Striking at the illegal drugs trade

12 November 2001 00:00  [Source: ICB]

A number of chemicals are important in the manufacture of illegal drugs. Bernadette Faurie reports on the international measures being taken to prevent these chemicals reaching criminal hands

Estimates described as 'conservative' put the value of the international illicit drugs trade at $400bn/year. With the exception of cannabis, all the major substances - heroin, cocaine and amphetamine-type stimulants (including ecstasy) - undergo a manufacturing process. That process requires chemicals.

In March this year, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) announced the launch of 'Operation Topaz', an international programme to prevent the diversion of acetic anhydride, a key chemical used as a reagent in the illicit manufacture of heroin.

According to Europol reports, global production of heroin stands at an unprecedented level. Production bases have extended from the traditional areas of Southeast Asia to Columbia and Mexico and at distribution level, purity is higher and the price in many regions significantly lower. Opiate drugs, heroin in particular, are still the main drug problem in Europe, accounting for over 70% of all treatment demand. Law enforcement sources believe that some 100 tonne of heroin and 180 tonne of cocaine are shipped into EU member states annually, as well as the millions of ecstasy tablets being trafficked within and from the European Union (EU). Manufacture, trafficking and abuse are set to continue and probably increase without concerted international action, which is where Operation Topaz comes in.

In late August, ten tonne of acetic acid anhydride were seized by investigators in Prebold, near Celje, in the southeast of Slovenia. The town of Celje has long associations with the textile, metalworking and chemical industries, but this consignment was not, police believe, intended for pharmaceutical use, nor for production of dyes, textile sizing agents, metal polishing or any other legitimate purpose. This was one of the largest ever quantities of acetic anhydride to be seized in Europe. It takes just one litre of acetic anhydride to process up to 10 000 street doses of heroin. Broken up and shipped on to clandestine laboratories, in combination with morphine base, this amount of acetic anhydride could have been used to manufacture 2.5-10 tonne of heroin. The investigation continues.

The need for chemical control was internationally addressed when the 1988 United Nations Drug Convention identified a list of chemicals used as precursors - or essentials - in illicit drug manufacture. Article 12 of the convention, in conjunction with Section 13 of the 1990 Criminal Justice (International Cooperation) Act formed the framework for a series of guidelines and legislative controls regulating the manufacture, supply, import and export of a 'watch list' of chemicals of more than passing interest to the illicit drug trade. Governments party to the convention agreed to initiate measures to control and monitor the manufacture and distribution of these chemicals via a competent authority in each state.

Operation Purple

The INCB, based in Vienna, is the central authority responsible for global monitoring, assistance in implementing control measures by governments, and for assessing and identifying chemical substances for possible international control in the future.

These initiatives have led to major successes, but many governments still lacked the resources to implement the controls while traffickers were becoming wiser, exploiting areas with weaknesses in controls, using more complex diversion routes and sourcing new, substitute chemicals or methods of manufacture to circumvent controls.

The pace was stepped up when the United Nations General Assembly passed a series of resolutions to strengthen the control of precursor chemicals at a special session on the world drug problem in 1998.

Operation Purple is a voluntary international tracking programme to identify suspicious shipments of a critical chemical used as an oxidising agent in cocaine manufacture, potassium permanganate. All the major manufacturing countries agreed to take part in the operation, launched in 1999, which tracks all consignments of potassium permanganate over 100kg from the country of manufacture though transshipment points to the end-user.

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The success of Operation Purple, fully supported by Interpol and the World Customs Organisation, has led to the extension of the operation, originally intended to run for a year. In phase two, which began in January 2000, the INBC, which through its secretariat serves as an international focal point for the exchange of information under the operation, reported a 64% increase in the shipments monitored. Thirteen shipments totalling 610 tonne were suspended, but it has not been established whether all were attempts at diversion. In the US, tests carried out on cocaine samples from around the world indicated a weakening in the strength of the drug due to lower levels of oxidisation. Crucially, Operation Purple showed the feasibility of tracking individual shipments.

Operation Topaz

After the 1998 UN General Assembly Special Session recommended increased international attention on acetic anhydride, consultative meetings were convened by the INCB involving the competent authorities of 30 countries, the WCO, INCB, ICPO-Interpol, the EC and Europol. A steering committee was set up to establish guidelines and operating procedures and, in March, Operation Topaz was born. The initiative is two-stage: an international tracking programme to prevent diversion from international trade, and to prevent and/or intercept smuggled shipments and follow up with law enforcement investigation to trace seizures to source.

