EU Drug Market: Amphetamine — Criminal networks
This resource is part of EU Drug Market: Amphetamine — In-depth analysis by the EMCDDA and Europol.
Criminal networks involved in the illicit amphetamine trade, from production to distribution in the EU, are business-oriented, cooperative and adaptable. In some instances, they use each other’s resources and infrastructure, or participate in joint criminal ventures, providing investment, working together and sharing profits.
Dutch criminal networks remain the main producers of synthetic drugs in the EU, including amphetamine, and are known to cooperate with distributors across the EU and worldwide. They mainly produce the drugs in the Netherlands, where they work with a variety of criminal actors, but they are also active in Belgium where they are believed to control subsidiaries involved in production. Investigations carried out by EU law enforcement authorities indicate that Dutch criminals may also be active in other EU countries, where they engage in amphetamine production and organise trafficking to user markets.
Across EU Member States where amphetamine is produced or distributed, various criminal networks and actors are involved in the trade. This includes local groups, but also, for example, networks originating from or linked to the Western Balkan region that have expanded their portfolio from cocaine and cannabis to include synthetic drugs. In addition, criminal networks and suspects from the Baltic countries are engaged in the small- to mid-scale production of amphetamine in the region and are active in the distribution of synthetic drugs, especially to the Nordic countries.
Some criminal networks act as service providers and specialise in the supply of precursors, alternative chemicals and reagents for EU-based producers. For example, some criminal networks from Poland have set up companies to facilitate the importation of such substances, which they often store in the country and then move by land to the amphetamine production sites. They may also engage in the production of amphetamine in Poland (typically the last step of production, using amphetamine base oil produced in the Netherlands), or they may cooperate with other networks in trafficking operations throughout the EU.
Roles within criminal networks
The trafficking of amphetamine relies on a series of facilitators with dedicated roles along the production and distribution chain. From acquiring equipment, setting up laboratories, sourcing and transporting precursors, alternative chemicals and reagents, as well as dealing with the processes of synthesis, conversion, crystallisation and tableting, to the distribution and sale of the drugs, a range of specialists are involved in the business of amphetamine trafficking.
The specialist roles observed in amphetamine trafficking include: laboratory assistants, cooks with in-depth knowledge of chemical processes, external brokers who find and arrange the locations for setting up laboratories, as well as scouting for and organising the infiltration of legal business structures, (recruiters for) transporters, drivers or couriers, exporters, organisers, financiers, money launderers and those dealing with waste dumping. Some of these activities may be undertaken by members of the networks or by partners investing in the business. In other cases, the specialised services required to produce, traffic and distribute amphetamine are outsourced to individuals or criminal networks that work for several different networks and operate independently from them.
Enablers of amphetamine trafficking
Synthetic drug producers use legal business structures as a key enabler throughout the production and distribution chain. Companies are established, acquired or infiltrated to facilitate the importation of production equipment, precursors and other chemicals, or to procure these items from legitimate suppliers in the EU. Such businesses are also used to store the chemical substances, as well as to smuggle drugs to EU and non-EU based clients using licit trading activity as a cover. Legal business structures are also commonly used to launder proceeds from the drug trade.
While not solely related to amphetamine, corruption is also widely exploited by criminals to facilitate the movement of precursors, essential chemicals and drugs, particularly during transport via ports and airports or across land borders. Corruption may also facilitate the diversion of chemicals from legal supplies, prevent the discovery of production sites or enable access to such locations.
Violence may also be used to facilitate the synthetic drugs business, although the criminal networks involved may have been cooperating closely over long periods, which helps them to avoid the kinds of conflict that would attract police attention. According to the Dutch police, the primary reasons for extreme violence related to synthetic drugs are providing information to the police or other criminals, cheating the partnership, or failing to pay debts or failing to fulfil agreements (National Police of the Netherlands, 2022). Before resorting to extreme violence, a more peaceful solution would typically be sought, for example by identifying the culpable party and agreeing how to divide the cost associated with the loss. If an illicit laboratory is discovered by the police, the criminal parties involved will investigate how the police found out about it. If the cooks are to blame, for example if they did not dispose of the waste carefully, they must pay an agreed amount of money or provide their services for free until the debt has been paid (National Police of the Netherlands, 2022).
Targets of violence may include technicians working in illicit laboratories, delivery drivers or other facilitators with roles in production, transportation or the distribution of the final products. Technicians may be forced to work by means of blackmail or through the intimidation of family members. On other occasions, technicians have been detained by police during raids and may end up in prison, during which time their families may be looked after by the criminal group. After release, the technician is indebted and has to pay back any expenses incurred by working in illicit laboratories. Outside the criminal milieu, violence may also be used with respect to the owners of locations where drug production takes place.
The synthetic drugs trade generates substantial profits for the criminal networks involved, both in and outside the EU. These profits are used to pay those who set up the laboratories, the cooks and the assistants, the drivers and couriers. They are also used to pay bribes or to buy the silence of complicit owners of premises housing illicit laboratories. These payments are typically made in cash. The remaining profits are laundered, either by the criminal networks themselves or by dedicated brokers and money laundering networks, and may be reinvested in legal businesses, such as real estate, or may be used to finance new drug trafficking operations or other criminal activities. While cash predominates in illicit financial flows, cryptocurrencies may also be used, particularly in the case of online drug transactions. Money brokers may be used for cross-border operations, such as the payment of remote suppliers, as well as for money laundering, however, the latter remains largely an intelligence gap.
References
Consult the list of references used in this resource.