German authorities announced on Monday June 17 the record seizure of 35.5 tonnes of cocaine, mainly in the port of Hamburg, during an investigation into a criminal network operating between Latin America and Europe.
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These seizures, with a total value of 2.6 billion euros, took place between April and September 2023 and represent “ largest total quantity seized to date in German investigation », indicated the police and justice services involved on June 17. The drugs hidden in shipping containers were discovered in the port of Hamburg (24.5 tonnes), that of Rotterdam in the Netherlands (eight tonnes) and Guayaquil in Ecuador (three tonnes).
This seizure represents more than half of the total volume of cocaine seized in Germany last year, estimated by the authorities at 43 tonnes. Germany is doing facing a new dimension in the supply of cocaine “, said the head of the Stuttgart customs investigation office, Ronald Lenz, at a press conference.
Seven suspects arrested
The investigation identified eight suspects aged 30 to 54, of German, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Moroccan and Turkish nationality, seven of whom were arrested. They are suspected of having acted through front companies to smuggle the drugs by sea to Europe.
This is a “ precise uppercut that harms drug lords “, greeted the Minister of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia, Benjamin Limbach.
German ports facing “ to an influx of cocaine that has lasted for years »
These investigations will help to better understand the operating mode of these “highly structured networks”, while German ports are faced, as elsewhere in Europe, with “ to an influx of cocaine that has lasted for years », Underlined Tino Ingelmann, director of German customs.
The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain are the top three European countries for cocaine imports, with most coming from Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. In Antwerp, one of the main entry points for drugs in Europe, cocaine seizures break records every year: 116 tonnes were intercepted there in 2023.
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