Although this year the authorities report large seizures of cocaine, they also recognize that it is a difficult problem to eradicate, this is because criminal structures are looking for new routes and strategies to transport any type of drug.
According to figures from the Ministry of Defense (Mindef), this year as a result of the reinforcement of the number of military elements in Petén and other regions to prevent the landing of drug planes, drug traffickers opt for maritime routes and try to use the ports. to deliver the goods.
Meanwhile, the National Civil Police (PNC) states that food and products for daily use are the target to hide the drugs that are being attempted to pass through Guatemala.
This year, according to what was reported by Mindef, 4,248 packages of cocaine have been seized, most of them in the ocean, off the Guatemalan coast and in containers at the port of Quetzal, Escuintla.
The agency reported that after security was reinforced in Petén, they identified that shipments coming from South America are transported by air to land in Belize or Mexico. They recognize that it could be the reason why no narco planes have been located in the country this year, if it is taken into account that 71 were located in the previous four years.
Accumulated drug
Although large cocaine seizures have been reported, PNC anti-drug investigators reiterate that it is increasingly losing the market, while in El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, it has remained for retail sale, because it is replaced by synthetic drugs, mainly fentanyl.
“For that reason you see that in the capital they seize five or ten kilos every so often, the same thing happens in El Salvador, because cocaine is left for retail sale, mainly where there are nightclubs and that type of business,” said a police investigator. .
He added that although the cocaine “market” is decreasing, it is a problem that is far from being eradicated and criminal structures manage to hide and transport the drug.
The expert maintains that from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, cocaine is dissolved in clothing, when it reaches its destination it is made solid using chemicals. They also make holes in avocados and pineapples to hide it. It is for this reason that, according to the specialist, operations in ports increased this year.
Given this situation, on several occasions anti-drug agents claim to have found powders or chemicals that are harmful to the canine units that support them in tracking operations, since the drug traffickers’ intention is that the drug is not located, but also to cause the death of the dogs, although so far they have not achieved it.
Only innovate
The security analyst, Federico Reyes, says that the constant seizures and capture of people with extradition orders reflect the collaboration that the United States has granted with the latest governments to dismantle criminal structures.
Reyes says that eradicating the trafficking of any type of drug until now is impossible, if one considers that each cartel will always look for new strategies to transport drugs and go unnoticed by the authorities.
“The fact that narcoplanes do not land in Petén does not mean that the problem is over and that they do not pass through Guatemala, it just may mean that they are using other means to transport it,” said Reyes.
The seizures
Last Thursday, the authorities seized 700 packages of cocaine in Izabal valued at Q84 million. On March 15, another blow was dealt to organized crime structures when 682 packages inside 23 packages valued at more than US$9.2 million were located inside an illegal vessel on the Pacific coast.
On February 28 of this year, authorities found more than two tons of cocaine in two trucks 34 kilometers from the Mexico border. The authorities’ report determined that the drugs were located in a double bottom on the roof of the vans. On this occasion, two people were captured.
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