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RNZ News
7 days ago
- RNZ News
NZ Customs 'very concerned' about drug movements in the Pacific
Photo: Customs NZ The New Zealand Customs Agency says it is "very concerned" about the movement of drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine through the Pacific. Organised crime groups supplying the lucrative New Zealand and Australia markets transport their product through the Pacific region. Customs' deputy chief executive of international and governance Joe Cannon said the agency works with partner nations like Tonga, Fiji and Samoa to tackle the illicit drug trade. "We have a number of pieces of work underway, and a lot of cooperation between New Zealand and our Pacific Island partners," he said. He said there is a programme to help strengthen border management, and they are working with Pacific partners on providing training. Drug use and trafficking is a major issue in the region. Last week, seven men were found guilty of charges relating to Fiji's largest-ever drug-trafficking case . Last month, authorities in French Polynesia claimed another "historic" drug haul for a total €331 million street value. Seized drugs onboard include 232kg of methamphetamine and 1,646kg of cocaine. Photo: Comgend Polynésie française OFAST Cannon said the threat of corruption is part of a broader global pattern. "I'm well aware that transnational criminal gangs do target supply chains and sometimes government workers as well to enable their supply chains," he said. "I am aware of it in the Pacific Islands. I am aware of, for example, the supply chains in New Zealand just around the recent arrest of the baggage handlers in Auckland Airport as well, where they have been targeted by organised criminal gangs to infiltrate that supply chain." Cannon said drugs are reaching New Zealand in sea freight, via "deep concealment" in industrial equipment, and unaccompanied bags on flights. When asked about whether the measures were working, he pointed towards "the significant amount" of disruption to the supply chains of methamphetamine and cocaine. The suitcase containing 14 individually vacuum-sealed packages of methamphetamine. Photo: Supplied/NZ Customs "We are increasingly having larger seizures and actually preventing this product from reaching our markets, and by doing so, preventing the harm that it does to our communities. "I think this challenge will continue to be present, given the price that people will pay for methamphetamine and cocaine in New Zealand. "Unfortunately, we pay some of the highest prices in the world for this product." Last week, the FBI opened a branch in Wellington . The US Embassy in Wellington said it will work to investigate and disrupt a wide range of threats and criminal activities including terrorism, cybercrime and fraud, organised crime and money laundering, child exploitation, and foreign intelligence threats. "It will have responsibility for partnerships in New Zealand, Antarctica, Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands, and Tonga."
Euronews
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
No part of France is free of drugs, anti-narcotic agency warns
France has become a country with no area free of drugs, according to a report by the country's anti-narcotics office OFAST, raising concerns about the scale of cocaine trafficking and its grip on French society. Described as a 'white tsunami' by French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, the report warns of an explosive rise in cocaine availability, calling it an 'existential threat' and a form of 'counter-culture' driven by violence and impunity, FranceInfo reported. In just the first six months of 2025, authorities seized 37.5 tonnes of cocaine, up 45% from the same period in 2024, a record high. According to OFAST, this is a sign of how deeply entrenched drug trafficking has become across the country. In 2024 alone, 367 murders or attempted murders linked to drug-related violence were recorded in 173 cities. 'Taking control of neighbourhoods fuels everyday crime, normalises violence and illegal money as part of a growing counter-culture, and seriously damages efforts to improve cities and help people integrate into society,' the report stated. The report also highlighted how some trafficking networks have gone beyond criminal activity and begun to exert social control in communities. In one example from Bagnols-sur-Cèze in southern France, residents received letters offering help with groceries or home repairs in exchange for tolerating drug dealing in their neighbourhood. In some areas, drug lords have even overruled local authority, acting as de facto rulers in their neighbourhoods. One such case involved Marseille's DZ Mafia, a gang that released a video last year featuring masked men, white sheets and weapons raised in the air, an echo of nationalist paramilitary groups. OFAST said the group aimed to undermine public institutions, pointing to recent attacks on prisons and prison officers' homes. The report also outlined a pyramid structure within the drug trade. While around 200,000 people are believed to profit in some way from the drug economy, a handful of top-level traffickers dominate drug imports into France, often operating from abroad. These individuals, according to OFAST, have built direct links to South American cartels, working so closely that they have effectively formed what resembles a 'French cocaine cartel'. Beneath them are 'middle-tier' distributors, followed by street-level dealers operating not only at France's 2,700 known dealing points, but increasingly via delivery systems or even Airbnb-style setups that let customers discreetly collect their drugs from rented apartments. In March, France's Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced he had "decided to strike hard" against the most dangerous drug traffickers in the country, pledging to imprison 200 of them in two high-security prisons by 15 October. The minister, who has made tackling the drugs trade a top priority since assuming the role in December, said the facilities would be renovated to make them "completely hermetic".
