How Cocaine Is Flooding Into Europe

The Journal.

The episode examines the massive influx of cocaine into Europe, with Spain's southern coast serving as a primary entry point for cartels seeking new markets. Reporter Sune Rasmussen details how

Key takeaways

• Europe has become the second-largest cocaine market globally after North America, with prices dropping and supply increasing dramatically.
• Traffickers rely on illegal narco-lanchas equipped with radars to drop up to four metric tons of cocaine per boat for only a 12% fee.

Main topics

• European cocaine market expansion
• Narco-lancha smuggling operations

Notable quotes

"Cocaine here is now cheaper, better, and there's more of it than ever before."

Conclusion

The episode demonstrates how economic incentives and adaptive logistics allow drug networks to exploit

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) Before we get to today's episode, a quick reminder. The Journal is coming to Dallas on Monday, November 9th. I'll be on stage for a live show. We'll dig into a big story, bring in a special guest, and I promise it's going to be the Journal like you've never experienced it before. There's a link to where you can buy tickets in our show notes. I'd love to see you there. All right, here we go. Speaker 4 (0:25) The world is being flooded with cocaine right now. Speaker 4 (0:31) More land is being cultivated for coca in South America. Gangs have taken control of ports in Ecuador and Brazil. And a well-oiled global supply chain has allowed for the illicit drug to travel around the world. Speaker 3 (0:46) Cocaine production has increased so much that cartels Speaker 4 (0:50) are looking for new markets. That's our colleague Suna Rasmussen. He says that a lot of that cocaine is headed to Europe. The cocaine market in Europe has exploded. Speaker 3 (1:00) Cocaine here is now cheaper, better, and there's more of it than ever before. Europe is now the second largest market for cocaine in the world, after North America. Speaker 1 (1:13) Europe is being hit by a wave of cocaine, according to Europol. The law enforcement agency admits the problem is worse than it first realized, with organized crime networks better connected and increasingly violent. Speaker 4 (1:30) A lot of cocaine enters Europe through the southern coast of Spain, including the beautiful Costa del Sol, home to white sand beaches and Mediterranean cities like Malaga. In 2023, Spain seized around 117 tons of cocaine, double from the previous year. Speaker 4 (1:51) So, to better understand how the drug traffickers are able to get so much in, Suna went there. He patrolled with the local authorities on a nighttime boat patrol. Speaker 4 (2:02) He spoke to prosecutors and drug traffickers, and he met with the families of victims of drug violence. And what he learned was that the local authorities are outmatched, out-resourced, and out-gunned. Speaker 4 (2:17) I Speaker 3 (2:17) think ultimately this story, you know, for all of the sort of violence and crime involved, this is a business story. And the people involved just happen to trade in illicit goods. Speaker 4 (2:31) Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knudson. It's Friday, October 2nd. Speaker 4 (2:45) Coming up on the show, how cocaine is pouring into Europe and why authorities are struggling to stop it. Speaker 4 (3:06) On his reporting trip to southern Spain, Suna met with a person very familiar with how cocaine gets into Europe. Speaker 3 (3:12) I met with a drug trafficker at a hotel in Marbella on the southern coast of Spain. And this guy has for nearly 15 years, since he was a teenager basically, been part of a gang trafficking drugs into Spain. Speaker 4 (3:31) Suna's reporting shows that the trafficker is pretty senior in his gang. His job is to handle the logistics of moving cocaine from South America into Spain. Speaker 3 (3:41) And this means that he ensures that the people sending the drugs can be trusted. And then he also receives messages along the way to ensure that the cargo, the cocaine, is safe until it arrives in Spain. Speaker 2 (3:58) And Speaker 3 (3:58) we chatted for, yeah, close to two hours. And he kind of laid out the inner workings of the international drug market and drug trafficking industry. Speaker 4 (4:11) For a long time, the tried-and-true method for getting cocaine into Europe was to hide shipments in large shipping containers and sneak them through major seaports. And this is