Drug smuggling

Cocaine Hidden in Fruit Feeds European Pipeline

The latest bust occurred on September 30, when customs officials discovered 1,500 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas at the Rotterdam port in the Netherlands, according to a news release by Rotterdam prosecutors.

Drug smuggling activity at the Port of Rotterdam — Europe’s largest port and a gateway to the continent — has surged in recent years. In April, 1,600 kilograms of cocaine — also concealed in banana cargo from Costa Rica — was seized. The size of the drug shipments have also increased, according to a police expert who spoke with Dutch national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

“Before we used to be impressed by 500-kilogram batches,” he said. “Now we seize 5,000-kilogram shipments, meaning that these quantities also enter the country.”

An estimated 60 percent of cocaine trafficked to Europe in 2018 came through the ports of Rotterdam and Belgian port city of Antwerp, according to the Dutch newspaper. Most cocaine arriving in Antwerp is brought to the Netherlands, where it is distributed farther into Europe. Fruit containers with cocaine also enter the Dutch port of Vlissingen, where 700 million kilograms of bananas a year arrive in a specialized terminal.