More than 5.5 tons seized. How much of an effect will it have? I wonder if these seizures make the price on the streets go up for a while?

The Colombian navy, together with the Netherlands and the United States, seized 9700 kilos of cocaine. This happened during eight different operations in the Caribbean Sea, the Colombian army reports. The drugs had a street value of $327 million, according to Colombia. Fifteen people have been arrested.

In a first action in the Aruban waters, more than 5000 kilos of cocaine were found floating. The narcotics were left somewhere at sea, to be picked up later by others. The destination was the Dominican Republic.

Nearly 5,000 kilograms of cocaine were found in other operations. This happened in so-called ‘go fast’ boats, a type of speed boat that is often used by smugglers. It is unclear what nationality the fifteen arrested are, and to whom they have been handed over.

The Colombian Navy says it has intercepted more than 109,000 kilograms of cocaine in the past year, with a street value of $3.7 billion.

WOW! Now that's what you call "seizures!" Those interceptions must have also given the traffickers seizures. lol Huge hauls

The price in Europe is pretty stable thanks to OPEC-like meetings between the top drug organizations where prices are fixed. Production is at an all-time high they have so much stashed away already enough for the coming year probably.

Traffickers do want to smuggle to Australia where the price is absurd.

"Australian authorities are bracing for a white Christmas with cocaine prices expected to hit a record $420 a gram"

I saw on the news this morning some of the coke the stamp of Ferrari the Prancing Horse.

On November 30, 4.6 tons of Brazilian cocaine bound for Europe was seized on the high seas in an international operation. The British National Crime Agency (NCA) announced this on Wednesday. The cocaine was transported on a 21-meter tugboat sailing under the Brazilian flag. The French Navy boarded the ship off the west coast of Africa off Sierra Leone. The action was directed by the British police.

In Antwerp they seized 9 tonnes of cocaine this week customs say it was for a white Christmas.

Customs intercepted 1,003 kilos of cocaine during a check in the port of Rotterdam on Monday. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the street value is more than 75 million euros.

The batch of coke was loaded into 50 bales in a container with tropical hardwood and came from Ecuador. The container was destined for a company in Rotterdam. The company probably has nothing to do with the smuggling, the OM reports.

The HARC team, a partnership between the seaport police, Customs, FIOD and the Public Prosecution Service, is investigating the case further. The drugs have since been destroyed.

It is the second large batch of coke that has been intercepted in the Netherlands within a week. On Wednesday, 1,279 kilos of cocaine was found in the port of Vlissingen between a load of bananas. This batch also came from Ecuador.

Belgian Customs seized 4,800 kilos of cocaine at the port of Antwerp on December 14. The drugs were hidden in a container from Panama filled with bananas: https://gangstersinc.org/blog/snatched-list-of-drug-seizures-around-the-world

Jordan seizes 1 ton of captagon
Jordan has seized a tonne of amphetamine pills being smuggled in date paste at the border with Iraq. A total of six million pills of the drug known as Captagon were found inside two refrigerated trucks. It was one of the largest haul ever intercepted. Captagon, dubbed "the poor man's cocaine", is produced in huge quantities in Syria, which is now a narco-state. Syrian captagon trade is now worth far more than any legal exports. Skirmishes between the Jordanian military and drug traffickers are more frequent. Jordan soldiers have a shoot-to-kill policy.

The Spanish Guardia Civil says it has dismantled a criminal organization from the western coastal region of Galicia that transported large-scale shipments of cocaine from Africa to Spain. 3,300 kilograms of cocaine have been seized on the high seas. The group used fishing boats that traveled normal fishing routes off the West African coast.

On December 18, 3,300 kilos of cocaine was intercepted on a ship. The operation involved both the British National Crime Agency and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

German customs seized a total of almost 3.6 tonnes of cocaine during two large-scale checks in the port of Hamburg. The drugs were hidden in the legal cargo of three containers from South America to Europe. The seizures took place on November 29 and December 1, but the news was not released until Thursday.

According to the authorities, the nearly 3.6 tons of cocaine has a street value of at least 100 million euros. No arrests have yet been made.

The Hamburg customs investigation agency is conducting further investigation on behalf of the Hamburg public prosecutor's office.

