Drug gangs are appearing in an increasing number of German ports. They bribe some of the port workers and threaten others. Cartels are also spreading faster in smaller cities, where corruption is easier to control.

Criminal organisations have set up camp in Bremerhaven, said Claudia Schilling, a senator in Bremen, when she talked about the activity of the drug mafia in the second largest port of Germany. She said that drug traffickers approach and bribe port employees, who offer to look sideways during the handling of such goods. There are also cases when port workers move certain containers elsewhere than their intended place in return for sizeable sums of bribe money, the Social Democrat politician added.

Ports on the North Sea have eclipsed traditional entry points in Spain and Portugal for cocaine arriving in Western Europe, according to the latest report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Europe has become a much more interesting market for Latin American cocaine producers in recent years,

said Zora Hauser, who is investigating the trends of cocaine trade at Oxford University. She believes that it is partly due to the fact that more cocaine is consumed in Europe than before, and partly because many Latin American producers and traffickers believe that there is relatively little risk in smuggling cocaine into Europe.

The European authorities hardly ever prosecute drug gangs. In most cases, traffickers don’t even have to leave their home country, as long as they have European partners, which they do in high numbers. Often, these are local groups with the necessary networks and tools to bribe, for example, port staff.

the researcher says, noting that cartels often set up shop in smaller towns and attempt to remain invisible there.

„On the one hand, in a big city, there is more criminal competition. On the other hand, the smaller the town, the easier it is to establish contact with local politicians. It’s easier to get in touch with the mayor of a small town in northern Hesse than with the mayor of Berlin. In addition, small villages are ideal for remaining under the radar.”

Under these conditions, drug shipments from overseas to Europe have been on the rise for years. Customs officers in Hamburg, for example, reported a record-high 19 tonnes of cocaine seized in 2021, although this is relatively small compared to the 110 tonnes busted by Belgian customs authorities in Antwerp last year.

The example of the largest port in Belgium shows the price that a community may have to pay when it becomes a hotspot for organised crime. Criminals threaten judges, prosecutors and shipping company managers,

Belgian Justice Minister Vincent van Quickenborne told Stern in an interview. He and his family were put under police protection after a failed kidnapping attempt. Mr Van Quickenborne assumes that cocaine smuggling will shift more towards Germany in the future, as Belgian and Dutch authorities have upgraded their technology and human resources to crack down on cartels.

„Like water, cocaine takes the path of the least resistance. Since we are making the port of Antwerp more secure, these main supply lines are likely to shift to Hamburg or Bremerhaven,”

Belgium’s justice minister said. The ports of Hamburg and Bremen have called for the reinforcement of the customs authorities.

„We must intensify our efforts to strengthen security before the worst happens and the first fatalities occur,”

their open letter states. In its response, the ministry stated that they consider the customs authority to be well prepared. However, the police union disagrees with the ministry.

„In view of the challenges that cocaine smuggling is already posing to German seaports, customs has neither enough staff, nor the appropriate technical equipment. The authority’s management structures have also proven to be extremely sluggish in the past. Customs urgently need to be more powerful if we want to take effective action against the activities of drug cartels,”

the police union chief opined. Above all, however, it is corruption that makes it possible to ship cocaine into European ports. Almost a year ago, the senate in Bremen set up a portal for harbour staff to report anonymously any information about smuggling activities, but authorities have received no tips so far.