Cocaine seizures in the Netherlands to new record
In 2021, another record amount of cocaine will be intercepted in the Netherlands. Up to and including Christmas, almost 68,000 kilograms have been seized, compared to 49,000 kilograms in the whole of last year, according to an inventory of the NOS. Al yields the number of kilograms intercepted sharply. But only a success of a date is doubtful.
Door @Wim van de Pol
This year, several mega lots of several kilos, including the largest cocaine seizure in recent years. It is also striking that more cocaine was found among cargo at Schiphol: from 700 kilos in 2020 to 1,800 kilos in the past year. 500 kilograms of coke were found in passenger luggage this year.
takers
The rip-off method in containers is almost the most popular in the ports. In addition, cocaine is placed in containers of companies that know nothing about it themselves. In the Netherlands, extractors try to get the cocaine out of the containers. Until the Christmas and Seaport Police more than 400 mutual extractors, compared to 81 last year. They strike as containers waiting to be checked. Customs says it will move risk containers faster next year so that the time that collectors have is shorter. Punishments for eviscerators will be raised.
More cocaine
Customs told the NOS that it is possible to intercept more drugs in order to make better calculations for a risk.
Whether that is true remains to be seen. It is also possible that more cocaine is simply produced in the source countries (Colombia, Peru and Bolivia) because this trade is becoming more lucrative. The profits are so great that the cocaine entrepreneurs can hardly hurt them. It could therefore also be the case that more horses are sent to Europe and that Rotterdam, as a trade hub, also transits more cocaine in containers as a transit port for other countries.
Colombia: record
In Colombia steven the number of kilograms seized at record prices there remain at the same level. In 2020 the counter came to 505 tons, in 2021 it was already above 622 tons by mid-December. The country has seen a lower crop of coca leaves and production seems to be increasing in recent years, due to investments in better methods.
Since the start of the fight against the international cocaine trade (in 1945), production has only grown. Production invariably increased precisely after important impulses in international combat by the US government cocaine file on FTM).
This spring, the UN drug organization (UNODC) signaled a global expansion, spread over more countries, now particularly in Asia.
The figures on seizures collected by the NOS:
2017
10,000 kilos
2018
21,000 kilos
2019
41,000 kilos
2020
49,000 kilos
2021 (until Christmas)
68,000 kilos
Also see:
Europol: The Netherlands and Belgium are the epicenter of the European cocaine market