Bahamas, The
transshipment point for cocaine and marijuana bound for
US and Europe; offshore financial center
Bangladesh
transit country for illegal drugs produced in neighboring
countries
Barbados
one of many Caribbean transshipment points for narcotics
bound for Europe and the US; offshore financial center
Belarus
limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for
the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to and
via Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe; a small and
lightly regulated financial center; new anti-money-laundering
legislation does not meet international standards; few
investigations or prosecutions of money-laundering activities
Belgium
growing producer of synthetic drugs; transit point for
US-bound ecstasy; source of precursor chemicals for South American
cocaine processors; transshipment point for cocaine, heroin,
hashish, and marijuana entering Western Europe; despite a
strengthening of legislation, the country remains vulnerable to
money laundering related to narcotics, automobiles, alcohol, and
tobacco
Belize
transshipment point for cocaine; small-scale illicit producer
of cannabis for the international drug trade; money-laundering
activity related to narcotics trafficking and offshore sector
Benin
transshipment point for narcotics associated with Nigerian
trafficking organizations and most commonly destined for Western
Europe and the US; vulnerable to money laundering due to a poorly
regulated financial infrastructure
Bolivia
world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and
Peru) with an estimated 26,500 hectares under cultivation in August
2005, an 8% increase from 2004; intermediate coca products and
cocaine exported mostly to or through Brazil, Argentina, and Chile
to European drug markets; cultivation steadily increasing despite
eradication and alternative crop programs; money-laundering activity
related to narcotics trade, especially along the borders with Brazil
and Paraguay
Bosnia and Herzegovina
minor transit point for marijuana and opiate
trafficking routes to Western Europe; remains highly vulnerable to
money-laundering activity given a primarily cash-based and
unregulated economy, weak law enforcement, and instances of
corruption
Brazil
illicit producer of cannabis; trace amounts of coca
cultivation in the Amazon region, used for domestic consumption;
government has a large-scale eradication program to control
cannabis; important transshipment country for Bolivian, Colombian,
and Peruvian cocaine headed for Europe; also used by traffickers as
a way station for narcotics air transshipments between Peru and
Colombia; upsurge in drug-related violence and weapons smuggling;
important market for Colombian, Bolivian, and Peruvian cocaine;
illicit narcotics proceeds earned in Brazil are often laundered
through the financial system; significant illicit financial activity
in the Tri-Border Area