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EU Flags Spain as Main Gateway for Cocaine and Cannabis After 2024 Seizures

Brussels says shifting smuggling tactics and growing inland processing make a stronger, EU-wide drug strategy necessary.

Overview

  • The EU Drugs Report presented on June 9, 2026, shows Spain accounted for roughly 37% of the bloc’s cocaine seizures in 2024 with 124 tonnes and seized 206 tonnes of cannabis resin while accounting for 75% of cannabis plants taken across the EU.
  • The report finds traffickers are fragmenting consignments and using technology and fast boats to evade controls, citing seizures of drones, narco-lanchas and a near-10 tonne haul in the Canary Islands as examples of evolving methods.
  • Spanish police dismantled domestic processing facilities in 2024, including seven secondary cocaine-extraction sites and seven MDMA production labs, indicating inland transformation of imported drugs.
  • EU ministers have approved a new strategic framework and Brussels plans leader-level discussion in a June summit to step up cooperation on detection, policing and cross-border investigations.
  • The agency warns drug availability remains at record highs and estimates a provisional minimum of about 7,600 overdose deaths in 2024, a trend that raises public-health risks for communities and places added pressure on frontline officers.