Europe: Cocaine s Ever-Expanding Market insightcrime.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from insightcrime.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
REUTERS/Cathrin Mueller
German, Belgian and Dutch police seized 23 tons of cocaine in late February, the largest haul of the drug in the EU ever.
Those busts are the latest in a quickly escalating series of seizures, and they point to emerging smuggling routes in Latin America.
While the seizure of 23 tons of cocaine by German, Belgian and Dutch police the largest-ever haul of the drug in the European Union was noteworthy, it serves as merely the latest proof of how Europe has become the epicenter of the global cocaine trade.
In mid-February, German police discovered 16 tons of cocaine hidden in containers at the port of Hamburg, while their Belgian counterparts seized 7.2 tons of the drug in Antwerp soon after. Both forces acted after a tip-off from the Netherlands, where both shipments were bound.