Record cocaine seizures in the French port of Le Havre

The port of Le Havre and its containers as far as the eye can see.

AFP - ROBERT FRANCOIS

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Cocaine seizures have never been so frequent in the port of Le Havre.

Across France, 18 tonnes of cocaine have been seized by customs since the start of the year, compared to 13 tonnes for the whole of 2020. 

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Located in Normandy, in the north-west of France, the port of Le Havre is the second largest French port, but also the main gateway for cocaine in France.

Since the beginning of the year, cocaine seizures have become increasingly frequent there.

For the month of January alone, more than 2.2 tons were seized in Le Havre, more than all of the cocaine seizures in this port for the whole of 2019. Customs officers regularly discover drugs in containers in from Brazil, Chile or Colombia… The last seizure dates from only a week ago with 64 kilos of cocaine hidden in a refrigerated container bound for Reunion.

Change of operating mode

In general, the drug only passes through Le Havre, the traffickers who are better and better organized thus seeking to cover their tracks before the final destination.

The resurgence of seizures at the port of Le Havre shows that the modus operandi of traffickers is changing.

Cocaine no longer passes through mules and planes, it now passes more and more through ports such as those of Le Havre, where nearly half of all cocaine entering France each year passes.

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• Drug

• Geopolitics of drugs

• France

• Brazil

• Chile

• Colombia