A total of 2.9 tonnes of confiscated narcotics with an estimated market value of €60 million was incinerated on Monday in the plants of the Našice-based Nexe company, with national police director Nikola Milina saying that 1,919 drug-related crimes were processed this year.

This is the 19th time confiscated drugs were incinerated in Nexe’s furnaces, more specifically 1.2 tonnes of marijuana and hashish, 776 kilograms of cocaine and 244 kilograms of heroin.

Milina said that most of the drugs was seized in 2021, which he described as a direct blow to the Balkan drug cartel.

This year the police have reported 1,919 crimes of drug abuse and 868 perpetrators, Milina said, noting that this bore evidence of the results of the Croatian police and their role in the EU and Southeast Europe, where, he said, they are on the vanguard in terms of operations.

Croatian Public Health Institute assistant director Zeljko Petkovic said that the narcotics market was the most dynamic criminal market in Europe, with its value estimated at more than €30 billion.

In the last ten years the consumption of narcotics has increased by 30%, which reflects mostly on the European market as the richest and most important illegal market, he said, citing UN estimates.

According to the last survey, one in four Croatians have tried an illegal substance. There has been an increase in the consumption of marijuana, amphetamines and ecstasy, Petkovic said, adding that the diversity and availability of psychoactive substances was worrying.