Understanding heroin manufacture in Europe from 2013 to 2020 - Afghan Opiate Trade Project

The AOTP Update series is designed to provide brief, regular reporting on emerging patterns and trends of the global situation pertaining to Afghan opiates. Given the speed at which changes in the illicit opiate markets occur, it is important to have a simple sustainable mechanism for regular information sharing.

Most of the heroin trafficked to, and seized in, Europe (as well as in Central Asia/Transcaucasia and Africa) is of Afghan origin. Heroin is supplied to Europe from Afghanistan along four main trafficking routes of which the Balkan route is believed to be by far the most dominant route. Globally, Afghanistan is the largest producer of heroin, followed by Myanmar and Mexico.3 Despite heroin being trafficked to Europe from Afghanistan, recent evidence confirms that heroin manufacture is also occurring within Europe. Data shows that heroin laboratories have been discovered in a number of European countries and while heroin seizures are on the rise in the region, locally manufactured heroin is also being trafficked to various countries within Europe and outside the region.

This recent development in Europe raises a number of questions. For instance, what drives heroin manufacture in Europe? On what scale are laboratories producing and processing heroin in Europe? By which process is heroin being manufactured in the region, and from where are precursor chemicals being supplied? Is heroin being manufactured in Europe to supply local markets or others outside the region? This report seeks to address these questions.

Following an analysis on the extent of heroin manufacture in Europe, this report explores processes of heroin manufacture, the sourcing of morphine and opium, and the drivers for manufacture within the region.