Europol

The EU’s police agency, Europol, expects cocaine smuggling into Europe to continue to grow over the next two years due to increased production in South America, according to Europol’s director, Catherine De Bolle in an interview with DPA. “We can’t stop it completely because demand is too high,” she says. Europol also points out that the police unit’s success in the fight against drug smuggling has increased. In 2023, more than 300 tons of cocaine were confiscated. Most of the cocaine that ends up in Europe is smuggled from South America through the two major ports of Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. /ritzau/dpa/