Drug traffickers seek creative ways of shipping drugs in Dominican Republic

HAVANA, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Drug traffickers in the Dominican Republic are ever more creative in hiding drugs to dodge detection.

On Tuesday, anti-drug agents reported the seizure of 500 grams of cocaine inside six baseballs addressed to Madrid, Spain.

According to information reaching here from Santo Domingo, this was the second time the National Department of Drug Control (DNCD)of the Dominican Republic seized drug hidden like this over the past six weeks.

Besides the baseballs, they also found six bottles containing hair conditioner-like fluid which was suspected to be diluted heroine or cocaine, said the DNCD.

The DNCD found in this September a bronze pot filled with cocaine, which was also addressed to Spain.

Although drug traffickers have been caught many times, yet every time they could find more creative ways to ship drugs: balls, bananas, dishes, dictionaries and even inside the human stomach.

A few weeks ago, the DNCD seized in Las Americas international airport in Santo Domingo, several kilograms of cocaine hidden inside seven dictionaries, which were also to be shipped to Madrid.

On that same day, a plain flying from Costa Rica to Madrid, Spain had to make an emergency landing in Santo Domingo to assist a passenger in critical condition who had a small pack of drug inside his stomach.

Recently, the DNCD also arrested a person with 85 drug capsules in his stomach, who was attempting to travel to Canada.

With incidents related to narco-trafficking being reported each week, it's doubtless that the Dominican Republic is one of the biggest victims of drug trafficking in the Caribbean.

Drug traffickers have made the country a narco-trafficking bridge to Europe and North America. They have increased national consumption of drugs and drug-related violence, said the Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez.