EU countries want to step up the fight against drug trafficking. Search for ex-RAF terrorists continues: police search another apartment in Berlin

EU countries want to take stronger action against organized crime and drug trafficking through ports. 70 percent of cocaine comes this way, as EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said on Monday after a meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels. “I am convinced that we can reverse the trend.”

A focus should be on close cooperation with producing countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia, Johansson emphasizes. “Because these organized criminal groups that deal in drugs, but also kill people here on the streets and bribe officials, they operate across borders, not only in the EU, but also beyond, for example on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.”

A European port alliance against drug smuggling was established in January. Customs should, among other things, be able to carry out more targeted checks in the ports. Criminal gangs could be prosecuted more severely in the future with the support of Europol and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Criminals use ports to bring illegal goods into the EU in containers. The major European ports such as Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Bremerhaven play an important role, especially for the drug trade. In Belgium alone, authorities seized a record amount of money at the port of Antwerp in 2023, according to the European Commission 121 tons of cocaine – an increase of ten percent compared to the previous year. (sda/dpa)