Cocaine seizures drop as traffickers 'shift to semi-submersibles'

US officials say drug traffickers have shifted to semi-submersible craft and other smaller, harder-to-detect boats to elude surveillance, causing a sharp drop in cocaine seizures last year. Officials say seizures of cocaine flowing north out of South America plummeted from 257 metric tons in 2006 to 208 metric tons last year, the second year in a row they have fallen.

Traffickers’ success attributed to their adaptability
Officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity acknowledged that they were slow to pick up on the latest change in tactics by drug traffickers. They say their success in tracking and stopping high powered speed boats laden with cocaine forced drug traffickers to find new ways of slipping through the net of radars and air and naval patrols use to catch them. Authorities recognize that traffickers now send out more, less powerful boats with smaller loads of cocaine that blend in with other vessels. They also say that the use of semi-submersible boats is on the rise. "They are very hard to detect," said one official, who added that US authorities intercepted its first semi-submersible in November 2006. Others attribute the decrease in cocaine seizures to the hefty bribes being paid to officials to ensure the safe passage of cocaine shipments.

As supply increases, prices decline
The Belfast Telegraph published a story today about the arrival of cheap, heavily adulterated cocaine in Northern Ireland. The weak U.S. dollar has increased the volume of cocaine shipments from South America to Europe and the drug's declining street value has raised fears that more and more young people will be lured into cocaine use. Northern Ireland has been chosen as a desirable destination for cocaine distribution given the prevalence organized crime syndicates--a result which I suspect is mostly attributed to the unsuccessful demilitarization and reintegration of the IRA and other ex-combatants.