The quantity of cocaine seized in the Hamburg port has tripled in the last five years. While in 2019, police and customs discovered 9.5 tons of the drug in the port, the figure rose to 33.9 tons last year. South American drug cartels are hiding their cargo on ships docking in Hamburg. There, police and customs authorities are finding alarming amounts of cocaine. The government aims to counteract this, including with an anonymous tip-off portal, Spiegel reports.
To counter the dangers posed by internationally organized drug crime at all levels, security authorities and port industry had already joined forces last October to form a “Safe Port Alliance.” At the same time, police, customs, and the Federal Criminal Police Office are pursuing both repressive and operational-tactical measures as well as preventive approaches in the EU-funded project “Infiltration of North Sea Ports by Organized Crime Structures” (INOK).
Internationally, cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime is also set to be intensified. On Tuesday, at the invitation of Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), interior ministers from Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands will gather in Hamburg as part of the “Coalition of European countries against serious and organized crime.”
Representatives of the European Union and other international bodies and organizations will also attend the meeting at the Maritime Museum. According to the Ministry of the Interior, key topics will include combating drug trafficking as well as port security and resilience.
