SPAIN/INCSR: 2007-2008 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MADRID 002066 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR INL, EUR/PGI, AND EUR/WE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM EFIN SP SUBJECT: SPAIN/INCSR: 2007-2008 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT REF: STATE 136780 MADRID 00002066 001.2 OF 004 ¶I. SUMMARY Spanish National Police, Civil Guard, and Customs Services, along with autonomous regional police forces, maintained an intense operational tempo during 2007 and as of early November were on track to seize near-record amounts of cocaine. These services also carried out increased enforcement operations throughout Spain to arrest distributors of synthetic drugs, such as LSD and Ecstasy (MDMA). Spain continues to be the largest consumer of cocaine in the European Union, with 3% of its population consuming it on a regular basis (20% of European consumers live in Spain), and over 50 percent of new patients admitted to Spanish rehabilitation centers during the year were cocaine addicts. Spain also sits at the top of EU nations in its consumption of designer drugs and hashish. The Spanish government ranks drug trafficking as one of its most important law enforcement concerns and continues to maintain excellent relations with U.S. counterparts. Through a series of visits this year from high-level USG officials, we have encouraged the Spanish to engage more robustly in Latin America, both on an operational level and on the capacity development side. In May, Spain hosted the 25th-annual International Drug Enforcement Conference IDEC)--the first time it had been held outside of the Western Hemisphere--and Spanish officials highlighted during the conference our outstanding bilateral cooperation in the fight against narcotics. Spain is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. II. STATUS OF COUNTRY Spain remains the principal entry, transshipment, and consumption zone for the large quantities of South American cocaine and Moroccan cannabis destined for European consumer markets, and is also a major source and transit location for drug proceeds returning to South and Central America. Colombia appears to be the largest supplier of cocaine from Latin America, although information available suggests an increase in shipments of illicit cocaine from Bolivia, which is transshipped through Venezuela and Argentina by vessel or plane to the Iberian Peninsula. Spain and six other EU countries deepened their counternarcotics cooperation by signing in September an international agreement creating the �0A;Maritime Analysis and Operations Center, headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal. Spain also faces a sustained flow of hashish from its southern neighbors, Morocco and Algeria, which makes maritime smuggling across the Mediterranean Sea a large-scale business. Spanish police continued to seize multi-ton loads of Moroccan hashish, some of which is brought into Spain by illegal immigrants. The majority of heroin that arrives in Spain is transported via the Balkan route from Turkey. The Spanish National Police has identified established Turkish trafficking organizations that distribute the heroin once it is smuggled into Spain. Illicit refining and manufacturing of drugs in Spain is minimal, although small-scale laboratories of synthetic drugs such as LSD are discovered and confiscated each year. MDMA labs are rare and unnecessary in Spain as MDMA labs in the Netherlands are plentiful and productive. However, the Ecstasy trafficking trend has been to use cities in Spain as transshipment points to foil U.S. Customs inspectors who are wary of packages mailed to the U.S. from Belgium or the Netherlands. Spain has a pharmaceutical industry that produces precursor chemicals; however, most precursors used in Spain to manufacture illegal drugs are imported from China. There is effective control of precursor shipments within Spain from the point of origin to destination through a program administered under the National Drug Plan (Spanish acronym PNSD). III. COUNTRY ACTIONS AGAINST DRUGS IN 2007 Policy Initiatives. Spain's policy on drugs is directed by the PNSD, which currently covers the years 2000 to 2008. The strategy, approved in 1999, expanded the scope of law enforcement activities and permitted the sale of seized assets in advance of a conviction and allowed law enforcement authorities to use informants. The strategy also outlined a system to reintegrate individuals who have overcome drug addictions back into Spanish society. The strategy also targets money laundering and illicit commerce in chemical precursors and calls for closer counternarcotics cooperation with other European and Latin American countries. In October 2007, the Ministry of Health released a report claiming that consumption of cannabis and cocaine among Spaniards between MADRID 00002066 002.2 OF 004 the ages of 14 and 18 had gone down for the first time since ¶1994. 