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 and cannabis; 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; significant domestic consumption of ecstasy
Belize
transshipment point for cocaine; small-scale illicit producer
of cannabis, primarily for local consumption; money-laundering
activity related to narcotics trafficking and offshore sector
Benin
transshipment point used by Nigerian traffickers for narcotics
destined for Western Europe; vulnerable to money laundering due to
poorly enforced financial regulations
Bolivia
world's third-largest cultivator of coca (after Colombia and
Peru) with an estimated 29,500 hectares under cultivation in 2007, a
slight increase over 2006; third largest producer of cocaine,
estimated at 120 metric tons of potential pure cocaine in 2007;
transit country for Peruvian and Colombian cocaine destined for
Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Europe; cultivation
generally increasing since 2000, despite eradication and alternative
crop programs; weak border controls; some money-laundering activity
related to narcotics trade, especially along the borders with Brazil
and Paraguay; major cocaine consumption (2007)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
increasingly a transit point for heroin being
trafficked to Western Europe; minor transit point for marijuana;
remains highly vulnerable to money-laundering activity given a
primarily cash-based and unregulated economy, weak law enforcement,
and instances of corruption
Brazil
second-largest consumer of cocaine in the world; 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