Cuba Seized over 5.5 Tons of Drugs in 2017

Havana, Jun 26 (Prensa Latina) Cuba seized more than 5.5 tons of narcotics in 2017, most of them occupied at sea during landfalls, today reported the Secretary of the National Drug Commission (CND), Antonio Israel Ybarra.

In a press conference, Ybarra explained that 95 percent of the drugs were confiscated by sea, in marijuana and cocaine packages that landed on the shores of the island after being launched into the Caribbean Sea by drug traffickers, sometimes to avoid controls and others to be collected later by consumer countries.

According to the official, Cuba is neither a transit country nor a destination for drugs and consumption is very low.

According to a prevalence survey conducted two years ago, the use of narcotics is 0.038 percent.

Ybarra specified that last year, 48 Cubans and foreigners were prosecuted for the crime of drug trafficking, while in airports the national authorities seized 57.4 kilograms of narcotics in 94 incidents.

Also, in the same period, 67,000 marijuana plants were occupied as part of Cuba's political will to fight drugs, the expert added.

Our backbone to face this scourge is prevention, which is closely related to people's education in order to foster a culture of rejection of these substances, Ybarra said.

It also ratified Cuba's policy of zero tolerance for drugs and the prevalence in the country of comprehensive strategies aimed at achieving a balance between preventive and confrontational actions.