Source: AFP
The EU is launching on Wednesday a “European Ports Alliance” to harmonize methods to combat drug smuggling and fight the infiltration of criminal groups at hubs.
The initiative — launched in Belgium’s Antwerp port, Europe’s main cocaine gateway — involves EU interior ministers and representatives from 16 of the bloc’s ports and maritime transport organisations.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told AFP before the launch that it was “obvious that we cannot make efforts in just one port, because the criminals immediately move to another port”.
Europe’s major ports are currently under attack by local mafias willing to do anything to maintain the lucrative illegal trade.
The groups include criminal gangs in the Netherlands with Moroccan roots and in Belgium with links to Albanian and Italian mafia rings.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/4663ae4ab96e2b51.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/4663ae4ab96e2b51.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
Fears about the economy are growing as German railways begin their biggest strike yet
Their tactics include attempts to bribe or coerce longshoremen, dockers, truck drivers, and customs and police officers to allow their henchmen to seize drug shipments.
Cocaine, originating in Latin America, is flooding the European market.
In Antwerp, annual seizures continue to rise. In 2023 authorities seized 116 tonnes and the city is often rocked by gang violence as rival gangs battle for control of the lucrative illegal trade.
Source: AFP
“Cocaine seizures are skyrocketing and setting new records,” Johansson said. “But at the same time, we’re seeing the street price drop. That means there’s a lot of cocaine.”
The rise in drug gang activity in Antwerp follows a security crackdown in the Dutch port of Rotterdam, the Swedish commissioner noted.
Now, as Antwerp steps up its own anti-trafficking efforts, “it seems that even now (criminal groups) are coming to smaller ports, for example, there are indications that more drugs are coming to Helsingborg, Sweden,” he said.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/df3134e1ec5021d0.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/df3134e1ec5021d0.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
The EU will step up efforts to protect sensitive assets from China
“So they seem to adapt very quickly.”
The same phenomenon is observed at the departure points for drugs, he said.
Enhanced security at Colombian ports has prompted gangs to turn to Guayaquil in Ecuador, which has become the main hub for exporting cocaine to Europe to Colombia and Peru.
“Huge danger” for the ports
In the European Union, almost 70 percent of drug seizures by customs are made at the bloc’s ports.
This shows the need for more cooperation, not only between the police and customs services, but also with private operators at the ports, Johansson said.
The risk of corruption spreading to the ports threatened legitimate activity at the hubs, he added, creating a “huge risk” for private companies there.
“Nobody wants that to happen. So that’s the interest to protect.”
The ports alliance aims to boost the sharing of information and working models, while also mapping drug flows and dismantling criminal gangs.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/effc8b42805d69ef.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/effc8b42805d69ef.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
Argentinians down tools in first major challenge to Milei budget cut
The adaptability of the gangs means that the focus cannot just be on containers arriving from Latin America.
Smugglers also send drug shipments to West and North Africa, where they load them onto small boats that go mostly to Spanish ports, Johansson said.
And alongside the battle to curb the cocaine trade is growing concern about synthetic drugs.
French Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin, who is attending the Antwerp launch, said these drugs — such as ecstasy, amphetamines, MDMA — are “creating new European crime networks.”
He called for a common strategy to ensure that fentanyl does not become a major problem in Europe.
This synthetic opioid, cooked from chemical agents often imported legally from China, has become a scourge in the United States, where tens of thousands of overdoses are reported each year.
Currently, fentanyl use is “still at a very low level” in Europe, Johansson said. However, he noted that many other synthetic drugs are made within the European Union, with much of the production being exported by smugglers to other parts of the world.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/default.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/default.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
Xi’s crackdown on corruption targets the struggling financial sector
“We dismantle 400 workshops a year in the EU. This is indeed something that concerns me a lot,” he said.
Source: AFP