French customs intensify highway checks after record 1.2-tonne cocaine bust

At a motorway toll booth in central France, customs officers stop vehicles in a renewed push against large-scale drug trafficking—just weeks after the same team seized an exceptional 1.2 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a lorry, a sign authorities said the land-route smuggling surge is far from over.

The head of the Internal Surveillance Brigade of Saint-Étienne stressed to expect major inflows from southern Europe, with substantial volumes, adding that they are dealing with a phenomenon that’s not going to stop any time soon.