The increase in cocaine trafficking to Europe, driven by high production in Latin America and growing demand in the EU, . To evade police pressure and surveillance in large ports such as Antwerp (Belgium), Hamburg (Germany) or Rotterdam (Netherlands), they use semi-submersible ships. They also transfer drug shipments from one ship to another on the high seas. And to neutralize the use of scanners, detection dogs and forensic tests, they incorporate the drug into plastics, textiles, cardboard or food. This evolution in their practices appears in a report published this Tuesday because it warns of the adaptability of drug traffickers to anticipate police and port controls. And the need to strengthen international cooperation.
Under the title, the work indicates that the flow to Europe continues to grow at “unprecedented levels,” and warns of the ability of organized crime to adapt. The boost from the European Ports Alliance, a form of public-private cooperation launched in January 2024 to strengthen them, has reduced seizures in Antwerp, Hamburg and Rotterdam, but Europol indicates that trafficking does not disappear. It moves, and hence the transshipment of cargoes on the high seas has arisen. For this, the presence of a mother ship from Latin America is necessary, which transfers them to another secondary ship off the coast of West Africa. Once on land, the cocaine “is taken to the European continent or the Canary Islands,” says Europol.
The other type of traffic that emerged from the adaptation involves the use of semi-submersible and other non-commercial vessels. Specially designed and increasingly autonomous, they were previously associated with short journeys in Latin America. Now they appear on transatlantic routes, and the interception – in March 2024 – of one of these models near the Azores is cited. It had about 6.5 tonnes of drugs on board, the largest amount seized in this way in the EU. Europol also mentions deliveries and transshipments in the North Atlantic, the Kattegat Strait (off the Swedish west coast), and the English Channel, along with cases of caches left off Ireland, the United Kingdom and the coast of Denmark.
The report has also detected the existence of direct routes to Spain by means of fast boats capable of operating up to about 100 nautical miles from the coast, and for long periods of time. Here, Andalusia and the Guadalquivir River are the key entry and distribution points, with rigid hull pneumatic models. Upon reaching the Andalusian coast, criminal networks use that river to transport cocaine inland for subsequent distribution. A situation that, according to Europol, attracts new criminals and increases the risk of violence associated with the control, by traffickers, of large caches. However, the latter alternate different forms of shipping depending on the risks, and it is not ruled out that they also use air transport and postal shipments.
An example of the change in methods included in the report is . It was led by the Spanish authorities with the support of Europol, and led to the arrest of 101 suspects and the seizure of more than 10 tons of cocaine in the Iberian Peninsula. The suspects used high-speed boats that exceeded 70 kilometers per hour and complex encrypted communication systems to evade the police. The operation dealt a decisive blow to one of the largest cocaine trafficking organizations in Europe, and showed the regional shift from cannabis to cocaine trafficking.
Along with the examples of maritime and river traffic, Europol indicates a variety of methods to neutralize the work of dogs specialized in searching for cocaine, scanners and forensic evidence. Here, researchers have observed the incorporation of the drug into various materials before its shipment to Europe. It has appeared incorporated or chemically linked to plastics, foods, textiles or cardboard, and to obtain it, clandestine extraction laboratories are needed in Europe. Or the presence of experts from Latin America.
Before the publication of the report, Catherine De Bolle, executive director of Europol, has warned that all these tactics “represent a significant challenge for law enforcement agencies.” He states that the European police response “must be equally dynamic and coordinated.” And it is committed, together with its partners, “to dismantling these networks and making Europe safer.”
For his part, and at the time of the report’s appearance, Magnus Brunner, European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, recalled that criminal networks “find increasingly ingenious and diverse ways to introduce cocaine and other narcotics into our Union.” In his opinion, the conclusions of this investigation will help Europol and national authorities “to cut off the supply of cocaine, dismantle the business model of traffickers and save the lives of EU citizens.”
