Criminal groups from the Western Balkans, mainly Serbs, have taken control of the cocaine market in Austria, claims Daniel Lichteneger, head of the Austrian Anti-Narcotics Office.

Lichteneger, for the Austrian media, said that the sale of cocaine has moved to the Internet, that is, to the black network and social networks.

"What can be read in black and white shows the potential of criminal groups, which do not shy away from anything," explains Lichteneger.

He points out that what has changed is that criminal groups from Africa no longer dominate the cocaine trade, but groups from the Western Balkans.

"Serbs are there, they are the first," the Austrian police officer claims.

According to him, these groups are highly organized and set up as a successful company.

The media reports that Colombian farmers are producing more cocaine than in the era of Pablo Escobar and that new record quantities are being seized in European ports.

Even in Austria, the number of cocaine users doubled in a short period of time.

Above all, the criminal cartels benefit from the sale of "white powder", which collects billions.

And those cartels are connected to the state, as Roberto Saviano wrote in his book "Zero, zero, zero - how cocaine rules the world".

"In a country where the narcotics trade is the most profitable economic branch, the most powerful boss of that branch is worth more than the minister," emphasizes Saviano.

Europol says that 2,000 tons of cocaine are produced every year in Colombia.

More than 60 percent of the cocaine comes from South America and 40 percent from Colombia, making that country the biggest producer.

Most of the cocaine comes to Europe by ship, through big ports like Antwerp or Rotterdam.

Dutch journalist Teun Voeten claims that Antwerp is the most preferred port of call for criminal organizations.

"It is impossible to control the millions of containers that arrive.

"One container contains fruit and another contains fruit and cocaine," he says.

In Austria, there are about 660 members of the police, which is about 2 percent of law enforcement officers, specializing in the fight against narcotics crime.

The number of cocaine users in the EU is around 3.5 million, which is 1.2 percent of the total population.

This makes cocaine, after cannabis, the second most used drug in EU countries.

/Telegraph/