The document also reports a "substantial increase" in drug trafficking criminal activity, as well as in the quantities seized. The RASI registers a total of 37,947 kilos of hashish seized (+62.3% compared to the previous year), 21,721 kilos of cocaine (+31.4%), 41 kilos of heroin (-43.5%) and 91,054 units of ecstasy (+47.3%).

Regarding the number of seizures registered in the 2023 document, hashish leads with 5,806 (+22.4%), followed by cocaine with 2,105 (+4.8%), heroin with 1,073 (-14.3%) and 'ecstasy' with 807 (+31.2%).

The document highlights "crack" (a smokable drug known as the poor man's cocaine) as having caused some social alarm, with an increase in the quantities seized in recent years. In 2021, 36.65 kilos were seized in four seizures, the following year 4,925 kilos in 325 seizures and in 2023, 7,113 kilos were seized in 293 seizures.

Regarding those involved in trafficking and consumption, 9,001 were registered, of which 7,565 were arrested.

Of those arrested, 6,884 were men, of which 6,098 were 21 years old or older and among them 5,986 were of Portuguese nationality.

The operations carried out by the police authorities led to the seizure of 4.51 million euros, 16 high-speed boats, 236 light vehicles, 2,344 mobile phones and 130 weapons of various types.

The report points out that, as is the case in other countries, in Portugal it has also been found that different criminal organisations have been trying to infiltrate port and airport infrastructures in the national territory, by recruiting workers from different entities, namely service providers.

"The aim is to manage, with the support of such workers, to create what we could call true 'green lanes' for the entry of large quantities of narcotics into the national territory and, at the same time, into the European area", emphasises the document, which also highlights that, in addition to large-scale trafficking, there has also been "an increasing use of postal services and parcels, through which criminal organisations make drugs reach the final consumer (especially synthetic drugs)".

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