Washington.- International drug traffickers have resorted to the use of speedboats to transport drugs along their Central America and the Caribbean routes, as part of the changes brought about by the stiffer searches in Mexico and the positive results with the United States in their joint war against it.

“We’re very aware that after having taken actions in México, this has displaced the cartels toward Central America and now we’re more active and enormously concerned,” said Bill McGlynn, Undersecretary for the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau.

United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sources said even large drug shipments pass through the Dominican Republic, arriving by air and sea prior to their later transfer to the U.S., despite the efforts by Dominican antinarcotics authorities.

The DEA estimates the amount of drugs shipped every year through the Caribbean region at 200 tons. It says it arrives aboard clandestine flights and ship containers, camouflaged as legitimate merchandise to avoid detection.

Although the U.S. authorities are satisfied with the National Drugs Control Agency’s (DNCD) and the Dominican military’s collaboration, special DEA agents say many flights have no explanation, and irregular ones continue arriving with drugs to Dominican Republic and Haiti, from Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.

Revealing data

According to the DEA’S intelligence and satellite tracking and radar information, some planes even manage to land and refuel, after dropping the drugs on the sea.

It added that n containers transport in ships load with chemical substances is stored that are used for the synthetic drug manufacture.