A White Christmas! Authorities seize record amounts of cocaine ahead of the holiday season

Ahead of the holiday season, Custom authorities in Belgium have seized 10 tonnes of cocaine worth more than €750 million ($795 million) on Antwerp. Hailed as "White Christmas", the operations under it will see authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands work to capture record levels of cocaine. The substance is smuggled in through the Belgian city of Antwerp.

"White Christmas, that is the period in which the white powder falls en masse from the sky," Kristian Vanderwaeren, the director-general of Belgium’s customs and excise department, told VRT news.

Officials also made a large drug bust a week back when they found 3.9 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador. Last Wednesday, another 4.8 tonnes in a second load of bananas was found in a shipment from Panama. A third similar shipment being sent to the Netherlands via Antwerp was hiding a further 1.3 tonnes.

The total cocaine seizures for this year are expected to surpass last year's figure of 90 tonnes that worth €6 billion ($6.35 billion).

Law enforcement have been working round the clock to stop the entry of drugs into Europe. Six members of a "super-cartel", who reportedly ran one-third of Europe's cocaine trade from Dubai, were also arrested earlier this year.

However, production of cocaine is still on the rise and it those connected with the trade manage to push it into Europe where the demand is also regularly increasing.

Vanderwaeren also mentioned how smugglers are coming up with innovative ways to stop their shipment from being busted.

“In the past, people mainly used sports bags, which happens less,” he said. "We are seeing more and more that cocaine is being hidden in the structure of shipping containers. That makes it more difficult for us to discover and dismantle."

Notably, alcohol and drug consumption see a considerable increase over the holidays. During December alone, 600 million units of alcohol are consumed in the UK, a rise of 41 per cent when compared to any other time of year.

In the US, December, January, and March are the most dangerous times of the year for drug-and-alcohol-related deaths, according to CDC. Nearly 91,000 people have lost their lives in the month of December since 1999. According to American Addictions Centres, about 29 per cent Americans said they drink more during the holidays.

(With inputs from agencies)

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