Prague is a stop for heroin entering Europe

Customs officers suspected something odd about the 20-year-old Bulgarian the moment they spotted him at Prague Ruzyně Airport.

The man, who had just arrived on a direct commercial flight from Istanbul, acted edgy and uncertain, and his awkward behavior suggested that he had never really traveled before. Even through the airport's security camera monitor, customs officers could sense that his trendy clothes and carry-on bag belied his provincial demeanor.

After pulling him aside and X-raying his bag, the officers confirmed their suspicions: The soft material bag contained a double bottom, in which 2.74 kg of heroin lay wrapped in two layers of black plastic.

For airport customs officers, this Jan.15 seizure was the second major heroin haul in as many months. On Dec. 5, a Romanian man in his 20s was nabbed, also arriving from a direct commercial flight from Istanbul with 2.5 kg of heroin concealed in the reinforced back of his knapsack. With a street value of about 800 to 1,000 Kč ($38-48) per gram, officials estimated the value of heroin each man was carrying to be in the millions of crowns.

"We were surprised they would do it in such an obvious way," said Pavel Drobek, spokesman for the General Directorate of Customs. "We're surprised by their audacity."

Czech customs officials are accustomed to seizing small quantities of marijuana, Ecstasy and the popular methamphetamine pervitin, usually smuggled through the post, Drobek explained. But heroin has never ranked high on the list of trafficked drugs in the Czech Republic.

That has begun to change, however, ever since the country entered the Schengen zone in December 2007, eliminating border checks between member nations, Drobek said. Once heroin enters the Czech Republic, it is relatively easy to transport it on through Western Europe undetected.

Transit country

"The Czech Republic now serves as a transit country [for heroin]," Drobek said, noting that large quantities of the drug are being delivered here in its pure form. "It's a rather new trend."

Over the past year, there have been a number of large seizures of heroin and several heroin-related arrests throughout the country, with suspects of disparate origins.

On Jan. 22, police in Plzeň arrested one Asian man who allegedly led them to an unspecified quantity of heroin, rolled up in small balls and stashed behind a bush near a restaurant. Plzeň police arrested another Asian man on suspicion of dealing heroin Dec. 4.

According to the Czech News Agency (ČTK), police in Central Bohemia said in August that they arrested a man from Kosovo  for allegedly hiding 3.6 kg of heroin in a forest near Skorkov. And, March 17, customs officers near Břeclav discovered 15.5 kg of heroin hidden in a passenger vehicle with Czech plates coming from Macedonia. Ten days later, customs officials nabbed a Czech citizen and a citizen of the former Yugoslavia, who were later charged with possession and procurement of 25.5 kg of heroin.

According to Interpol, heroin produced in Afghanistan is moved into Europe through two primary routes. It is typically smuggled along the so-called "Silk Route" in Central Asia through Russia, the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic to other parts of Europe, or it is transported along "the Balkan route" through Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia via Turkey, a major staging point for the drug's entry into Europe.

It is typically more common to move heroin overland using passenger vehicles, since authorities cannot easily check private cars within the European Union without legal reason, Drobek said.

Tom Blickman, a specialist on international drug control policy and organized crime at the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, said it was difficult to speculate whether the two seizures at the airport indicated a new mode of transport for heroin smugglers.

"Many organizations are involved [in drug smuggling] and they will use different routes depending on the opportunities they see and contacts they have," Blickman said in an e-mail. However, he noted: "Now that this [flight] route has been discovered, controls will probably increase and new methods will be tried."

Aside from the fact that both men came directly from Istanbul, there is no indication that the two cases are related, Drobek said, but he suspected the men had been hired by smuggling operators to test the security at Prague Ruzyně Airport.

"If it's easy to get in through the airport, traveling with it to other countries wouldn't be a problem," Drobek said.

Domestic use

Despite the apparent increase in trafficking, official statistics on heroin use in the Czech Republic show that the domestic market for the drug is relatively small, when compared with other illicit drugs.

Viktor Mravčík, head of the Czech National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, estimated that the number of heroin users in the country is around 6,000. (In comparison, there are an estimated 20,900 pervitin users.) According to his monitoring center's most recent annual report, published in 2008, the availability of heroin in 2007 remained level compared with previous years.

While the statistics may not reflect it, there are recent signs the drug is trickling into Czech society.

During a recent visit to the Kojenecký ústav infant orphanage in Kolín, director Eva Nemeškalová showed reporters the tiny deformed legs of 4-month-old Gabriel, whose full name has been withheld to protect his identity.

"His mother has a serious problem with drugs - heroin," Nemeškalová explained, noting that Gabriel was transferred to the orphanage from a hospital about three days after he was born, sharing his mother's addiction to the drug in addition to his leg deformity.

Cases like Gabriel's were extremely rare only a couple of years ago, Nemeškalová said, but she estimated that nearly 20 percent of the infants she now encounters at the orphanage are born to parents who use heroin.

In Plzeň, police have noticed an increase in the availability of heroin on the streets, mostly distributed by foreigners, police spokeswoman Michaela Altmanová said. Dealers often carry the drug rolled up in small balls, which they carry around in their mouths, she said.

In Prague, Jiří Richter, head of the Sananim drug rehabilitation center, said he has also heard more about the opiate lately, as clients report that the quality of available heroin has recently improved.

Jakub Frydrych, the newly appointed head of the National Anti-Drug Center (NPC), acknowledged that the Czech Republic has not just become a transit country but "a target destination for drugs - heroin not excluded," due to the growing affluence of the country since the 1990s.

His main priorities, he said, are to keep NPC staff up to date on the latest methods of fighting organized crime, and to focus on developing international cooperation with other countries.

Although Drobek said Czech authorities have since returned the Bulgarian and Romanian suspects to their home countries, Drobek said there is no end to the fight against the heroin trade.

"These people are willing to take risks, no matter what the risks are," Drobek said. "Even if you increase the punishments…it wouldn't deter people from running the business because it involves so much money."

- Nina Makelberge and Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

Wency Leung can be reached at
wleung@praguepost.com