Maritime drug trafficking is embedded in the illicit drug value chain that is articulated in systems linked to cultivation, production, distribution, marketing, consumption and money laundering. The expansion of these illegal networks, particularly in developing countries, is driven by multiple factors such as urbanization, demographic changes, including the increase in the youth population and socioeconomic inequalities (UNODC, 2021). In addition, illicit markets are becoming increasingly complex, due to the emergence of new substances, innovation in terms of transportation modalities, among others.  

However, the efforts of the States where some of the nodes of the illicit drug value chain are present have made it possible to identify the different techniques and methods used by Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) to carry out their illicit activities.  

The containment and detection efforts made by the various law enforcement agencies involved in the fight against illicit drugs are forcing the TCOs to redesign their capabilities to move the various illegal shipments from the production and collection points to the distribution markets. I In the process of maritime transport of illicit drugs known as maritime drug trafficking, it has been possible to identify some interfaces from the points of production, processing points, collection for shipment, transit zones and interaction in different maritime modalities; thus, maritime, river and port scenarios and other parameters that allow inferring some of the interfaces in the projection of transport through the identified modalities are considered.  

This document characterizes the different modalities, under parameters resulting from the analysis and research carried out at the International Center for Research and Analysis against Maritime Drug Trafficking (CMCON) and the support of different operational and intelligence units of the Colombian Navy, Secretariat of the Navy - Mexican Navy, Brazilian Navy, Ecuadorian Navy, Guatemalan National Defense Navy, Honduran Navy, Dominican Republic Navy and the Peruvian Navy. Detailing the conditions, modalities, types, techniques and methods identified, seeking to standardize the knowledge and interpretation of the phenomenon and the record for the follow-up of the agencies directly involved in the study, analysis and operational execution.