DR1

The National Drug Control department (DNCD) says that so far this year it has closed 16,000 drug sales points nationwide, as reported in Listin Diario. Major General Rafael Radhames Ramirez Ferreira said that drug trafficking transactions are at an all-time low. He said that there is a perception that trafficking is on the rise because of press reports about dealers being arrested.

Drug trafficking decline in the Dominican Repblic is part of a Caribbean-wide trend as coordinated efforts increase. David Jessop, director of the Caribbean Council, reported that the increased efficiency of law enforcement agencies has resulted in a shift in transshipment operations to Africa. "According to Interpol, the international police agency, West Africa is fast becoming the cocaine trafficking hub between South America and Europe. While the more traditional routes through the Caribbean are unlikely to cease, there is growing evidence that coordinated police, naval and intelligence led activities in the region are slowing and displacing the Caribbean as a transit point," he writes.

He explains that what appears to be happening is that cocaine produced in Colombia is now being shipped through Venezuela, possibly with some support from military officers disillusioned with the Chavez Government, from where it moves through neighboring countries by sea to Ghana, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. He explains that there, the absence of the tight controls of the kind that the Caribbean countries have instituted, facilitates the transfer of narcotics to France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy.

He explains that the main incentive for the trend to continue is that the 300 tons of cocaine now trafficked from Colombia through West Africa to Europe can be sold at double the price than in the US.