Tunis, Nov. 1 — Tunisia has recorded a sustained increase in the quantities of cocaine seized during security and customs operations targeting drug trafficking in recent years.
At the same time, international reports point to the growing use of North Africa as a trafficking corridor to Europe, the world's second-largest cocaine market after North America.
Official seizure figures, together with statements by customs and Interior Ministry officials, confirm this upward trend.
In October 2026, customs authorities announced that more than 101 kg of cocaine had been seized during the first nine months of the year, compared with 94 kg throughout 2025 and 33 kg in 2024.
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At the Interior Ministry, Mohamed Ali Chaïbi, head of the narcotics control unit at the El Gorjani Judicial Police Directorate, said the quantities seized had increased nearly a thousandfold over a decade, rising from around 150 grammes in 2013 to more than 140 kg in 2023.
'Large quantities' trafficked across the Libyan border
Chaïbi said in a media statement the increase was partly attributable to trafficking across Tunisia's border with Libya, which stretches for approximately 460 km and serves as a route for "large quantities" of drugs, including cocaine.
Libya has experienced prolonged instability since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, with political authority divided between two rival governments, one internationally recognised and based in the west and the other in the east.
According to a report published in January 2026 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Libya has evolved into a "less costly and easier alternative" for drug transit, storage and distribution across North Africa and beyond.
It has moved from being a transit country to an "emerging new hub for cocaine trafficking", particularly towards Europe and the Middle East.
Entitled Drug Trafficking Dynamics in Libya and Across North Africa: Trends and Implications, the report is the first international document specifically examining Libya's role in the trafficking of various types of drugs.
It also highlights the repercussions for Tunisia, where different types of narcotics originating in Libya are increasingly appearing.
Tunisian security and customs authorities regularly announce that they have foiled cocaine trafficking attempts at the Ras Jedir border crossing between the two countries.
In February 2026, nearly 30 kg of cocaine were seized at the crossing from a foreign-registered vehicle arriving from Libya, in one of the largest seizures of the substance in Tunisia.
According to the United Nations, cocaine reaches Libya through two main routes.
By sea, "large" and "direct" shipments from Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil are transported to Libyan ports aboard commercial vessels, with the drugs concealed inside shipping containers.
Some vessels may call at Malta and "other Mediterranean ports", where the drugs are transferred to smaller boats bound for Libya.
By land, cocaine is transported from West Africa across the Sahel Desert, particularly through Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, towards Libya's southern borders.
Armed groups operating in the Sahel region, which the United Nations describes as a global "hotbed" of terrorism, provide protection for four-wheel-drive vehicles and trucks transporting cocaine into southern Libya in exchange for fees or a share of the drugs.
European reports indicate that organised crime networks have stepped up their use of West African and North African routes following tighter customs and security controls at major European ports, particularly Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which have long served as the main entry points for cocaine into Europe.
A 'reverse flow' from European ports
Cocaine reaching Tunisia does not originate solely from Libya.
The UN report also identifies a "reverse flow" of cocaine from European ports, including Marseille and Genoa, to Tunisian ports, particularly La Goulette and Radès.
The drugs are concealed in private cars or commercial trucks transported aboard passenger and vehicle ferries.
The report attributes this phenomenon to "weaknesses in border controls" at European ports handling shipments bound for the southern Mediterranean.
This situation is partly explained by the fact that European authorities continue to regard North Africa as a "transit zone and an export hub for cocaine and other drugs, rather than a destination market".
Part of the cocaine transported through these "reverse flows" is intended for the Tunisian domestic market, while the remainder is redistributed to neighbouring countries.
High prices in Tunisia could attract criminal networks
Meanwhile, sources believe that cocaine's relatively high price in Tunisia compared with Europe, where supply is "abundant", could make the country particularly attractive to criminal networks.
The price of one kilogramme of cocaine in Tunisia reaches 300,000 dinars, according to Chaïbi, compared with between 25,000 euros (approximately 84,000 dinars) and 43,000 euros (nearly 144,000 dinars) in Europe, according to the 2026 European Drug Report published by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA).
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Cocaine production in South America reached an unprecedented level of more than 4,000 tonnes in 2024, according to the 2026 World Drug Report published by the UNODC.
The report, which serves as the United Nations' annual reference for monitoring trends in drug production, trafficking and consumption, notes that cocaine has "penetrated retail markets" in North Africa.
The surge in production is pushing criminal networks to seek new markets and trafficking routes, particularly in North Africa, whose geographical position offers opportunities to redirect shipments towards "emerging" markets in southern and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East.
In response to this phenomenon, Chaïbi, head of the narcotics control unit at the El Gorjani Judicial Police Directorate, stressed the importance of international cooperation, particularly with neighbouring countries, through "joint investigations" and the "exchange of information on international trafficking networks", within the framework of bilateral and international agreements.
