(LONDON) - Latin American drug cartels are increasingly flying, as opposed to shipping, cocaine to west Africa before transporting it on to Europe, a British official said in an interview published Wednesday.

"An increasing trend is bringing cocaine by aircraft instead of by boat into west Africa," Rob Wainwright, international director of Britain's Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), told The Guardian.

"Then it is taken on by land or ship to Europe, across some dangerous and difficult terrain."

According to Wainwright, attempts by law enforcement agencies to stem the tide of drug trafficking by focusing on large ships crossing the Atlantic may have forced drug cartels to change their supply routes.

He described it as "a symbol of the globalisation of the problem."

"It's too early to tell how much (cocaine) is arriving, but it is not a small amount," he said.

"It is something to be worried about."

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