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Ruten, der løber igennem Pakistan, Iran og Tyrkiet, deler sig i en sydlig gren gennem Grækenland, Den Tidligere Jugoslaviske Republik Makedonien, Albanien, Italien, Serbien, Montenegro og Bosnien-Hercegovina og en nordlig gren gennem Bulgarien, Rumænien, Ungarn, Østrig, Tyskland og Nederlandene, som fungerer som et sekundært distributionscenter til andre vesteuropæiske lande.
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Heroin enters Europe by two major trafficking routes. The historically important Balkan route continues to play a crucial role in heroin smuggling. Following transit through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, the route then diverges into a southern branch through Greece, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Albania, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina and a northern branch through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, the latter operating as a secondary distribution centre to other Western European countries. Heroin seizures in 2004 suggest that the southern branch has now gained the same importance as the northern branch in terms of volume smuggled (WCO, 2005; INCB, 2006a). Since the mid-1990s, heroin has been increasingly (but to a lesser extent than through the Balkan routes) smuggled to Europe through the ‘silk route’ via central Asia (in particular Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan), the Caspian Sea and the Russian Federation, Belarus or Ukraine, to Estonia, Latvia, some of the Nordic countries and Germany (Reitox national reports, 2005; CND, 2006; INCB, 2006a). Although these routes are the most important, countries in the Arabian Peninsula (Oman, United Arab Emirates) have become transit sites for heroin consignments from South and South-West Asia destined for Europe (INCB, 2006a). In addition, heroin destined for Europe (and North America) was seized in 2004 in East and West Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and South America (CND, 2006).
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