RNZ News
03-08-2025
- RNZ News
Massive cocaine and meth haul seized on yacht in French Polynesia worth €331 million
Seized drugs onboard include 232kg of methamphetamine and 1,646kg of cocaine. Photo: Comgend Polynésie française OFAST Authorities in French Polynesia are claiming another "historic" drug haul for a total €331 million street value. The catch initially took place on 14 July in Nuku Hiva (Marquesas Islands, about 1,400km North of Tahiti), aboard a transiting sailboat travelling from Mexico and believed to be headed to Australia via the Kingdom of Tonga. What authorities immediately found was 900kg of cocaine and 180kg of methamphetamines. But the seized yacht, under French Navy and gendarmerie escort, was since repatriated to the main island of Tahiti and the capital Pape'ete, where it was completely searched and dismantled. This resulted in the discovery, with assistance from sniffer dog units, of a further 714.1kg of cocaine and 49.8kg of methamphetamines concealed in the boat's structure, bringing the final count to 1,646.8kg of cocaine and 232.4kg of methamphetamines. The seized ship also contained 11 Glock pistols and 22 bullet ammunition magazines. Photo: Comgend Polynésie française OFAST In addition to the narcotics, 11 Glock semi‑automatic pistols and 24 ammunition magazines were also found. French Home Affairs Minister Bruno Retailleau described the haul as a first in French Polynesia's history. He hailed participating law enforcement agencies (French customs, anti-narcotics unit "OFAST" and gendarmerie) The three men onboard (a German skipper and two Dutch nationals), remain in custody, local Public Prosecutor Solène Belaouar said in a statement at the weekend. "This shipment was not for French Polynesia", head of French Polynesia's Customs Serge Puccetti told local media. He said intelligence shared between French authorities and regional law enforcement agencies such as the US, Australia and New Zealand has now clearly established the Pacific as a major transit area between narcotic-production from South America and one of its major new markets, Australia. In terms of trans-national organised traffic, "Currently, we have a Polynesian connection, the Americans are working on an American connection which itself is linked to this Polynesian network. So we are working on what we call 'mirror' investigations. We establish connections, we share a lot of intelligence", Puccetti said. He said narco-traffic in the Pacific, just like elsewhere (Europe, Africa, Atlantic ocean), was now multi-faceted and implied all kinds of transport modes: by air, sea, onboard containers, sailboats. "On each of these vectors, we are vigilant", he said. French Polynesia's five archipelagos are widespread over a surface of some 5.5 millions square kilometres, an area equivalent to that of the whole European continent. The largest drugs catch in French Polynesia, until now, was on Christmas Eve 2004, when 524kg of cocaine were seized aboard a Spanish-flagged vessel with 14 crew members from Columbia and Ecuador onboard. In March 2019, another Papeete-based French Navy vessel, Prairial, in collaboration with the US Joint Interagency Task Force - South intercepted a fishing vessel off the coast of Nicaragua with 766kg of cocaine on board. In February 2025, in the face of an increasing presence and consumption of methamphetamines (dubbed "ice") in French Polynesia now affecting "one in ten" inhabitants, President Moetai Brotherson sounded the alarm bell and called for urgent assistance from France, saying the issue now required to be made a matter of "national priority". In July 2025, French Polynesia's Territorial Assembly (parliament) unanimously backed a motion to support stronger measures to fight against the addictive drug, with an available budget of around two million Euros. Another narcotics-related project currently mooted would be to set up a sniffer dogs training centre, with French assistance. The ship contained 1,878kg of narcotics, including 232kg of methamphetamine and 1,646kg of cocaine. Photo: Comgend Polynésie française OFAST French Polynesia, as well as other Pacific countries and territories (Samoa, Fiji, Tonga), has been identified as a major transit point of the so-called "Drugs Highway" from North and South America (the United States, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama) to major markets such as Australia, New Zealand and Asia. In the other direction, labs in South-east Asia are also using Pacific islands such as Palau or Papua New Guinea as transit points to ship opium-based and methamphetamines to the US market. In June 2025, a record 2.5 tonnes of cocaine were