Operation CARIBBE: A Case Study in Combatting Drug Trafficking on the High Seas

• Author: Amélie Aubut
• Profession: At the time of writing the author had been a legal officer in the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Forces for nearly seven years
• Pages: 472-495

472

twenty

Operation CARIBBE:

A Case Study in Combatting

Drug Tracking on the High Seas

AMÉLIE AUBUT*

A. INTRODUCTION

Drug tracking aects most states — if not all — in an intertwined man-

ner. Illicit drugs tracked and consumed in Canada can be manufac-

tured in one state and smuggled through several others before reaching

Canadian soil. e criminal organizations involved in drug tracking

are increasingly sophisticated and often put down roots in countries

around the world. Specically relevant to this chapter is the signicant

threat drug tracking constitutes to maritime security and international

* At the time of writing the author had been a legal ocer in the Oce of the

Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Forces for nearly seven years. She holds

a Civil Law degree from the University of Montréal, a Common Law degree from

the University of Ottawa, and a Master’s degree in International Law from the

University of Cambridge. e views expressed in this chapter are the author’s alone.

ey do not necessarily reect, nor should they be taken to reect, the views of

the Government of Canada, the Department of National Defence, the Canadian

Armed Forces or the Oce of the Judge Advocate General.

 Robert J. Currie & Joseph Rikhof, International and Transnational Criminal Law,

d ed (Toronto: Irwin Law, ) at  and – [Currie & Rikhof]; UNODC

World Drug Report  (), Booklet  at  [World Drug Report ].

 Ibid.

 Ibid.

Operation CARIBBE: A Case Study in Combatting Drug Trafficking on the High Seas

473

stability. It endangers safety and security at sea, international maritime

transport, and local and global economies.

Maritime transportation is the least common mode of transportation

used by drug trackers. However, it potentially has the greatest impact on

drug supplies within national borders. It reduces the possibility of detec-

tion and interception by law enforcement ocials (because the seas are so

vast), and permits drug trackers to transport larger quantities than by air

or land. Furthermore, as noted by the UN Oce on Drugs and Crime

(UNODC), “[t]he COVID- pandemic may have accelerated existing

trends of an increased use of sea and waterway routes for drug tracking.

Use of maritime and waterway routes was found to have increased in

several regions and countries.”

e Secretary General of the United Nations recently stated that

tackling drug tracking remains an international responsibility. e

Commission on Narcotic Drugs has also repeatedly highlighted the

importance of international cooperation to address cross-border traf-

cking. is need for a coordinated response in the maritime sphere is

increasingly important, as criminal organizations often turn to the high

seas to avoid detection and interception, and use innovative methods

(such as semi-submersible vessels) that are even more dicult to detect

and intercept.

 Report of the Secretary General on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (), UN Doc

A// at para  [Oceans and the Law of the Sea Report].

 Report of the Secretary General on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (), UN Doc

A///Add. at para .

 UNODC, World Drug Report () at .

 World Drug Report , above note  at –; “Although maritime seizures con-

stitute no more than  per cent of all cases across all drug categories globally, each

maritime seizure was on average almost  times larger than seized consignments

tracked by air.” Efthymios Papastavridis, “e Illicit Tracking of Drugs” in

David Joseph Attard et al, eds, e IMLI Manual on International Maritime Law,

Vol III (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ) at  [Papastavridis].

 UNODC, World Drug Report  () Booklet  at  and  [World Drug Report

].

 Oceans and the Law of the Sea Report, above note  at para .

 Ibid. See also World Drug Report , above note  at  and World Drug Report

, above note , Booklet  at  and .

 Allyson Bennett,“at Sinking Feeling: Stateless Ships, Universal Jurisdiction,

and the Drug Tracking Vessel Interdiction Act” () : Yale Journal of Inter-

national Law  at  and  [Bennett].