An estimated 35 tons of cocaine seized in 2023

Drug smuggling - An estimated 35 tons of cocaine seized in 2023

Police and customs investigators have seized a record amount of cocaine in Germany in 2023. According to a preliminary forecast by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the drug finds total 35 tons, a BKA spokesperson said. In the previous year, around 20 tons were intercepted. The previous record amount was 23 tons in 2021. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) reported before Christmas that the total quantity for 2023 could even be 40 tons.

"Since 2017, the quantities of cocaine seized in Germany have risen significantly", according to the BKA's latest situation report on drug-related crime, which was published in October. In 2018, the authorities had only seized five tons. This means that the quantity has probably increased sevenfold in five years.

30 tons seized in ports

Most of the cocaine comes to Germany via container ports from South America, primarily Hamburg in addition to Bremerhaven. By December, more than 30 tons of cocaine had been seized in German ports, explained a spokesman for the Hamburg customs investigation office. The criminals often smuggled the drugs in banana or bulk containers, for example in the walls and spaces between steel boxes. In spring, 920 kilos were discovered in a container with coffee in Hamburg.

Criminals also use divers and underwater scooters to recover hidden shipments of cocaine. The "rip-off" method, in which sports bags containing drugs are thrown overboard and collected by accomplices, remains popular. "The perpetrators generally use a well-organized logistics system that needs to be uncovered," the customs spokesperson continued.

Many arrests after decryption of crypto services

Thanks to the decryption of the Encrochat and SkyECC crypto services in 2020, numerous suspects were arrested and convicted in Hamburg and other cities. As recently as mid-December, the customs investigation office reported on the arrest of five men who were allegedly trafficking a ton of cocaine with a street value of more than 50 million euros. Since the beginning of March, a trial has been underway at Hamburg District Court against two 59-year-olds who are alleged to have organized the smuggling of a good 2.3 tonnes of cocaine via the port of Hamburg. Customs discovered the shipment hidden in canned asparagus in August 2022.

At the end of October 2023, representatives of security authorities founded the "Port of Hamburg Security Alliance". They agreed on a joint security center to better network the State Criminal Police Office (LKA), customs, the water police and the port authority HPA. "We have to do better, because the fence has to be raised here in the Port of Hamburg," said LKA boss Jan Hieber. It is essential to prevent cocaine smugglers from seeing Hamburg as an easy transshipment point for their drugs and switching from Rotterdam or Antwerp to the Hanseatic city.

Campaign to deter port employees from providing criminal assistance

The investigators therefore want to pay particular attention to the so-called "port offenders". These are port employees or people with access to critical infrastructure who provide drug smugglers with information or help with the transportation of cocaine. An awareness campaign for port employees is to begin next March to inform them of the dangers and protect them from being contacted by criminals.

Last summer showed that the fences in the port of Hamburg are not insurmountable. In June, small groups of young men from the Netherlands broke into the Altenwerder container terminal at least 15 times. Police and customs investigators suspected that the intruders were looking for a drug shipment. But this has still not been clarified. A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office recently announced that investigations into several suspects were continuing. No further information could be given at present.

In its 2023 annual report, the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction warned of the activities of the drug mafia and the associated violence and corruption. According to preliminary figures from the police crime statistics, drug-related crime in Hamburg rose by 16% in the first nine months of the year. Violent crime in Germany increased by almost 17 percent in the first half of the year, as Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) said in Wiesbaden in November.

BKA's federal situation reports on drug-related crime NDR report Hamburg Senate on drug-related crime