Cuba Intercepted 2.43 Tons of Drugs in 2018

Havana, Mar 25 .-Last year, Cuba seized 2,438 kilograms of drugs, mainly at sea en route to other countries, the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) reported.

 

Quoted by the newspaper Granma, the MININT noted that the majority of the drug consisted of marihuana that arrived on Cuba’s shores after being pushed by marine currents.

It was the smallest amount of narcotics occupied over the past three years and includes more than two tons of marihuana, 363 kilograms of cocaine, three kilograms of cannabis, one kilogram of crack and 0.15 kilograms of hashish.

According to Cuban authorities, there was an increase in global threats by drug traffickers in 2018 due to the rapid variation of their routes and their modus operandi.

Other factors were the international refusal to legalize marihuana, the persistence in the use of traditional itineraries by international drug traffickers who operate near Cuba and the incidence by foreign criminal groups and Cuban emigrants interested in smuggling drugs into the national territory.

In this region, more than 90 percent of drug trafficking operations are carried out at sea and they have an impact on the arrival of drugs along Cuban shores.

In that regard, the MININT pointed out that 77 percent of the drug seized in the country consisted of arrivals on the shores.

Authorities also discovered and frustrated two attempts at introducing drugs into the country on speedboats, as a result of which four people were arrested and 144 kilograms of marihuana were confiscated.

On the air border, 49 drug trafficking operations were neutralized, mostly with the purpose of distributing the narcotics in the country.

According to the source, at Cuba’s airports, above all Havana’s Jose Marti, 90 people (54 Cubans and 36 foreigners) were arrested, and 81 kilograms of drugs were seized, compared to 64 kilograms in 2017.

The MININT warned that domestically, the main actions against drug trafficking focused on the neutralization of the theft of drugs arriving on the shores, isolated marihuana crops, transfers of narcotics to other territories, mainly to the capital, and the prevention of consumption of drugs and medications with similar effects.

As a result of the domestic fight against drugs, 83 kilograms of narcotics were seized, in contrast to 18 kilograms in 2017, thus preventing their commercialization and consumption.

In addition, actions were taken to prevent and counter drug trafficking in more complex territories, sectors and areas in order to minimize the impact on society and prevent the basification of organized crime to use our country as a transit point to third nations, the MININT pointed out.