According to an analysis by Europol, Europe is increasingly becoming a hub in the cocaine trade.

More cocaine is being shipped from South America to Europe and transported from there, Europol spokesman Jan op gen Oorth told the German Press Agency in The Hague.

Record quantities of the drug being seized are an indication of the increase in trafficking.

According to preliminary data, at least 240 tons of cocaine were seized in 2021.

At the top are ports in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, as announced by Europol.

For comparison: in 2020 around 214 tons of cocaine were seized.

The port of Hamburg is also being increasingly used by criminal gangs.

A record amount of 19.1 tons was confiscated there last year.

How much cocaine gets to Europe is hard to say.

"We assume that 2,000 tons of cocaine are produced annually in Colombia alone," said the spokesman.

More than 60 percent of this is shipped to Europe.

According to Europol, only some of the drugs are consumed in EU countries.

Much of the EU's cocaine is transported further to Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia, according to the latest cocaine report from the Police Department and the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction.