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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MADRID 001307 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO JOHN LYLE OF INL, AND TO ELAINE SAMSON AND STACIE 
ZERDECKI OF EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR SP KCRM
SUBJECT: SPAIN:  INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY 
REPORT 2008 
 
REF: SECSTATE 100992 
 
¶1.  (U) As requested in REFTEL A, Post's submission for the 
"International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) Part 
I, Drugs and Chemical Control," follows in paragraph 2.  This 
report includes draft numbers for statistical information on 
seizures for the calendar year 2008.  If information for the 
full year 2008 becomes available in time, an updated 
submission will be sent before January 30, 2009.  POC for the 
INCSR, Part 1 in Spain is Hugh Clifton. Telephone 
34-91-587-2294, email: CliftonLH@state.gov. 
 
¶2. (U) 
 
¶I. Summary 
 
Spain remains the primary transshipment and consumption area 
for cocaine imported into Europe from South and Central 
America.  Although Madrid in 2008 declared that cocaine 
consumption is no longer on the increase, Spain continues to 
be the largest consumer of cocaine in the European Union 
(EU), with 3 percent of the Spanish population consuming it 
on a regular basis (20 percent of all European consumers live 
in Spain).  Sixty-three percent of patients admissions to 
Spanish emergency rooms for drug consumption were due to 
cocaine consumption, and 47 percent of the people admitted in 
treatment/rehabilitation centers were cocaine users.  Among 
EU nations, Spain is also the number one consumer of designer 
drugs and hashish, with 25 percent of Spaniards 15 to 
24-year-olds having consumed hashish in the last year. 
Spanish National Police, Civil Guard, and Customs Services, 
along with autonomous regional police forces, maintained an 
intense operational tempo during 2008.  Spanish security 
services carried out increased law enforcement operations 
throughout Spain, seizing more than twice as much heroin in 
2008 than in the previous year and midway through the year 
were on track to notch a record year for seizures of hashish. 
 As of the end of June, cocaine seizures were down more than 
50 percent from 2007 while the Spanish security services 
appeared on track to seize roughly the same quantity of 
Ecstasy as they did in 2007. 
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.  The 
United States continues to improve the current excellent 
bilateral and multilateral cooperation in law enforcement 
programs it has with Spain, as symbolized by joint operations 
to arrest key drug traffickers and a series of visits this 
year from high-level USG officials, such as the Commandant of 
the U.S. Coast Guard and Congressional delegations.  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 Spain's largest supplier of cocaine 
from Latin America, although some information available 
suggests an increase in shipments of illicit cocaine from 
Bolivia.  Bolivian cocaine is transshipped through Venezuela 
and Argentina by vessel or plane to the Iberian Peninsula. 
Spain also faces a sustained flow of hashish from its 
southern neighbors, Morocco and Algeria.  Maritime smuggling 
of hashish across the Mediterranean Sea is a very large-scale 
business. Spanish police continued to seize multi-ton loads 
of Moroccan hashish, some of which is brought into Spain by 
illegal immigrants.  In an effort to prevent this, Morocco 
and Spain created in November 2008 a joint working group to 
study drug-smuggling routes from the former country to the 
latter.  The majority of heroin that arrives in Spain is 
transported via the "Balkan Route" from Turkey, although 
Security Forces in 2008 have noticed recent efforts to 
transport it into Spain by boat.  The Spanish National Police 
have identified 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 destroyed each year. 
MDMA-Ecstasy labs are rare and unnecessary in Spain as MDMA 
labs in the Netherlands prefer shipping the final product to 
Spain.  However, the Ecstasy trafficking trend has been to 
use cities in Spain as transshipment points for small 
shipments to the U.S. to foil U.S. Customs inspectors who are 
wary of packages mailed to the U.S. from Belgium or the 
Netherlands. 
Spain's pharmaceutical industry produces precursor chemicals; 
 
