Bulgaria sees dip in Afghan heroin flows

United Press International ^ | 3/10/2002 | Eli J. Lake

[grimalkin]

WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- Despite concerns that Afghan warlords have stockpiled raw heroin in the south of the country, new foreign intelligence data from Bulgaria suggests the flow of heroin from Afghanistan to Europe has declined significantly.

In an interview Sunday, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Solomon Passy told United Press International: "We have seen a significant decrease in heroin and hashish from Afghanistan to Europe since the American military campaign started in October."

Bulgaria is strategically situated in the center of the three main Balkan drug smuggling routes from southwest Asia to Europe and as such is in a prime position to monitor the heroin trade from Afghanistan to western Europe. Last September, the government in Sofia announced a new mobile drug enforcement unit to search cars at random. Also the country in the last year has signed customs cooperation agreements with Macedonia to share information on drug trafficking.

Prior to Oct. 12, when American and British forces began Operation Enduring Freedom, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan was the world's second-largest heroin supplier, despite a ban the Taliban imposed in December 2000 on opium poppy cultivation.

But cultivation in southern provinces near Afghanistan's border has increased in recent months. The State Department's latest report on international narcotics released last month says, "By the end of 2001, however, there were widespread reports of a resumption of cultivation in Nangarhar, Helmand, Kandahar, and Oruzgan provinces, with those reports estimating a significant spring crop."

On Feb. 25, Rand Beers, the assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, told reporters the United States was pursuing a strategy in Afghanistan to convince farmers in those regions to plow under their poppy crops.

Since Sept. 11 in particular, the Bulgarian government has stepped up cooperation with U.S. intelligence authorities. For example, Bulgaria was one of the first European countries to check the list that a U.S. Treasury task force presented containing names of organizations and individuals linked to the al-Qaida network.

"We found many of these individuals transited through Bulgaria, but few stayed," one senior Bulgarian told UPI.

This official told UPI on Friday that there is regular intelligence sharing with U.S. authorities about the drug trade, comprised largely of intelligence collected through Bulgarian signal interception. This information is critical for the U.S. drug war because as Passy says, "Bulgaria is the main filter for drugs coming into Europe." Of the 2 metric tons of illegal narcotics seized by Bulgaria's custom service between early 2001 and November of last year, 1.5 metric tons was heroin.

Passy, on a visit to Washington this week, plans to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell, key congressional leaders, the National Security Council and the Pentagon to make the case that his country should be included among the seven nations expected to be allowed into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

He said Sunday that he was seen "both optimistic and pessimistic signs from Washington that the Bush administration will support Bulgaria's candidacy in NATO." He pointed out that Sen. John Warner, R-Va., ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been skeptical in the past of NATO expansion. "I am pleased I will have a chance to talk to him," he said.

Part of Bulgaria's argument will be its steadfast support for America's overall war on terrorism. He said Bulgaria has sent a special decontamination unit to Afghanistan to help the peacekeeping unit. The decontamination unit includes a number of specialized trucks capable of cleaning up chemical and radiation poisoning from a given area.

Bulgaria also is in the rare position of enjoying support from two regional rivals within NATO, Greece and Turkey. Last month in Istanbul both countries signed a statement endorsing Bulgaria and Romania's candidacy for NATO. Passy said he expected both governments will issue a demarche to the U.S. government in the near future along these lines, the first time the two countries have issued a formal diplomatic request together in Washington.

Copyright © 2002 United Press International

[Kate22]

Of course there's a dip in trade. It's all coming through Kosovo now.

[Salman]

Maybe they're sending it to the USA instead of Europe?