seized off New Caledonia. The operation was conducted on 25 June by the Nouméa-based French Navy overseas patrol vessel Auguste Bennebig, some 400 nautical miles off Nouméa, with aerial support from a reconnaissance "Gardian" Falcon Jet from the French Navy. Approximately 2.5 tonnes of cocaine were found in the Panama-flagged vessel named SM Dante, which had left Peru in May and was headed to Australia. The drugs were packed in about fifty individual bags. Investigators believe the drug shipment was prepared to be despatched aboard small outboard vessels near the target coasts of Australia, following a well-established scenario known as "rip-off". Aboard the ship were seven crew members, from Portugal (2) and Ecuador (5). French authorities say that since 2012, they have intercepted six vessels transporting drugs and narcotics, mainly cocaine. However, the latest operation beats the previous records of 578kg of cocaine seized in October 2017 and 750kg in August 2013 on ships travelling from Panama to Australia, as well as two captures of 1.4 tonnes on the same route in February and July 2017. In mid-June 2025, authorities in New Caledonia and French Polynesia jointly claimed a cumulated catch score of over 500kg of cocaine in April and May 2025, including 67kg for New Caledonia alone. They said those operations were mostly conducted in collaboration and based on intelligence-sharing with regional forces such as Australia's Border Force, New Zealand Customs and the United States Homeland Security Investigations. "In terms of cocaine consumption, the US market is now saturated. That's why traffickers are searching for new markets, Europe and, in the Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand", New Caledonia's Divisional Head of Customs Hervé Matho told local media. Recently, in New Caledonia, a cocaine distribution network, albeit atypical, was identified and stopped between the capital Nouméa and the Isle of Pines. About ten people were arrested for dealing what they say they found "drifting" bags that had washed ashore on their small island: over 42kg of cocaine. The "find" was said to have taken place sometime in August 2024. In a strangely similar case of "drifting" drugs, on Norfolk Island, late May 2025, a 40kg package containing cocaine also washed up on a beach, where it was later found by tourists. In June 2025, a report delivered to New Zealand's Associate Police Minister Casey Costello sent a strong warning signal that the Pacific Islands were seriously targeted by transnational organised crime, whose operators are using its waters as a "corridor" for drug shipments between production and consumption centres.
Morocco World
03-07-2025
- Morocco World
Spanish Police Seize Over 15 Tons of Hashish Hidden in Moroccan Watermelon Truck
Rabat – Spanish authorities, working closely with Moroccan and French counterparts, have intercepted a massive shipment of hashish smuggled into Spain from Morocco, seizing more than 15 tons of the drug concealed in a truck loaded with watermelons. The truck, which arrived in the port of Almería from Morocco, was stopped by Spain's national police. Officers discovered 13.3 tons of hashish stashed between watermelon pallets and inside cleverly disguised fake sweet potatoes. The operation, which also led to the arrest of five men, including the truck driver and others involved in surveillance and logistics, was the result of months of international cooperation. The suspects, accused of belonging to a criminal organization and drug trafficking , have been brought before a judge and placed in pretrial detention. According to a statement from the Spanish police, the raid was coordinated with Morocco's General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) and France's anti-narcotics office (OFAST). The investigation began in early June after OFAST alerted Spanish authorities to the activities of a Spanish-Moroccan criminal network trafficking large quantities of hashish into Europe. Investigators soon determined that the group planned to use a semi-trailer truck to smuggle the drugs via Almería, exploiting the steady flow of agricultural shipments between Morocco and Spain to avoid detection. Police eventually tracked the truck to a warehouse in an industrial area, where they uncovered dozens of packages of hashish hidden among watermelon pallets. They also found sacks resembling sweet potatoes, which turned out to be hollow containers designed to conceal additional drugs and evade inspection. Spanish authorities hailed the operation as a successful example of cross-border cooperation against organized crime. Tags: drug traffickinghashishspain police
