Cuban customs report more than doubling of drug seizures in 2015

Cuban customs seized 104.68 kilograms of drugs throughout 2015, more than double the amount confiscated the year before, local media reported Sunday.

An absolute majority of the seizures, 43 out of 46, took place at the Jose Marti International Airport, which serves the capital, Cuban daily Juventud Rebelde quoted the national customs agency (AGR) as saying.

Among the confiscated drugs, cocaine continued to be the No. 1 kind, accounting for 73.43 kg, and was followed by marijuana (30.46 kg) and its synthetic form (0.793 kg), according to the AGR. The total amount in 2014 was 44 kg.

Noting that in 10 cases the drugs were ingested in an attempt to evade detection, AGR official Niurbis Alonso was quoted as stressing that such "drug mules" risk the danger of absorbing these substances should the parcels rupture.

"In the past year, we detected 24 issuing countries and 34 destinations, mainly in Europe," said Alonso, adding that since 2008, when the government lifted restrictions on Cubans traveling abroad, Cubans are increasingly involved in the smuggling cases detected.

The Caribbean island is located along the route drug-traffickers use to move drugs from South America to North America. Cuban security forces seized 26 tons of narcotics from 2003 to 2013, including drug parcels washed ashore.

In addition to thwarting drug-smuggling, customs agents detected 134 attempts in 2015 to export endangered species, such as turtles, rare birds and their eggs, as well as attempts to illegally import exotic species.

A total of 472 specimens, weighing 199.2 kilograms altogether, were intercepted, including sea cucumbers and sea stars, AGR inspector Thisbe Quesada told the daily.

Cuba is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which establishes mechanisms and controls to limit the exploitation and marketing of species subject to protection. Endi