VZCZCXRO7933
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHMD #2066/01 3091141
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051141Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3744
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 3162
RUEHBS/DEA BRUSSELS BE
RUEHNA/DEA HQS WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MADRID 002066 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INL, EUR/PGI, AND EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM EFIN SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN/INCSR: 2007-2008 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS 
CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT 
 
REF: STATE 136780 
 
MADRID 00002066  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶I. SUMMARY 
 
Spanish National Police, Civil Guard, and Customs Services, 
along with autonomous regional police forces, maintained an 
intense operational tempo during 2007 and as of early 
November were on track to seize near-record amounts of 
cocaine. These services also carried out increased 
enforcement operations throughout Spain to arrest 
distributors of synthetic drugs, such as LSD and Ecstasy 
(MDMA). Spain continues to be the largest consumer of cocaine 
in the European Union, with 3% of its population consuming it 
on a regular basis (20% of European consumers live in Spain), 
and over 50 percent of new patients admitted to Spanish 
rehabilitation centers during the year were cocaine addicts. 
Spain also sits at the top of EU nations in its consumption 
of designer drugs and hashish. The Spanish government ranks 
drug trafficking as one of its most important law enforcement 
concerns and continues to maintain excellent relations with 
U.S. counterparts. Through a series of visits this year from 
high-level USG officials, we have encouraged the Spanish to 
engage more robustly in Latin America, both on an operational 
level and on the capacity development side. In May, Spain 
hosted the 25th-annual International Drug Enforcement 
Conference IDEC)--the first time it had been held outside of 
the Western Hemisphere--and Spanish officials highlighted 
during the conference our outstanding bilateral cooperation 
in the fight against narcotics. Spain is a party to the 1988 
UN Drug Convention. 
 
II. STATUS OF COUNTRY 
 
Spain remains the principal entry, transshipment, and 
consumption zone for the large quantities of South American 
cocaine and Moroccan cannabis destined for European consumer 
markets, and is also a major source and transit location for 
drug proceeds returning to South and Central America. 
Colombia appears to be the largest supplier of cocaine from 
Latin America, although information available suggests an 
increase in shipments of illicit cocaine from Bolivia, which 
is transshipped through Venezuela and Argentina by vessel or 
plane to the Iberian Peninsula. Spain and six other EU 
countries deepened their counternarcotics cooperation by 
signing in September an international agreement creating the 
Maritime Analysis and Operations Center, headquartered in 
Lisbon, Portugal. Spain also faces a sustained flow of 
hashish from its southern neighbors, Morocco and Algeria, 
which makes maritime smuggling across the Mediterranean Sea a 
large-scale business. Spanish police continued to seize 
multi-ton loads of Moroccan hashish, some of which is brought 
into Spain by illegal immigrants. The majority of heroin that 
arrives in Spain is transported via the Balkan route from 
Turkey. The Spanish National Police has identified 
established Turkish trafficking organizations that distribute 
the heroin once it is smuggled into Spain. Illicit refining 
and manufacturing of drugs in Spain is minimal, although 
small-scale laboratories of synthetic drugs such as LSD are 
discovered and confiscated each year. MDMA labs are rare and 
unnecessary in Spain as MDMA labs in the Netherlands are 
plentiful and productive. However, the Ecstasy trafficking 
trend has been to use cities in Spain as transshipment points 
to foil U.S. Customs inspectors who are wary of packages 
mailed to the U.S. from Belgium or the Netherlands. Spain has 
a pharmaceutical industry that produces precursor chemicals; 
however, most precursors used in Spain to manufacture illegal 
drugs are imported from China. There is effective control of 
precursor shipments within Spain from the point of origin to 
destination through a program administered under the National 
Drug Plan (Spanish acronym PNSD). 
 
III. COUNTRY ACTIONS AGAINST DRUGS IN 2007 
 
Policy Initiatives. Spain's policy on drugs is directed by 
the PNSD, which currently covers the years 2000 to 2008. The 
strategy, approved in 1999, expanded the scope of law 
enforcement activities and permitted the sale of seized 
assets in advance of a conviction and allowed law enforcement 
authorities to use informants. The strategy also outlined a 
system to reintegrate individuals who have overcome drug 
addictions back into Spanish society. The strategy also 
targets money laundering and illicit commerce in chemical 
precursors and calls for closer counternarcotics cooperation 
with other European and Latin American countries. In October 
2007, the Ministry of Health released a report claiming that 
consumption of cannabis and cocaine among Spaniards between 
 
MADRID 00002066  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
the ages of 14 and 18 had gone down for the first time since 
¶1994. 29.8% of those surveyed admit to having sampled 
cannabis in the last 12 months (36.6% in 2004) and 2.3% admit 
to regular cocaine use (3.8% in 2004). Overall, 3% of the 
Spanish population regularly consumes cocaine. Spain is a 
UNODC Major Donor and a member of the Dublin Group, a group 
of countries that coordinates the provision of 
counternarcotics assistance. 
 
