South American cartels 'putting European boats into storage' to use later for drug trafficking

Minister of state James Browne visited the EU anti-drug trafficking agency Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre in Portugal. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

South American gangs are buying boats in Europe and putting them into storage for years only to later use them for transporting cocaine across the Atlantic, minister of state at the Department of Justice James Browne has said.

After a visit to the EU anti-drug trafficking agency Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (Maoc) in Portugal, Mr Browne said he was “very impressed” with the level of analysis being conducted into new methods being employed by cartels to ship cocaine into Europe.