TEXT CARD: The route of hashish to Europe drastically changed in 2013. Rukmini: There are two reasons why the drugs are no longer taking the shortest route from Morocco to Spain, through the Straits of Gibraltar. starting in around 2008 the European Union began investing heavily in installing cameras along the southern coast of Spain which has made it easier to intercept these vessels. The most important reason however is in 2011 Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown as the leader of Libya. His country which was formerly sealed off was plunged into chaos and that created an opening for the traffickers. The shipments then went by sea to the coast of Libya where they were unloaded and then and then trafficked overland through Libya Egypt and then back into Europe through the Balkans. TEXT CARD: Boats now sail from Morocco to Libya — less frequently but deliver much higher quantities of drugs. before that the hashish that was smuggled into Europe came in in small quantities small enough to hide in a jet ski in a sailboat in a fishing trawler. Now they’re using cargo ships that are that some of which were worth the length of a soccer field. what we know is that is that Libya is not a country of consumption. So the only reason for it to be passing through Libya is br It’s part of the highway to get to Europe where it is sold on the streets to users. TEXT CARD: In Libya, the drugs route goes through the territory controlled by the Islamic state. The inspectors that are that are looking into the shipment of these drugs fear that that that ISIS was involved in the trafficking of these drugs not as users but rather as the authority that is controlling the territory and that is therefore able to exact attacks in return for its passage. the question at the heart of our reporting is the extent to which ISIS is benefiting from this trade An dto be honest, we don’t know the extent to which ISIS is taxing this route but that is the element that has most worried investigators So for for decades the drug trafficking in Italy and in other parts of Europe has been controlled by the mafia. And investigators in Sicily told me that they would actually prefer that the Mafia was still in control. They say that because they find the specter of ISIS benefiting from this trade to be even more frightening they told me that ISIS does things that no mafioso would ever consider doing. END