PM: Czech drugs flooding Germany require action

Prague, Jan 30 (CTK) - The Czech cabinet yesterday discussed the "rather serious" issue of drugs produced in Czech border areas and heading to Germany, especially Saxony and Bavaria, and a special working group was set up to deal with the situation, Prime Minister Petr Necas told journalists.

Interior Minister Jan Kubice was entrusted with the establishment of the working group.

"The increase in drug problems in the border areas is very significant," Necas said.

The numbers of both drug smugglers caught in Germany and pervitine labs revealed in the Czech Republic has grown, he added.

As not only the Czech Republic but also Germany is flooded by the drugs produced, it is naturally one of the major issues covered by the Czech-German talks and debated also with Bavarian and Saxon representatives that border on the Czech Republic, Necas said.

"We consider the issue serious and we want to deal with it," he said.

Necas recalled that the tolerated amount of pervitine that a person can keep without committing a crime will be reduced soon.

But the Czech anti-drug coordinator Jindrich Voboril said drug addicts would be criminalised due to the above change.

Necas said the expulsion procedure will be quickened in reaction to cases of foreigners involved in drug distribution.

Drug crime rate has increased due to the economic crisis and members of the Vietnamese community based in the country have started playing a major role in these crimes since they seek a substitute means to earn their living, he said.

Several Czech-German working groups of experts that aim to fight pervitine production were set up on lower levels.