More and more cocaine is arriving in Europe, with over 70% entering through the Belgian port of Antwerp and the Dutch port of Rotterdam, a Europol spokesperson told the German news agency DPA.
The Port of Antwerp has long been the preferred point of entry for criminal organisations smuggling cocaine into Europe, followed by the major ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg. As authorities have attempted to crack down on this trade, drug gangs have found ever more ingenious ways to smuggle it in.
However, these efforts, and others such as collaborations with source countries, have not borne fruit quickly enough, the European law enforcement agency Europol confirmed.
According to Europol's analyses, cocaine smuggling into Europe is continuing to increase. Over 70% of cocaine entering Europe is transported through the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam.
More frequent and larger seizures
More than €31 billion worth of illicit drugs are trafficked in the EU every year. Cannabis is still the number one drug with about €12 billion worth being trafficked, closely followed by cocaine with about €11.6 billion.
The record level of global cocaine production is also reflected in the huge amounts currently seized in Europe: last year, more than 300 tonnes of cocaine were seized at European ports. In Antwerp alone (Port of Antwerp and Zeebrugge combined), investigators seized a record 121 tonnes of cocaine in 2023, about 10% more than the previous year. However, seizures likely represent only 10-20% of the total amount of the drug in circulation.
Europol's analyses also show that individual quantities are increasing. Last year, for example, the largest individual quantity to date was seized in Rotterdam: about 8,000 kilos of cocaine, worth about €600 million, was found in a container of bananas.
Europol stressed that violence around the trafficking of cocaine is also on the rise. "The huge profits from cocaine smuggling have attracted many criminal networks in the EU," the spokesperson said. "The competition is increasingly leading to violent confrontations." She added that Europol has recorded more murders, shootings, attacks with explosives, kidnappings and arsons.
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This type of crime is also surfacing more in Belgium. In Antwerp, organised crime groups attempted to take back their seized loads, putting port staff at risk. Both in the Flemish port city and in Brussels, drug violence has surged, with turf wars thought to be behind many of the recent shootings in both cities, adding to locals' feelings of insecurity.
However, Europol did note that the rising number of seizures means investigators are gaining more and more insight into how gangs operate. The basis for this included cracking criminal digital communication networks such as Encrochat.
