EU FORMS PORT ALLIANCE AGAINST DRUG TRAFFICKING

Mon 29 January 2024:

The European Ports Alliance Public Private Partnership was introduced by the European Commission on last week Wednesday with the goal of uniting all parties involved in defending ports against drug trafficking and criminal infiltration, Xinhua reported.

The alliance was established in cooperation with the EU Anti-Crime Agency, member states, ports authorities, European associations, customs and law enforcement agencies, and the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council.

The vast majority of illicit drugs into the EU are trafficked along maritime route and 70 percent of drug seizures are in EU ports, according to Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for Home Affairs. “That is why cooperation between national and EU authorities and EU ports is vital,” Johansson said in a press release.

The Commission said the launch comes against a backdrop of “criminal networks using extreme violence, corruption and intimidation in their search for profits.” Seizures of cocaine in the EU are at record levels, with more than 300 tonnes seized on an annual basis in recent years, said the Commission.

In Belgium alone, authorities seized a record 121 tonnes of cocaine at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in 2023, a 10 percent increase over the previous year.

EU figures show that ports contribute to 75 percent of EU external trade volumes and 31 percent of EU internal trade volumes, making them vulnerable to drug smuggling and exploitation by high-risk criminal networks.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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