The regulation of legitimate commerce in the chemicals required for drug manufacture is designed to ensure that only those transactions for which the legitimate end use has been established are sanctioned to proceed. For law enforcement it is an effective, and cost-effective strategy for cutting the odds on vital tools reaching criminal hands. But it works both ways. Most of the chemicals involved have extensive industrial and pharmaceutical uses and are available from many source countries. There are legitimate commercial interests to be protected.

The INCB's deputy secretary and chief of the Precursor Control Unit, Akira Fujino, said: 'It is essential to know what is coming in and going out as legitimate trade, in order to prevent diversions, while at the same time not imposing an undue burden on the industry. It needs to be promoted that we want to work with, not against, the industry. We are on the same side in that the more the chemical industry cooperates, the quicker we can ensure there is no impediment to legitimate trade.'

Europe is a key region for Operation Topaz, not only as an important region in the commercial production of acetic anhydride but geographically, as the EU is a vulnerable potential diversion area. Within the EU, transfer as opposed to export makes the tracking job harder. Unlike potassium permanganate, traffickers are potentially able to obtain acetic anhydride through 'domestic' smuggling.

Turkey, a candidate for EU membership, is the acknowledged European 'gateway' for heroin traffickers. Traditionally it has been seen that the traffic in chemicals follows the same trail as the routes used to smuggle drugs. The INCB's 2000 precursors report records that even before the launch of Operation Topaz, in 1999 Turkish authorities reported the largest seizures of acetic anhydride, over 29 tonne, of which 72% was apprehended while being smuggled into the country concealed in vehicles. The remainder was seized at heroin production sites, or prior to being smuggled to areas for use in illicit manufacture. It is big business and a complex, organised criminal process. 'Turkish police tell us that there are different stages and groups involved in the process,' said Fujino. 'Many times those involved do not even know each other.'

The source of most of Europe's illicit heroin supply is Afghanistan. Last July the Taliban imposed a ban on opium cultivation in the areas under its control. Drought undoubtedly helped the process, but a significant decrease in opium production was witnessed and recorded by officials from the United Nations Drugs Control Programme. However, opium production was doubled the year before. Stockpiles undoubtedly exist and both the US State Department and the UK government have warned that a resurgent heroin trade could be used to fund both the Taliban regime and consequently the terrorist networks of Osama bin Laden's al Qaida.

'We don't know yet what the effects of the world crisis would be,' said Fujino. 'Heroin depends on both the opium and acetic anhydride available. It is impossible to estimate accurately how much of a stockpile exists within Afghanistan, but apprehensions of acetic anhydride in neighbouring countries have been reported to the INCB. These are now under investigation and will be traced back to source.'

The first Operation Topaz assessment is due to be reported soon, but Fujino is 'cautiously optimistic' that, EU included, the tracking programme is having an effect on the illicit trade.

Chemical misuse

Acetic anhydride is not only used in heroin manufacture, it can also be illegally employed in the manufacture of amphetamine, methaqualone and in some areas as a reagent to produce coca paste and cocaine. Nor is it the only chemical involved in heroin manufacture, nor is heroin the only illicit drug manufacture under scrutiny. The key issue is the template for control, and cooperation between enforcement authorities and the chemical industry.

The growing use of amphetamine-type stimulants, a term which includes ecstasy and its derivatives and is often bracketed as 'synthetic drugs' or 'designer drugs', is a major world wide issue of concern. Many of the precursors involved in the manufacture are already included in the tables to the 1988 convention, but key precursors in ecstasy manufacture are likely to be targeted by international operations in the near future.

Guidelines

The European Commission (Taxation and Union DG), with the assistance of member states, has compiled information guidelines to provide updates on legislation of chemicals currently scheduled and lists of non-controlled chemicals highlighted as being important in the manufacture of 'designer' drugs. The guidelines are regularly updated to facilitate the close cooperation required, particularly in identifying and reporting suspicious transactions and are for dissemination only to the chemical industry.

Useful contacts:

United Nations International Narcotics Control Board: www.incb.orgWorld Customs Organisation: www.wcoomd.orgEuropean Commission: www.europa.eu.int

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