The market for cocaine in Europe is ‘now the biggest in the world and still growing’, says a new report from the Insight Crime think tank. Last year saw France record a 49 per cent increase in seizures alongside a 25 per cent rise in Belgium, while Portugal is also becoming a ‘key hub’ for cocaine trafficking to Europe.
Belgium remains the main European destination for cocaine imported via maritime traffic, however, with the port of Antwerp the primary entry point. Brussels is facing rising rates of drug-related violence as a result, the report continues, with an ‘unprecedented surge in the frequency and intensity of shootings’.
As the Belgian authorities have increased security measures traffickers have increasingly been looking at other entry points, with Spain seizing large amounts of cocaine from semi-submersible submarines and speedboats. The UK Border Force, meanwhile, seized almost 15 tonnes of cocaine worth more than £1bn in a single three-month period last year – ‘equivalent to the weight of a London double decker bus’.
The findings reflect the data from the latest European wastewater analysis by EUDA and SCORE, which saw a 22 per cent increase in cocaine residue detected between 2024 and 2025. Separate wastewater analysis by the Home Office analysis showed an estimated £9.8bn cocaine consumption in England alone in the year to July 2025.
Rates of coca cultivation and cocaine production are continuing to rise, with production in Colombia increasing by more than 50 per cent in 2023 alone. Prices, however, are ‘not falling as increased supply would suggest’, the document states. ‘The cocaine industry seems immune to normal market pressures.’
As the traditional markets of Western Europe and the US become saturated, traffickers are also looking to develop new markets ‘where prices are higher and risks are lower’ the report continues, with South Korea seeing 300 per cent increase in seizures last year and Australia registering a 40 per cent increase. ‘Complementary to this, we are seeing the growing involvement of European mafias in the cocaine business, not just to Europe but worldwide,’ Insight Crime states.
Traffickers are also evolving their transportation methods in response to improvements in port security and container scanning with ‘growing discoveries of semi-submersible vessels or narco-subs’, the report says. Gangs are increasingly mixing their cocaine with different chemicals or organic matter for transportation, or converting it into liquids to bypass the growing scanner capacity at ports. ‘By moving liquid cocaine to evade modern scanners and using alternative transportation like sailing vessels, criminal organizations are making the global cocaine trade more innovative and geographically diverse than ever.’
Meanwhile, the tobacco and vapes bill has now come into law, ‘delivering a historic step towards a smoke-free UK’. The bill passed its final stages in the House of Commons last week. The legislation ‘marks a turning point for the nation’s health’, said health secretary Wes Streeting. ‘By ending the cycle of tobacco addiction for future generations, we are taking one of the boldest steps in decades to prevent illness before it even begins.’
‘This is a truly watershed moment in public health. It is no longer a question of if smoking will end but rather a question of when,’ added ASH chief executive Hazel Cheeseman. ‘Smoking has prematurely taken millions of lives in the UK over the last 50 years. Ridding our society of the pain and suffering it causes is a gift to future generations.’
 InSight Crime 2025 cocaine seizure round-up available here