On January 22 and 23, 2024, an exercise at sea to intercept drug trafficking by sea was organized by the Commander of the French Polynesian maritime zone, under the authority of the High Commissioner, the government’s delegate for action of the state at sea.
The aim of the exercise was to put into action the entire interministerial chain for combating drug trafficking at sea. Based on a fictitious scenario involving a suspicious sailboat, the surveillance frigate Prairial intercepted the sailboat offshore, deploying its inspection team supported by its onboard Dauphin helicopter.
Also taking part in the exercise were two experts from the Customs Department and a gendarme from the Anti-Drugs Office (OFAST).
Since 2017, the Pacific has become a veritable hub… sailing ships loaded with hundreds of kilos of ice and cocaine transit from the USA and Latin America to Australia.
Major seizures in recent years
Polynesia has seen several major seizures in recent years. On January 27, 2017, 809 kg of cocaine were discovered on a sailboat, the Mojito, boarded at the Arue yacht club. A few weeks later, 640 kg were seized from a catamaran off the Marquesas Islands. A little later in the year, 200 kg were found aboard a sailboat in Faaite, Tuamotu. On May 20, 2019, nearly 436 kg of cocaine were found aboard a sailboat on the small atoll of Apataki, in the Tuamotu archipelago.
And more recently, on September 21, 2022, a search of the US-flagged sailing yacht LEANA by Customs officers in the port of Papeete led to the discovery of 423.8 kg of cocaine. The 2 sailors, Swedish nationals, were sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined 1.5 billion Pacific Francs (12,570,000 Euros).
These seizures appear to be the result of the establishment of a maritime route for drug traffickers from South America to Australia and New Zealand.
