Money spins where a drill won't - we've heard that dozens of times when we extract information from Balkans arrested for international cocaine smuggling about how they managed to infiltrate everywhere, or to, say, buy professional divers, and even those of the special forces, who bring them drugs to the ships. They also admitted to us that the smallest part of their soldiers is involved in cocaine smuggling under coercion, but that they also resort to it when they come across a hard rock, and let's say that some sailor is necessary for them to transport a large shipment of cocaine.
In an interview with Vijesti, a member of the team of international investigators in charge of combating drug smuggling told this, explaining all the ways in which the mafia from the former Yugoslavia smuggles cocaine from South America to Europe and Australia.
"As smuggling methods evolve, so do we in the security agencies adjust our strategies, playing a cat-and-mouse game in which any mistake is potentially fatal. It has been shown, however, that we manage to outplay them, and that seemingly insurmountable obstacles are only challenges that can be overcome with enough courage and ruthless determination to suppress transnational cocaine smuggling", said the same interlocutor.
Vijesti's research reveals that increased security measures and increased efforts by international security agencies have led to a significant suppression of traditional cocaine smuggling methods, and forced cartels to use more complex and expensive methods of cocaine smuggling.
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During the conversation with that team, Vijesti also discovered how much the drug cartels pay for the transfer of cocaine, who dared to enter this deadly game, but also which sailors paid the highest price due to greed or disobedience, often with their lives.
Also, it was discovered that for several years cartels have been hiring divers who charge for services depending on the port where they have to operate, but also how the drugs are picked up in the so-called transit zones - international waters from which they are sent to European, American and Australian soil.
The interlocutor of "Vijesti" explained that hiding drugs in the suction part of the ship is not new and that international investigators have been dealing with it for years.
"For years, we have been finding loads of cocaine hidden in sea chests, that is, in areas where ships take, for example, water for engine cooling. Those openings are technically designed so that when the intake is opened, the protective grids serve to prevent the passage of larger fish through the grids, which could clog those intakes under pressure. Suctions from the inside can only be cleaned from what passes through them, which is mostly from small fish. The outer part cannot be accessed from the inside, because these spaces are sealed due to possible errors, because if they were easily accessible for opening, it would allow the ship to sink easily. If someone were to open it, the pressure of the underwater part of the water is such that it is practically unstoppable and it melts the ship in a couple of hours, depending on the size of the ship. That is why the only access is from the outside, and in those places drugs are hidden by divers, equipped with tools, who know what they are doing. They are paid from 50 to 80.000 dollars. Their task is to open the bars from the outside, insert the cocaine, attach the drugs and re-weld the bars. No other hooking is possible, because there is a big risk of losing the load", said the interlocutor to Vijesti.
It also explains what dictates the amount the cartel is willing to pay divers.
"Whether a diver will receive 50 or 80.000 dollars, or significantly more than that, depends on the coast, that is, the state and the port's protection measures. Let's say in Colombia, in Buenaventura, the water is murky and visibility is literally zero. Not everyone can dive there with equipment and find a sea chest. Such dives are paid from several tens of thousands of dollars, and upwards. This is exactly where divers died and were lost. There were also cases where they were killed due to poor coordination", said one of the interlocutors from the foreign security service.
He explained that international services, precisely because of this way of smuggling cocaine, agreed that in Colombia, at the container terminals, during the ship's stay at the terminal, military patrols patrol around those vessels all the time.
"After the completion of cargo operations, military divers with a robot enter the water and inspect the complete hull. These measures contributed to significantly reducing the possibility of cocaine entering the suction part of the ship", said the same source.
"These are dangerous operations and death is always in the air", says the investigator, adding: "One wrong assessment, one undetected load and the cartels win their battle, that's why they are always the best in the south".
Open sea
He points out that today that model is also significantly more difficult, as is the introduction of cocaine in containers with legal goods, because scanners have also been installed in ports in the south, such as Manzanillo in Mexico, which was one of the critical points...
"Each truck with a container goes through a scanner that scans deeply, and that's already a risk. We reduced that possibility to a minimum, as well as the possibility of the crew bringing drugs directly onto the ship. That model has been suppressed since we began to fight cocaine smuggling in the way that we have been doing in recent years. Primarily, the army took over guarding the port, so a crew member who leaves and enters the port first goes through a body search, then control at the footbridge, because the port is entered through it, and all the time he is watched by soldiers armed to the teeth from the tower. When they get off the footbridge, a security car is waiting for them, into which they enter and which takes them to the ship", said the source of Vijesti.
He explains, however, that by joint action in the south, in the last few months alone, in various operations, they seized more than one hundred tons of cocaine...
Speaking about the loading or unloading of cocaine on the open sea, he said that because of this the cartels have increased the number of their mercenaries on the ships that transport cocaine.
"Strengthened security measures have forced the clans to use small fast boats and semi-submersible submarines, which in international waters carry out loading and unloading, that is, dropping or dropping cocaine at agreed points. It is not profitable for them with smaller quantities, because the ship still needs to be stopped, picked up, stored, transported and discarded, so they try with the minimum ton of cocaine. The fact that they have the money for it is the best indicator of how dangerous the criminal organizations are and what we are fighting against. Therefore, in order to even try to import cocaine on the open sea, there must be serious coordination and an increased number of people, and this costs a lot, so the cartels resort to the model of payment in the amount of cocaine. With the help of our naval and air forces, we are also very successful in suppressing this method of smuggling, which was also shown during this year when we seized several hand-made semi-submersible submarines loaded with drugs, dozens of speedboats and fishing trawlers that were waiting in the open sea, for example in the area of the Galapagos archipelago", said the interlocutor of Vijesti.
He explained that because drugs are thrown from the ship, also on the open sea, mercenaries of the drug cartel must be on the vessel.
"Partly due to unforeseen circumstances such as route changes, busy ports or delays. In such situations, they must react urgently and inform the cartel of any change, and then act according to the instructions received. This often means dumping the goods on the open sea, and this strategy ensures that the drugs reach their destination regardless of changes in the ship's planned routes", said one of the interlocutors.
He pointed out that some of the reasons are changes in the ship's line, port occupancy, delays...
"It happens that a company decides that instead of five ports in Europe, the ship will call at three, and for the other two that it skips, it will leave the cargo in one of these three where it docks. That cargo could go from there to those two ports by other ships, then by rail, truck, and that is already a problem and a possible loss. That is why there is a need for one of their people to be on board, because that person has to react to every change - to report, and then get an order what to do, which is usually the discharge of goods on the open sea, at an agreed position, that is, a point at sea where the ship will pass in a certain time, so that the reserve team would wait for the cocaine to be dropped by a smaller vessel and pick up the drugs", said the interlocutor to Vijesti.
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