ECB’s 500-Euro Note Lures Cocaine Smugglers to Europe, DEA Says

[Enivid]

Cocaine traffickers are targeting Europe because prices are higher, the currency is stronger and it’s easier to ship profits home using 500-euro ($693) bills, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

“There’s a big push on the part of Central and South American crime groups to increase trafficking to Europe, where they get a higher price per kilo,” Russell Benson, the DEA’s regional director for Europe and Africa, said in an interview in Rome. “The European Central Bank’s printing of the 500-euro note is an issue. It’s an attractive point for drug traffickers.”

A million dollars in $100 bills weighs about 22 pounds (10 kilograms), while $1 million in 500-euro bills at the current exchange rate of about $1.38 per euro weighs about 3.5 pounds, Benson said. The price of a kilo of cocaine in Europe can be more than double that of the more saturated U.S. market, he said. While a kilo of cocaine may cost $20,000 in California, it goes for as much as 35,000 euros ($48,543) in Europe.

From Bloomberg News.