Earlier this month, the Dutch naval vessel HNLMS Amsterdam charted the infamous drug smuggling route Highway 10 between West Africa and South America. This was done at the request of the European counter-drug organisation Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N) in Lisbon.
Over the past years, drugs have increasingly been reaching the European market via the west coast of Africa. Couriers often use the shortest sea crossing, which runs along the 10th parallel and is known as Highway 10. In order to tackle drug smuggling, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom decided to adopt a combined approach. That led to the establishment in 2007 of the MAOC-N, in which the seven countries combat drug trafficking along the European and West African coasts together.
Until now, the Netherlands has been represented at the headquarters in Portugal by the National Police.
“By expanding the cooperation at sea, we are taking an important step in the fight against drug trafficking”, says the commanding officer of HNLMS Amsterdam, Commander Hans Veerbeek. “This European cooperation ties in well with existing initiatives in the Caribbean, so the net is closing further.”
The Royal Netherlands Navy has been conducting counterdrug operations in the Caribbean for years. Due to their strategic location between drug-producing countries and their markets, the Caribbean islands are an important link in the smuggling routes to the United States and Europe.
The Amsterdam is now heading for the Caribbean, where the supply ship will serve as the navy’s guard ship for the next four months.
[mappress] Press Release, August 28, 2013; Image: Dutch MoD