Between December 24, 2022 and January 3, 2023, Dutch Customs intercepted a total of 4726 kilos of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam. 34 arrests have been made, among them is also a 16-year-old suspect.

All drugs, with a street value of 354 million euros according to the Public Prosecution Service, have been destroyed.


In the port of Antwerp, Belgian customs found 1250 kilos of cocaine on Tuesday that was hidden in a container between cans of tomato paste. This has been announced by the Federal Public Service Finance (FPS).

This is the first batch of coke intercepted in the port of Antwerp this year. The drugs were seized and destroyed. An investigation into the origin and destination of the cocaine is ongoing. No arrests have been made.

More than 2400 kilos of coke found after false bomb threat on MSC Lorena
Today, 5:14 PM

ANTWERP - More than 2400 kilos of cocaine was found on the container ship MSC Lorena, which had to be put aside in Vlissingen at the end of December after a bomb threat that later turned out to be false. "The drugs were found in a container between a cover load of cocoa," said the Antwerp public prosecutor's office.
The bomb threat was reported to the Belgian police on 22 December when the container ship was berthed off the coast of Vlissingen. The ship then had to anchor for a week. After an investigation found nothing, the ship was able to moor in the port of Antwerp on December 29 to unload cargo.
The police have arrested two suspects for involvement in the false bomb threat. It concerns a 24-year-old man from Delft and a 22-year-old man from The Hague. They are suspected of terrorist threats.

It's a pretty famous container ship.

https://www.vesselfinder.com/nl/vessels/details/9320403

Mexican and Dutch networks
Since then, the police have identified seventeen Mexicans suspected of facilitating Dutch meth production, according to the police report on the narcostand of the Netherlands in 2021. The drug report shows that Mexican and Dutch networks not only cooperate in the field of methamphetamine production , but also in the large-scale importation of methamphetamine. Large shipments of methamphetamine are smuggled from Mexico to Europe. This is done via the lines that have long been used for the smuggling of cocaine.

Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport Becoming Arrival Point for Mexican Drugs

https://insightcrime.org/news/amsterdam-schiphol-airport-mexican-drug-reception-point/

Updated 7 hours ago
Spanish police seize cocaine worth $114 million from cattle ship

https://www.reuters.com/world/spanish-police-seize-cocaine-worth-114-million-cattle-ship-2023-01-28/

A new record for Antwerp/Rotterdam ports 160 tons of cocaine seized in 2022.

115 kilograms of heroin were seized during a police check of a truck in Pamplona (Northern Spain). The drugs were destined for the Dutch market. This is reported by the Spanish national police.

The heroin was hidden between legal merchandise in a truck. The truck driver was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking.

Crystal meth, cocaine and fentanyl seized in $32M drug busts, Toronto police say
4 people arrested, now facing drugs and weapons charges

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/drug-bust-fentanyl-cocaine-crystal-meth-1.6733258

Container ship crews play a key role in cocaine trade via Dutch ports
Container ships play an indispensable role in the worldwide cocaine trade, and it is time for large shipping companies to take responsibility and help fight drug trafficking, Jan Janse, district chief of the seaport police in Rotterdam, said to the newspaper AD.

https://nltimes.nl/2023/02/03/container-ship-crews-play-key-role-cocaine-trade-via-dutch-ports

New Zealand intercepts 3.2 tonnes of cocaine worth $500m floating in Pacific Ocean
Authorities say the haul, which is the largest seizure of illicit drugs made by the country’s law enforcement, was destined for Australia

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...aine-3-tonne-500m-floating-pacific-ocean

Dutch arrested in Belgium with almost 4 tons of cocaine
February 15, 2023

In the Turnhout region, the Belgian police arrested ten people on Tuesday evening in an investigation into the import of a batch of cocaine of almost 4 tons. At least two Dutch people are among the suspects. According to the Belgian police, the catch was accidental.

The police received a report around 10 p.m. on Tuesday about 'a suspicious situation' on Steenweg in Ravels, close to Oud-Turnhout. Several cars with Dutch license plates drove up and down. A police patrol checked a car with two Dutchmen aged 27 and 46. Police say the two had "no proper explanation" of their presence. After a check, the two men turned out to be known in the Netherlands for drug-related facts.

Elsewhere on Steenweg, a 39-year-old man was arrested after turning around when he saw the police.

