Overview
- A new Europol report details a shift from traditional container routes to at‑sea transfers toward West Africa with onward movements to Europe and the Canary Islands.
- Seizures at major hubs such as Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg have fallen as traffickers exploit smaller ports, coastal landings and high‑sea corridors.
- Smuggling networks deploy semi‑submersibles, speedboats, encrypted communications, drones and autonomous vessels to evade detection, and Europol warns some semi‑subs may already operate without crews.
- Concealment now includes chemically binding cocaine into goods and pressing it into sheets hidden in frozen shipments, as well as stashing loads in machinery and below the waterline on ship hulls.
- Portuguese authorities on Monday seized a semi‑submersible near the Azores carrying nine tonnes of cocaine from South America, illustrating the evolving maritime tactics.