29.8% of those surveyed admit to having sampled cannabis in the last 12 months (36.6% in 2004) and 2.3% admit to regular cocaine use (3.8% in 2004). Overall, 3% of the Spanish population regularly consumes cocaine. Spain is a UNODC Major Donor and a member of the Dublin Group, a group of countries that coordinates the provision of counternarcotics assistance. Law Enforcement Efforts. The Spanish law enforcement agencies responsible for narcotics control are the Spanish National Police and the Civil Guard, both of whom fall under the domain of law enforcement and civil security matters within the Ministry of Interior. The Spanish Customs Service, under the Ministry of the Treasury, also carries a mandate to enforce anti-drug legislation at Spain's borders and in Spanish waters. Spanish officials at the Ministry of Interior report that drug enforcement agencies had seized 22 MT of cocaine as of the end of September 2007. Many of the more significant seizures and arrests this past year were a direct result of the excellent cooperation between the U.S. DEA Madrid Country Office and Spanish authorities. For example, in June, Spanish police seized in the Atlantic a ship headed to Galicia that was transporting 4,000 kilos of cocaine, arresting six crew members and six other individuals involved with the network in Spain. The operation was the result of an initial report by DEA offices in Mexico and Madrid. Large-scale cocaine importation in Spain is principally controlled by Colombian drug traffickers, though Galician organizations also play an important role in the trafficking of cocaine into and within the country. Hashish trafficking continues to increase, as does the use of the drug in Spain. Hashish trafficking is controlled by Moroccan, British, and Portuguese smugglers and, to some extent, nationals of Gibraltar and the Netherlands. Spanish Civil Guard (CG) investigations have uncovered strong ties between the Galician Mafia in the northwest corner of Spain and Moroccan hashish traffickers. Hashish continues to be smuggled into Spain via commercial fishing boats, cargo containers, Fast Zodiac boats, and commercial trucks. Spanish authorities recorded two large hashish seizures in August, when the CG seized 5,549 kilos and arrested nine people in Girona and Sevilla, and in October, authorities intercepted 4,600 kilos and arrested 19 people in southwest Spain. It is believed that the hashish originated in North Africa and was transported by a large vessel on the high seas. Spanish law enforcement officials have detected a worrying rise in the amount of heroin trafficked through the country in the past couple of years, even though actual seizures were down in ¶2007. Heroin smuggled into Spain originates principally in Turkey, and is usually smuggled into Spain by commercial truck or private vehicle through the Balkan Route or from Germany or Holland. Seizures (statistics from CICO) 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 (as of September 30) Heroin (kg) 631 275 242 271 174 454 164 Cocaine(mt) 34 18 49 33 48 47 22 Hashish (mt) 514 564 727 794 670 451 391 MDMA (pills x 1000) 860 1,400 772 797 573 408 291 Corruption. Spain's Organized Crime Intelligence Center (CICO) coordinates counternarcotics operations among various government agencies, including the Spanish Civil Guard, National Police, and Customs Service. Their cooperation appears to function well. Spain does not encourage or facilitate illicit production or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions. There is no evidence of corruption of senior officials or their involvement in the drug trade, but there have been isolated cases involving corrupt law enforcement officials who were caught facilitating drug trafficking. A prominent example of this occurred in mid-October when the "Jefe de Estupefacientes" (Chief of Narcotics) of the Mostoles Police Station near Madrid was arrested and accused of drug trafficking. Agreements and Treaties. Spain is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention as amended by the 1972 Protocol and the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Spain is also a party to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols against trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling. Spain ratified the UN Corruption Convention in June 2006. A 1970 extradition treaty and its three supplements govern MADRID 00002066 003.2 OF 004 extradition between the U.S. and Spain. The U.S.-Spain Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty has been in force since 1993, and the two countries have also signed a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement. On December 17,2004, Spain and the United States signed bilateral instruments on extradition and mutual legal assistance pursuant to the U.S-EU Agreements on these subjects, but they have not yet entered into force. Cultivation/Production. Coca leaf is not cultivated in Spain. However, there has been concern in recent years that clandestine laboratories in Spain and some west African countries have been established for the conversion of cocaine base to cocaine hydrochloride. Some cannabis is grown in country, but the seizures and investigations by Spanish authorities indicate the production is minimal. Opium poppy is cultivated licitly under strictly