Turkey: New route for South American cocaine

With the help of Latin American criminal groups, Turkish criminal organizations are expanding cocaine distribution in Europe and the Middle East.

International law enforcement agencies have seized record quantities of the drug en route from South America to Turkey, according to a late June report by InSight Crime, an organization that investigates organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean.

These groups have created new routes from South America. The sea route, with large containers leaving from ports in Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Brazil, among others, is the preferred route for international drug smuggling.

On June 23, Ecuadorian National Police seized 850 kilograms of cocaine hidden among bananas in a container destined for Turkey at the port of Guayaquil. In the Turkish port of Mersin, authorities seized 258 kilograms of cocaine in a container of bananas on April 16, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyma Soylu said via Twitter. The container had come from the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil, according to “InSight Crime.”

In February, Ecuadorian anti-drug agents seized 44 packages of cocaine in a banana container at the port of Guayaquil. According to Ecuadorian police, the drugs were destined for Turkey.

The number of cocaine seizures in Turkey is increasing. One of the most important finds in 2021 was 1.3 tons of cocaine from Ecuador. In 2020, Turkish authorities seized 2 tons; in 2019, more than 1,600 kilograms, and in 2018, 1.5 tons of cocaine, Turkish police reported.

THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

According to experts interviewed by InSight Crime, these seizures are just the tip of the iceberg, as Turkish organized crime, which has traditionally dominated the heroin trade in Europe, is increasingly turning to cocaine to compensate for the drop in opiate prices.

Fredy Rivera, an expert on security and organized crime and a professor at Ecuador’s Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, said the seizures point to “a diversification of markets, the expansion of the permeability of control systems, and the opening of a new link through a bridge across Turkey.”

Although Ecuador does not have strong links with Turkey, “the hiding [of cocaine in banana shipments] by other countries will increase because it is one of the main export products, and it must be taken into account that there is indeed a strategic rise of Ecuador in organized crime in its different variants, mainly cocaine,” he added.

FACTORS AND LINKS

After the historic seizures in the U.S. and Europe, drug traffickers began looking for alternatives to bring their goods to Turkey, according to “InSight Crime.” As demand for cocaine increased, Turkish drug traffickers crossed the Atlantic.

Another reason for the increase in cocaine trafficking through Turkey is Venezuela’s economic collapse, which has led the regime of Nicolás Maduro to “rely on organized crime links to trade drugs, gold, and oil to finance its budget,” according to Eduardo Buscaglia, a researcher at Columbia University in New York.

The links through which drugs enter Turkey are complex, Rivera said. “The operators of the Turkish criminal organizations are external actors, with alliances, straw men, lawyers and corrupt officials in Latin America.” They include dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Turkey is also of interest to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel to launder its illicit earnings. This group “has evolved into a multinational criminal enterprise that extends to all types of crime. Turkey is a low-cost country because it is an important regional economy well connected to Europe,” Buscaglia said.

FIGHTING AT THE ROOT

Reducing the global drug trafficking threat requires a sustained political commitment by partner governments, backed by U.S. assistance, to tackle all links in the chain from suppliers to consumers.

According to the U.S. State Department’s website, it means curbing illicit drug production, interdicting drug shipments, combating illegal financing, and reducing demand for drugs everywhere.

Interagency coordination and international cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking in the Caribbean and Latin America “is critical,” Rivera said. “We need direct, accurate, and broad-based cooperation with good analysis of vulnerabilities and needs, with much more information sharing, trust, and recognition of states’ efforts to combat this scourge,” he concluded.

With information from Latina Press