593 kgs of cocaine seized from commercial plane’s cockpit in Suriname

Authorities in Antigua and Barbuda were alerted on Wednesday when maintenance staff found irregularities with a commercial aeroplane headed to the Netherlands. Surinamese Police proceeded with an inspection of said plane, which revealed that 17 boxes had been hidden in a compartment under the cockpit.

In total, the seizure amounts to 593 kilograms of cocaine which has been secured by the police, so as to assist with further investigations into the matter.

The bust is being seen as a significant blow to narcotics traffickers who have been using various methods to pass their illicit cargo through the region.

This is not the first or largest such seizure, as Suriname has seen multiple such instances in the recent past, which have highlighted the fact that despite regular seizures, traffickers continue to use the region as a transit point for their cargo.

It is expected that authorities in Suriname will pursue the issue with the expectation that a larger operation can be revealed in the process and has made the decision to go forward with a thorough investigation, based on the evidence which has already been gathered.

It remains to be seen if these efforts will manage to have a substantial effect on the regional drug trade in terms of trafficking routes and the size of shipments passing through the region.

What is striking though, is that the consignment was headed to Netherlands in Europe, which is an example of the range and magnitude of such operations in the region and a small glimpse of the large-scale smuggling that authorities in the region have to contest with.