PORTUGAL. RECORD DRUGS FIND: 227 kg. OF PURE HEROIN

The Portuguese Judiciary Police (Detective Squad) has made a record drugs haul of 227 kg. of high-grade, almost pure, heroin, the highest ever in Portugal and one of the biggest finds in history. The street value of this catch is valued at 17.3 million USD (660 million Roubles) and would provide 13.5 million individual doses (after the “cut”, increasing the pure dosage to up to five times, as chemicals and other products are added). As a consequence of this find, three Portuguese men were arrested. They are reported to have been involved with a Turkish heroin-smuggling operation which planned to use Portugal as a supply centre for western Europe’s drugs trade. There are reported to be 100,000 drugs users in Portugal, a small country with a population of 10 million. The result of this supposed 1% of the population using drugs, many of these including hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine, is translated into the European Union’s highest rate of AIDS. Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, Pravda.Ru, Lisbon