How high-speed boats are smuggling tons of drugs into Europe

International drug cartels have built a sophisticated network of mid-ocean transhipment points across the Atlantic to funnel multi-ton shipments of narcotics directly into Europe, according to a joint investigation by European and American media published by Le Monde.

The smuggling operations rely on high-speed boats that intercept larger cargo vessels in the open sea, particularly in the waters surrounding the Canary and Azores islands. These fast boats, each capable of transporting up to four tons of illicit substances, ferry the cargo to European shores.

Smuggling syndicates have optimised their open-sea endurance, with some speedboat crews remaining in the ocean for weeks while auxiliary supply vessels provide them with fuel, water, and food. While cartels historically favoured dumping drug packages into the water for later retrieval, traffickers are now shifting to direct ship-to-boat transfers. On average, a single shipment undergoes three distinct mid-ocean transfers before reaching European soil.

Spanish authorities estimate that approximately 600 specialised speedboats regularly traverse the transit zone between the Canary and Azores islands, a maritime corridor now commonly referred to as the "cocaine highway."

Despite active interdiction campaigns, law enforcement agencies struggle to keep pace. In 2025, European law enforcement, supported by the Lisbon-based Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC), seized 92 tons of narcotics. However, maritime security experts estimate that more than 700 tons successfully slipped through undetected during the same period.

Le Monde reported that Western authorities face critical shortages of high-speed patrol vessels and aerial surveillance assets to adequately police the vast Atlantic transit zones. Highlighting a tactical escalation, the French military deployed snipers during "Operation Galgo" to shoot out the engines of a suspect drug speedboat in international waters—a move that security analysts suggest signals a growing role for naval militaries in countering international trafficking syndicates.

By Tamilla Hasanova