Cocaine Smugglers Latest Modus Operandi

Italy and New Zealand are perplexed by the latest modus operandi adopted by cocaine and drug smugglers on the high seas. New Zealand anti drug enforcement authorities this year shared details of an operation in which they had discovered 81 bales of cocaine successfully retrieving 3 tons of cocaine with an estimated market value of $ 316 million. Italian drug enforcement officials are alarmed  at the innovative tactics  increasingly being used by drug smugglers off the coast of Sicily. In the year 2020 almost 20 tons of cocaine were seized  highlighting that the porous coastline of Italy is the prime route for the entry of narcotics into Europe being extensively exploited by Bulgarian criminal gangs .This is a five times increase in cocaine busts in the last four year period.

Credit Maritime Executive

Two tons of cocaine with an estimated street value of over $ 450 million was retrieved by the Italian Catilinarian police  floating in the Mediterranean Sea. Aerial  reconnaissance by Italian units pinpointed the location of  numerous floating packages resembling ocean debris along with a luminous signaling device which ,it is speculated, enables cocaine smugglers to track the illicit cargo. It is suspected that cargo ships jettison such cargo in the ocean and the cocaine smugglers track and retrieve it to avoid the rigours of port inspections. The bundles containing cocaine are adroitly wrapped and then strung together with netting and left to float in the ocean.

Credit The Guardian

Credit IL GLOBO NEWS

In a new twist to the drug underworld the Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra the wifes of mafia dons who are incarcerated are managing the drug and cocaine operations. The latest brainwave as to the manner in which drugs are being tossed over into the ocean seems to be the initiative of Maria Angela Di Trapani , wife of jailed  Salvino Madiona, boss of his own mafia clan Resuttana.

UAE combats Drugs with 3D

Dubai authorities arrested one of Italy’s most wanted international drug baron and his right-hand man, after years on the run.Raffaele Imperiale reputed to be Italy’s ace operative of the Naples organized crime world was arrested in the Emirate of Dubai in coordination with Interpol and Europol.Extradition proceedings are underway.Dubai authorities routinely rely on  innovative technology  including underwater drone technology to thwart illegal or banned substances entry into the UAE. Deployment of a ‘ Customs Submarine’ high resolution and 3D pictures and videos of vessels’ hulls underwater as well as underwater drones termed ‘Customs Dolphins’ monitor vessels before entering the wharfage.The Dubai customs authorities seized Captagon pills worth Dubai Riyals of an amount of 1.4 billion into UAE last year through Jebel Ali Port the busiest port in the Middle East making it a gigantic task to monitor millions of containers manually. India,Pakistan, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnamese drug enforcement authorities may be well advised to adopt 3 D technology at container terminals and ports to stem the huge volumes of inflow and outflow of illicit drugs rather then relying upon archaic manual inspections.