France announces further investment to combat drug trafficking in Guiana

The Minister for Public Accounts, David Amiel, said the first phase of the "Customs Plan 2030" would be rolled out from 2027.

"We are on the front line in the fight against drug trafficking, counterfeiting and illegal gold mining," he said.

During his visit to the Grand Port Maritime de la Guyane on Monday, Amiel announced 15 additional posts – representing a 10 percent increase in customs staff and the leasing of a Beechcraft aircraft to monitor the high seas.

He also said there would be a deployment of a high-capacity mobile scanner at this port, which handles container traffic to and from Europe.

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Customs officers already have a lower-powered scanner, fitted inside a van, which they use to scan 93 percent of containers destined for export.

Gilbert Beltran, Deputy Director-General of Customs, said the new device, which is expected to come into service next year, would enable them to scan all export containers with greater precision.

In early July, Amiel announced a major €419 million "customs plan" to tackle the "flood" of drugs, particularly cocaine, promising to recruit staff and deploy 25 additional scanners across the country by 2030.

Airport screening a success

Last year, customs officers seized 466 kilograms of cocaine in French Guiana, as well as 70 kilograms of cannabis and 1,212 kilograms of tobacco, according to figures from the prefecture.

With the introduction in 2022 of the "100 percent screening" scheme at Félix-Eboué Airport – the only point of exit by air – traffickers had increasingly turned to the Grand Port Maritime to smuggle drugs to Europe.

In April 2024, just under two tonnes of cocaine were intercepted there, hidden in containers.

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The government considers the "100 percent screening" carried out at Félix-Éboué Airport to be effective.

In May 2025, the Interior Ministry stated that this had reduced the number of kilograms of cocaine intercepted at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport on flights from French Guiana by a factor of ten.

"What we have achieved at the airport, we will have to replicate at the port," Amiel told customs officers.

On Tuesday, he will visit Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a town situated opposite Albina, Suriname, through which some of the drugs destined for Europe transit via French Guiana.

(with AFP)