Latin America’s drug smugglers are trying to find ways around the Trump administration’s efforts against drug trade from the Caribbean sea, law enforcement officials and experts told the New York Times Tuesday.
The U.S. military has been striking cartel vessels in the Caribbean Sea transporting drugs to American shores, recently killing six cartel members in a strike on Tuesday in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. Drug smugglers have resorted to cowardly tactics to ship their to avoid detection, including smuggling their product aboard larger commercial vessels, dropping drug pales at sea via illegal flights and shipping product in smaller quantities to mitigate lost profit, according to the NYT.
“We are seeing changes in modus operandi,” Patrae Rowe, head of the Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, told the NYT. “More covert means are being used to transship drugs.”
Near the Dominican Republic, the number of cartel boats spotted has decreased dramatically, a source told the NYT.
“President Trump has been clear in his message to Maduro: stop sending drugs and criminals to our country. The President is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding in to our country and to bring those responsible to justice,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Traffickers have long used the Caribbean islands to transport cocaine from Colombia to buyers in the U.S., but the new tactics from the Trump administration has made their usual routine far too risky.
Some traffickers have begun shipping their product aboard larger container shipping vessels, using legal goods and law-abiding passengers as shields for their product, experts told the NYT. An anti-narcotics official told the NYT that the smugglers are also using illegal airplanes to airdrop drugs to be picked up at sea by larger vessels.
The Trump administration has so far killed at least 21 narcos in their strikes on vessels in the Caribbean in recent months, according to the NYT. Americans have responded positively to the actions in the Caribbean, with more than 70% of Americans supporting the Trump administration’s strikes, according to a recent poll.
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