On the Ambiguity of the Concept of ‘Narcoterrorism’
On the Ambiguity of the Concept of ‘Narcoterrorism’

Summary/Abstract: The article presents issues associated with the term ‘narcoterrorism.’ It started to be used at the end of the Cold War. Initially, it was used in relation to the cooperation of drug traffickers with leftist terrorist organizations in Latin America and the states of the Soviet bloc. It should be noted that there is no single, generally accepted definition of this term in the literature. Because it can mean both using methods attributed to terrorists by drug cartels and financing their activities by terrorist groups through drug trafficking. Regarding the first meaning, this study presents the case of Colombia and Mexico, countries particularly affected by drug cartels. About the second meaning, the subject of the description is the case of Afghanistan, in which the rule of the Taliban terrorist group is financed by the opium trade. Narcoterrorism understood in this way was then “relocated” to the Balkans, where thousands of Afghan fighters were sent in connection with the outbreak of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result of these events, a “hybrid” of local organized crime and terrorism imported from Afghanistan was born in the Balkans. The region has become a focal point on a smuggling route for Taliban-produced drugs to enter Europe. Both forms of the phenomenon may threaten Poland’s internal security. It is evident that the term ‘narcoterrorism’ is a polysemic, ambiguous phenomenon, and such ambiguity would constitute a major obstacle for the legislator if he attempted to introduce this concept into the Polish legal language.

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