Traffickers hide drugs in containers, sailboats
An InSight Crime report highlighted that traffickers are using sailboats and shipping containers to move cocaine across the Caribbean — a reminder that illicit activity remains a material security risk for legitimate containerized freight. That pattern elevates compliance and cargo‑screening concerns for regional shippers. (x.com)
A World Customs Organization two‑year analysis of more than 2,600 drug seizures found a total of 1,347 tonnes of narcotics and concluded that internal conspirators were involved in 68% of detections.. (wcoomd.org) The WCO also reported that containerised consignments accounted for roughly 85% of seizure events and about 80% of the narcotics volume, with gangs increasingly embedding loads in refrigerated‑container voids for later retrieval at unsecured empty‑container yards.. (wcoomd.org) An international investigation tied to a December 20, 2023 interception off Martinique recovered 1,500 kilograms from a sailing vessel and eventually produced 50 arrests across Spain, Norway, Poland, the UK and Trinidad and Tobago.. (europol.europa.eu) InSight Crime traced a shift in trafficking patterns after U.S. military strikes on suspected go‑fast boats began in September 2025, noting traffickers diverting routes toward Guyana and neighbouring states to evade interdiction.. (insightcrime.org) U.S. authorities continue kinetic action at sea: a strike reported in March 2026 that killed four people was covered by international outlets as part of that interdiction campaign.. (aljazeera.com) U.S. Border Patrol divers recovered packages bolted beneath the hull of the Antigua & Barbuda‑flagged containership Hoheplate in September 2025, and law‑enforcement and port agencies have publicised use of patrol boats, underwater drones and sniffer dogs to detect hull‑attachments and parasitic loads.. (maritime-executive.com) European enforcement continues to expose large container concealments: Spanish police seized a record 13 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a banana consignment at Algeciras in October 2024, underscoring how high‑volume consignments are exploited to move bulk shipments.. (english.elpais.com)
