There is now an “unprecedented” level of violence in Europe, Politico reports. The reason for this is due to the drugs that have literally flooded the EU. Criminal gangs are hiring teenagers to unload cocaine, issuing Kalashnikov rifles to children, and using torture chambers. All of this is a reality for residents of European countries.
The highest level of drug trafficking within the EU is leading to an outrageous level of violence, Politico reports. Gangs feuding with each other are no strangers to any method – they use torture, hire teenagers to unload drugs and arm children with AK-47s.
As the publication notes, this is the new reality for parts of Europe, where drug trafficking has multiplied. Such conclusions were reached at a press conference attended by Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. These structures revealed that the market for illicit substances in Europe is about € 30 billion a year, and “imports of cocaine and exports of ecstasy reached record levels in 2022”.
It is noted that the torture chambers that criminals have started using used to be characteristic of Latin America, but not of the EU. “We have never seen this before,” said Europol executive director Catherine de Bolle. The case of a torture chamber found on Dutch territory in 2020 is cited as an example.
Another serious problem is the recruitment of people into such gangs. In France in general, there is an increase in the hiring of teenagers to sell drugs. This leads to “kids killing each other with machine guns,” the author of the article notes. Entire families are known to make a living in this way.
But there is no unified reaction from European politicians. Some believe that it is useless to prohibit drugs and legalisation is necessary, others are sure that it is necessary to toughen penalties and increase security budgets. This is what Belgium has done, focusing its energies on increasing security at ports and docks.
Also, Belgium, together with Latin American countries, signed a declaration “to effectively address all aspects of the global drug problem”, which will last for 5 years. Meanwhile, some countries, such as Ecuador and Colombia, said that “European leaders should look closer to home”.
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