Nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine, valued at nearly 225 million euros, were seized at the Dunkirk port this week: a major seizure that puts secondary ports on the maps of traffickers, who are eager to avoid the giant terminals that are more closely monitored, such as Le Havre.
This discovery was made on Monday but was only revealed on Thursday by Vanessa Perrée, head of the national office against organized crime (PNACO).
The drugs, 167 bundles of cocaine concealed “in plastic waste,” were uncovered by the customs services of the External Surveillance Brigade (BSE) at the Dunkirk port.
The container, originating from Ghana, was “initially destined notably for the port of Antwerp,” the magistrate adds in a press release.
The “entirety” of the drugs has “already been destroyed,” adds the head of PNACO. Her office immediately “took up this procedure by opening a flagrancy investigation.”
The investigations concern notably acts of “acquisition, possession, transport, offer or transfer of narcotics, importation of narcotics in organized gang and participation in a criminal association with a view to the preparation of crimes or offenses punishable by ten years of imprisonment.” The penalty for the whole, including importation, is 30 years, the PNACO also recalls.
The investigation is now entrusted to the Office anti-stupéfiants (Ofast) “in order to identify the actors of this criminal network already targeted by the National Directorate of the Judicial Police (DNPJ) which organized this significant cocaine importation.”
These investigations are part of “the PNACO’s intention to pay particular attention to massive illegal drug imports via maritime routes,” explains this prosecutor’s office.
In 2025, the French Customs seized 108.81 tonnes of narcotics across the national territory, all products combined, for an estimated value of nearly 2.2 billion euros, PNACO recalls.
