Bulgaria’s domestic consumption of cocaine is much below Western European levels, yet it forms a market in its own right that enjoys special attention from both distributors and users. A number of surveys suggest that cocaine (dubbed ”white stuff”) is considered an elitist drug of the highest possible quality, cov- eted by most users, but so high-priced that it is affordable only to a select few. However, in the last five years there has been a clear-cut trend of growing use. The national population surveys128 have captured a rapid increase in the share 127See: Synthetic Drugs Trafficking in Three European Cities: Major Trends and Involvement of Organised
Crime, Gruppo Abele, in cooperation with TNI – IECAH and with the support of UNICRI,
2003.
128Since 2002 the Center for the Study of Democracy and Vitosha Research have performed six annual victimization surveys containing a significant bloc of questions on the use of the most widespread psychoactive substances.
of users who ”have tried cocaine” from 0.1 % in 2002 to 0.8 % in 2007. The National Focal Point on Drugs and Drug Addictions in its survey captured an even higher portion–1.1 %.129 The relative share peaks for the age group 18–34 where it is 2.4 %. Cocaine, it turns out, is used by a socially heterogeneous group of people–heroin users (10% of whom declare to have used cocaine in the last month), university students (1.2% report use in the preceding month, and 4.9%–in their lifetime),130 and secondary school students (1.6 % stating to have tried in their lifetime).131
Cocaine is most widely consumed among high-income groups, such as skilled professionals and managers. However, surveys among this group are hard to conduct. The in-depth interviews conducted with several members show that the consumption pattern resembles that of amphetamines–the consumption peaks on Friday and Saturday nights, Christmas and Easter time, summer and winter vacations.
Dealers distinguish between two relatively well-defined user groups. The first group consists of well-off people that buy only cocaine. Most of them have noth- ing in common with racketeer businesses. They regard amphetamines as low-qual- ity and risky and have unrelenting requirements about the purity of cocaine. They go to smaller VIP clubs, rather than popular discotheques. A large part of them prefer joint where a specific type of local music called chalga is played. These are places that also serve food, which is absent in amphetamine use. Private home parties are also typical of the all-cocaine group. These are closed-up circles where cocaine is on offer alongside classy liquor. Dealers supplying stuff to such parties claim that often some of the leading underworld bosses would supervise the organization of these deliveries in order to gain access to exclusive profes- sional communities, e.g. of managers, policemen, customs officials, high-ranking magistrates, etc. Police statistics show that this user group is practically immune to law enforcement. This is due not just to their hermetic organization and high social status, but also to police reluctance to penetrate those circles.
The second group comprises people who use cocaine only occasionally. As a rule, they use amphetamines and only sometimes can afford cocaine. Their co- caine consumption has a strong influence on amphetamine sales. Some dealers have claimed that if a client of theirs has cocaine on Friday, he would refrain from amphetamines not only on the next day, but also in the next few weeks. Part of this group reverts to cocaine only as they get older and a more affluent life style becomes affordable.
Cocaine distribution has a number of peculiarities. In large cities it is completely independent from the other submarkets. Police officers and dealers testify that in Sofia, it is controlled by VIS,132 represented by a drug boss named Таке. His 129Annual Report on Drugs and Drug Addictions Issues in Bulgaria, 2006, National Focal Point on Drugs
and Drug Addictions.
130University Students and Psychoactive Substances 2006, national representative survey among Bulgarian students, National Focal Point on Drugs and Drug Addictions.
131National Center for Drug Addictions and National Center for Public Health Protection, National Population Survey on the Use of Alcohol and other Drugs in Bulgarian Schools (9-12 Grade), 2003. 132See Chapter 1 for details of the origins on this group.
proxy, nicknamed Sako has operational control over large deliveries and is ac- countable to the boss. The drug is distributed among wholesalers, specialized cocaine phone appointment dealers and area dealers of other drugs. The cocaine branch has certain agreements with area supervisors, but they have no opera- tional functions in the distribution itself. Dealer networks from the other branches are in customer-seller relations with the cocaine network, making purchases when their clients want cocaine and selling it at a profit. The regular cocaine users buy straight from cocaine dealers. It is not clear what rent street dealers who sell near entertainment spots pay to area supervisors, but the fact that they can work undisturbed is a sign of previous agreements between them and the supervisors. The situation in Varna is similar. Up to 2005–2006, cocaine distribution had an independent vertical structure headed by a crime boss nicknamed the Camel. After he left Bulgaria, one of the two retailing segments was inherited by Vesko ”Politsaya” (The Policeman), whereas upper-level distribution is now handled by ”” a guy called Sevata.
Bourgas is the only large city where the cocaine market is considered to be under the control of a single crime organization (up until 2007), the so called Pomorie group whose boss is Mityo ”Ochite” (The Eyes). As mentioned earlier, however, drug distribution in Bourgas has independent segments dedicated to each drug and serviced by an autonomous criminal network. After Miyto Ochite was arrested, the cocaine structure started to fall apart. In the summer of 2007, cocaine in the largest markets in the district–the sea resorts of Slanchev Bryag and Nesebar, is handled by the Sofia division of VIS.
Little information is available about the sources of cocaine dealt in Bulgaria. It is particularly scarce after the assassination of Poli Pantev, believed to control cocaine supplies (who allegedly stole a large batch from a Colombian cartel, part of which was later retailed in Bulgaria). Neither the price, nor the exact amounts of cocaine imports are known. The nickname of the local crime lord largely involved in cocaine trafficking is Brendo. Police sources disclose that he does not supply the domestic market, though. Cocaine mules from Bulgaria have been caught in Europe (Spain, Holland, Italy) and Latin America, but their activities have not proven to have any relation with the home market. Whether these were ”swallowers”133 carrying only small amounts or yacht crews escorting tons of cocaine, in none of the cases the smuggled drugs were directed at the Bulgarian market.