Criminal networks are well ahead in the fight over Europe’s ports

As cocaine production in South America rises, and street prices in Europe stagnate, traffickers appear to be favouring bigger shipments. That may explain why the amount of seized cocaine in Europe is increasing even as the number of individual seizures has declined since 2019, says Cathy Haenlein from the Royal United Services Institute (rusi), a think-tank in London. Meanwhile, higher levels of automation and digitisation at big ports are, paradoxically, facilitating new security breaches for gangs to exploit. Increasingly, they steal container-reference codes to nab cargo with cocaine smuggled into it. Corrupt workers can receive as much as 15% of the drugs’ value in return for their help, according to Europol. Others are blackmailed.