Regional police increase action against illegal drugs, trafficking

Regional police increase action against illegal drugs, trafficking

Police action in Croatia resulted in an 11 percent increase in the seizure of illegal drugs, and authorities are following new drugs that are emerging on the market.

Regional police have increased their efforts to terminate the drug trafficking chain that runs through the region, but the advance of new drugs on the market is a continued challenge, experts said.

In mid-June, Croatian police arrested six people in the Dubrovnik area who are suspected of drug dealing. It was a continuation of a series of arrests that police carried out months prior as part of the Gladius 2 action.

In 2013, drug seizures were up 11 percent from 2012 in Croatia. Between 2008 and 2013, police destroyed 8.5 tonnes of drugs.

Drug crime costs Croatia around 100 million euros. The funds are used for police action as well as for the health, rehabilitation and re-socialisation of drug addicts.

However, new substances are appearing on the market, creating fresh challenges for police. The new substances mimic the effects of drugs such as heroin, cocaine and other narcotics.

"With the development of new technologies, drug trends in the EU member states show that the occurrence of so called 'new drugs' is increasingly becoming a threat. These drugs are associated with a number of hazards due to their rapid appearance on the market, the fact that they are not controlled, and that they have pharmacological properties and effects similar to known illegal substances," Sanja Mikulic, deputy director of the Office for Combating Drug Abuse in Croatia, told SETimes.

In Croatia in 2012, five new psychoactive substances in the form of herbal blends, powders or tablets...