In 2021, a record amount of 303 tons of cocaine was seized within the EU. Last year, 110 tons were taken in Europe’s second largest port of Antwerp alone, and preliminary figures point to a new record year.
The lion’s share of smuggling takes place via Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, but Sweden also stands out. In terms of intended destinations for cocaine seized in the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil, Sweden came in fourth place last year.
— We have seen increased seizures of cocaine throughout the EU, but the increase in Sweden is exceptional. It shows what a huge supply of cocaine there is in the EU and not least Sweden, says Ylva Johansson, EU Commissioner responsible for internal security, who on Friday presents the EU drug agency EMCDDA’s annual report together with the agency head Alexis Goosdeel.
Transit country Sweden
In 2022, a total of 822 kilograms of cocaine were seized in Sweden, one per thousand of the total European seizures but three times as much as the year before. It is already clear that 2023 will be a new record year. In the port of Helsingborg alone, Sweden’s largest recipient of refrigerated containers from South America, 867 kilos of cocaine were seized until the end of May.
According to the Swedish Customs Service, Sweden has become a transit country for extensive cocaine smuggling from South America. The EMCDDA estimates the value of the European cocaine market at upwards of 150 billion euros a year. With smuggling comes, notes Ylva Johansson, extensive corruption and violent crime.
Cocaine seized in Sweden and in the port of Helsingborg.
— The shootings and violence on our streets are perhaps most visible in Sweden, most recently in Farsta. When violence becomes so incredibly present, when children are killed and kill, we have reached a very dangerous situation that affects security and cohesion in society. The drug trade is a poison.
It is possible, she says, to draw a straight line from the seized cocaine in Ecuador to shooting deaths in Swedish suburban squares like the one in Farsta last weekend.
— It absolutely does, and the bonds are very strong.
“Must cooperate”
Ylva Johansson has initiated an initiative to help member countries close security gaps in an attempt to prevent smuggling and corruption in the ports.
The most important thing to strengthen the fight against international organized crime is, according to the commissioner, to facilitate police cooperation across borders.
— The smuggling has almost one hundred percent international connections. It could be other EU countries, Albania, Colombia or Ecuador. It is impossible for a single country to win this fight. You have to cooperate.
Cocaine seized in the port of Helsingborg is displayed at a press conference at the Customs Office in Malmö in May 2023. File image. Most common export countries from South America and the European ports with the largest seizures in 2021.