German authorities see shift in cocaine smuggling tactics

Drug traffickers are changing tactics in response to major cocaine seizures at European ports including Hamburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp, German authorities have said.

"There are fewer large seizures," Holger Münch, president of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), told dpa. It can therefore be assumed that smaller quantities are now being imported more frequently via a variety of routes, he said.

One method, known as "drop-off," involves dropping GPS-equipped cocaine packages at sea to be collected by accomplices on other ships or smaller boats. Traffickers are also using smaller ports and alternative routes, with Portugal and Spain emerging as new points of focus.

Cocaine prices in Germany have fallen while quality remains high, suggesting the drug is abundant on the market, the BKA said.

By contrast, heroin trends differ due to the Taliban's ban on opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, imposed in 2022.

"While cocaine cultivation continues to expand, the opposite is true for heroin, as cultivation in Afghanistan has effectively been banned," Münch said, adding that this has led to rising heroin prices and lower quality.

As a result, heroin is now being mixed with various synthetic drugs, increasing health risks for users.

To combat drug crime, German authorities are focusing on the full cocaine supply chain — from production to smuggling into Europe.

In the synthetic drugs sector, efforts include legal control and monitoring of precursor substances used for the illicit manufacture of narcotics, as well as the detection of illegal laboratories in Europe.