Shed
The police saw an address on the Kanaaldijk in Ravels in the Waze app of the Dutch. It turned out to be a warehouse that was for rent.

Officers entered the shed with that information and with the permission of the judiciary. There, seven men were arrested near a container. That container contained 68 bags of cocaine. The exact amount will have to be determined further. It's probably almost 4 tons of cocaine.

Ten men have been arrested and are currently being questioned by the Federal Judicial Police (FGP) Antwerp. The ten will be brought before the investigating judge in Turnhout in the course of the day.

More than two tons of cocaine was found in a container in the port of Antwerp. This happened at the end of February after a check by Customs. According to the Belgian federal government, this involved 2,000 blocks with a total weight of 2,282.3 kilos.

Belgian customs intercepted five tons of cocaine in the port of Zeebrugge on Tuesday evening. Five suspects have been arrested.
It is one of the largest drug seizures ever in the port of Zeebrugge. The drugs from South America were found between a load of fruit during a check.
The judicial investigation into the case is ongoing. The Bruges investigating judge decides on the further arrest of the five suspects.
The seaport of Bruges or Zeebrugge is the second largest port in Belgium after Antwerp and one of the most important in Europe.

Australia and the US confiscate 2.4 tons of cocaine
04 March 2023
Australian and US police have intercepted 2.4 tonnes of cocaine aboard a ship off the coast of South America bound for Australia. A load of 677 million dollars, according to what CNN reports. The drug was linked to a Mexican cartel: Twelve suspects have been arrested, Western Australian state police said in a statement, first releasing details of an operation that began last November when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) intercepted the ship.

The Spanish police found a submarine off the coast on Tuesday, which was probably used for the illegal transport of drugs.
Footage from the Guardia Civil shows divers investigating a small submarine, which is suspected to have been used for drug smuggling. The vessel was tipped up in the water off the coast of Galicia.

The Spanish police are working to lift the submarine, near the port of the town of Vilaxoán. The so-called 'narcosubmarine' was found on Monday by a skipper who followed a trail of diesel oil until he found the partially sunken vessel. It is said to have been used for large-scale drug smuggling a few weeks ago.

The vessel would be of the same type of construction as an earlier ship found, reports a specialist Twitter user. In 2019, 3000 kilograms of cocaine were intercepted off the coast of Galicia in a similar submarine.

In 2021, a nine-meter-long U-boat that looked like it was found under construction near Malaga.

It is not clear whether drugs are present on board this copy.

Smuggling under water has been going on for a long time.

El 701 is a reference to El Chapo Guzman, in 2009 he was named the 701st richest man in the world by Forbes magazine.



The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday it seized nearly 700 kilos of cocaine in a warehouse in Moscow. Some of the drugs had to be smuggled from Russia to the European Union. Two Colombians and a suspect from the EU have been arrested.

The cocaine was smuggled from a Latin American country to Russia and part of it should be transported from there to the European Union. The FSB explains: "The Federal Security Service foiled an attempt by another international criminal group to use Russian territory for the transit and sale of drugs."

'El 701 The Boss'
According to the FSB, the shipment of cocaine was smuggled from South or Central America to Russia and stored in a warehouse in Moscow. The warehouse was rented to a man. Part of the cocaine would be destined for an EU country and the rest would have to be sold in Russia. Part of the blocks had stamps that read 'El 701 The Boss' and another part 'Tokio'.

Whether part of the consignment was actually destined for the EU is not entirely clear. After all, the Russian authorities are known for spreading disinformation and fake news.

67 million euros
According to the FSB, a total of 699 kilos of cocaine was found, worth more than 2.5 billion rubles. According to the Russian authorities, the cocaine, once cut, had a street value of at least 6 billion rubles (more than 67 million euros).

Two Colombians and an EU citizen allegedly arrived in Russia to carry out a multi-stage drug smuggling operation. All three are in prison and can receive up to 20 years in prison.

A large shipment of cocaine was seized in Morocco last Thursday. The pressed blocks of cocaine were hidden in frozen tuna. The catch was made in the port Tangier Med. According to the Moroccan authorities, the cocaine was found after information was received.

The sea container was shipped in Ecuador and was on its way to Spain by truck. The weight of the seized cocaine has not been released.

The Moroccan authorities speak of an international network. The investigation is being conducted in collaboration with Interpol.