These changes are costing shipping companies millions of dollars in extra operating costs through fines, vessel seizures, detentions and arrests. Smuggling organizations have typically hidden their narcotics within legitimate cargo inside shipping containers. These containers are then loaded with illegal narcotics before they are put onboard cargo vessels, unbeknownst to shipping companies and crews. Smuggling organizations use a variety of methods to move their products at sea, including small boats, at sea transfers, semi-submersibles and aircraft. To do so, they recruit smaller cargo vessels, fishing vessels, support vessels and crews to receive and offload illegal narcotics via at sea transfers or within ports.
“Smuggling organizations use a variety of methods to move their products at sea, including small boats, at sea transfers, semi-submersibles and aircraft”.
While historically smuggling organizations haven’t widely involved crew members onboard the larger cargo vessels, this has begun to change in recent years and smuggling organizations are now putting major efforts into recruiting (through force, extortion, and threats) crew members from major global shipping organizations to facilitate the transportation of illegal narcotics.
