Working in collaboration with the United States, the Colombian Navy has confiscated 1,450 kilos (3,200 lb) of cocaine from a speedboat intercepted in international waters. The speedboat is suspected to have been heading for Barahona, on the southwest coast of the Dominican Republic. Four Venezuelans and a Colombian were detained and are being held in custody in Tampa, Florida. They are expected to be charged with drug trafficking, according to the Colombian police. The drugs allegedly belonged to Los Urabenos, a criminal gang that operates in northern Colombia. The boat had left the northern town of Manaure.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has said that in the 1990s Mexico was the preferred route for drug dealers, but now Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have become the route of choice. The frequency and amount of seized drugs has increased dramatically in those areas and in the first half of this year the confiscations in this area account for 14% of all cocaine being sent to the United States.
The DEA said that in 2012, 87 tons of cocaine were confiscated in the Caribbean – almost double the previous year’s haul, and in the first six months of this year 44 tons had been confiscated.
Today the Dominican Republic is the principal transit point for drugs with a study by the United States military calculating that 6% of the cocaine that arrives in the US passes through the DR.
US agents say there is a new generation of “cocaine cowboys” who are willing to take higher risks at sea.
www.listindiario.com/las-mundiales/2013/11/4/298332/RD-es-principal-punto-de-transito-drogas-en-region
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/11/03/i409471_colombia-decomisan-450-kilos-cocaana-que-tenaan-como-destino-barahona.html