2023-11-04 15:23:59
The answer is yes. Last October, 23 tonnes of cocaine were seized at the port of Antwerp. For comparison, nearly 110 tonnes were seized over the whole of last year. It is therefore clear that 2023 will be a record year.
Over the past five years, cocaine seizures have only increased. In 5 years, seizures have almost doubled:
2019: 64 tonnes 2020: 66 tonnes 2021: 90 tonnes 2022: 110 tonnes
How can these increases be explained? Firstly because the port of Antwerp remains central. Cocaine arrives from South America (Dominican Republic, Panama and Colombia). It is then redistributed throughout Europe. The American market has been in decline since the appearance of another drug there, Fentanyl.
The work of customs officers and the police should also be highlighted, while their expertise has clearly been refined in recent years. Also worth highlighting is the collaboration with our neighbors like the Netherlands, but also the signing of treaties with exporting countries.
These seizures hurt drug traffickers because, even if they are only a drop in the ocean, they represent enormous sums of money. 1 gram of cocaine corresponds to around €50. So imagine, 23 tons of cocaine… According to high estimates, this is equivalent to 2 billion euros. This is therefore a huge loss of income for criminal organizations.
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