2007-03-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

A really good article in World Trade Magazine entitled International Trade is Less Secure Than You Think.

38 interviews with minor & major players in the Dutch Drug Trade:
Dutch cocaine trade: The perspective of Rotterdam cocaine
retail dealers

A few relevant morsels dealing with the Supply Chain
The cocaine distribution line for supply on the local market
is seldom more than two steps. Because the supply for the Rotterdam cocaine retailers comes
mainly from small-scale imports, successful police operations against large-scale imports of
cocaine will have little influence on the local cocaine supply in the Netherlands.

Around 40 percent of international cocaine transports
is confiscated, which means that there is around 500,000 kilos left for
trade and consumption. Approximately 160,000 tons are exported to Europe,
with Spain (80,000 kilos) and the Netherlands (40,000 kilos) being the main
gateways.

Actual selling practise
On the retail level, trade in crack and powder cocaine are separated, so that
retail dealers generally sell only one or the other. However, most dealers can
arrange to supply both types if ordered well in advance. Besides cocaine,
28 of our crack dealers also sell heroin, because many of their customers
use both drugs (30 of the 38 dealers interviewed present themselves as a
crack dealer). The powder cocaine dealers seldom sell heroin, because their
customers seldom ask for it. It is noteworthy that, besides cocaine, hardly any
others drugs are sold in combination (except heroin). Ecstasy, for example, is
neither a popular nor a profitable drug in this circuit of retail.

Customers
Besides suppliers, consumers are an indispensable contact for cocaine retailers.
On the other hand, because clients are seen as a risk factor, not all retailers
want to gather as many customers as possible. There are two main types of
customers: powder cocaine customers are often described as being: ‘neat people
with a decent job’, whereas the buyers in the crack are often described as
‘losers’, ‘junkies’ and troublemakers ‘causing nuisance’.

"The powder cocaine scene is completely different from the crack circuit.
The standard is higher and they often want larger amounts. Furthermore,
the language is completely different. (. . .) It’s more chic, more elite (R36)"

That larger transports take place via the Rotterdam harbour does not seem
to interest the local Rotterdam cocaine retailers. When asked about this phenomenon,
three types of answers are given: 1) respondents claim that it is too
dangerous nowadays to organize large-scale transports of cocaine, because
of the container scans in the Rotterdam harbour, 2) these dealers know about
large-scale transports, but consider these to belong to a different circuit of
(domestic) trade, and 3) the respondents state that they have no idea how the
cocaine got into the country and which steps were taken between the moment
of import and their retail business.
"
One thing I know for sure is that I’m at the bottom of the line. OK, I
know that there’s a person from whom I can buy 10 to 100 grams.
But who is above him? Who’s the guy that imports from Surinam or the Dutch
Antilles? I wouldn’t dare to answer that question (R26)."

The Office of National Drug Control Policy has many resources detailing the illicit drug trade & what the US government is doing about it. Here is a useful article & a few excerpts about the changing nature of the business & how the groups involved attempt to limit their liability:

Drug Markets
The illicit drug industry can be viewed as a series of segments in a supply chain extending from fields abroad to streets at home. This segmented market view is based on the transfer of drug ownership from one organization to another in each segment. In the past, a single drug cartel owned the drug that it trafficked from its cultivation and production all the way to its wholesale distribution. Now, many large trafficking organizations specialize in specific segments of the supply chain, such as cultivation, production, transportation from source country to US border areas, and smuggling across the border into the United States. By participating in only one market segment, traffickers can concentrate their expertise and connections while limiting their overall risk.

This segmented market view is perhaps most relevant to the cocaine industry, where unified Colombian cartels have been replaced by looser networks of Colombian and Mexican trafficking organizations. Separate Colombian organizations may handle the cultivation, production, and initial offshore movement segments of the cocaine supply chain. Mexican organizations then coordinate the remaining transportation and distribution segments required for the cocaine to reach US streets. In each exchange between traffickers, ownership of the product is transferred in a manner that ensures that the supplier will be compensated regardless of the final disposition of the cocaine.

Drug smugglers are getting more creative. Here is one result:

Drug submarine found in Colombia

Police say the workmanship is of high quality

Police in Colombia say they have found a half-built submarine in a warehouse in a suburb of the capital Bogota.

Police chief General Luis Ernesto Gilibert said Russian documents were found alongside the partially-completed vessel.

This is huge - we're talking about being able to load up to 200 tonnes of cocaine in this submarine

US Drug Enforcement Agency

He said the 30 metre (100ft) vessel would have been capable of carrying huge quantities of cocaine or heroin.

He speculated that, once completed, the submarine would have been disassembled and taken by lorry to to Colombia's Pacific or Caribbean coast.

When police raided the warehouse in the suburb of Facatativa they found the building equipped with closed-circuit cameras but devoid of people.

High quality

Instead there was the startling sight of a sophisticated submarine under construction.

"It was between 30% and 40% complete and had its engine room ready," General Gilibert said.

"The technology is advanced and the workmanship of high quality."

The sub was nearly half complete

The Russian documents at the site led police to speculate that the Russian mafia or Russian technicians were involved in its construction.

Bogota is landlocked and lies 2,250 metres (7,500 ft) above sea level, but is a source of high-quality building materials - which may explain why it was chosen as a submarine boatyard.

Submarines have been used by Columbian drug smugglers before - in 1997 two mini-subs were seized off the Caribbean port of Santa Marta.

Huge

But this submarine is a much bigger vessel.

"In 32 years I've never seen anything like this," said Leo Arreguin, the US Drug Enforcement Administration director in Colombia.

"This is huge. We're talking about being able to load up to 200 tonnes of cocaine in this submarine."

Mr Arreguin said documents discovered at the site showed that two Americans may also have been involved, but did not elaborate.

They are also shifting their focus to Europe, by way of West Africa.

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Key stories:

What is Plan Colombia?

Background:

INTERACTIVE GUIDE

The global drugs trade

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Underground Supply Chains