Germans save coke alarm

hamburg - German police is deeply concerned about the massive smuggling of cocaine into Europe. In Antwerp, Hamburg and Rotterdam was packed so much coke in 2016 twice as in 2015. Due to a serious lack of investigative capacity, the ports leak and criminals have free rein.

So say chiefs of customs and police in Germany in an interview with German broadcaster NDR. The Telegraph reported earlier this year already intercepted more coke based on its own research jobs in 2016 than in the two previous years.

In the three ports took the investigators in 2016 42100 kilos of cocaine seized, against 21 300 in the previous year. Globally, the amount of cocaine seized in two years by 72 per cent to 576 tonnes.

Custom Chef Wolfgang Schmitz said interceptions nothing to do with the street price. 'For us a clear indication of the fact that organizations can easily replace lost parties,' he said in the radio Das Forum and the TV program Panorama 3.

Wolfgang Schmitz of the police union GDP says that police and customs sit with a huge capacity problem. There certainly 3000 people would be additional to be able to effectively combat cocaine smuggling. Other police chiefs say that all the attention in Europe now goes to terrorism and immigration. Police and customs are concerned that they intercept only a fraction of the coke.

In the Netherlands, warned in September customs officers already for failing tackling smuggling and upcoming cuts in customs. This newspaper published internal documents in which a proposed staff reductions stated. The Ministry of Finance denied the proposed cut in the staff.

Public Prosecution Service, the police and the mayor of Rotterdam took the signals seriously and warned customs in November specifically for the planned staff reduction. Especially in this time where trafficking is increasing enormously, detection capacity needs rather than screwed be reduced, reasoned the 'triangle'. There is intensive consultation in recent months with customs.

US anti-drug organization DEA will see a huge increase in drug trafficking in the vicinity of the Surinamese coast. Since the DEA launched a special drug operation in the field in December in the eastern part of the Caribbean, for more than 800 million of cocaine seized. At the height of Paramaribo was a few weeks ago, caught a lot of 4200 kilos. Since 1999, the biggest catch in the region.