Record amount: Customs will find around 40 tons of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam in 2020

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The port of Rotterdam is an important hub in international drug smuggling

Photo: imago images / Pro Shots

It is only a fraction of the amount of drugs that are smuggled into Europe unnoticed every year - and yet the numbers are impressive: in 2020, customs investigators seized more than 40 tons of cocaine in Europe's largest container port - another 20 percent more than in 2019. That was shared by them Dutch judiciary with.

A total of around 48 tons of cocaine were seized in ports and airports in the country, with a sales value of 3.5 billion euros.

Investigators also found 22 kilograms of crystal meth, 54 kilograms of heroin and 748 kilograms of marijuana;

almost 300 people were arrested.

According to the judiciary, the customs investigators also found that ever larger quantities of drugs are being smuggled per load.

In the past year, twelve batches of more than 1000 kilograms of cocaine were seized.

The drugs were found between boxes of bananas or hidden between new cars and medicines.

In December alone, a record amount of more than 7,620 kilograms of cocaine was seized.

Security company infiltrated, according to report

According to a newspaper report, the smugglers also received help from security officers at the port.

A gang smuggled criminals up to the management level of a security company and smuggled 4,000 kilograms of cocaine into the country, reported the "Algemeen Dagblad".

Two security guards had already been arrested last summer.

Last year, tons of cocaine were also likely smuggled into the EU via the port of Hamburg.

Last August, customs at the Port of Hamburg seized 1.5 tons of cocaine worth 300 million euros in one fell swoop.

It was one of the largest amounts ever found there.

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fek / dpa