The warning comes after a Financial Times report revealed that Polish vessels under 24 meters have become popular with smugglers working the trans-Atlantic trade owing to lax regulations on boat registration and those governing who can board vessels at sea.
According to the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre - Narcotics (MAOC-N), an initiative of eight EU Member States (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal) and the United Kingdom, co-financed by the European Union's Internal Security Fund, Poland has failed to adapt its regulations to international law to allow other countries to board Polish-flagged vessels at sea.
This means Polish boats have “de facto immunity” from arrest, according to Julien Garsany, Brussels’ UN representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
“When other countries see a vessel flying the Polish flag and [it’s] suspected to be involved in drug trafficking, they basically have no one to authorize them to board it,” Garsany said.
Two years ago, a search by the Portuguese security services of a Polish-registered vessel in the waters of the Azores Archipelago led to the arrest of two Dutchmen and the seizure of 1.2 tons of cocaine.
A Portuguese court later ruled that the entire operation by maritime services was illegal, because Poland had not issued permission to detain the yacht. That decision was overturned in early 2024, but the smugglers had long since departed Portugal.
Increase in Polish-registered boats
MAOC-N has observed an increase in the number of leisure yachts that may be used for smuggling and are registered in Poland. In 2021, MAOC monitored 12 such boats, a year later 31, and in 2023 as many as 47.
Since Warsaw introduced a new registration system in 2020, the number of registered boats has increased from 2,000 to almost 77,000.
“It’s cheap, it’s superfast and it doesn’t require much information. So obviously the criminals will try to register on that. It’s a fantastic business,” an MAOC-N analyst told the Financial Times.
The matter is serious because the MAOC-N is observing a huge increase in cocaine smuggling from South America to West Africa.
Since 2021, the organization has reported the seizure of 19 small Polish vessels carrying a total of 18 tons of cannabis, 13.5 tons of cocaine and 56 kg of MDMA (ecstasy). The boats were stopped off the coast of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau.
Polish response
In response to the revelations made in the Financial Times article, Tomasz Siemoniak, the Polish interior minister, said the use of Polish boats results “from unclear, apparently too liberal regulations on floating objects.
“We need to look into this and make changes quickly,” he said.
Poland's Health Ministry said that Warsaw aims to enable inspections of Polish-flagged vessels by the end of the year.
“Competent authorities in Poland are working on legislative changes… which will allow them [the police] to issue such permits,” the ministry told the Financial Times.