Law Enforcement Efforts. The Spanish law enforcement agencies 
responsible for narcotics control are the Spanish National 
Police and the Civil Guard, both of whom fall under the 
domain of law enforcement and civil security matters within 
the Ministry of Interior. The Spanish Customs Service, under 
the Ministry of the Treasury, also carries a mandate to 
enforce anti-drug legislation at Spain's borders and in 
Spanish waters. Spanish officials at the Ministry of Interior 
report that drug enforcement agencies had seized 22 MT of 
cocaine as of the end of September 2007. Many of the more 
significant seizures and arrests this past year were a direct 
result of the excellent cooperation between the U.S. DEA 
Madrid Country Office and Spanish authorities. For example, 
in June, Spanish police seized in the Atlantic a ship headed 
to Galicia that was transporting 4,000 kilos of cocaine, 
arresting six crew members and six other individuals involved 
with the network in Spain. The operation was the result of an 
initial report by DEA offices in Mexico and Madrid. 
Large-scale cocaine importation in Spain is principally 
controlled by Colombian drug traffickers, though Galician 
organizations also play an important role in the trafficking 
of cocaine into and within the country. 
Hashish trafficking continues to increase, as does the use of 
the drug in Spain. Hashish trafficking is controlled by 
Moroccan, British, and Portuguese smugglers and, to some 
extent, nationals of Gibraltar and the Netherlands. Spanish 
Civil Guard (CG) investigations have uncovered strong ties 
between the Galician Mafia in the northwest corner of Spain 
and Moroccan hashish traffickers. Hashish continues to be 
smuggled into Spain via commercial fishing boats, cargo 
containers, Fast Zodiac boats, and commercial trucks. Spanish 
authorities recorded two large hashish seizures in August, 
when the CG seized 5,549 kilos and arrested nine people in 
Girona and Sevilla, and in October, authorities intercepted 
4,600 kilos and arrested 19 people in southwest Spain. It is 
believed that the hashish originated in North Africa and was 
transported by a large vessel on the high seas. Spanish law 
enforcement officials have detected a worrying rise in the 
amount of heroin trafficked through the country in the past 
couple of years, even though actual seizures were down in 
¶2007. Heroin smuggled into Spain originates principally in 
Turkey, and is usually smuggled into Spain by commercial 
truck or private vehicle through the Balkan Route or from 
Germany or Holland. 
 
Seizures (statistics from CICO) 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 
2007 (as of September 30) 
Heroin (kg) 631  275  242  271  174  454  164 
Cocaine(mt) 34  18  49  33  48  47  22 
Hashish (mt) 514  564  727  794  670  451  391 
MDMA (pills x 1000) 860  1,400  772  797  573  408  291 
 
Corruption. Spain's Organized Crime Intelligence Center 
(CICO) coordinates counternarcotics operations among various 
government agencies, including the Spanish Civil Guard, 
National Police, and Customs Service. Their cooperation 
appears to function well. Spain does not encourage or 
facilitate illicit production or distribution of narcotic or 
psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the 
laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions. There 
is no evidence of corruption of senior officials or their 
involvement in the drug trade, but there have been isolated 
cases involving corrupt law enforcement officials who were 
caught facilitating drug trafficking.  A prominent example of 
this occurred in mid-October when the "Jefe de 
Estupefacientes" (Chief of Narcotics) of the Mostoles Police 
Station near Madrid was arrested and accused of drug 
trafficking. 
 
Agreements and Treaties. Spain is a party to the 1988 UN Drug 
Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention as amended by the 
1972 Protocol and the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic 
Substances. Spain is also a party to the UN Convention 
against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols 
against trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling. Spain 
ratified the UN Corruption Convention in June 2006. A 1970 
extradition treaty and its three supplements govern 
 
MADRID 00002066  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
extradition between the U.S. and Spain. The U.S.-Spain Mutual 
Legal Assistance Treaty has been in force since 1993, and the 
two countries have also signed a Customs Mutual Assistance 
Agreement. On December 17,2004, Spain and the United States 
signed bilateral instruments on extradition and mutual legal 
assistance pursuant to the U.S-EU Agreements on these 
subjects, but they have not yet entered into force. 
 
