The thalassopolitics of international drug trafficking.

 

What if drug traffickers had already taken control of Europe’s major seaports?


This alarming prospect is not just the stuff of crime fiction. The 116 tonnes of cocaine seized in 2023 at the Belgian port of Antwerp serve as a stark reminder of the growing scale of the illicit drug trade. The expansion of cultivation areas, improvements in yields and processing techniques for coca leaves and poppy bulbs, and the rise in global demand illustrate the increasing scale of drug organizations. Chartered fleets of sailboats and commercial vessels, narcosubmarines, container contamination, cyberattacks on port infrastructure, dropoffs from cargo giants… the determination of this criminal thalassocracy knows no bounds.