Drug trafficking between Spain and France reaches "saturation"

The cocaine was traveling on a bunk. It was packed in eight black sports bags simply placed on the bed of the cab of a heavy goods vehicle traveling on the A8 motorway when customs officers at the La Barque toll booth (Bouches-du-Rhône) discovered it on July 27 during a routine check in the middle of the night. The documents presented by the Romanian driver attest to a shipment of wood and aluminum coming from Spain and bound for Italy. But after analysis, it was indeed a seizure of 206.6 kilos of ultra-pure cocaine, wrapped in loaves decorated with a blessed Buddha, which adds to the already record number of drug seizures transported from the other side of the Pyrenees.

As of May 31, 2.9 tons of cocaine had been discovered by law enforcement agencies, originating from Spain, since the beginning of the year. A trend that confirms the jump in seizures between 2022 and 2024 (+160%). At the toll booths of Biriatou (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) and Boulou (Pyrénées-Orientales), seizures are almost daily. This "saturation" , as customs officers note, takes the form of convoys where the unusual becomes normal. Tractors, sports cars, minivans, anything goes to cover their tracks, with students, young women, and retirees at the wheel.

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