French customs are increasingly carrying out checks on motorways to crack down on drug traffickers.image: Montage Watson
As the number of seizures increases, drug cartels are having to find new ways to evade controls. In France, customs patrol the highway.
April 5, 2026, 5:23 p.mApril 5, 2026, 5:23 p.m
Sabine Colpart
The customs officers in Saint-Étienne constantly scan the trucks on the motorway with a keen eye. In March they made an “exceptional find”: over a ton of cocaine on the A7. The route is increasingly developing into a transit route for drug traffickers – from southern Europe to the north.
translation
This text was written by our colleagues from French-speaking Switzerland and we translated it for you.
Shortly before the Easter weekend, a customs officer with the nickname “Bernie” will again be in charge of road checks at the Veauchette toll booth on the A72. Also there: a dog handler with his Labrador “Pat” (both are called that) – and an officer with a long gun who ensures the necessary security.
Hidden in bags full of potting soil
“Bernie” was already working as a so-called “targeter” on March 23rd when a truck immediately struck him as suspicious. “The truck came in – and I immediately had a good feeling,” he says with a certain amount of pride. Normally he is used to large cannabis discoveries along the Rhone axis.
A whole series of clues put the customs officers on the right track that day: In the end, they seized 1.2 tons of cocaine – hidden at the bottom of 22 huge bags full of potting soil. It is the third largest overland seizure of the drug in France in the last five years. The customs officer continues:
«You can find pretty much everything on the A7! We have huge truck traffic here, completely different to other regions of France. The trucks come from everywhere and go everywhere – which makes it difficult to pick out the right vehicles for inspections. And with the increasing smuggling? Who knows, maybe we’ll get even larger quantities soon.”
Next to him, Renaud, head of the Saint-Étienne customs brigade with its 25 forces, agrees:
“We have to expect that large quantities will be transported upwards from southern Europe. And to be honest: I’m afraid this is a phenomenon that won’t go away anytime soon.”
Alternative routes
Produced in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, cocaine usually enters the European market through major ports such as Le Havre, Rotterdam or Antwerp. But because the controls have been tightened, the smugglers are giving way: they are increasingly coming in via Barcelona and Lisbon – and then taking the goods by truck to Northern Europe.
The cargo seized at the Vienne toll booth on the A7 on March 23rd had been loaded on the Iberian Peninsula – with destination Northern Europe. Corinne Cléostrate, Deputy Director for Anti-Fraud, explains:
“This cocaine route has increased significantly in the last year and a half – with seizures in really large quantities. We haven’t seen volumes like this before.”
In 2025, a total of 84.3 tons of cocaine were seized in France, according to the anti-drug agency (Ofast). Of this, 59.5 tons came by sea. Striking: 11 tons were smuggled in via Spain and Portugal – the year before it was 1.7 tons. French customs alone withdrew a total of 31.26 tons from circulation in 2025.
“Making life difficult” for criminals
At the Veauchette toll booth, officials take a close look at the trucks. One of them, with Romanian license plates, catches your eye. The truck is flagged down, checked – and the load is checked by sniffer dog “Pat”. Everything is clean: the driver is allowed to continue driving, the customs officers continue their search. Jean-Pierre Chappuis, customs director in Clermont-Ferrand, says:
“The fight against these criminal organizations is getting harder and harder – they often have more money than us. We try to understand their methods and stay one step ahead of them. But they constantly try to break through our lines. And the first line is customs. With this seizure of 1.2 tonnes we have hurt an organization financially. We haven’t brought them to their knees – but we are forcing them to rethink their plans.”
The authorities estimated drug trafficking sales in France at around 7 billion euros in 2025. (btr/afp)
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