Drug traffickers have made the port of Le Havre the first gateway to mainland France to transport cocaine from South America. On site, they can count on well-organized intermediaries in order to get the white gold out of the containers for the benefit of their networks. People are needed to prepare false papers, provide weapons, vehicles and above all recruiters in order to intimidate and corrupt the dockers: essential links in the traffic.
These port workers, among whom there are also truck drivers or logisticians, are solicited and intimidated in order to make the port accessible. This whole recruiting process to get the cocaine out of the port comes at a high price.
Recruiters can receive between 100,000 and 200,000 euros from traffickers, the docker who moves 50,000 containers and the truck driver who takes “boxes” out of the port receives between 10,000 and 20,000 euros. Rather reasonable sums when you know that 100 kilos of cocaine can be sold for more than 3 million euros.
We are monitored by drone and binoculars
Alain Le Maire, CGT Customs union representative
The customs officers pass the containers through the scanner, carry out the seizures but they are understaffed, assures the CGT. “We have gone from 460 customs officers at the port in 2002 to just over 300 today, explains Alain Le Maire, CGT Customs union representative. At the same time, traffic has tripled in 20 years. It is not complicated to understand that we tinker today”.
Customs officers closely watched by traffickers. On the port, it has already happened that the agents witnessed surreal scenes. “We are being watched by drone and binoculars, says Alain Le Maire. Recently, a man was caught in the act. He was piloting a drone and the cameras transmitted the images of the containers directly to the mobile phones of his accomplices”.
Container movements in the port of Le Havre are carefully scrutinized. “Few years ago, we had a Colombian mafia all over the port. They go where they want,” concludes the trade unionist.
