BERLIN, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- German customs recorded drug seizures at a "consistently high level" and were "continuously adapting the risk analysis for controls and investigations", a spokesperson of Germany's Customs Investigation Office told Xinhua on Monday.
Last week, a government reply to a parliamentary inquiry by Free Democratic Party (FDP) faction had shown that the amount of confiscated drugs smuggled into Germany in 2019 had gone up compared to previous years.
The number of ecstasy pills seized by German customs increased from almost 0.4 million units in 2017 to more than 1.3 million in 2019, according to the preliminary figures by the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).
The amount of confiscated heroin increased even more significantly, according to BMF. While only 62 kilograms of heroin had been found in 2017, German customs seized 918 kilograms two years later, almost 15 times as much.
Heroin was mostly brought to Germany from Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran via the Balkan route, the government reply noted. The German customs office spokesperson said that "further successful international cooperation" was required.
