Drug Trafficking

Bill aims to speed cross-border freight, intercept illegal drugs

WASHINGTON — New legislation aimed at catching drug smugglers at the border will also speed truck and container inspections into and out of the U.S., according to lawmakers.

The Contraband Awareness Technology Catches Harmful (CATCH) Fentanyl Act, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday by Reps. Clay Higgins, R-La., and Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., authorizes U.S. Customs and Border Protection to create a pilot program using “next-generation technology,” including potentially...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/bill-aims-to-speed-cross-border-freight-intercept-illegal-drugs

Strengthening the Fight Against Drug Trafficking with New Technology – WSC Technology Day brings authorities, carriers and innovators together

Brussels, Belgium, February 10, 2025 – The close collaboration between ocean carriers, customs authorities, law enforcement and regulators have led to successes in disrupting drug trafficking through containerized shipping. To build on this momentum, the World Shipping Council (WSC) convened its first-ever “Technology Day” at the World Customs Organization (WCO) headquarters in Brussels on January 30-31, 2025. This milestone event reinforced the deepening cooperation between industry...

https://allaboutshipping.co.uk/2025/02/10/strengthening-the-fight-against-drug-trafficking-with-new-technology-wsc-technology-day-brings-authorities-carriers-and-innovators-together/

Crooked Caribbean officials caught in cocaine conspiracy

Oleanvine Pickering-Mayard, former director of the British Virgin Islands Port Authority, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday for her participation in a scheme to deliver cocaine through the British Virgin Islands to the U.S.

According to a report from The St. Thomas Source, Pickering-Maynard, 62, agreed to a plea deal and was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to import more than 5 kilograms of cocaine. The report states that money laundering and racketeering charges were...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/crooked-caribbean-officials-caught-in-cocaine-conspiracy

2 truckers from Canadian carrier charged in US drug trafficking cases

Bricks of cocaine are stacked as a person uses a cotton swab to test the drugs.

Two truckers who worked for the same Canadian carrier face federal drug charges in the U.S. after they were arrested five months apart in connection with seizures in Michigan of cocaine and methamphetamine worth millions of dollars, court records show. 

Prabhjot Singh was arrested on March 15 after Michigan State Police officers found 142 kilograms of cocaine during a search at a commercial vehicle inspection area in Jackson County, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/2-truckers-from-canadian-carrier-charged-in-us-drug-trafficking-cases

Louisiana trucker gets 70 months for drug trafficking

A Louisiana owner-operator was recently sentenced to nearly six years in prison for drug trafficking.

Rusty Ross Honore, 42, of New Iberia, Louisiana, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in July to a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana.

U.S. District Judge Michael J. Juneau has ordered Honore to serve three years of supervised release once he finishes his prison sentence and pay a fine of $10,000.

In March...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/louisiana-trucker-gets-70-months-for-drug-trafficking

Caches of cocaine and marijuana appear along the shore in the Florida Keys

Caches of cocaine and marijuana appear in the water and shore in the Florida Keys

Illegal drugs continue to appear in the waters and on shore in the Florida Keys, the Border Patrol said.

On both Wednesday and Thursday, two area residents reported finding a package of cocaine on the shore of Islamorada. Each weighed about 1.1 kilograms, said Adam Hoffner, a spokesman for the US Border Patrol.

The bale was found Thursday near Founders Park, where Islamorada City Hall is located, Hoffner said.

On Monday night, fishermen on Lower Matecumbe Key found a package of cocaine weighing...

https://www.maritimeherald.com/2021/caches-of-cocaine-and-marijuana-appear-along-the-shore-in-the-florida-keys/

Drug Smuggling and Tough Challenges for Ship Operators

  • Commercial carriers are not willing participants in the trafficking of drugs, but they may be exposed to various losses including fines if drugs are found on-board.
  • The P&I cover for fines arising out of smuggling was changed at the start of the 2021 insurance policy year.
  • It is important that Members are aware of the change, the increased exposure and how to deal with the challenges related to smuggling when operating ships.

A recent news article by Are Solum, Beatriz Luaces Åsgård and...

https://mfame.guru/drug-smuggling-and-tough-challenges-for-ship-operators/

ICS Launches New Edition of Leading Industry Guidelines on Combatting Drug Trafficking

ICS Launches New Edition of Leading Industry Guidelines on Combatting Drug Trafficking

Typical locations where drugs are hidden on ships – dry cargo

Criminal gangs are increasingly exploiting merchant shipping to traffic large volumes of illicit drugs to markets worldwide.  Nearly 90% of all cocaine, 45% of all cannabis, and 30% of all amphetamine type stimulants seized globally during January 2017 to April 2020 were trafficked via sea, despite the best efforts of the shipping industries to...

https://allaboutshipping.co.uk/2021/04/15/ics-launches-new-edition-of-leading-industry-guidelines-on-combatting-drug-trafficking/

The Navy seized a narco-submarine in Oaxaca with 106 packages of cocaine and four Colombians on board (PHOTOS)

The Navy seized a narco-submarine in Oaxaca with 106 packages of cocaine and four Colombians on board

Some cartels subcontract specialized networks in the construction of semi-submersibles, as if they were taxi companies to transport narcotics from Colombia.

From a King Air type aircraft, the Mexican Navy detected a semi-submersible off the coast of Huatulco, Oaxaca; After conducting an inspection, he found that it was a narco-submarine that was transporting 106 packages of cocaine, with four men of Colombian nationality on board.

“A suspicious semi-submersible type vessel with four outboard...

https://www.maritimeherald.com/2021/01-08-the-navy-seized-a-narco-submarine-in-oaxaca-with-106-packages-of-cocaine-and-four-colombians-on-board-photos-drug-trafficking-columbia-mexico/

The New Drug Route From Morocco To Europe With A Stopover In Spain, UN Report

The New Drug Route From Morocco To Europe With A Stopover In Spain, UN Report

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, many trafficking routes have been closed to Moroccan drug traffickers. This has led them to find complex new routes to traffic cannabis to Europe.

With the usual routes to Europe closed by the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Moroccan drug traffickers are inaugurating a new, longer and more dangerous route that involves food trucks and fishing boats to reach the coasts European countries, according to a UN report.

The measures implemented by governments to contain...

https://www.maritimeherald.com/2020/08-20-the-new-drug-route-from-morocco-to-europe-with-a-stopover-in-spain-un-report-drug-trafficking-ports-covid-19/

+ More