Customs intercepts more and more drugs in the mail

News item | 31-01-2023 | 16:31

Most of the seized drugs are ecstasy or MDMA (the active substance in ecstasy). The United States and Australia are the main destinations for these drugs. And in South America, the police and customs intercept cocaine destined for the Netherlands in their own countries more often.

More checks on postal parcels

There is a significant increase in the number of drugs seized by mail in 2022. This is probably because in 2022 Customs  has checked more often for drugs in the mail. And smugglers seem to be increasingly opting for letter mail. Sending drugs by post can be done more anonymous than by parcel. After two quiet corona years, the number of dance parties around the world is increasing again. That also plays a role. Customs increasingly finds LSD. These finds have grown considerably and even almost doubled, from over 1,600 to almost 3,200 times.

Also more drugs seized abroad

It is also notable that more cocaine destined for the Netherlands was seized abroad. South American customs and police seized nearly 110 tons of cocaine in 2022. In 2021 it was still 41 tons. Dutch Customs is increasingly collaborating with other countries. For example, Customs will exchange scan images with Brazil and Belgium and there will be liaison officers in South American countries to strengthen the collaboration. Those liaison officers are our colleagues from Dutch Customs, who work in those countries.

Smugglers use rip-off

Customs noticed that smugglers mainly use rip-off in cocaine smuggling. That means they don’t pack the cocaine into a regular cargo but add it to a legal cargo. Smugglers, for example, leave a sports bag full of cocaine among the cargo and they no longer process the drugs in the product or packaging materials themselves. Customs has observed this with ship cargoes, but also with air freight.

Figures seized drugs in kilograms and numbers of findings (2020-2022)

	2022 kilos	Quantity	2021 kilos	Quantity	2020 kilos	Quantity
Cocaine - of which maritime	51447 50044	3965 162	71796 69479	3586 166	48891 47711	1426 140
Heroin	2611	2369	1734	2128	105	88
XTC/MDMA	363	7000	259	4755	519	2284
Amphetamine	32	1385	19	671	34	248
Methamphetamine*	82	55	20	97	17	75
Marijuana	5492	4381	734	2439	514	393
Hashish	293	1161	172	123	1010	106
Qat	3265	56	2887	258	9137	629
LSD**	6	3181	4	1613	1	353

*  Including crystal meth 

** Due to the increase in LSD findings, this substance is also included in the table. 

Note:

1. The table above lists the most common seized drugs. Less common drugs are not included in the table but are included in monitoring procedures. New psychoactive substances (NPS) and substances that fall under the Medicines Act, such as ketamine, also fall outside the scope of the table.