A criminal group made up mainly of Colombian and Spanish nationals smuggled cocaine using a sophisticated method to avoid detection - they injected cocaine base into cardboard boxes of legitimate cargo, such as fruit. After the shipment successfully arrived by sea from Colombia to Malaga (Spain), the cocaine base would be extracted from the boxes and processed into a final product ready for distribution.
This case was highlighted by a team of investigators from the European Union Law Enforcement Agency (Europol) in a new document - EU Serious and Organized Crime Threat Assessment (EU-SOCTA 2025).
“Serious and organised crime represents one of the greatest security threats facing the European Union today. It is a powerful, disruptive force that is evolving at an unprecedented pace, exploiting new technologies, digital platforms and geopolitical instability to expand its reach and deepen its influence. The very DNA of organised crime is rapidly changing, adapting to a changing world,” said Europol’s Executive Director, presenting the document. Catherine de Bol.
In the foreword to the report, she emphasized that crime has a double destabilizing effect on society, and that the findings of EU-SOCTA 2025 clearly show how serious and organized crime undermines the very foundations of political, economic and social cohesion and stability - through illicit income, continued violence and the spread of corruption.
“Criminal networks are increasingly linked to hybrid threats originating outside the EU and encompass a wide range of criminal activities and tactics, often carried out through intermediaries. While financial motives remain the primary driver of these networks, their activities also, directly or indirectly, serve the geopolitical interests of the actors orchestrating hybrid threats,” De Bol wrote.
She assessed that serious and organized crime is increasingly developing via the internet, but that at the same time, the response to these challenges must be equally dynamic.
The report states that the document represents the most detailed and far-reaching study of its kind, based on a systematic and comprehensive analysis of police data on serious and organised crime affecting the EU, and that it was produced on the basis of data from thousands of investigations supported by Europol, with significant input from partner organisations.
In the section relating to drug smuggling, it was noted that the European illegal market is characterized by the wide availability of various drugs, which are often of high strength or purity, available in new forms, mixtures or combinations, but also that smuggling routes and methods are constantly changing and adapting.
“The EU is a source, transit and final destination for various types of drugs. Cannabis (in the form of herbal medicine) and synthetic drugs are produced in large quantities within the EU, both for local markets and for export. Other drugs, such as cocaine, are imported into the EU - sometimes as an intermediate product, with final processing within the EU, before local distribution or export to markets outside the EU. The EU plays a multiple role in the global drug market - it is simultaneously an importer, producer, processor, distributor, transit and export region,” the report says.
It was also explained that drug trafficking is closely linked to the abuse of legal businesses - for transportation, hiding among legal shipments, and for obtaining the necessary precursors and chemicals.
It is emphasized that the increase in cocaine production in Latin American countries has reached an unprecedented level, which coincides with growing demand within the EU, that the methods of smuggling this drug are becoming increasingly diverse in terms of transport, concealment techniques and routes, but also that although there has been a decrease in the quantities seized in some major seaports over the past year, the total amount of cocaine entering the EU has not decreased.
“Instead, smuggling routes and methods have further diversified. In Latin America, there is a shift in departure and transit points - ports in different countries are increasingly becoming key for the transport of cocaine to the EU. On the European side, seizures have also increased in other large and smaller, secondary ports. This ‘waterbed effect’ continues to shift points of entry into the EU, which may have additional consequences for the activities of criminal networks, their competition and the spread of violence, including the recruitment of minors,” the report states.
Europol agents note that maritime container transport remains the dominant method for multi-ton shipments, but sailing vessels and sea landings are also used.
"Some criminal groups are switching to smuggling smaller quantities through multiple points to reduce the risk of interception. Cocaine is also smuggled by air," the document says.
They pointed out that in most cases, cocaine powder is smuggled in the form of bricks, but that cocaine base is also exported as an intermediate product, which is processed in laboratories in Western and Southern Europe.
"In order to reduce risk and increase profits, cocaine is embedded in various materials, from which it is later extracted by chemical processes. Cocaine processing and/or extraction laboratories are mainly located in western and southern parts of Europe. There are indications that these activities are spreading to other parts of the EU," the report says.
"The huge profits from the cocaine trade are contributing to the rise of violence and corruption, as rival organisations fight for control of routes and market dominance. Many of them have been active for more than a decade. The most dangerous among them control the entire process - they have cells in the countries of origin or cooperate with local networks, form investment groups, use intermediaries and participate in the production of cocaine on EU territory," the latest Assessment says.
They discipline their own, intimidate their opponents
Criminal groups that traffic cocaine resort to violence more often than those that traffic other drugs, the report found.
They explain that violence is used within criminal organizations - to maintain discipline and punish failed deals, but also against competitors, and that it includes the use of explosives and pyrotechnics in some member states.
"Minors, some as young as 13, often participate in these attacks," the Europol report says.
They also note that smugglers who use containers to import large quantities of cocaine often resort to corruption, paying high bribes to key players in the chain.
Western Balkans a key transit corridor
The Western Balkans continue to play a key transit corridor for drugs and other illegal products entering or leaving the EU.
The report highlights that differences between EU member states and regions create different opportunities and challenges for criminal organizations.
"Many of them are made up of members from multiple nationalities, often from neighboring countries or diasporas. They come together to exploit regional advantages, and a common origin further strengthens mutual ties - even when operating within the EU, these networks often maintain strong ties to their home regions, as is the case with networks originating from the Western Balkans," writes the European SOCTA.
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