Slightly over two tons of narcotics seized in criminal investigations were burned on Monday at the construction company Nexe's factory incinerator in the town of Nasice, state news agency Hina said.

This is the 18th incineration of confiscated drugs, in which 1.8 tons of marijuana and hashish, 86 kilograms of cocaine, 33.8 kilograms of amphetamine, and 10 kilograms of heroin were destroyed, with their street value estimated at 102 million kuna (€13.5 million).

Interior Minister, Davor Bozinovic, who attended the ceremony, said that the illegal drug market has “clearly recovered after the Covid-19 pandemic” and that only a “comprehensive approach and cooperation of competent services” can achieve “more favorable results” in the fight against drugs.

“This market is difficult to stop because it involves numerous groups of organized crime, trying to earn a lot of money with these activities, but the Croatian police and customs are doing a serious job of busting such rings,” Bozinovic said.

“He announced the development of a new strategy to combat illegal drug trafficking,” Hina cited Bozinovic as saying, without clarifying how would the new strategy be different from the existing one.

“He explained that the drug market is changing quickly and last year alone 52 new types of drugs, primarily synthetic drugs were discovered in the EU,” Hina said.

“The situation in Europe shows that the drug market has exceeded the value of €30 billion a year. Seventy percent of all crime rings in Europe are also involved in drug trafficking, and this usually infers an increase in violence, murders, crime gangs’ conflcts, money laundering and corruption,” warned asistant director of Croatia’s public health service HZJZ, Zeljko Petkovic.

He pointed out that in Croatia there has been an increase in the consumption of marijuana, cocaine and various stimulants, and that the new national strategy, which is expected to be adopted by the Croatian Parliament by the end of the year, would entail measures to combat all forms of addiction, including drugs, tobacco, alcohol, as well as addictive behaviors such as betting and gambling.

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)