Nearly $1B in Drugs Seized at Dutch Ports as Smuggling was Reduced in 2024
Dutch officials highlighted overall progress last year in their efforts to curtail drug smuggling through Rotterdam and the other seaports. They reported intercepting narcotics with a wholesale value of €917 million ($955 million) while highlighting through cooperation and working with the shipping industry they were able to make significant progress in reducing drug smuggling.
Gathering for the first joint report involving Customs, Seaport Police, and special law enforcement units, they highlighted that combating drug smuggling in the ports is done by many teams with varying compositions and different perspectives. While the “Hit and Run Cargo” team focuses on drug seizures and arrests within criminal organizations, they reported other teams work on structurally disrupting various modus operandi or have been busy for years on a daily basis with the processing of extractors who have been arrested.
Work is being done to apprehend corrupt links in the port, digital surveillance is being carried out based on big data, project-based research is being carried out to disrupt criminal power structures and front companies are being tracked down and dismantled. The insights that emerge from this broad fight against drug trafficking the authorities reported are making it clear that shifts are taking place in the way drug criminals operate.
One of the big changes they noted was a large increase in the number of small consignments of narcotics that they were intercepting at the Port of Rotterdam. The authorities speculated that criminals are “spreading their risks.”
The report shows that a total of 189 seizures were made in Rotterdam of which 115 were under 100 kilos. There was a significant decline in the total amount of drugs seized in Rotterdam last year. The authorities seized 25,900 kg of cocaine down by more than 40 percent from the 45,506 kg in 2023, which was the peak year. The largest single find was 3,628 kilos.
Most unusual find in 2024 was cocaine hidden in a crane truck coming from South America (NL Police)
“With the decline in cocaine seizures in the Port of Rotterdam, barriers that have been put in place seem to be paying off,” the authorities reported. “However, there is no reason to cheer. Persistent problems are the order of the day.”
Interceptions in the Zeeland-West-Brabant region however were up slightly to 12,664 kg compared to 11,300 in 2023. Among the seizures were 3,097 kilos found in Moerdijk while in Vlissingen they seized a shipment of 3,630 kilos hidden among bananas. Drug criminals they said still favor fruit shipments coming from South America as the preferred means of smuggling.
They said however the criminals are also using a wider array of hiding places. They seized cocaine hidden in shipments of scrap metal and wood as well as with a shipment of alcohol. In Vlissingen, a drug shipment of 61.5 kilos of cocaine was discovered, processed in the flaps of boxes of bananas.
“The most striking drug shipment was discovered in the port of Moerdijk,” according to the report. “Almost 3100 kilos of cocaine, divided into thousands of separate packages, were hidden in a telescopic crane from South America. It took the investigation services hours to remove the drugs.”
The annual figures show that not only cocaine is smuggled in via the ports. For example, more cannabis was intercepted in the Port of Rotterdam this year (1,037 kilos) than in 2023 (9,864 kilos). In Vlissingen, 118 kilos of hashish were found and a total of 3,475 kilos of crystal meth was also found.
Among the arrests, they reported closing a storage and transshipment company for bulk goods which they charged was a front for large-scale cocaine smuggling. Three individuals were arrested. They also reported progress at stopping corruption and infiltration in the ports, including confiscating 10 CargoCards which the criminal groups were using in the Port of Rotterdam to gain access to the yards and containers. They were also successful at making arrests outside of the Netherlands including catching 2,480 kg in Germany before it could be imported.
Overall, they said it was the third year that fewer drugs have been found in the Port of Rotterdam. They emphasized that the efforts require cooperation and strong teamwork through many organizations in order to continue to make progress in combating drug smuggling in the ports.