Colombia Seizes 7.6 Tonnes of Netherlands-Bound Cocaine at Cartagena, the Port's Largest Haul in a Decade

Colombian police have seized 7.6 tonnes of cocaine bound for the Netherlands at the port of Cartagena, President Abelardo de la Espriella announced on Tuesday.

Writing on X, the president said the National Police had achieved the largest cocaine seizure in the port of Cartagena in the last 10 years — the biggest such haul in the port's recent history.

According to the National Police, the drugs were hidden in powdered panela, an unrefined cane sugar. They were found by the police anti-narcotics directorate in an operation coordinated with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

De la Espriella said security forces had seized 132 tonnes of cocaine, worth around $6.1 billion, in his government's first 75 days.

"There is no truce against narco-terrorism," the president added. "Every dose we prevent from reaching the streets saves lives, and every dollar we take from them weakens their criminal structures."

Separately, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) confirmed to the Dutch newspaper AD that two Dutch nationals had been arrested in Colombia at its request.

Colombian prosecutors named the two men as Ronny and Ulrich. Neither authority, however, has linked the arrests to the Cartagena seizure.

The scale of cocaine trafficking into Europe is reflected in figures from the EU Drugs Agency, which reports that 330 tonnes of cocaine were seized in the EU in 2024, down from 419 tonnes in 2023.

The Cartagena seizure underlines once again how trafficking networks use ports and legitimate cargo as cover on the South America-to-Europe route, and how concealing drugs inside food products remains a major challenge for investigators.

Investigations are expected to continue into the origin of the seized cocaine, the network behind the shipment and its intended recipients in the Netherlands, while attention also turns to further information from Colombian and Dutch authorities about the two arrested Dutch nationals.

The Colombian government's anti-drug operations are continuing, and by the president's account the Cartagena operation is the largest success yet in a campaign that has seized significant quantities of cocaine week after week since his government took office.