PNN – Citing data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a U.S. media outlet reported that U.S. military interdictions of boats suspected of carrying narcotics at sea have failed to halt the flow of drugs into the country.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network; a Washington Post report indicates that DEA analysts found these operations had no impact on the supply or price of cocaine in the U.S.; instead, they drove traffickers to diversify their smuggling methods and avoid international waters.
According to a Washington Post report, smugglers are now using larger boats and navigating close to the coastline, choosing routes that minimize the risk of being targeted by U.S. forces.
Based on an assessment by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), smugglers are also increasingly relying on aircraft operating from clandestine airstrips along the Colombia-Venezuela border, heading east toward Guyana and Suriname to evade detection by U.S. forces.
Analysts at the agency believe that attacks launched in September of last year initially disrupted smuggling routes, driving up cocaine prices and drug-related violence; however, prices have since returned to previous levels.
According to the publication, an analysis of seized cocaine by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reveals high levels of purity, confirming a steady supply, as dealers do not need to cut the drug to stretch their inventory.
According to the report, the United States has carried out 67 attacks on boats suspected of transporting narcotics since last year, resulting in 221 deaths.
The U.S. campaign targeting boats and vessels suspected of drug trafficking in waters surrounding Latin America—including the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean—began in early September.
The U.S. military has not provided any evidence that any of the destroyed vessels were carrying narcotics. These attacks have intensified in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to pressure regional officials to cooperate more closely with the United States in targeting cartels and to take independent military action against the drug traffickers and transnational gangs that he describes as an “unacceptable threat” to U.S. national security.
Trump has claimed that Washington is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels in Latin America and that such strikes are essential to prevent drugs from entering the United States and to curb the deadly overdoses that are claiming American lives.
However, critics have questioned the legality of the strikes on the vessels.