How Cocaine Smugglers Blow Past Europe’s Law Enforcement | WSJ (Level 1)

Spain is fighting fast drug boats that bring cocaine into Europe. At night, Spanish customs agents search the sea near the Strait of Gibraltar, between Spain and Morocco. Cocaine from South America comes through this area. Europe has a lot more cocaine now. In 2023, police in Europe took seven times more cocaine than ten years before. Drug groups now use very fast boats called narcolanchas instead of big ships. These boats can go 60 miles per hour, so police boats cannot catch them. The boats enter the Guadalquivir River and move toward the center of Spain. Then trucks take the drugs to other parts of Europe. One small boat can carry up to three and a half tons of cocaine, worth about 200 million dollars. The crews stay at sea for days or weeks and sleep on top of the drugs. Police say this fight is very hard because drug trafficking is so profitable.