European drug agency: concerns about Mexican crime
June 14, 2022

The increasing activity of Mexican criminals in the Netherlands and Belgium is worrying, writes the European drug institute EMCDDA. In the two neighboring countries, criminal organizations produce synthetic drugs such as crystal meth in collaboration with Mexican “cooks” or Mexican know-how.

Industrial scale
The EMCDDA also notes that there is no incidental involvement of Mexicans, but that ' Mexican criminal organizations' are increasingly active in Europe.

The European drug agency writes in its annual report 2022 that methamphetamine is produced in Europe on an 'industrial scale'. Small-scale labs seem to be replaced by labs that produce on a much larger scale, for export.

Afghanistan
Methamphetamine use in Europe has traditionally been concentrated in the Czech Republic and later in Slovakia. Crystal meth is also used in the Baltic states. Slightly more would now be used in other European countries as well.

The EMCDDA suspects that Europe is now playing a greater role in the production of crystal meth on a global scale. There are also indications that production in Afghanistan is increasing, with it coming to Turkey via the heroin smuggling route.

In Afghanistan, one of the raw materials for meth is widely available through the cultivation of ephedra, from which ephedrine can be extracted.