New drug smuggling crackdown agreed

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Home Secretary John Reid was among European ministers who pledged to form closer links with African states, in a bid to place a stranglehold on new smuggling routes.

The G6 meeting in Venice heard Europe had witnessed a "sharp growth" in cocaine abuse and that trafficking routes from South America via western and central African countries were "gaining ground".

Italian interior minister Giuliano Amato said: "We are strengthening our contact capabilities and our concentration on Africa.

"We thought it was necessary to strengthen the structures available to fight against the new route which, starting in Latin America - mainly Columbia - brings cocaine to Europe through Africa."

He added: "There is now massive consumption and a massive presence of cocaine in our markets, which is much more consumed than heroin."

Ministers agreed to take forward work to allow European anti-drug experts and liaison officers to be stationed in western Africa.

They will also attempt to set up meetings between senior anti-drug officials in the G6 and Mediterranean African states.

Ministers said they would consider extending the area covered by the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre - Narcotics (MAOC-N) into the western Mediterranean basin.