Australia has been revealed to be the most profitable market for cocaine cartels in the world, due to its relatively high street value in the country.
An apparently confidential report Australian Federal Police obtained by the Australian media reveals that overseas cartels have been increasingly targeting the country with shipments, due to a street price of $190,000 a kilo compared to $35,000 in the US. The report blames a “generational shift” towards cocaine use for the huge increase in prices.
“As long as the Australian user market is that lucrative, the organised transnational crime syndicates will target us because there are higher profit margins available to them,” the report was quoted in the Herald Sun. It’s now to the point where the Australian Federal Police now have a small operational team in Bogota, Colombia to help stop shipments to Australia. Seizures of cocaine in Australia now account for some 25% of total drug hauls in the country per year, compared to 5% in 2003.
Source: InTheMix.com.au