By Tom Sharpe*
Since the beginning of last month, the war on drugs in the Caribbean has taken a significant turn. Navies have been involved in countering this trade for a long time but on Sept 1, “intercept, board and disrupt” became “blow up”.
Since then there have been eight strikes, 32 deaths and two captures. Vessels struck have ranged from fishing boats to narco-submarines – five took place close to the Venezuelan coast, two in more central Caribbeanwaters and one 90 miles south of the Dominican Republic. All were in international waters.
