Belgium and the Netherlands are at the very centre of cocaine trafficking in Europe, according to the latest report issued by the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol.

The Brussels Times reported that Europol’s Cocaine Insights Report, compiled in conjunction with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), had found more competition and more violence in the cocaine market.

Western Balkan criminal networks have established direct contacts with producers and secured a prominent place in the wholesale supply of cocaine, the report read, showing how buyers can now go directly to the source of the drug to organise their own distribution rather than relying on organised criminal networks.

Given that cocaine is made from leaves of the coca plant grown in South America, Europol said it has little jurisdiction on shutting down primary producers, meaning that the next best thing is cutting of the flow of the product entering Europe.

The report reads that the ports of Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands play a crucial role in drug smuggling, and that these two ports and their huge container traffic are key to stopping drug distribution networks.

“Cocaine trafficking is one of the key security concerns we are facing in the EU right now. Nearly 40% of the criminal groups active in Europe are involved in drugs trafficking, and the cocaine trade generates billions of euros in criminal profits,” said Julia Viedma, head of the operational and analysis centre at Europol.

“Understanding better the challenges we face will help us to counter more effectively the violent threat that cocaine trafficking networks pose to our communities.”

“The current dynamics of diversification and proliferation of cocaine supply channels, criminal actors and modalities are likely to continue, if left unchecked,” warned Chloé Carpentier, chief of the drug research section at UNODC.