Heroin trafficking in France controlled by Turkish criminals

ISTANBUL

A picture released by French police and taken on October 12, 2012 at the OCRGDF (Central office for the repression of Great Financial Crime) headquarters in Nanterre, outside Paris, shows notes and 10 gold bars seized by police worth more than two million euros. AFP photo

A recently published secret police report in France has revealed that heroin trafficking in the northeast of the country is controlled by Turkish criminal groups, daily Le Figaro has reported.

The report, published by the Department of Intelligence and Analysis on Organized Crime (Sirasco) commissioner Dimitri Zoulas, shows that foreign mafia gangs have increased in France.

Turkish groups reportedly collaborate with traffickers in a number of cities to transport and distribute goods imported from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

The estimated turnover is over one billion euros for the approximately 250 tons of cannabis resin consumed annually in France. The turnover for all other drugs is also reported to be one billion euros, equivalent to the total wages paid annually to the uniformed national police in France.

The French Interior Ministry has recently taken a decision to increase security measures on the issue.