MADRID 00001307  002 OF 004 
 
 
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 Ministry 
of Health and Consumer Affairs' National Drug Plan, known by 
its Spanish acronym of PNSD. 
III. Country Actions Against Drugs in 2008 
Policy Initiatives. The PNSD provides overall guidance and 
strategic directives for Spain's national policy on drugs. 
In 2008, Spain concluded its first-ever PNSD, which covered 
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 targeted money 
laundering and illicit commerce in chemical precursors and 
calls for closer counternarcotics cooperation with other 
European and Latin American countries. 
Over the past year, Spain also drafted its new PNSD for 
2009-2016, which it formally unveiled on November 12, 2008. 
This new plan - which still needs to be approved by the 
Congress - aims to have citizens more involved in the fight 
against drugs, with the hope to prevent and/or lower 
consumption, delay the age for initial consumption (currently 
at age 20 for cocaine and heroin, and age 18 for hashish), 
and to guarantee assistance to drug addicts. 
In October 2008, the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs 
released a report claiming that consumption of cocaine had 
stabilized after it decreased in 2007 for the first time 
since 1994.  Overall, 3 percent 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. 
In March 2008, the International Narcotics Control Board 
(INCB), the independent and quasi-judicial monitoring body 
for the implementation of the UN's international drug control 
conventions, congratulated Spain for its 2007-2010 Action 
Plan to Fight Cocaine Consumption, a plan that has an annual 
cost of 7 million euros.  The INCB report urged countries 
with cocaine consumption problems similar to Spain, such as 
the US, UK, Italy and Denmark, to follow the Spanish example. 
 The report also highlighted that cocaine consumption in 
Spain has doubled in the last 10 years among the general 
population (from 1.8 percent to 3 percent), and quadrupled 
among the Spanish youth (from 1.8 percent to 7.2 percent). 
Law Enforcement Efforts. The Spanish law enforcement agencies 
responsible for narcotics control are the Spanish National 
Police and the Civil Guard, both of which 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 counternarcotics 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. 
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. 
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 September 2008, the Spanish 
National Police and the Civil Guard, working with the DEA, 
arrested Colombian national Edgar Vallejo Guarin in Madrid. 
Also known as Beto the Gypsy, Vallejo Guarin was one of the 
most wanted drug traffickers in the world and the subject of 
a $5 million reward by the US Government for information 
leading to his arrest.  Spanish authorities recorded several 
large seizures of cocaine in 2008.  For example, a 
Venezuelan-flagged ship with 3,600 kilos of cocaine was 
stopped in June by the Spanish IRS.  Another operation in 
July ended with the seizure of 1,500 kilos of cocaine in a 
sailing boat on its way to Bilbao from South America. 
Hashish trafficking is controlled by Moroccan, British, and 
Portuguese smugglers and, to some extent, nationals of 
Gibraltar and the Netherlands.  Spanish Civil Guard 
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 
also recorded several large hashish seizures in 2008.  For 
example, in September authorities intercepted 1,110 kilos of 
 
MADRID 00001307  003 OF 004 
 
 
hashish, arresting three people.  In August, seven tons of 
hashish were seized in two boats near the Balearic Islands 
and six people were arrested, and the same month another two 
operations seized roughly 2.5 tons of hashish each in Malaga. 
 In July, several operations seized more than 25 tons of 
hashish. 
Spanish law enforcement officials have detected a worrying 
rise in the amount of heroin trafficked through the country 
in recent years.  On August 1, 2008 Spanish police seized a 
sailing boat in Sitges, just south of Barcelona, with 316.5 
kilos of heroin, more than all of the heroin seized in 2007. 
Heroin smuggled into Spain originates principally in 
Afghanistan and transits Turkey on the way to Spain; it is 
usually smuggled into Spain by commercial truck or private 
vehicle through the "Balkan Route" or from Germany or the 
Netherlands. 
 
