Prague, May 25 (CTK) – The police revealed 299 marijuana grow facilities and 261 drug labs in which pervitin (also known as methamphetamine or crystal) was produced in the Czech Republic in 2016, according to the annual report of the National Anti-Drug Centre.
In 2015, 220 grow facilities and 263 drug labs were revealed.
After a police raid against shops that offered equipment needed for growing medical cannabis, the number of large grow facilities with more than 1,000 hemp plants decreased. However, the gangs producing marijuana try to lower the risk of being revealed by dividing their production between several smaller facilities growing up to 500 plants.
Small or medium-sized marijuana grow facilities formed 88 percent of the revealed facilities in 2016. Most of these facilities, 83 percent, were operated by Czechs and 8 percent had Vietnamese operators.
However, nearly half of the 57,660 hemp plants that the police seized last year were grown by Vietnamese groups.
Vietnamese gangs produced about 40 percent of the 90 kilogrammes of pervitin seized, while in 2015 it was about 80 percent.
In 2016, the police revealed the first lab for the production of amphetamines, such as speed, in Czech territory. The gang produced about 3.5 tonnes of amphetamines worth nearly one billion crowns and it operated in several countries.
The number of drug crimes slightly increased in 2016.
Marijuana and pervitin are the most common drugs in the country. Most of the marijuana that the police seize was produced in the Czech Republic.
The report writes that meth production labs contaminate their surroundings with iodine.
The volumes of hashish, cocaine and heroin seized are usually far lower than those of pervitin and marijuana. Last year, 30 kg of cocaine was discovered in a fruit shipment from Latin America. The drugs ended up in the Czech Republic by mistake, the police said.
Volume of drugs seized by Czech police (in kilogrammes):
Year 2015 2016
Marijuana 655.1 722.1
Hashish 7.6 6.6
Methamphetamine 107.4 90.7
Cocaine 120.4 39.4
Heroin 1.6 19.3
Number of drug labs, hemp grow facilities revealed by Czech police and cannabis plants seized by them (in numbers):
Year 2015 2016
Drug labs 263 261
Hemp grow facilities 220 299
Cannabis plants 30,770 57,660
Numbers of drug crimes registered (drug production, smuggling and dealing):
Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Number of crimes 3097 3261 3947 3587 3518 3576
Source: Czech National Anti-Drug Centre
($1=23.642 crowns)
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