their way to Europe," Walters said.

This, he added, was in addition to "movements of the drug by sea which have, with some increased regularity, looked like they are also coming out of Venezuelan seaports".

Walters suspected that the majority of cocaine shipments from South America and Africa were being shipped into southern Portugal although fairly large quantities were being landed in the country's northern ports.

He pointed out that "five or ten years ago we didn't see aircraft or ships coming into Africa to move cocaine into Europe. That is happening more and more today".

Walters praised both the Portuguese and Spanish police authorities for their efforts in com bating the drug smuggling gangs, but called on the governments of both countries to lobby Brussels for more EU funding, to increase the air and sea surveillance of vessels sailing to Europe from South American ports.

According to Walters, the Unites States has not been able to get the Venezuelan authorities to fully cooperate in getting to grips with the problem, but said he hoped Washington's EU allies might be able to make better progress.

In an indirect reference to Portugal and Spain, he said: "I know some European nations have a more extensive cooperation with the Venezuelan government and we hope that we can use that to cut down on the increasing number of cocainecarrying vessels headed to Europe from Venezuelan seaports".
According to a top United States drug official, nearly 30 per cent of all cocaine imports into Europe are being shipped through Portugal with just over 40 per cent entering the 27 EU member states via Spain. United Sates drug control di- rector John Walters said during a meeting with EU police au- thorities in Brussels, that the street value of cocaine being shipped to Portugal from South America and Africa, was close to one billion euros a year and is expected to rise still further during 2007. "There has been a growing problem of cocaine coming to Europe from South America. The vector to Europe is going up," he told reporters. "What we see now is grow- ing movement by air coming out of Venezuela for the first time flying to known airfields, not clandestine airfields, mov- ing their illicit shipments into the Caribbean area, most heavily into Haiti and the Dominican Repub- lic on their way to Europe," Walters said. This, he added, was in addition to "movements of the drug by sea which have, with some increased regularity, looked like they are also coming out of Venezuelan seaports". Walters suspected that the majority of cocaine shipments from South America and Africa were being shipped into south- ern Portugal although fairly large quantities were being landed in the country's northern ports. He pointed out that "five or ten years ago we didn't see aircraft or ships coming into Africa to move cocaine into Europe. That is happening more and more to- day". Walters praised both the Por- tuguese and Spanish police au- thorities for their efforts in com- bating the drug smuggling gangs, but called on the governments of both countries to lobby Brus- sels for more EU funding, to in- crease the air and sea surveil- lance of vessels sailing to Eu- rope from South American ports. According to Walters, the Unites States has not been able to get the Venezuelan authori- ties to fully cooperate in getting to grips with the problem, but said he hoped Washington's EU allies might be able to make bet- ter progress. In an indirect reference to Por- tugal and Spain, he said: "I know some European nations have a more extensive coopera- tion with the Venezuelan gov- ernment and we hope that we can use that to cut down on the increasing number of cocaine- carrying vessels headed to Eu- rope from Venezuelan sea- ports".

The Portugal News