Data Table: 
Seizures:         2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
(Tentative) 2008 (Tentative) 
Heroin (kg)       631   275   242   271   174   454   197 
416 (as of October 2008) 
Cocaine (MT)      34    18    49    33    48    47    34 
12.2 (as of first six months of 2008) 
Hashish (MT)      514   564   727   794   670   451   571 
412  (as of first six months of 2008) 
Ecstasy 
(pills x 1000)    860   1,400 772   797   573   408   482 
233 (as of first six months of 2008) 
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.  Under their guidance, 
law enforcement cooperation appears to function well.  Spain 
does not encourage nor 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.  For example, the Chief of 
Police in El Molar and two Civil Guards in Guadalix de la 
Sierra were arrested in an operation to combat drug 
trafficking in the Autonomous Community of Madrid.  Another 
case in 2008 involved the dismantling of a drug-dealing and 
illegal immigration network that operated out of Madrid's 
Barajas airport.  Forty-seven people, including a Police 
Deputy Inspector, were arrested.  In April 2008, the Chief 
Inspector for Organized Crime of the Malaga Police Office was 
arrested, along with another five people.  They were accused 
of stealing money from drug dealers to buy drugs and sell 
them later. 
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 Corruption and the UN Convention against 
Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols on 
trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling.  A 1970 
extradition treaty and its three supplements govern 
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. 
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 the former Yugoslavia with Spain 
and would, once it takes affect, allow Spain to join the 
other "non-traditional" NRM exporters, Australia, France, 
Hungary, and Poland, as the only countries allowed to supply 
approximately 20 percent of the NRM required annually by the 
United States.  Traditional exporters India and Turkey have 
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/Ecstasy limited production 
of the drug has been reported in Spain. 
 
MADRID 00001307  004 OF 004 
 
 
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 extensive 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.  This year has seen a 
significant increase in the number of "swallower mules" 
detained in Nigeria en route from Latin America to 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.  Those two airports are also key transit 
points 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 
Melilla 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 
hashish, 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.  The PNSD closely coordinates its 
demand reduction programs with the Spanish National Police, 
Civil Guard, Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, 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 contributes over 4 million euros to assist 
private, nongovernmental organizations that carry out drug 
prevention and rehabilitation programs. 
In November 2008, the Delegate of the Government for the 
National Drug Plan announced that several hospitals would 
administer, over a 12 month period, a vaccine against cocaine 
addiction to a number of volunteers to study its effects 
prior to its approval by the European Medicine Agency, which 
is expected in 2009. 
IV. US Policy Initiatives and Programs 
Bilateral Cooperation. The United States continues to improve 
the current excellent bilateral and multilateral cooperation 
in law enforcement programs it has with Spain, as symbolized 
by a series of-visits this year from high-level USG 
officials, such as the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and 
Congressional delegations.  Bilateral cooperation in 2008 
built upon a strong foundation from the previous year, when 
DEA coordinated with the Spanish government to host the 
annual IDEC conference in Madrid - the first time IDEC was 
held in Europe.  On November 8, 2008, Spanish Council of 
Ministers approved the extradition to the U.S. of Colombian 
drug dealer Vallejo Guarin.  DEA continues to work very 
closely with its Spanish law enforcement counterparts, which 
has resulted in numerous successful joint investigations. 
DEA also has conducted training courses in undercover 
operations and financial investigations for its Spanish 
counterparts, which were very well received by the Spaniards. 
 The U.S. urges Spain to become a leader among EU member 
states in the fight against narcotics and is pleased to see 
that Spain in 2008 assumed the rotating leadership of the 
Maritime Analysis and Operations Center-Narcotics (MAOC-N) in 
Lisbon. 
Road Ahead. With drug traffickers targeting Spain in a major 
way and its government reaching out to us for collaboration, 
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 seeks to maintain momentum from its successful hosting of 
the IDEC.  The U.S. and Spain are natural partners in Latin 
America, and are intent on developing a partnership there for 
the benefit of Latin America as well as Spain and the U.S. 
AGUIRRE