Cultivation/Production. Coca leaf is not cultivated in Spain. 
However, there has been concern in recent years that 
clandestine laboratories in Spain and some west African 
countries have been established for the conversion of cocaine 
base to cocaine hydrochloride. Some cannabis is grown in 
country, but the seizures and investigations by Spanish 
authorities indicate the production is minimal. Opium poppy 
is cultivated licitly under strictly regulated conditions for 
research, and the total amount is insignificant. The DEA is 
in the process of considering an amendment to its regulations 
to update the list of nontraditional countries authorized to 
export narcotic raw materials (NRM) to the United States. 
This change would replace Yugoslavia with Spain and would, 
once it takes affect, allow Spain to join the other 
&non-traditional8 NRM exporters, Australia, France, 
Hungary, and Poland, as the only countries allowed to supply 
approximately 20 percent of the NRM required annually by the 
U.S. Traditional exporters India and Turkey get preferred 
access to 80 percent of the NRM market. Spain is not a 
significant production zone for synthetic drugs. While not a 
significant producer of MDMA, minor production of the drug 
has been reported in Spain. 
 
Drug Flow/Transit. Spain is the major gateway to Europe for 
cocaine coming from Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. 
Traffickers exploit Spain's close historic and linguistic 
ties with Latin America and its wide, unprotected coastlines 
to transport drugs for consumption in Spain or distribution 
to other parts of Europe. DEA information suggests a 
developing trend for Colombian cocaine to be sent first to 
Africa and then smuggled northward into Spain. Spanish police 
report that the country's two principal international 
airports, Madrid's Barajas and Barcelona's El Prat, play 
expanding roles as the entry point for much of the cocaine 
trafficked into and through Spain, and there continues to be 
a substantial number of body cavity smugglers arriving by 
air. This year has seen an increase in the amount of cocaine 
entering Spain via commercial flights from Venezuela. Spain's 
international airports in Madrid and Barcelona are also a 
transit point for passengers who intend to traffic Ecstasy 
and other synthetic drugs, mainly produced in Europe, to the 
United States. These couriers, however, are typically 
captured before they leave Spain or when they arrive in the 
U.S. Spain remains a major transit point to Europe for 
hashish from Morocco, and Spain's North African enclaves of 
Ceuta and Mellila are principal points of departure. Spanish 
law enforcement has disrupted many drug shipments through its 
use of the Integrated External Surveillance System (Spanish 
acronym SIVE), deployed on its southern coast. The Spanish 
Civil Guard initiated the SIVE system to control the growing 
flow of illegal maritime drug trafficking, mainly African 
hash and especially around the coasts of Cadiz and Malaga. 
 
Domestic Programs/Demand Reduction. The national drug 
strategy identifies prevention as its principal priority. In 
that regard, the government continued its publicity efforts 
targeting Spanish youth. PNSD closely coordinates its demand 
reduction programs with the Spanish National Police, Civil 
Guard, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Public 
Administration. Spain's autonomous communities provide 
treatment programs for drug addicts, including methadone 
programs and needle exchanges. Prison rehabilitation programs 
also distribute methadone. The government has also provided 
over 4 million euros to assist private, nongovernmental 
organizations that carry out drug prevention and 
rehabilitation programs. 
 
IV. U.S. POLICY INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS 
 
Bilateral Cooperation. The United States continues to improve 
the current excellent bilateral and multilateral cooperation 
in law enforcement and demand reduction programs it has with 
Spain. Through a series of visits this year from high-level 
USG officials, such as the Commanders of both SOUTHCOM and 
JIATF-S and the INL Acting A/S, we have encouraged the 
Spanish to engage more robustly in Latin America, both 
operationally and on the capacity development side, to help 
stem the flow of narcotics coming to the Iberian Peninsula. 
 
MADRID 00002066  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
DEA Administrator Tandy participated in the 2007 IDEC 
conference in Madrid and built on a successful visit she 
conducted to Spain in September 2006. During a joint press 
conference with the DEA Administrator, the Spanish Minister 
of Interior highlighted our close bilateral cooperation in 
the area of counternarcotics. Spanish government officials 
routinely tell us that Mexico is a strategic priority and we 
believe there are areas for joint cooperation in that 
country. We continually press Spain to become a leader among 
EU member states in the fight against narcotics and the 
opening of the Maritime Analysis and Operations Center (MAOC) 
should bolster EU capacity to protect its southwestern flank. 
 
Road Ahead. With drug traffickers targeting Spain in a major 
way and its government reaching out to us for assistance, the 
U.S. will continue to coordinate closely with Spanish 
counternarcotics officials. Spain will continue to be a key 
player in the international fight against drug trafficking 
and is looking to maintain momentum from its successful 
hosting of the DEC. The more we can educate the Spanish on 
U.S. counternarcotics activities in Latin America, the more 
likely we can find ways to combine resources to help build 
capacity in that vital region. 
AGUIRRE