Hundreds of criminal gangs are posing a “real threat” to the European Union’s security, Europol has estimated.
A figure of 800 was supplied by the European police agency which is composed of figures from member states and other countries.
While the exact number of Irish gangs Europol has identified is unclear, Gardaí reportedly assess that there are 15 drug gangs operating at a national level in Ireland.
The majority of these have international connections, with some – such as the Kinahan cartel – having direct links to Central and South American cartels.
In a recent report, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said that there are “signals of a potential shift in Europe’s role in the global cocaine trade,” with the EU apparently being increasingly used as a “transit point” for cocaine shipments to other regions.
According to the European Drug Report 2023, Ireland has the highest usage of cocaine in the EU, while Ireland is considered to be the joint-fourth highest consumer globally.
Key risks identified by the EMCDDA report include the exploitation of the EU’s critical infrastructure, such as seaports and the recruitment of young people to drug networks who are then “lured or forced” to partake in often violent criminal activity.
“Disrupting these criminal networks poses a complex challenge, as they constantly adapt to external shocks and increasingly use specialist criminal service providers. Given the globalised nature of these networks, aided by technological developments, they also increasingly coordinate their illicit drug trafficking activities from outside the European Union,” the report reads.