“Once again, customs responded,” said Amélie de Montchalin, the Minister responsible for public accounts, during the presentation of the annual French customs report in La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var) this Monday, March 24. While drug use increases rapidly in France – the use of cocaine and ecstasy has been multiplied by two in six years – the border police carried out a record number in 2024.
In all, more than 110 tonnes of narcotic products were thus confiscated by the border police (a figure up 18 % compared to 2023), including around 21 tonnes of cocaine (9 tonnes more than 2023) and 66 tonnes of cannabis (-5 %). 1.7 tonnes of ecstasy was also intercepted, a historic figure according to the annual report which has just been published.
These seizures only concern the products recovered from the national territory. Cooperation with our main foreign partners has indeed enabled the confiscation of 33 tonnes of additional drugs (including around 30 tonnes of cocaine).
In addition, each year, part of the illicit products are not recovered by customs but by police and gendarmerie agents. Our AFP colleagues point out that by adding the seizures of all these services, around 53.5 tonnes of cocaine were recovered in 2024. This represents an increase of 130 % compared to the year 2023 during which “only” 23 tonnes of white powder had been seized.
The inflection observed in these figures could increase in 2025. Since the beginning of the year, operations to combat drug trafficking have already enabled several tons of cocaine. In Dunkirk, a few weeks ago, a container from South America was thus intercepted. It contained about 10 tonnes of drugs. It is the very first time that a seizure of this magnitude has taken place in metropolitan territory.
Another record for financial fraud
According to the report, 881 firearms were also seized in 2024 (which represents an increase of 13 % compared to the 778 weapons confiscated in 2023). This increase is all the more notable since arms trafficking in France is also increasing. In 2024, more than 8,100 people were convicted of “trade and transport of weapons”, a figure up 17 % compared to 2021.
Finally, French customs seized nearly 600 million euros in criminal assets, 2.6 times more than the previous year. A law, adopted in July 2023gives it more means to combat organized crime and customs laundering.