The routes and methods of supplying narcotics in France are evolving. In a report published this Monday, the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) notes that the demand for cocaine has never been so strong.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau recognizes “overwhelm”.
Get the narcotics into France, by all means. By sea, by road but also by air or digitally, the routes and methods of supplying narcotics in France are constantly evolving, notes the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) in a report published Monday .
As for cocaine, demand for which has never been so strong in France with more than a million consumers, maritime transport represented 75.4% of seizures of this drug in 2022, compared to 17.1 % for the passenger air sector, notes the OFDT in its report on the supply of narcotics in France in 2023.
The port of Le Havre, “one of the main gateways”
The port of Le Havre, with its maritime connections with South American countries among the largest producers in the world, constitutes “one of the main entry points for cocaine in Europe”. The strengthening of security measures at the Normandy site have “permitted to reduce its use” by drug traffickers, but these restrictions have been circumvented.
The authorities have in fact noted an increase in the dropping of goods at sea as well as the use of secondary ports. Early data from 2024 suggests “increased reuse” Le Havre, notes the OFDT.
The ports of the French West Indies also play a role “strategic role” in the transport of cocaine, notably that of Fort-de-France in Martinique and the Jarry complex in Guadeloupe.
Air and postal routes also popular
Concerning supply by air, the Cayenne-Paris axis remains on the radar of the French authorities. The latter track down the mules who transport the drugs in the body (in their body) or in their luggage, leading to more than 680 of them being intercepted as of January 31, 2024.
But if there was a “deterrent effect”it seems that here again the traffickers have developed “bypasses” and privileged “planes destined for the Antilles, then from the Antilles to France, subject to less systematic checks”, writes the OFDT.
-Express and postal freight “establishes itself as a major alternative” to the mules, underlines the observatory. In 2022, it represented 36% of cocaine seizures made by Roissy Fret customs coming from Guyana. Initially favored for drugs in modest and specific quantities (cannabis concentrates, ketamine or GBL), the postal route is now also chosen to deliver cannabis resin or cocaine.
Consumers spend “no longer via dedicated sites, but rather through trafficker accounts on applications and social networks”, explains the OFDT. The traffickers generally have an apartment where orders are also packaged, equipped with “vacuum machines to hide odors and printers for labeling packages”.
Retailleau evokes an “overwhelm”
In mid-January, Bruno Retailleau admitted that the authorities had “always, unfortunately, a time late” on drug traffickers. The Minister of the Interior mentioned a “submersion” and recognized that if the price of drugs does not change despite record seizures, this “means that there are always more goods landing on French soil”.
The OFDT notes that “France serves as a transit point for cocaine bound for Oceania and Southeast Asia, primarily via postal freight and commercial flights.”
Regarding the transportation of cannabis, the No. 1 drug in France with nearly 5 million users in 2023, cannabis resin is, once arriving on European soil, transported by land to the rest of the continent.
As for synthetic drugs, such as MDMA/ecstasy and amphetamines, which for those consumed in France mainly arrive from the Netherlands, they are also transported by land.
