Santo Domingo.- The drugs smuggled through maritime routes still pose the most immediate threat to the country’s antinarcotics authorities, which have even resorted to the use of high power rifles to disable speedboats without having to kill their crews.
National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) figures reveal the confiscation of 3,386.7 kilos of cocaine at Don Diego port and in three other coastal regions in the first three months this year.
Intelligence gathering led to the confiscation of most of the drug to March, in Palmar de Ocoa (south), where 1,634.1 kilos were seized and at Punta Laguna Beach, La Romana (east).
Along the shores of Miches, El Seibo (northeast), 25.1 kilos of the same drug were seized, and the rest from boats trying to enter Dominican territory.
The DNCD notes that after the airdrop of drugs has been virtually halted, the big challenge now is to counter the schemes used by international drug traffickers to smuggle it to Dominican territory.
The traffickers use the entire south coast, mainly the channel between Isla Beata and Cabo Engaño (southwest), considered the most vulnerable area.
Mercy for traffickers
A source close to the DNCD’s weapons experts revealed the use of high power rifles by marksmen on board chase helicopters, who target the engines of the speedboats to disable the craft and not injure the crews of drug traffickers.