ABSTRACT
Following the outbreak of war in the former Yugoslavia, it might have been thought that the disruption of trafficking routes through the Balkans would hinder heroin supplies to Western Europe. In fact, new conduits were rapidly established that circumvented areas of combat and took advantage of political change both domestically and in adjacent countries. While military conflict clearly disrupted supply lines, it also encouraged the development of routes to the north and south of the combat zones. War conditions provided additional opportunities for illegal business. Prior to the outbreak of war, trafficking was already a means of raising funds and purchasing weapons. Moreover, social and political destabilisation proved advantageous to illicit entrepreneurs as economic liberalisation in eastern Europe facilitated, rather than hindered, the availability of heroin locally and in western Europe. During the course of 1995 over one ton of heroin was seized by British customs, an 80 per cent increase on 1994. Most shipments were organised by Turkish-controlled organisations and had been routed through Bulgaria, the former republic of Yugoslavia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech republic and Germany (Travis 1996).
