Cannabis replacing cocaine in drug trafficking through Rotterdam port
The Netherlands was once considered the cannabis hub of Europe, but last year, foreign cannabis suddenly started flooding the port of Rotterdam. At the same time, cocaine busts at the port decreased dramatically. According to AD, cannabis trafficking is turning out just as lucrative to the underworld as cocaine, but with a fraction of the risk.
Last year, there was a clear shift in the drug trade. While law enforcement agencies still focused on cocaine, the port of Rotterdam was suddenly flooded with, often legally grown, cannabis from Thailand, the United States, and especially Canada.
In 2024, the Dutch authorities intercepted 14,492 kilograms of cannabis. Last year, that jumped to 65,532 kilograms. At the same time, cocaine seizures dropped from 38,000 in 2024 to 24,500 in 2025.
Until last year, cocaine was always the cash cow of the underworld. But Europe has been flooded with the drug in the past 18 months, and cocaine is becoming increasingly difficult to monetize. The wholesale price halved from €28,000 per kilogram to €14,000 per kilogram in that period.
As a result, the much safer cannabis is becoming nearly as lucrative, criminal sources and investigators told the newspaper. Canadian cannabis is purchased for €800 to €1,200 per kilogram, and sold in Europe for around €4,000. Those smuggling to England or Turkey could easily earn double that, AD’s sources said.
Customs officials were surprised by the shift. “You don’t know any better than that the Netherlands itself grows a lot [of cannabis], and then you suddenly stumble upon large shipping containers from abroad, completely overflowing with weed: 4,600 kilograms, 6,900 kilograms, 5,800 kilograms. Each and every one of them is a massive haul,” Peter van Buijtenen, the regional director of customs in Rotterdam, told AD.
In many cases, the traffickers didn’t even put a lot of effort into hiding the drugs. “Canada isn’t Colombia, of course, so such shipments didn’t automatically set off alarm bells,” Van Buijtenen said. “At least, they didn’t until last year. Now that we’re actively looking into shipments from Canada, we’re suddenly finding a lot more.”
Because Canadian containers weren’t routinely checked by scanners and sniffer dogs, the chance of getting caught was much lower. And the sentences for soft drugs like cannabis are typically lower than for hard drugs like cocaine. With the price of cocaine falling, it’s an easy calculation for drug criminals to make.
