DEA Regional Chief: Bulgarians Top Charts in Going after Synthetic Drugs

DEA has enjoyed outstanding partnership with the Bulgarian police authorities, according to Mark Snyder, head of the DEA Office in Istanbul. Pictured: a DEA operation. Photo by DEA

The Bulgarian authorities are putting up rigorous efforts to crack down on the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs, Mark Snyder, head of the US DEA Office in Istanbul, told Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency).

In an interview for the Bulgaria-US Survey of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), the chief of the Istanbul office of the American Drug Enforcement Administration, which also covers Bulgaria, praised what he described as "outstanding" cooperation and partnership with the Bulgarian government and Interior Ministry as well as the commitment of Bulgarian Prime Minister Borisov to cracking down on organized crime.

"Our best successes to date are seizing large quantities of chemicals that can be used for synthetic drugs such as the seizure of silicon hydrate – this is a substance used primarily for processing heroin, although it can be used to make synthetic drugs. With the help of the Bulgarians, the SECI center, we have seized 21 tonnes in the last year of this silicon hydrate. So it is a good opportunity for us to attack the drug problems by going after these chemicals," Snyder said.

He pointed out according to Bulgarian police sources the number of newly discovered amphetamine labs is on the decline which testifies to their efforts against synthetic drug production.

Snyder emphasized the role and importance of SECI – the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, which is a regional center for combating trans-border organized crime headquartered in Bucharest – in fighting trans-border organized crime.

He expressed hopes that DEA will open an office in Sofia "as soon as possible"; this will be its third office in the Balkans in addition to the already existing ones in Istanbul and Athens.

"We hope it will happen as soon as possible. It's a very high priority for DEA, for Ambassador Warlick, we know it is a high priority for Prime Minister Borisov and Interior Minister Tsvetanov. What I promise to the Embassy and the Bulgarians is that DEA is going to support them 110%...The partnership that DEA has with our Bulgarian friends is what we would wish to have in many other parts of the world because it has been so successful," Snyder declared.

Full text of the interview of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) with DEA Istanbul Office head Mark Snyder READ HERE

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