Europol: The Netherlands and Belgium are the epicenter of the European cocaine market
September 8, 2021
The Netherlands and Belgium have supplanted Spain as the epicenter for cocaine imports into Europe. This is apparent from a new report by Europol and the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) on the cocaine market in Europe. Criminal organizations often use the major ports in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg, whereby 'the role of the Netherlands as a transit zone is consolidated'.

Dutch suspects
The report called Cocaine Insights 1 reports that the epicenter of the European cocaine market has shifted northward. Between the beginning of 2018 and the end of 2020, almost sixty percent of the suspects arrested for batches of cocaine of 100 kilos and more had Dutch nationality. It concerned a total of 51 Dutch suspects.

Albanians were the largest group with 266 arrested suspects. Sixty percent of these were mainly involved in the trade in smaller batches of cocaine from 10 grams to one kilo. Of the 144 Moroccans arrested, 75 percent were involved in these smaller parties.

65.6 tons of coke
Europol reports that in 2020 a total of 65.6 tons of cocaine was seized in Antwerp. The drugs mainly came from Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador. The most cocaine was shipped to Belgium, followed by Spain and the Netherlands. Most of the cocaine that reaches Antwerp is probably intended for organizations operating from the Netherlands, from where the cocaine is further distributed to other European countries.

Belgium previously reported that groups of Moroccan and Albanian ethnicity involved in cocaine trafficking in the port of Antwerp have expanded their role in cocaine purchasing and building contacts in South America.