There is no single heroin route from Afghanistan to Europe

There is no single heroin route from Afghanistan to Europe 

This piece follows the publication of Heroin trafficking along the northern and southern routes, going beyond the report’s headline findings to share some of the observations, conversations and emerging trends that stayed with me during the research — and what I think deserves closer attention next.

When I think about the journey of heroin from its source to a European market, I don’t picture a criminal mastermind directing a supply chain from beginning to end.

What I see instead is a farmer, then a transporter, a courier and perhaps a broker who moves the drugs only as far as the next village. Another broker might get them across a border, after which a gang takes over one stretch of the journey before handing it to another. By the time the heroin arrives in Europe, still more people may be responsible for moving it to wherever it eventually ends up.

There are people making money throughout that journey.

A consignment moving through Iran, for example, might pass from one group between Mashhad and Tehran to another operating towards the Turkish border around Van. Others take over as it moves onwards, including once it reaches its European destination. 

So what we call a ‘route’ is really a succession of transactions, relationships and handovers rather than one continuous supply chain. (Paddy Ginn - GITOC Senior Expert, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, Genf, 23.09.2026)

https://gitoc.substack.com/p/there-https://gitoc.substack.com/p/there-is-no-single-heroin-route-from?utmis-no-single-heroin-route-from?utm