In 2023, Customs found almost twice as much cocaine at Schiphol as a year earlier. Customs officers found 1,300 kilos of the hard drug in 2022, last year this rose to no less than 2,250 kilos. In the port of Amsterdam, noticeably less coke was found.
Yesterday, Customs published figures about the national cocaine seizures for 2023. These totaled almost 60,000 kilos, which were mainly found in the ports of Rotterdam and Vlissingen, which is increasingly popular among criminals.
In North Holland, Schiphol takes the cake. The amount of coke found there rose to 2,250 kilos, 73 percent more than in 2022. A Customs spokesperson explains this as follows: “We dare to cautiously say that this is due to a more intensive approach at the airport.”
The spokesperson explains what this more intensive approach entails: “An airport is a completely different environment than a seaport. It has much higher security, so to effectively transport drugs through the site you often really need ‘people on the inside’.” That is why Customs, together with the FIOD, the Marechaussee and the Public Prosecution Service, provides training to entrepreneurs who work at the airport.
These training courses enable entrepreneurs to spot sooner that their company may be used for drug transport and to report this to Customs more quickly. They now know much better what to pay attention to.
And that produces results, according to the spokesperson: “Last year we intercepted a shipment of 14 kilos because we were tipped off that company personnel were walking around in a place where they did not have to be. Then we immediately check and deliver it. in that case, something to worry about. Until recently we received many more such anomalous reports.”
Amsterdam port not popular
In 2022, the port of Amsterdam was the largest cocaine discovery site in North Holland with a total catch of 1,370 kilos. There was little left of that last year; ‘only’ one hundred kilos were found. According to the spokesperson, it is difficult to say why there is such a sudden decline: “Criminals are constantly changing their methods and why is often a mystery.”
Customs ignored the seaports of IJmuiden and Den Helder because the quantities found, if any, were not large enough for the national investigation.