News item | 13-11-2023 | 3:30 PM
To combat drug smuggling, Customs is expanding supervision in the north of the country. In Fryslân and Groningen, Customs will use drones, camera surveillance will be expanded and an extra ship will be put into use. In recent years, efforts have mainly been made to combat drug smuggling in the ports of Rotterdam and Vlissingen. To prevent smugglers from moving to other parts of the country, Customs is now intensifying activities in other regions.
State Secretary Aukje de Vries of Allowances and Customs announced this today during a working visit to Customs’ new drone team in Eemshaven. More and more drugs are being seized in major seaports. In Rotterdam and Antwerp together, this amounted to 160,000 kilos of cocaine last year. Due to more intensive cooperation with countries in Latin America, more and more drugs destined for the Netherlands are also being seized at transit ports. In 2022, this amounted to 110,000 kilos of cocaine. Because the measures in the major ports appear to be paying off, Customs is taking additional measures to prevent criminals from moving to ports in the north of the country.
State Secretary De Vries: “Criminals who want to undermine our society do not shy away from any means. That is why we must always want to stay one step ahead of them. It is good that we are stopping more and more drugs in Rotterdam. But we must not relax. To prevent a waterbed effect, we must also do everything we can to combat drug smuggling in the north of our country.”
One of the risks that customs sees is so-called dropping at sea. Dropping at sea involves throwing consignments of drugs overboard from large seagoing vessels, which are then brought ashore by smaller ships. This may concern pleasure boats or fishing boats that then moor in the northern ports. With the drones, the ship and the cameras that Customs will deploy additionally, Customs can monitor whether drugs are brought ashore in this way.
Customs has recently trained twelve customs employees to become drone pilots. They can be deployed throughout the country, but will mainly focus on the ports in the Northern Netherlands and the Wadden Islands. The ship can be deployed from the beginning of next year and the camera network will be gradually put into use.