Europe’s two main entry points for cocaine have reported a drastic drop in seizures at maritime ports during the first half of 2024, but this is likely indicative not of reduced drug flows from Latin America but rather the adaptability of transnational organized crime.
Customs officials in the Netherlands announced a 40% decrease in cocaine seizures at Dutch ports, falling from 36 tons in the first half of 2023 to 22 tons during the same period in 2024. Officials at Belgium’s principal port, Antwerp, announced a more severe drop in seizures from 44 tons to 22 tons during that time.
The Netherlands’ Port of Rotterdam and Belgium’s Port of Antwerp are Europe’s largest and second-largest ports, respectively, and have long served as the primary cocaine gateways into the continent. Cocaine seizures surged across Europe over the past few years as drug trafficking organizations in Latin America exploited a boom in coca cultivation and increasing European demand.
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In response, some authorities implemented stronger security measures, including in Rotterdam, where all shipping containers arriving from Latin America are now scanned. Dutch authorities attributed the drop in seizures to security and outreach efforts both at home and abroad.
“By strengthening its information position through the placement of liaisons in Latin America, the deployment of innovations and specialized teams, and increased cooperation with the business community, Dutch Customs is raising barriers,” the customs authority said in a July 9 press release.
But while seizures may be down for now, both ports remain important entry points. On July 15, authorities in Paraguay seized more than 4 tons of cocaine hidden in sugar sacks that were set to be shipped to the Port of Antwerp in Belgium.
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While Dutch and Belgian authorities, often working in tandem, have improved their anti-drug efforts with new technological advances, the drop in cocaine seizures may be the result of traffickers having already shifted their routes, demonstrating their ability to stay one step ahead of authorities.
Over the last few years, experts have noted a turn in trafficking inflows toward Europe’s secondary ports – smaller, less busy ports – where security is not as tight. In fact, Dutch Customs noted that the drop-off at their ports is seen elsewhere in northwestern European ports.
“Presumably, other routes are currently preferable to imports of cocaine through these ports,” it said in the press release.
For example, large cocaine shipments have arrived at less-transited ports like Southampton in the United Kingdom, Helsingborg in Sweden, and even Russia. In France, the northern coastal port city of Le Havre has become an important entryway for drugs and the scene of spectacular shootouts between criminals and police in recent years.
“These ports are not traditional [entry points], controls are not set up optimally yet. So they present an opportunity [for traffickers],” Yulia Vorobyeva, a drug trafficking expert and lecturer at Florida International University, told InSight Crime.
But gangs have not only diversified their use of ports. They have also increasingly exploited non-traditional transit points to reduce the attention of customs authorities once the cocaine reaches its final destination in Europe.
In March, the French navy seized over 10 tons of cocaine in the Gulf of Guinea, off the West African coast. In September last year, the force seized 2.4 tons in the same area and another 5 tons in April. Similar upticks in seizures have occurred in the Sahel belt, a stretch of territory that sits below the Sahara Desert and is used as a drug trafficking route to North Africa and onwards to Europe. Related patterns have been seen in regions of eastern and southern Africa.
Traffickers use “counterintuitive routes that offer lower risks in the short term” when met with increased security at their preferred points of entry, Anna Sergi, a professor of criminology at the University of Essex, told InSight Crime.
As these shifts in Europe have taken place, traffickers have also begun to use novel origin ports in Latin America, further complicating interdiction efforts. Chile and Suriname, for example, have developed greater roles in facilitating the flow of cocaine to Europe.
In Brazil, customs authorities in the Port of Santos, located in the home state of the country’s largest drug trafficking organization, the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC), recently introduced tighter scanning measures on containers going to or arriving from 10 countries, including Russia, Turkey, and Georgia.
Feature image: An aerial view of the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port. Credit: Danny Cornelissen