Cocaine cows: How cartels use livestock to smuggle drugs to Europe

Cocaine cows: How cartels use livestock to smuggle drugs to Europe Molly Lee Molly Lee Published December 2, 2025 7:23pm Updated December 2, 2025 7:24pm Share this article via whatsappShare this article via xCopy the link to this article.Link is copiedShare this article via facebook Comment now Comments

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Drug cartels have found a new way to milk the system and moo-ve huge shipments of cocaine to Europe – it’s in the cows.

Border patrols are put off searching the cargo ships holding thousands of cocaine cows due to the festering and foul-smelling conditions.

Many of the animals aboard the ship are either dead or have endured months of living in faeces, making it the perfect cover for narco activities.

Intelligence sources told The Telegraph that police do not seize the vessels because it is a ‘logistical nightmare’ to deal with thousands of cows.

Sources at the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre, Narcotics (MAOC-N) say that gang-controlled ports in Brazil’s Santos and Belem, as well as Colombia’s Cartagena, regularly load up to 10,000 cows at a time onto the rundown 200-meter-long ships.

MAOC-N is an EU law enforcement group based in Lisbon that combats drug trafficking by sea and air.

One of the alleged routes that these cattle ships take (Picture: Metro)

The ships set sail around the Caribbean or South America to collect cocaine packages from smaller vessels, typically picking up four to 10 tons, worth £450 million.

The packages are concealed in the ship’s giant grain silos and other hiding places by crew members, sources told The Telegraph.

The vessels bound for the ports of Beirut in Lebanon or Damietta in Egypt, where sanitation regulations for livestock are less strict than in Europe.

However, the ship’s most lucrative cargo is sent to the major seaports of Antwerp or Rotterdam, Europe’s gateways for cocaine.

As the ship travels across the Atlantic, the crew ties the packages of cocaine to inflatables, attaches GPS devices, and throws them overboard.

Up to 10,000 cows at a time onto the rundown 200-meter-long ships, according to MAOC-N(Picture: Policia Nacional)

They are then picked up by fast boats and smuggled to Belgium and the Netherlands.

For the past 18 years, European police have seized only one livestock vessel carrying cocaine, proving how the method is effective.

It is understood that at least one suspicious livestock ship departs every week from South America towards Europe.

Sniffer dogs are reportedly ineffective at detecting drugs on these ships because they are put off by the cows and the stench onboard.

On January 24, 2023, Spanish police carried out the first-ever seizure of a cattle ship involved in trafficking cocaine in European waters.

The 100m long ship was intercepted by armed police during its voyage from Colombia to Lebanon.

On board, officers discovered 4,500kg of cocaine, valued at around £82 million, hidden in packages in cattle food silos.

Officers had to wade through faeces and urine from the 1,750 cows on board, shown in their bodycam footage.

Officers waded through faeces and urine on board the cattle ship trafficking cocaine

After the police’s interception, the ship was towed to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and its 28 crew members were arrested.

Locals in the port reportedly complained of the rotting smell coming from the vessel.

Last week, Australian police said that a livestock ship carrying sheep had been used to try and smuggle £84 million of cocaine into the country.

Cocaine tied to a floating drum off the western coast of Lancelin was found by fishermen on November 6.

The livestock carrier, Al Kuwait, allegedly dropped the drugs into the ocean on its way to Fremantle Harbour, according to the Western Australia Joint Organised Crime Taskforce.

Police are reportedly put off by the stench on board from the livestock (Picture: Policia Nacional)

Police charged the vessel’s chief officer with attempting to import a commercial quantity of cocaine, a day after the drugs were found.

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When his ship was searched by investigators, a blue drum and ropes similar to those allegedly found with the drugs were found.

Two men from Sydney, aged 19 and 36, and a 52-year-old Perth man were all allegedly responsible for collecting the cocaine and bringing it to shore.

Metro has contacted MAOC-N for comment.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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