|
|
|
U.S. Department of State
1996 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, March 1997
United States Department of State
Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
CZECH REPUBLIC
I. Summary
The Czech Republic remained a target of drug traffickers and a conduit for
illicit drug smuggling to Western Europe in 1996. Drug traffickers expanded
drug markets: a medical survey found rapid growth in the number of heroin
users and a rate of intravenous drug use (over 50 percent) that may be the
highest in Europe. "Drug tourists" from Austria and Germany are attracted by
low drug prices in the Czech Republic and legislation which permits the
possession of drugs for personal use. New legislation took effect which
allows for undercover law enforcement operations and targets money laundering;
it should significantly increase the effectiveness of Government of the Czech
Republic (GOCR) counternarcotics operations. The government also is working
on a new three-year national antidrug campaign which, once adopted, will
emphasize both law enforcement and demand reduction programs.
II. Status of Country
According to Czech officials, organized crime groups from the Newly
Independent States (NIS) and the former Yugoslavia, as well as Italian groups
such as the Neapolitan camorra and the Sicilian mafia, are established in the
Czech Republic. Their members are using more violent methods to expand their
narcotics smuggling, money laundering and local trafficking operations. These
groups use Czechs, Turks, Kosovo Albanians, Russians, and former Yugoslavs to
move large cargoes of heroin from Southwest Asia to Western European markets.
Continuing a trend apparent in the last few years, South American cocaine
traffickers also use the Czech Republic as a staging ground to reach Western
European markets.
III. Country Actions Against Drugs in 1996
Policy Initiatives. The Czech National Drug Commission (NDC) was
reorganized to include four Ministries -- Interior, Education, Health, and
Justice. The Prime Minister was made chairman. It is anticipated that, after
a policy review still underway at year's end, NDC membership will be expanded
as part of a new drug policy for the next three years. That policy is
expected to feature a balance between demand reduction and law enforcement.
A bill submitted by the government in 1995 to regulate narcotics and
psychotropic substances died with the end of the parliamentary term in May
1996. The bill would have provided statutory authority to the Ministry of
Health to impose controls through licensing of manufacturers, importers,
exporters, and health-care and research institutes producing or handling such
substances; through extending this licensing authority to the precursor and
essential chemicals included in the 1988 UN Convention; and by granting the
Ministry new powers to register the cultivation of poppy seeds and hemp.
Although some of these powers are currently conferred by Decree 192 of 1988,
the bill would give them a stronger legal basis. The Ministry is now
incorporating minor changes in legal terminology into a substantially
identical bill, which it plans to re-submit in early 1997.
Accomplishments. To implement the 1988 UN Convention and to improve the
legal environment for combatting drugs, the Czech authorities took several
measures:
- The police conducted several successful undercover operations, as permitted
by amendments to the penal code which took effect in September 1995.
- A law against money laundering came into effect in July, requiring banks
and other financial organizations to report unusual financial transactions and
cash transactions over 500,000 Czech crowns (about $18,000) to a financial
information unit (FIU) in the Ministry of Finance. The FIU established
contacts with counterpart organizations such as the US Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network and the European Egmont Group.
In addition, the antidrug coordinators, who were first appointed in 81
districts (roughly equivalent to US counties) throughout the Czech Republic in
1995, organized their operations. Each coordinator collects information
describing the local drug situation, develops working contacts with all
governmental and non-governmental bodies involved in counternarcotics work,
and coordinates antidrug activities in the district. Antidrug commissions
have also been established at the local, district, and regional levels.
Law Enforcement Efforts. In the first ten months of 1996, Czech police
and customs agents seized 36.5 kgs of heroin, 22 kgs of cocaine, 11.8 mt of
cannabis products, 21.3 kgs of amphetamine, and 93 kgs of ephedrine.
Authorities seized seventeen small labs producing pervitin, a local
methamphetamine. In addition, as the result of international cooperation on
controlled deliveries, authorities abroad intercepted another 72 kgs of heroin
and 1 kg of cocaine which had passed through the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic expanded cooperation with the DEA and authorities of other
countries to regulate Czech production and commerce in the precursor chemicals
ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in order to stem their diversion to illicit
methamphetamine manufacture.
Corruption. The USG is unaware of any reports of official narcotics-related
corruption in the Czech Republic.
Agreements and Treaties. The Czech Republic is a party to the three UN
conventions on narcotics: the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and
the 1972 Protocol thereto, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances,
and the 1988 UN Convention. The bilateral extradition treaty between the
Czech Republic and the US includes drug-related offenses listed in the 1988 UN
Convention.
Cultivation and Production. The Czech statistical office reported in
1996 about 15,000 hectares of licit opium poppy cultivation for pharmaceutical
and food products. Authorities predict that the area devoted to poppies in
1997 will increase to about 20,000 hectares. Although no information is
available about large-scale cannabis cultivation, authorities believe that
cannabis is cultivated for personal use. Authorities believe that illicit
methamphetamine (previtin) production is extensive, but most data are
anecdotal.
Drug Flow/Transit. The Czech Republic's geographic location adjacent to or
near major West European drug markets makes it a logical transit point for
drugs into these markets. Southwest Asian heroin exiting from the Balkan
route has been the traditional transit drug, but cocaine and synthetic drug
traffickers are taking advantage of more open borders to move their drugs
through the Czech Republic. Small-scale drug couriers or mail parcels are
apparently being used.
Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction). The National Hygienic Service,
on the basis of its quarterly survey, reported a 12-percent overall increase
for the first three quarters of 1996 in problem drug users. The service also
warned of the following unfavorable trends: rapid growth in the number of
heroin users; persistence of pervitin as the most frequently abused drug; the
progressively lower ages at which individuals begin taking drugs (nine percent
before the age of 15 and nearly two-thirds before age 19); and the unfavorably
high percentage (over 50 percent) of drug injection. Comparison with a
multi-city study of individual European cities indicated that the rate of
intravenous drug use in the Czech Republic is the highest in Europe.
The Public Health Service registered 1,258 addicts under regular treatment
programs as of October and a similar number, approximately 1,000, problem drug
users visit treatment centers irregularly.
IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs.
Policy Initiatives and Bilateral Cooperation. The USG, as well as
neighboring West European nations, is providing assistance to improve the
GOCR's ability to combat drug trafficking and consumption. DEA and U.S.
Customs conducted three narcotics enforcement seminars for Czech and regional
counterparts, and the FBI organized a course on financial fraud and money
laundering. Czech police have praised their cooperation with US authorities
and requested increasingly sophisticated training courses.
The Road Ahead. The USG will encourage the Czech Republic to expand its
drug control activities and to build up the nation's counternarcotics
institutional capabilities. In 1997, the USG plans to provide over $200,000
in drug detection and related equipment, and to help develop a school-based
drug abuse prevention program. The US and the UNDCP will support Czech
participation in the central European regional demand reduction program in
Italy.
|
