European Agency Advocates Using Military Force to Stop Maritime 'Cocaine Highway'
- Europe is facing what one DEA officer called "a tsunami of cocaine" as smuggling networks increasingly rely on high-speed "go-fast" boats to bypass major port crackdowns, turning Atlantic corridors into a new "cocaine highway."
- After major port crackdowns reduced seizures at Antwerp and Rotterdam, traffickers pivoted to offloading narcotics from large cargo ships to smaller vessels while still outside European waters to evade detection.
- "It's 'Mad Max' at sea," said Dimitri Zoulas, head of France's national anti-narcotics agency, OFAST. Boats are optimized for speed with four outboard motors and can travel at least 130 kilometers per hour.
- The Maritime Analysis and Operations Center urged members this year to adopt new legal authorities allowing military-style operations including engine-disabling tactics. French maritime officials endorsed the plan, citing a lack of naval assets.
- European proposals remain limited compared to the Trump administration, which has designated cartels as terrorist organizations. President Donald Trump has authorized missile strikes on smuggling vessels in the Caribbean, killing at least 221 people since September.
13 Articles
13 Articles
France and the European organization against drug smuggling at sea – MAOC-N – are advocating for a permanent and joint naval mission in the Atlantic Ocean to combat large-scale drug smuggling. Cocaine smugglers are using a new Atlantic sea route to Europe, in which fast narcolanchas – special speedboats capable of bringing thousands of kilograms ashore from the open sea – play a crucial role. This is revealed in two documents shared by the Germa…
European agency advocates using military force to stop maritime 'cocaine highway'
This comes as Europe is getting hit by what one DEA officer called “a tsunami of cocaine,” and follows an operation in which a French Navy sniper shot the engine of a high-speed smuggling vessel.
In the fight against cocaine smuggling, investigators are calling for a European military operation in the Atlantic.
Ton-by-ton cocaine reaches Europe by sea. Because smugglers increasingly rely on agile speedboats, a European organisation demands new means in the fight against the networks – following the example of the USA?
Europe’s cocaine highway leads to military-style crackdowns
A call-to-action memo urges European nations to adopt “engine-disabling tactics and shooting.” But the proposals stop well short of the missile strikes on alleged smuggling vessels adopted by the Trump administration.
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