During the first half of the year, Dutch customs officials seized fewer drugs than the same period in the previous year, according to a new report released on Tuesday.
Just 16 tonnes of cocaine were confiscated in the Netherlands’ seaports, down from 28 tonnes in the initial six months of 2023.
The authorities interpret this fall as evidence that strategies to thwart drug importation are working. The drug trade through Dutch ports has possibly become less appealing as a result of a clampdown by authorities.
Among the countermeasures are collaborations with Latin American countries and at the European level to hinder drug trafficking as much as possible. The number of staff involved in container inspections has also been reduced, while operations are announced with less notice to prevent information leaking to criminal circles.
According to Dutch customs, a downward trend is also observed in other North European ports. This does not necessarily indicate that drug trafficking has disappeared, but rather that criminals may be adopting alternative routes, they suggest. In contrast, the picture in Southern Europe is more mixed, with more cocaine found in warehouses but less on board ships.
As far as air freight is concerned, Dutch customs report a stable trend. In the first half of the year, 720 kilograms of white powder were seized, compared to 680 kilograms during the same period in the previous year.
Moreover, 6,300 parcels containing mostly synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy/MDMA, LSD, and amphetamine, along with cannabis and cocaine, were intercepted in the first six months of the year. This is a decrease from over 9,000 during the first half of 2023.
