Filenews 3 January 2025
The drugs detected and seized in all of 2024 by the Drug Enforcement Administration reached 818 kilograms, 218 kilograms more than in 2023.
The increase in quantities detected by YKAN is due to the intensification of controls and the activation of many information channels as well as collaborations with foreign services and associations based in Cyprus. Although the quantities are frightening, the fact that they were removed before they reached the streets is a major success for the competent Police Service, which is making huge efforts to be one step ahead of the smugglers.
The most frightening thing is that new types of drugs have appeared on the market completely unknown until now, some of which could be consumed by young children, due to their shape and appearance. These are the 70 kilos of drugs found in the middle of the year that either looked like cookies or appeared like gummies. These are the substances cathine and hexahydrocannabinol and psylcybin.
The year ended this year with the seizure of 686 kg of cannabis, 1.3 kg of cannabis resin, 54 kg of cocaine, 43 kg of cathine and 29 kg of hexahydrocannabinol (first detected), 1.4 kg of synthetic drugs and 4 kg of psylcybin. 2023 had ended with the detection of 600kg of drugs of all kinds, a year considered to be one of the most important in terms of quantity seizure.
In addition, in the year just this year, 1,008 drug cases were investigated by the Anti-Drugs Agency and 1,065 arrests were made. As we have just been told competently, we are in a relentless race to collect information, monitor and seize drugs, since illegals are constantly changing tactics and also new players are entering the market, because several who were considered to be ringleaders have ended up in prison. The routes for transporting drugs to Cyprus are more or less known to the YKAN, although every now and then new methods are found so that the steamers go unnoticed. The arrival of people through European countries loaded with drugs is one of the main routes, and this year it has appeared that in some cases routes have started shipping drugs through Dubai. Latin American countries remain the starting point for shipments of large quantities of drugs.
The descent of lone carriers to Larnaka airport and less to Paphos airport are the main entrances of drugs, followed by the port of Limassol where an attempt is made to import large quantities in containers. Sending packages by post or courier offices is the third option. Finally, the transport of drugs through the occupied territories remains one of the main sources of trafficking, however, their detection is difficult due to the many crossing points and the thousands of people trafficked daily.
What is widely commented on in YKAN is the fact that while the Courts impose increasingly increased prison sentences on those found guilty of trafficking large quantities of drugs, however, the illegals do not give up, due to the huge profits and the belief that they will not be detected by the Police.
Did outlaws become more dangerous?
What is strongly observed this year are unusually large quantities that YKAN detects in each of its businesses. Seizures reached up to 64kg per case, indicating that smugglers attempt to import large quantities once rather than risk bringing in a few and exposing themselves to greater risks to be detected.
At the same time, what is highlighted by the Anti-Drug Service is the fact that those involved in drug trafficking have become more dangerous, since they do not hesitate to carry weapons during the transport of illegal preparations, while at the same time, they often solve their disputes with intermediaries, steamers or former collaborators with murders and assassination attempts, sending the message that no one can fool them. There is, as it turns out, a mimicry of what is happening abroad. The Department of Customs and Excise has made a significant contribution to the detection of significant quantities of drugs, especially at airports, which is attributed to the training of customs officers and their ability to understand which passengers are considered high-risk in order to pass them through screening.