regulated conditions for research, and the total amount is insignificant. The DEA is in the process of considering an amendment to its regulations to update the list of nontraditional countries authorized to export narcotic raw materials (NRM) to the United States. This change would replace Yugoslavia with Spain and would, once it takes affect, allow Spain to join the other &non-traditional8 NRM exporters, Australia, France, Hungary, and Poland, as the only countries allowed to supply approximately 20 percent of the NRM required annually by the U.S. Traditional exporters India and Turkey get preferred access to 80 percent of the NRM market. Spain is not a significant production zone for synthetic drugs. While not a significant producer of MDMA, minor production of the drug has been reported in Spain. Drug Flow/Transit. Spain is the major gateway to Europe for cocaine coming from Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. Traffickers exploit Spain's close historic and linguistic ties with Latin America and its wide, unprotected coastlines to transport drugs for consumption in Spain or distribution to other parts of Europe. DEA information suggests a developing trend for Colombian cocaine to be sent first to Africa and then smuggled northward into Spain. Spanish police report that the country's two principal international airports, Madrid's Barajas and Barcelona's El Prat, play expanding roles as the entry point for much of the cocaine trafficked into and through Spain, and there continues to be a substantial number of body cavity smugglers arriving by air. This year has seen an increase in the amount of cocaine entering Spain via commercial flights from Venezuela. Spain's international airports in Madrid and Barcelona are also a transit point for passengers who intend to traffic Ecstasy and other synthetic drugs, mainly produced in Europe, to the United States. These couriers, however, are typically captured before they leave Spain or when they arrive in the U.S. Spain remains a major transit point to Europe for hashish from Morocco, and Spain's North African enclaves of Ceuta and Mellila are principal points of departure. Spanish law enforcement has disrupted many drug shipments through its use of the Integrated External Surveillance System (Spanish acronym SIVE),deployed on its southern coast. The Spanish Civil Guard initiated the SIVE system to control the growing flow of illegal maritime drug trafficking, mainly African hash and especially around the coasts of Cadiz and Malaga. Domestic Programs/Demand Reduction. The national drug strategy identifies prevention as its principal priority. In that regard, the government continued its publicity efforts targeting Spanish youth. PNSD closely coordinates its demand reduction programs with the Spanish National Police, Civil Guard, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Public Administration. Spain's autonomous communities provide treatment programs for drug addicts, including methadone programs and needle exchanges. Prison rehabilitation programs also distribute methadone. The government has also provided over 4 million euros to assist private, nongovernmental organizations that carry out drug prevention and rehabilitation programs. IV. U.S. POLICY INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS Bilateral Cooperation. The United States continues to improve the current excellent bilateral and multilateral cooperation in law enforcement and demand reduction programs it has with Spain. Through a series of visits this year from high-level USG officials, such as the Commanders of both SOUTHCOM and JIATF-S and the INL Acting A/S, we have encouraged the Spanish to engage more robustly in Latin America, both operationally and on the capacity development side, to help stem the flow of narcotics coming to the Iberian Peninsula. MADRID 00002066 004.2 OF 004 DEA Administrator Tandy participated in the 2007 IDEC conference in Madrid and built on a successful visit she conducted to Spain in September 2006. During a joint press conference with the DEA Administrator, the Spanish Minister of Interior highlighted our close bilateral cooperation in the area of counternarcotics. Spanish government officials routinely tell us that Mexico is a strategic priority and we believe there are areas for joint cooperation in that country. We continually press Spain to become a leader among EU member states in the fight against narcotics and the opening of the Maritime Analysis and Operations Center (MAOC) should bolster EU capacity to protect its southwestern flank. Road Ahead. With drug traffickers targeting Spain in a major way and its government reaching out to us for assistance, the U.S. will continue to coordinate closely with Spanish counternarcotics officials. Spain will continue to be a key player in the international fight against drug trafficking and is looking to maintain momentum from its successful hosting of the DEC. The more we can educate the Spanish on U.S. counternarcotics activities in Latin America, the more likely we can find ways to combine resources to help build capacity in that vital region. AGUIRRE