Criminal networks are well ahead in the fight over Europe’s ports

EUROPE’S PORTS are drug hubs. On February 16th the Port of Cork seized €32.8m ($35.6m) worth of crystal meth. Last year Antwerp, one of Europe’s main drug gateways, confiscated record amounts of cocaine. Most drugs, though, elude customs and end up on the streets. More than a quarter of seizures of illegal firearms and half of all homicides in the EU are linked to drug-trafficking. The bloc’s illegal-drug market is now reckoned to be worth at least €31bn a year, according to the EU’s main drugs-monitoring agency.